Roosevelt speaks to nation tonight
First ‘political talk’ to be on air at 9:30
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt tonight will make his first avowedly political appeal for reelection to a fourth term in a speech to the AFL Teamsters Union that was expected to challenge what he considers Republican campaign “misrepresentations.”
Mr. Roosevelt speaks over nationwide (NBC and CBS) radio facilities from the banquet hall of Washington’s Statler Hotel where more than 700 leaders of the AFL union will gather at the call of their president, Daniel J. Tobin.
Mr. Roosevelt’s address will be broadcast at 9:30 p.m. ET over KDKA and WJAS.
This will be Mr. Roosevelt’s first self-labeled “political speech,” and the radio time will be paid for by the Democratic National Committee.
To refute charges
In view of the manner in which Mr. Roosevelt accepted fourth-term renomination, his address was expected to be aimed primarily at refuting the accumulating charges brought against his administration by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican presidential candidate, and other leading Republican figures.
When the President accepted the nomination on July 20, he said:
I shall not campaign, in the usual sense, for the office. In these days of tragic sorrow, I do not consider it fitting. Besides, in these days of global warfare, I shall not be able to find the time to report to the people about matters of concern to them and especially to correct any misrepresentations.
Next speech Oct. 5
The President’s next political speech is set for Oct. 5 when he will speak to Democratic Party workers through the country in another radio address.
Very few top-strata government leaders such as Cabinet members will be at the dinner tonight. Most of the official guests will be heads of government agencies with which the union has had wartime dealings – J. A. Krug (acting War Production Board chairman), Manpower Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, and War Labor Board Chairman William H. Davis.
Guests from the ranks of labor will include AFL President William Green, as well as representatives of several firms holding contracts with the union.