America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

1512

americavotes1944

Radio probe ‘gag’ assailed by GOP

President’s ban on testimony hit

Washington (UP) –
Republican members of the House committee investigating the Federal Communications Commission today threatened to make a “cause celebre” out of the President’s refusal to permit testimony of military personnel, despite FCC Chairman James Lawrence Fly’s accusation that they had resorted to “cheap political trickery.”

Reps. Louis E. Miller (R-MO) and Richard B. Wigglesworth (R-MA) referred to a 15-month-old White House order restricting any members of the Army or Navy from giving information to the committee as “comparable to the suppression of facts surrounding responsibility for the disaster at Pearl Harbor.”

‘Gag rule’ discussed

Earlier, Mr. Miller said he had discussed the “gag rule” with other House Republicans and would make other measures to obtain military information on FCC “interference” with the war effort which he called “one of the most sordid and offensive records in the annals of government.”

The two Congressmen failed to obtain committee consent to request President Roosevelt to lift the ban now but were assured by Democratic members that it would probably be asked when the committee reconvenes, probably after the election.

Both Congressmen said the “suppression of facts” by the President “leads to the inescapable conclusion that their revelation would result in public condemnation which the administration is unwilling to face.”

Assailed by Fly

The statement was characterized by Mr. Fly, who has long been a target of committee criticism, as following “the same pattern of unfairness and cheap political trickery” he said had been established earlier.

Mr. Fly called Mr. Miller’s refusal to inquire yesterday into an undisclosed matter based on the testimony of a high-ranking Navy official a “runout.” Mr. Miller said he was abandoning the inquiry to protect the officer’s career.

1513

Socialite heiress overcome by gas

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11 girls, boys named in murder, robbery

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1514

UAW faces factional fight in election of officers

Convention rejects ‘unity’ proposal of naming three vice presidents

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Murder charge faced by Army captain

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1515

Fliers strafe rail lines on way to Berlin

56 engines wrecked, 73 tank cars fired

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1516

Poll: Roosevelt increases his vote in California as Dewey nears there

GOP candidate’s visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles may halt trend
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

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1517

americavotes1944

New Deal ‘deserts’ West, Dewey charges in Idaho

Ickes and Perkins first to be dropped if he’s elected, GOP nominee says

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey charged today that the New Deal has “deserted” the western section of the country and promised that if he is elected President the region will be represented in his Cabinet.

The GOP presidential nominee said his trip from Nebraska’s west had disclosed a “universal feeling” that this section of the country has “no one in Washington that even understands their problems.”

He added:

This part of the country holds unlimited promise and opportunity beyond belief.

I am convinced that the West is entitled to a Cabinet post. It is also entitled to have people in Washington who understand the problems of the West.

Would ‘drop’ Ickes

A reporter asked whether there was any feeling toward Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, and he replied:

At one conference I was asked to promise that if I am elected, one of my first acts would be to get rid of Ickes. And I replied, “He will be high on the list.”

A reporter interrupted to ask about Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.

“That’s why I said Ickes would be high on the list,” Mr. Dewey said. “I don’t know whether he would be first or second.”

People want voice

The Governor said there was a feeling throughout the country to let the people help solve their own problems, whereas the New Deal policy has been to make decisions “in an ivory tower” and then issue orders to the people.

He said:

The people want to share in the solving of their own problems. They want people in Washington who have some knowledge of their problems. I am entirely convinced that they should be given full representation in Washington.

Mr. Dewey was asked whether he welcomed the support of John L. Lewis.

“I think the paper said that he was not endorsing any candidate,” Mr. Dewey replied. “I can’t indulge in mind reading.”

‘Teamwork’ urged

Mr. Dewey said one of the most important things needed at Washington is “teamwork” between the executive branch and the various departments and agencies. He said he had already prepared the tentative draft of a speech on that subject to be delivered later in the campaign.

Mr. Dewey repeated his arguments that President Roosevelt’s administration has a policy of “defeatism” and “is afraid to let men out of the Army when the fighting is done.”

“We can be wholly confident in a new administration which believes in this country,” Mr. Dewey said.

Mr. Dewey was introduced on the rear platform of his special train by Idaho Governor C. A. Bottolfsen.

Dewey ignorant, Pinchot charges

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – (special)
In a statement issued through Democratic state headquarters, former Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot today charged Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, with “sheer ignorance of national affairs.”

Mr. Pinchot’s charge resulted from Mr. Dewey’s statement implying that Gen. Douglas MacArthur had been neglected by the Roosevelt administration.

Mr. Pinchot said:

Political complaints against the conduct of the war by the candidate as spokesman for a great political party in the eyes of our enemies can mean only one thing. That one thing is disunity among us. And that is Hitler’s line.

I do not, of course, charge Mr. Dewey with any deliberate desire to help Hitler. But I do charge him with unbelievable ignorance and blind carelessness and with playing politics with the war… No man who can trifle with this tremendous situation, as Mr. Dewey has done, would be anything but a liability to America if he should ever come to the White House.

Martin agrees to speak on behalf of Dewey

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Governor Edward Martin’s office said today he has accepted an invitation from the Republican National Committee headquarters to deliver speeches on behalf of the candidacy of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, GOP nominee for President.

Mr. Martin agreed to fill speaking engagements wherever he was needed, it was learned, but requested that bookings be limited, if possible, to points which would not necessitate the governor’s being away from his Capitol officers more than a day and a night for each campaign address.

1518

Wolfert: Doughboys walking on two feet battle through West Wall

Fellows carrying bayonets use mostly hand grenades to crack West Wall
By Ira Wolfert

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1519

Not beautiful, just dumb –
Strayer: This war’s Mata Haris a sad, stupid lot

Alert FBI ended their spying careers quickly
By Martha Strayer, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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1520

Allies advance within three miles of Po Valley

Greek troops battle for Rimini Airfield

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1521

americavotes1944

Racial prejudice denied by GOP

New York (UP) –
Republicans today denied that they attempted to stir racial prejudice into the campaign by criticizing the association of the Democratic Party with Sidney Hillman, president of the CIO Political Action Committee, and Communist leader Earl Browder.

Republican National Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr. said:

The attempt to make it appear that the issue of Hillman-Browder control of the New Deal is a race hatred issue is an unwarranted interpretation. It is designed to get the New Deal off the spot on which it has been placed squarely by Mr. Sidney Hillman.

Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan had charged racial prejudice on the grounds that Republican speakers constantly referred to Mr. Hillman as “foreign-born.”

1522

Editorial: What are we celebrating?

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1523

Editorial: Will Russia fight Japan?

Will Russia help us lick Japan when the time comes? The question pops up again because of Marshal Stalin’s failure to attend the Québec Conference. His letter, explaining that he was busy with the offensives against Germany, is interpreted by some as needlessly abrupt and lacking in any cordial greeting to the conference.

If there is a cooling off in the relations of the Big Three, that is big news. It is important not only to Tokyo but also to Berlin, which still hopes somehow to wangle a separate peace and thus divide the grand alliance. But we have no knowledge of a serious rift, or of any reason strong enough to cause Marshal Stalin to boycott the Québec meeting if he were free to attend.

On the contrary, Marshal Stalin should set a higher value on Allied cooperation now than ever before. It is paying off for Russia. He would have to be stupid indeed to upset it.

What he wanted most was a “second front,” by which he meant a Western European invasion. For a long time, he – or at least his propaganda agencies – seemed to doubt the often-repeated promises of the Western Allies, particularly because the invasion was not launched as early as he understood from the Molotov meeting in Washington. But since the Moscow and Tehran conferences last fall, there has been a clear agreement on the time and coordination of the western and eastern offensives. Now that the agreement is being carried out so successfully, and with such mutual profit, there is less excuse for misunderstanding.

Likewise, Marshal Stalin has received in abundant measure the American supplies and equipment needed for his summer and fall campaigns. He has spoken enthusiastically of this.

There is difference of policy between Moscow and Washington regarding Eastern Europe. The United States objects to Russia dictating territorial and governmental changes. We have the same objection to a British sphere of influence in Western Europe. Our government and people believe that such a British-Russian domination of Europe would play into the hands of defeated Germany and Fascism, and that it would produce another war. But there is nothing new about this American policy, and it has restrained neither Marshal Stalin nor Mr. Churchill.

This does not change Russia’s stake in the Far East, which is even greater than our own. Japan is a closer and worse menace to Russia than to the United States. Marshal Stalin knows that our Pacific offensive saved him from attack by Japan and allowed him to concentrate on defeating the Nazi invader. Marshal Stalin also knows that Russia, unless she joins in the defeat of Japan, will have Jess voice in the Far Eastern settlement so vital to her.

On the basis of self-interest, which has determined Marshal Stalin’s foreign policy hitherto, it is highly probable that he will join in the war against Jap aggression when Germany is defeated. For him to do so before that time would prolong the European war and sacrifice the best Siberian bases to Japan. That would help the Axis, not the Allies.

1524

Editorial: Twins in the Pacific

Gen. MacArthur says the twin landings in the Palau and Halmahera island groups are the beginning of the Philippine recovery campaign. There was never much doubt about that. Palau is 550 miles east, and Morotai at the Halmahera tip is only 250 miles from the southern Philippines.

But the value of these two new bases, when secure, will not be limited to the Philippine campaign, important as that is. They are keys to a larger Far Pacific strategy, the chief aim of which is to knock out Japan rather than take any particular territory as such.

Control of the Halmahera area can isolate enemy armies in the East Indies estimated at about 200,000 men. That will make the mopping-up operations much easier.

Palau is even more important. The Japs have used it as the administrative and strategic center of all the mandated islands. It – rather than the great Truk stronghold, as first supposed – has been the main outer enemy naval base, his “Pearl Harbor.” Unlike Truk, it cannot be bypassed safely. It must be taken and converted to American use, especially for naval purposes.

This was so obvious to the enemy that no real surprise attack on Palau was possible. Gen. MacArthur in the Halmahera drive could fool the enemy by landing on the relatively undefended Morotai Island, rather than on the larger islands of the group where the Japs expected him. As a result, his victory was swift and cheap. But there was no such soft spot in the Palau group, where the fighting is described as bitter.

The two-pronged thrust in the Southwest Pacific, timed almost to the minute, is new evidence of the high degree of cooperation achieved by Gen. MacArthur and Adm. Nimitz in an area where their commands overlap and in which each is using all types of fighting services.

Though Mindanao in the Philippines is indicated as the next step, the enemy cannot be certain, Maybe at the same time, or sooner, we shall strike north at the Bonin Islands off Japan – or even at Formosa. The Japs would like to know.

1525

americavotes1944

Editorial: Experience

A reader suggests that this is an appropriate time to reprint an editorial of four years ago, since it dealt with a theme that is likewise dominant in this political campaign. The editorial was published in The Pittsburgh Press Oct. 3, 1940 – more than a year before our country entered the war and the big spending began – under the title “Experience.” Here it is:

Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only living man who has had nearly eight years of experience as President of the United States, Therefore, we hear it argued, it is essential that he should have what no other President ever had – a third term.

This is, of course, an argument that will be even more forceful if Mr. Roosevelt, having had nearly 12 years of experience, decides to be drafted for a fourth term. But there’s no denying that, even now, Mr. Roosevelt has had vast experience, including:

  • The experience of spending more money than any other President.

  • The experience of incurring the biggest public debt in this country’s history.

  • The experience of keeping spending always ahead of income, although federal revenue has been almost trebled.

  • The experience of building the federal payroll to record size.

  • The experience of expanding bureaucracy to unprecedented proportions.

  • The experience of declaring more emergencies and exercising more power than any other peacetime President.

  • The experience of seeing new enterprise remain stagnant longer than ever before.

  • And the experience of seeing more Americans unemployed for more years than ever before.

1526

americavotes1944

Taylor: FDR and Philadelphia

By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania –
Republican state campaign planners view Philadelphia as the No. 1 battleground of the Dewey-Roosevelt campaign and a good part of their effort will be devoted to cutting down the Roosevelt majority of the last two campaigns.

Unlike Allegheny County, which gives Democrats local offices and votes Democratic in state elections, Philadelphia is Republican territory. The New Deal sweep never engulfed its city administration or its principal county offices. Philadelphia votes Republican, although by small margins, in state elections.

Of five million potential voters in Pennsylvania, about one million are in Philadelphia and any success in stemming the Roosevelt vote here will enhance the chances of the small but numerous up-state counties of producing enough Republican votes to put the slate in the Dewey column.

The city has a checkered political record. It missed the New Deal bandwagon when it started out in 1932 by giving Herbert Hoover 70,816 majority out of nearly 600,000 votes, while Allegheny County was giving Mr. Roosevelt a majority of 37,500.

City stays Republican otherwise

Philadelphia made up for it later, however, by giving Mr. Roosevelt a majority of 209,876 in 1936, when he carried the state by 663,483, and producing 177,271 votes of the 1940 Roosevelt majority in the state of 281,187.

Meanwhile, the city remained safely Republican for local offices and gave small majorities to Republican candidates for Governor in 1934 and 1938, Two years ago, it split its vote for Governor: 317,962 for Governor Martin and 317,805 for F. Clair Ross – a majority of 157 for Mr. Martin.

Philadelphia’s powerful Republican organization – fed on City Hall patronage, political favors and ample campaign funds – is still intact and unregenerate, despite its inability to stem the New Deal tide in presidential years. Even in depression years, the city administration never sponsored any WPA projects, and remained bitterly anti-New Deal.

The organization’s job will be to counteract, if possible, the demonstrated appeal of the President for the city’s huge total of industrial workers, who are willing enough to go along with the organization in off years, but swing to FDR when his name appears on the ballot.

Pew still putting up money

Against this effort will be a determined campaign by the CIO Political Action Committee to marshal its members and their one-dollar contributions to put the state’s largest city, and fattest vote source, once again in the bag for the President.

The PAC campaign is a new wrinkle for the old organization to cope with, but Republicans are confident of putting as many workers into the battle for votes as the PAC and the Democratic organization combined – and of having as much cash as both of them.

The GOP’s open-handed Joseph N. Pew Jr., oil company executive who lives in suburban Montgomery County, has contributed heavily to past campaigns and, in the last financial reports, the Republican City Committee was heavily in debt to him.

Philadelphia’s vote will be crucial in this campaign, and may decide whether pivotal Pennsylvania swings for Mr. Dewey or Mr. Roosevelt. Political campaigns here, by custom, are organization fights, and this year’s fight promises to be a stiff one.

1527

Perkins: Coal miners want more pay

By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent

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1528

Plot goes to pot and Mr. Huxley to back seat in storytelling

Reviewer thinks author no novelist
By John D. Paulus

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Paris story entertaining

Reflects bit of city in tasteful way

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1529

Hopper: Zasu Pitts considered good bet as campaign speaker for Dewey

By Hedda Hopper

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1530

New play season in doldrums

Money is plentiful but material scarce
By Howard Barnes

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1531

Ethel Barrymore enthusiastic over new play she’s rehearsing for theater guild

B. Iden Payne to direct show
By Ward Morehouse, North American Newspaper Alliance

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