America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

‘Put your arms around me, honey’ –
Jon Hall, Tommy Dorsey wage a free-for-all

Male sarong-wearer ‘gets it in neck’ after party at trombone tootler’s apartment

americavotes1944

Dewey hits Roosevelt’s post-war plans

Reconversion job ‘not a single task’

Pawling, New York (UP) – (Aug. 5)
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, completing a 2,350-mile trip through pivotal Midwestern states, returned to his Pawling farm tonight after charging the Roosevelt administration has “failed to show a degree of competence” necessary to prepare the nation’s war industries for peacetime production.

The Republican presidential nominee said he planned to get his first real test since he gena the trip which took him through Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. The Governor retired to the seclusion of his Quaker Hill farm immediately after stepping rom his special car at 7:37 p.m. ET.

Mr. Dewey’s latest attack on the New Deal came at a press conference, which was held aboard the train en route from St. Louis. He told newspapermen that to bring about orderly reconversion there must be extensive planning, and challenged “the ability of the present Democratic administration to prepare post-war blueprints.”

‘Must do many things’

He said:

There is nothing that can be done to speed reconversion. You could do one thing well and still the whole thing can break down. For example, a large auto company may have a hundred companies that manufacture parts to be fed into the main plant. If so much as one of those companies is not handled with equal speed, the other 99 and the main company and all the employees of all of them will be idle.

It requires a degree of competence never yet shown by the present national administration in anything.

The Republican standard-bearer said he believed reconversion would probably start first in the East, but no matter where the reconversion takes place virtually all the same problems are involved.

‘Big reduction coming’

He said:

I think everyone recognizes there will be a very substantial reduction in production when the war in Europe is over. The reduction will be very substantial. Of course, that will differ in different states very sharply. There may be an increase in some items, but the overall picture will decline, and decline very substantially.

Mr. Dewey slept late on his train, explaining that it was the first time he had more than six hours rest since leaving New York City last Sunday for a trip which was planned primarily for the Republican Governors Conference at St. Louis. He said he would remain at his farm in Pawling until Monday morning when he will return to the State Capitol at Albany.

Directly at Roosevelt

The Governor made it plain that during his campaign for the Presidency, which is expected to include a coast-to-coast trip, he will point his attacks directly at President Roosevelt. He told a group of soldiers from Massachusetts that he also expected to appear in New England, “but no definite dates for any speeches have been made,” he said. “There are no definite details at this time.”

Mr. Dewey spent most of his press conference talking about reconversion policies, which were outlined by the 26 governors who met at St. Louis.

Mr. Dewey turned aside a question about reports that Wendell L. Willkie would be nominated U.S. Senator from New York. “Mr. Willkie isn’t a candidate, is he?” the Governor asked.

The Republican State committee meets in Albany Tuesday to nominate an opponent for Democratic U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner, ardent supporter of Mr. Roosevelt.

americavotes1944

Stokes: Old states’ rights buried by Dewey

Brand use of federal power expounded
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

With Governor Dewey’s party – (Aug. 5)
Governor Thomas E. Dewey emerged from his conference with the 25 other Republican governors at St. Louis as the exponent of a broad use of federal power, in cooperation with the states, to promote the economic and social welfare of the people.

He buried, once and for all, the ghost of old-fashioned states’ rights.

In only one case did he make a concession, an important one, by insisting upon exclusive state regulation of insurance, with application of interstate commerce laws barred.

Realities faced

Otherwise, the program adopted here calls for a continuation of federal supervision or assistance in the services to which the people have become accustomed under the New Deal.

The Republican nominee and the governors faced the realities. Western governors want a continuation of federal financial aid and supervision in developing litigation, reclamation and power projects.

The governors also reflected the desire of their people for continuation and expansion of social security, of labor statutes enacted by the New Deal guaranteeing collective bargaining, minimum wages and maximum hours of work, of protection for the farmer, all of which were embodied in the program approved here.

New definition of ‘economy’

The conference devised a new definition of “economy” so as not to frighten away voters as some Republicans have done with their strident demands for retrenchment.

The statement said:

Economy in government means the wise and efficient expenditure of public funds collected from all the people as taxes. It does not mean the indiscriminate slashing and cutting of governmental budgets.

Two main issues

From the conference here, the Republicans derive two issues.

The first is the promise to continue the services adopted by the New Deal, without sharp cuts in appropriations by which such services could be nullified in the name of “economy.” This will be emphasized to attract voters who have flocked

The second is the promise of better and less costly administration, less duplication, less wasted effort.

The New Deal is vulnerable in administration. The Republican program struck at this repeatedly, and promised efficient consolidation of the manifold bureaus scattered over Washington.

Governor Dewey expects to link this “loose administration” up with the war, by contending that this confusion of agencies hundreds the war effort by cutting down efficiency.

Nazi general killed

London, England (UP) – (Aug. 5)
A German DNB dispatch said today that Lt. Gen. Viktor von Drabich-Waechter, commander of the Nazi 326th Infantry Division, was killed Wednesday during frontline fighting south of Caumont, France.

French ports give Allies prize bases

Saint-Nazaire and Brest rich landing points

48 Negroes killed –
Wreck blamed on broken rail

Wounded U.S. heroes escape injury

Lt. Lucas: Marines capture Jap funny man, he has situation well in hand

Leathernecks work for nobby, now
By Lt. Jim G. Lucas, USMC Public Relations Officer

Crisis in France faced by Nazis

Hitler may risk military disaster


Broad region of Reich hit by U.S. bombers

Shuttle raid blasts airfield in Romania

Hemingway and companion blown off road by shell

Author plays dead for a half hour

Col. Schwarzkopf aids the Iranians

Washington (UP) – (Aug. 5)
Col. Norman H. Schwarzkopf, who became nationally known in the 1930s for his work on the Lindbergh kidnapping case, today is director of the Iranian Gendarmerie.

This was revealed in an article in the State Department Bulletin entitled “American Advisers in Persia.”

Schwarzkopf, former director of the New Jersey State Police, has been in the Army several years and for the last two has been helping the Iranians organize their Police Corps.

O’Connor reviews polio epidemic

Says we’re prepared better to fight it

americavotes1944

Poll: California, Washington for Roosevelt; Oregon leans towards Dewey

Pacific Coast states expected to play big role in deciding election
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

Princeton, New Jersey –
Franklin D. Roosevelt leads Thomas E. Dewey in popularity at this time in two of the three Pacific Coast states, California and Washington, but Governor Dewey has a slight advantage in the third – Oregon – a scientific sampling poll by the Institute reveals.

On the basis of interviewing conducted in representative areas throughout the three states, the Institute finds political sentiment among civilian voters on the West Coast shaping up today as follows. Each voter was asked how he would vote if the presidential election were being held today.

California only

Roosevelt 53%
Dewey 47%

Washington only

Roosevelt 53%
Dewey 47%

Oregon only

Roosevelt 49%
Dewey 51%

In each of the three states, four percent of the voters interviewed said they were unable to decide as to their present preference.

A close race

The above figures reflect the political situation in the Pacific Coast states only as of the early part of this week.

galluppoll.pacific

During the past four weeks, the Institute has reported the results of its presidential polls in 17 states, with a total of 277 electoral votes.

Six of these states, with 138 electoral votes, have been found leaning toward Governor Dewey as of this time and 11 with 139 electoral votes, are in the Roosevelt column. The box score follows:

Dewey leading

Electoral votes Dewey Roosevelt
47 New York 52% 48%
28 Illinois 54% 46%
25 Ohio 54% 46%
19 Michigan 57% 43%
13 Indiana 57% 43%
6 Oregon 51% 49%
138

Roosevelt leading

Electoral votes Dewey Roosevelt
11 Alabama 20% 80%
9 Arkansas 33% 78%
8 Florida 32% 68%
12 Georgia 16% 84%
10 Louisiana 24% 76%
9 Mississippi 16% 84%
8 South Carolina 11% 89%
23 Texas 25% 75%
16 Massachusetts 48% 52%
25 California 47% 53%
8 Washington 47% 53%
139

All Institute surveys are sponsored by 129 newspapers, some Republican, some Democratic, some independent.

Impartial survey

The Institute’s sole function is to gather and report the facts about public opinion, regardless of which side the facts happen to favor. All ballots since the poll was organized in 1935 have been turned over to Princeton University and are available for inspection by leaders of all political parties and qualified students of public opinion.

The present results of the poll in the Pacific Coast states reflect a sharp trend away from President Roosevelt as compared to the last two presidential elections.

His present lead of 53 percent in California represents a drop of five percentage points since 1940, when Mr. Roosevelt polled 58 percent against Wendell Willkie. In Washington, the defection from Roosevelt has been six percentage points since 1940, and in Oregon five percentage points.

‘Important’ states

As things are shaping up on the political front, the seaboard states on the East and West Coasts will likely form the main battleground of the election.

The farm states in the central portion of the continent show a marked Republican advantage, while the Deep South continues to be strongly pro-Roosevelt.

This means that the outcome in November will hinge, to a large extent, on who carries the Pacific Coast states, and the New England and Mid-Atlantic states.

In Washington –
Senators set for battle on jobless pay

$35-a-week proposal strongly opposed

U.S. Maritime Service seeking skilled men for officer training

Applicants must have three years of college engineering or practical sea experience

Production men eye reconversion

Opposed to WMC veto power
By Joseph Laitin, United Press staff writer


Auto industry hears rumors of mergers

Management changes also hinted

Capt. O’Sheel: Guadalcanal a mighty military base two years after first U.S. D-Day

Island now terminal for web of Army, Navy, Marine airlines
By Capt. Patrick O’Sheel, USMCR

Entertainment, G.I. style –
French ‘artists’ wow Yanks – when they fall off stage

Native talent puts on corny show; boys sit on hands for USO talent, too
By Judy Barden, North American Newspaper Alliance


Yielding Nazis get in Yanks’ way

U.S. MPs move up as front changes
By John M. Carlisle

Italian prisoners donate million man-days of work

Service units made up of anti-Fascists who volunteered to aid in war effort
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Editorial: Headed for suicide?

Editorial: For a knockout punch