America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

44_mlbplayoffs

Clutch hitter –
McQuinn beats handicaps

St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
Six weeks ago, Manager Luke Sewell, trying to win his first pennant – and incidentally the St. Louis Browns’ first American League title – was wondering whether he would have to finish out the season with Mike Chartak, a parttime outfielder, at first base.

Today, he was mighty happy that he didn’t have to. Not that he has anything against Chartak, but any manager would be glad to have George McQuinn’s flashy fielding and clutch hitting.

At that time there was doubt whether McQuinn would be able to finish out the season. He was troubled with sciatica and then came the news that his brother was missing in action. He has gone down in the Atlantic.

McQuinn rested

That news, together with sciatica, was too much for McQuinn. Sewell “rested” him for several days, using Chartak, like McQuinn a fugitive from the New York Yankee farm system, at first base.

But, as the season drew toward a close, Sewell called on McQuinn again. And he produced. In one of those four highly important games with the Yankees he hit his eleventh home run of the season and it won a game the Brownies had to win to stay in the running for the American League pennant.

They went on and won it – and today they were off to a winging start in the World Series – thanks to 33-year-old George McQuinn.

All year long McQuinn has been helping Luke’s pitchers out of touch spots with his fielding. He was his usual self in that department yesterday and for good measure, he added his bat.

Hits payoff blow

He struck the payoff blow – a home run in the rightfield pavilion. It came with Gene Moore, who had singled, on base and that made the difference between the final score of the Browns 2 and the Cards 1.

“It was a low fast one,” McQuinn said, “I didn’t hit it particularly hard, but I caught it just right.”

So did one of 33,000 fans sitting in the pavilion. The blow cost big Mort Cooper, the fastball hurler of the Redbirds will testify that McQuinn has the right idea. It cost him a two-hit ball game and the extra mileage on that second hit was the difference.

44_mlbplayoffs

Fits ‘poor man’s’ series –
Williams: Underprivileged Brownies make two hits go long way

By Joe Williams

St. Louis, Missouri –
A 33-year-old righthander, Dennis Galehouse, who has never pitched better than .500 baseball at any time since he has been in the big leagues, pitched the Browns to victory in the opening game of the poor man’s World Series. The circumstances of the pitcher’s background somehow made this a fitting start.

It was also fitting that the Browns, appearing in the series for the first time in history, and never too well-heeled in any department, made only two hits, yet these, accounting for two runs, proved sufficient to turn back their city rivals, the supposedly much more trenchant Cardinals. This was their way of showing the underprivileged can make a little go a long way.

One of these hits was a home run by George McQuinn which barely reached the rooftop in right field. Two were out at the time and Gene Moore was on first by virtue of a single. McQuinn hit the second pitch, a fast ball, letter high and, as the game was played, this proved to be the payoff. McQuinn, incidentally, is a Yankee discard and it was not surprising he applied the familiar Yankee technique.

Junior Loop jinxes Cooper

Once again Morton Cooper was the victim of an American League assault, Cooper is one of the most able pitchers the game has seen in a generation, In the National League he is feared and respected, a routine 20-game winner; but when he faces an American League entry something happens to him and generally it is not for the best. Only once has he won from the younger league. In all his other starts, in the series and the All-Star games, he has met with failure.

Even when he has all his stuff, which is considerable, Cooper manages to throw one pitch which costs him the ball game. It is usually a homerun pitch, as was the case, in yesterday’s opener. He had pitched three hitless innings and had got the first two hitters in the fourth when Moore broke the spell with a single and McQuinn followed with a homer. That was all the hitting the Browns did all afternoon.

One indiscreet, or unlucky, pitch had ruined an otherwise splendid pitching performance.

Recall ‘hitless wonders’

Cooper was taken out in the eighth for reasons of strategy, so-called, and Blix Donnelly (really, that’s what he calls himself) did not permit another Brownie to reach first base. The Browns are properly called the modern hitless wonders. A week azo they took a key game from Hank Borowy of the Yankees on two hits. They seem to have taken up where the White Sox hitless wonders of 1906 left off and it was the White Sox, as your granddad will tell you, who upended Frank Chance’s great Chicago Cubs in the series, and the Cubs were thought to tower above the White Sox in much the same way the dope describes the Browns’ situation, or did before this series started.

The Cardinals had nine men left on the bases, which is proof enough they had ample scoring possibilities. That they were unable to capitalize on these possibilities was due to the resolute and knowhow pitching of the veteran Galehouse, who was at his best in the clutches, unflustered and markedly self-reliant.

The Cardinals’ most inviting chance came in the third when Hopp and Sanders led off with singles and Musial advanced the runners via a sacrifice bunt. This brought Walker Cooper to the plate and Galehouse deliberately walked him to fill the bases. Then he fanned the long-hitting Kurowski and beguiled Litwhiler into an infield out.

Passes through trial

This was the most trying situation Galehouse faced all during the game but, once past it, he handled the power-packed Cardinals’ batting order with authority. It was the first World Series game he ever pitched, but he has been around so long he knows all the answers: which probably explains why the Browns manager, in a surprise move, handed him the all-important starting assignment.

As for the Browns, they were in the ball game for only one inning, the fourth, in which they got their two runs. At all other times, they looked completely helpless and the innocent bystander found himself wondering how they ever succeeded in winning those four straight from the Yankees. Actually, a base on balls was an explosive rally for them. Three Brownies walked and they, aside from Moore and McQuinn who made the hits, were the only ones to reach first base. They weren’t hitting any loud cuts either. Most of them rolled to the infield or fanned.

‘Press research’ studied by Dies

Owner of service hits ‘Gestapo’ tactics

Those We Love, radio favorite, to return

By popular demand is understatement*
By Si Steinhauser

americavotes1944

Wickard to speak in farm states

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard will leave today on a four-week speaking tour of 11 leading agricultural states to open formally the bid of the Democratic Party for the “traditionally” Republican farm vote.

Mr. Wickard has scheduled a series of 23 speeches between Oct. 7 and Nov. 3. His itinerary will carry him into Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and probably Pennsylvania.

americavotes1944

Radio Address by President Roosevelt
October 5, 1944, 10:05 p.m. EWT

Delivered at the White House, Washington, DC

fdr.1944

Broadcast audio:

My fellow Americans:

I am speaking to you tonight from the White House. I am speaking particularly on behalf of those Americans who, regardless of party – I hope you will remember that – very much hope that there will be recorded a large registration and a large vote this fall. I know, and many of you do, from personal experience how effective precinct workers of all parties throughout the nation can be in assuring a large vote.

We are holding a national election despite all the prophecies of some politicians and a few newspapers who have stated, time and again in the past, that it was my horrid and sinister purpose to abolish all elections and to deprive the American people of the right to vote.

These same people, caring more for material riches than human rights, try to build up bogies of dictatorship in this Republic, although they know that free elections will always protect our nation against any such possibility.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves – and the only way they could do that is by not voting at all.

The continuing health and vigor of our democratic system depends on the public spirit and devotion of its citizens which find expression in the ballot box.

Every man and every woman in this nation – regardless of party – who have the right to register and to vote, and the opportunity to register and to vote, have also the sacred obligation to register and to vote. For the free and secret ballot is the real keystone of our American Constitutional system.

The American government has survived and prospered for more than a century and a half, and it is now at the highest peak of its vitality. This is primarily because when the American people want a change of government – even when they merely want “new faces” – they can raise the old electioneering battle cry of “throw the rascals out.”

It is true that there are many undemocratic defects in voting laws in the various states, almost forty-eight different kinds of defects, and some of these produce injustices which prevent a full and free expression of public opinion.

The right to vote must be open to our citizens irrespective of race, color, or creed – without tax or artificial restriction of any kind. The sooner we get to that basis of political equality, the better it will be for the country as a whole.

Candidates in every part of the United States are now engaged in running for office.

All of us who are doing it are actuated by a normal desire to win. But, speaking personally, I should be very sorry to be elected President of the United States on a small turnout of voters. And by the same token, if I were to be defeated, I should be much happier to be defeated in a large outpouring of voters. Then there could not be any question of doubt in anybody’s mind as to which way the masses of the American people wanted this election to go.

The full and free exercise of our sacred right and duty to vote is more important in the long run than the personal hopes or ambitions of any candidate for any office in the land.

The administration which must cope with the difficult problems of winning the war, and of peace and reconstruction, should be chosen by a clear majority of all the people and not a part of the people.

In the election of 1920 – one of the most fateful elections in our history as it proved – only 49 percent of the potential voters actually voted.

Thus, more than one-half of American voters failed to do their basic duty as citizens.

We can be gratified in recent years that the percentage of potential voters in national elections who actually voted has been steadily going up, but it is a slow process.

In 1940, it was 62½ percent.

And that still is not nearly good enough.

This year, for many millions of our young men in the Armed Forces and the Merchant Marine and similar services, it will be difficult in many cases, and impossible in some cases, to register and vote.

I think the people will be able to fix the responsibility for this state of affairs, for they know that during this past year there were politicians and others who quite openly worked to restrict the use of the ballot in this election, hoping selfishly for a small vote.

It is, therefore, all the more important that we here at home must not be smackers on registration day or on Election Day.

I wish to make a special appeal to the women of the nation to exercise their right to vote. Women have taken an active part in this war in many ways – in uniform, in plants and ship yards, in offices and stores and hospitals, on farms and on railroads and buses. They have become more than ever a very integral part of our national effort.

I know how difficult it is, especially for the many millions of women now employed, to get away to register and vote. Many of them have to manage their households as well as their jobs, and a grateful nation remembers that.

But all women, whether employed directly in war jobs or not – women of all parties, and those not enrolled in any party this year have a double obligation to express by their votes what I know to be their keen interest in the affairs of Government their obligation to themselves as citizens, and their obligation to their fighting husbands, and sons, and brothers and sweethearts.

It may sound to you repetitious on my part, but it is my plain duty to reiterate to you that this war for the preservation of our civilization is not won yet.

In the war, our forces and those of our allies are steadily, relentlessly carrying the attack to the enemy.

The Allied Armies under General Eisenhower have waged during the past four months one of the most brilliant campaigns in military history – a campaign that has carried us from the beaches of Normandy and of southern France into the frontiers of Germany itself.

In the Pacific, our naval task forces and our Army forces have advanced to attack the Japanese, more than five thousand miles west of Pearl Harbor.

But German and Japanese resistance remains as determined and as fanatical as ever.

The guns of Hitler’s Gestapo are silencing those German officers who have sense enough to know that every day that the fighting continues means that much more ruin and destruction for their beaten country. We shall have to fight our way across the Rhine – we may have to fight every inch of the way to Berlin.

But we Americans and our British and Russian and French and Polish allies – in fact, all the massed forces of the United Nations – we will not stop short of our final goal.

Nor will all of our goals have been achieved when the shooting stops. We must be able to present to our returning heroes an America which is stronger and more prosperous, and more deeply devoted to the ways of democracy, than ever before.

“The land of opportunity” – that’s what our forefathers called this country. By God’s grace, it must always be the land of opportunity for the individual citizen – ever broader opportunity.

We have fought our way out of economic crisis, we are fighting our way through the bitterest of all wars, and our fighting men and women – our plain, everyday citizens – have a right to enjoy the fruits of victory.

Of course, all of us who have sons on active service overseas want to have our boys come home at the earliest possible moment consistent with our national safety. And they will come home and be returned to civilian life at the earliest possible moment consistent with our national safety.

The record is clear on this matter and dates back many months.

Bills to provide a national program for demobilization and post-war adjustment – and I take an example – were introduced by Senator George and Senator Murray last February, nearly a year ago.

This legislation, since May 20, 1944, has contained the following provision, and I quote: “The War and Navy Departments shall not retain persons in the Armed Forces for the purpose of preventing unemployment or awaiting opportunities for employment.”

And that provision was approved by the War Department and by this Administration months ago.

On June 12, the Director of War Mobilization, Justice Byrnes, made a public statement in behalf of this bill. He said:

Our fighting men are entitled to first consideration in any plan of demobilization. Their orderly release at the earliest possible moment consistent with the effective prosecution of the war, has ever been the primary consideration of both the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And on September 6, the War Department issued its plan for speedy demobilization, based on the wishes of the soldiers themselves.

Well, the George Bill has been passed by the Congress. It has been signed by me. It is now the law.

That law is there, for all Americans to read – and you do not need legal training to understand it.

It seems a pity, a deep pity, that reckless words, based on unauthoritative sources, should be used by anyone to mislead and to weaken the morale of our men on the fighting fronts and the members of their families here at home.

When our enemies are finally defeated, we all want to see an end at the earliest practicable moment to wartime restrictions and wartime controls.

Strict provisions for the ending of these inconveniences have been written into our wartime laws. It seems to me it is largely a question of knowing the truth. Those who fear that wartime measures, like price and rent control and rationing, for example, might be continued indefinitely into peacetime, ought in common decency to examine these laws. They will find that they are all temporary – to expire either at an early fixed date, or at the end of the war, or six months after the war, or even sooner if the Congress or the President so determines.

The American people do not need, and no national administration would dare to ask them, to tolerate for a minute any indefinite continuance in peacetime of the controls essential in wartime.

The power of the will of the American people expressed through the free ballot that I have been talking about is the surest protection against the weakening of our democracy by “regimentation” or by any alien doctrines.

And likewise, it is a source of regret to all decent Americans that some political propagandists are now dragging red herrings across the trail of this national election.

For example, labor-baiters, bigots, and some politicians use the term “Communism” loosely, and apply it to every progressive social measure and to the views of every foreign-born citizen with whom they disagree.

They forget that we in the United States are all descended from immigrants, all except the Indians; and there is no better proof of that fact than the heroic names on our casualty lists.

I have just been looking at a statement by a member of the Congress, Rep. Anderson, Chairman of the House Committee on Campaign Expenditures, about a document recently sent free, through the mails, by one Senator and twelve Representatives – all of them Republicans. They evidently thought highly of this document, for they had more than three million copies printed free by the Government Printing Office – requiring more than eighteen tons of scarce paper – and sent them through the mails all over the country at the taxpayers’ expense.

Now, let us look at this document to see what made it so important to thirteen Republican leaders at this stage of the war when many millions of our men are fighting for freedom.

Well, this document says that the “Red specter of Communism is stalking our country from East to West, from North to South” – the charge being that the Roosevelt administration is part of a gigantic plot to sell our democracy out to the Communists.

This form of fear propaganda is not new among rabble rousers and fomenters of class hatred, who seek to destroy democracy itself. It was used by Mussolini’s Black Shirts and by Hitler’s Brown Shirts. It has been used before in this country by the Silver Shirts and others on the lunatic fringe. But the sound and democratic instincts of the American people rebel against its use, particularly by their own Congressmen – and at the taxpayers’ expense.

I have never sought, and I do not welcome the support of any person or group committed to Communism, or Fascism, or any other foreign ideology which would undermine the American system of government, or the American system of free competitive enterprise and private property.

That does not in the least interfere with the firm and friendly relationship which this nation has in this war, and will, I hope, continue to have with the people of the Soviet Union. The kind of economy that suits the Russian people, I take it is their own affair. The American people are glad and proud to be allied with the gallant people of Russia, not only in winning this war but in laying the foundations for the world peace which I hope will follow this war – and in keeping that peace.

We have seen our civilization in deadly peril. Successfully we have met the challenge, due to the steadfastness of our allies, to the aid we were able to give to our allies, and to the unprecedented outpouring of American manpower, American productivity, and American ingenuity – and to the magnificent courage and enterprise of our fighting men and our military leadership.

What is now being won in battle must not be lost by lack of vision, or lack of knowledge, or by lack of faith, or by division among ourselves and our allies.

We must, and I hope we will, continue to be united with our allies in a powerful world organization which is ready and able to keep the peace – if necessary, by force.

To provide that assurance of international security is the policy, the effort, and the obligation of this administration.

We owe it to our posterity, we owe it to our heritage of freedom, we owe it to our God, to devote the rest of our lives and all of our capabilities to the building of a solid, durable structure of world peace.

Völkischer Beobachter (October 6, 1944)

Über Krokodilstränen und Kümmernisse hinweg –
England und USA beugen sich Moskaus Willen

Die neue Westfront

Rückhalte deutscher Abwehr
Von Hauptmann Ritter von Schramm

Im Zeichen der Verbrüderung –
Sowjetorden und Roosevelt-Büste

Genf, 5. Oktober –
Die bolschewistisch-anglo-amerikanische Verbrüderung ist erneut durch eine Reihe von Ordensverleihungen unterstrichen worden. Montgomery und einige weitere Befehlshaber erhielten hohe sowjetische Orden, desgleichen Lord Beaverbrook und der britische Industrieminister Lyttelton für die Verdienste um die Kriegslieferungen an die Sowjetunion.

Roosevelt wartete mit einem Gegengeschenk auf und ließ Stalin eine Roosevelt-Büste überreichen. Ferner wird der Nationalrat der amerikanisch-sowjetischen Freundschaft in diesem Jahre in allen Städten der USA große Freundschaftskundgebungen veranstalten.


Feindlicher Kreuzer im Pazifik gesunken

In den Gewässern westlich der Insel Peleliu sank nach einer heftigen Explosion am Nachmittag des 2. Oktober ein feindlicher Kreuzer.

Führer HQ (October 6, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

An der Westfront setzte der Feind im Raum nördlich Turnhout nach Zuführung neuer Kräfte seine Durchbruchsversuche auf Tilburg fort. Nach geringen Anfangserfolgen wurden seine Angriffsspitzen im Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen. Besonders heftige Kämpfe entwickelten sich im Raum von Wageningen, wo unsere Divisionen von Osten und Westen her zur Einengung des feindlichen Brückenkopfes zum Angriff antraten. Der Feind leistet dort erbitterten Widerstand und verstärkte seine Brückenkopfbesetzung durch Abwurf weiterer Fallschirmjäger. Heftige Kämpfe sind im Gange.

Südlich Geilenkirchen trat der Feind aus seinem Einbruchsraum erneut zum Angriff nach Osten und Nordosten an, wurde jedoch durch sofort einsetzende Gegenangriffe zum Stehen gebracht. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden bei diesen Kämpfen 40 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen.

Nördlich Nancy wurde eine feindliche Einbruchsstelle bereinigt, dabei vier Offiziere und 110 Mann gefangengenommen.

Zwischen Épinal und Lure versuchte der Gegner auf breiter Front in unsere Stellungen auf den Vorbergen der Westvogesen einzudringen. Seine starken Angriffe wurden jedoch überall, zum Teil im Gegenangriff, zerschlagen oder aufgefangen.

Der Großraum von London lag wieder unter dem Feuer unserer „V1.“

In Mittelitalien wiederholte der Feind unter starkem Artillerieeinsatz seine Versuche, beiderseits der Straße nach Bologna auf breiter Front unsere Gebirgsstellungen zu durchstoßen, um in die Po-Ebene einzubrechen. In schweren Kämpfen wurden die feindlichen Angriffe, die in verschiedenen Abschnitten mehrmals wiederholt wurden, zerschlagen. Im adriatischen Küstenabschnitt scheiterten ebenfalls alle feindlichen Vorstöße.

Auf dem Balkan dauern die schweren Kämpfe an den bisherigen Brennpunkten südlich des Eisernen Tores und im Raum von Belgrad weiter an.

Im Raum westlich Arad gewannen die Gegenangriffe deutscher und ungarischer Verbände mit Unterstützung unserer Schlachtflieger weiter Boden. An der übrigen Front des ungarisch-rumänischen Grenzgebietes, südwestlich Großwardein und westlich Torenburg wurden feindliche Angriffe abgewiesen.

In den Waldkarpaten haben die sowjetischen Großangriffe gestern an Heftigkeit nachgelassen. Die an zahlreichen Stellen bei starkem Regen und ersten Schneefällen geführten schwächeren Angriffe blieben erfolglos.

Südlich Rozan griffen die Bolschewisten aus ihrem Brückenkopf heraus an. Sie wurden abgewiesen, örtliche Einbruchsstellen im Gegenangriff abgeriegelt. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden bei den Kämpfen am Narew insgesamt 78 feindliche Panzer vernichtet. Südwestlich und nordwestlich Schaulen traten die Sowjets mit starken Kräften unter Einsatz zahlreicher Panzer und Schlachtflieger zum Großangriff an. Harte Kämpfe sind hier im Gange.

Unsere Besatzung von Ösel steht im Nordostteil der Insel in heftigen Kämpfen mit gelandetem Feind.

In der Ägäis versenkten leichte deutsche Seestreitkräfte ein britisches Kanonenboot und nahmen Teile seiner Besatzung gefangen.

Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber griffen gestern Münster und Köln an und richteten weitere Angriffe gegen Wilhelmshaven, Dortmund, Koblenz und Rheine.

In der vergangenen Nacht war das Stadtgebiet von Saarbrücken das Ziel des britischen Bombenterrors. Einzelne Flugzeuge warfen Bomben auf Berlin. Flakartillerie und Luftwaffe schoss 19 Flugzeuge, darunter 14 viermotorige Bomber, ab.


An den Pässen der Ostbeskiden haben sich Oberleutnant Schupfen Bataillonsführer, und Oberleutnant Möhrle, Kompanieführer in einem Jägerregiment, durch hervorragende Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet.

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (October 6, 1944)

FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
061100A October

TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR (Pass to WND)

TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(2) FIRST US ARMY GP
(3) ADV HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) FWD ECH (MAIN) 12 ARMY GP
(5) AEAF
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) ETOUSA
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM Z APO 871
(18) SHAEF MAIN
(REF NO.)
NONE

(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR

Communiqué No. 181

Allied troops have crossed the Dutch frontier north of Antwerp in the neighborhood of Putte. we have continued to make progress north of Baarlé-Nassau and Poppel. Gains made along the Hilvarenbeek road have brought us within three miles of Tilburg.

Stubborn German resistance from strong points in impeding our forces in the area of Overloon. Two enemy counterattacks southwest of the town were contained.

Fighters and fighter-bombers and a small force of medium bombers, operating in close support of our ground forces in Holland attacked enemy troops and strongpoints and destroyed a number of locomotives, railway trucks and barges in Holland and Germany. According to reports so far received, six enemy aircraft were destroyed in the air.

South of Aachen, patrol activity continues along the front, and considerable enemy artillery fire has been falling in and around Monschau.

Our troops fighting in Fort Driant have been mortared and shelled by the enemy. Fighting has been in progress near Sivry, north of Nancy, where earlier, an enemy counterattack was repulsed.

In support of our troops near Nancy, fighter-bombers attacked troops and fortified buildings. Other fighter bombers hit the railway station at Sarrebourg, destroyed a number of motor vehicles in the same area and struck at barges and canal installations on the Marne-Rhine Canal east of Nancy.

Heavy bombers in very great strength, strongly escorted by fighters, bombed railway yards at Köln and Rheine and German Luftwaffe installations at Handorf, Lippstadt, Paderborn and Münster-Loddenheide. The escorting fighters destroyed 15 enemy aircraft on the ground and one in the air, and strafed locomotives and goods trucks. Thirteen bombers and five fighters are missing.

Wilhelmshaven was attacked by a strong force of heavy bombers, with fighter cover. One bomber is missing.

Nineteen thousand civilians have been evacuated from Dunkerque under a truce arranged for that purpose.

COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S

THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/

Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others

ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section

NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA Ext. 9

AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/

The Pittsburgh Press (October 6, 1944)

BERLIN HIT IN 2,200-PLANE ATTACK
U.S. bombers blast 200-mile strip of Reich

Capital raided during noon hour, Nazis say

First Army opens new drive; Yanks gain in forest battle

Americans push mile from deepest wedge in Reich near Stolberg
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Germans prepare to flood 46 percent of Holland

Existence of nation at stake, exiled Dutch officials say, if sea covers country
By Edward P. Morgan

americavotes1944

Gracie Allen Reporting

By Gracie Allen

Hollywood, California –
Well, that tip I gave you on the World Series was right. St. Louis is winning every game.

Now I’ve decided to figure out other winners for you. So far, I’m not doing so well. I went out and took a poll on a street corner yesterday morning. Ten people wanted Roosevelt, 10 wanted Dewey and 52 wanted butter.

Lots of people have written in asking me what man I’m going to support in November. Well, it’ll be the same man I’ve always supported – the man I’m married to, George Burns.

Of course, I don’t really support George. He works hard and brings him more bacon than I do. we have a lady butcher and it’s easier for him to get it.

americavotes1944

Help of Reds repudiated by Roosevelt

President assails ‘loose talk’ of foes
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
President Roosevelt has repudiated Communist support in his reelection campaign, thereby pointing this country toward more embittered dispute over the political affiliations of many of his left-wing adherents.

In a broadcast directed specifically to thousands of Democratic Party workers gathered in meetings throughout the nation, the President last night defied as Hitleresque and “loose” use of the term Communism by “labor baiters, bigots and some politicians.”

But he also repudiated American Communists, who are among his acute campaign supporters.

‘Support not welcome’

He said:

I have never sought and I do not welcome the support of any person or group committed to Communism, or Fascism, or any other foreign ideology which would undermine the American system of government or the American system of free competitive enterprise and private property.

That repudiation came within a week of an address in New York City in which Earl Browder, president of the Communist Political Association, said:

American Communists, even as our great Communist forebears in 1860 and 1864 supported Abraham Lincoln, will in 1944 support Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President of the United States.

GOP charges answered

Just where the Communists stand as a result of the President’s repudiation was not immediately evident.

Mr. Roosevelt’s repudiation of Browder’s support was in reply to Republican charges which he interpreted as “being that the Roosevelt administration is part of a gigantic plot to sell our democracy out to the Communists.”

He linked his repudiation of the American Reds with a tribute to “our Russian allies” and a pledge that his administration would participate with them after the war in a strong organization to maintain peace – “if necessary, by force.”

Foes challenged

In spurning the Communists of this country, the President challenged those who apply the term Communism or Communist to “every progressive social measure and to the views of every foreign-born citizen with whom they disagree.”

Sidney Hillman, head of the CIO’s Political Action Committee, has been the most frequently assailed on that score among Mr. Roosevelt’s 1944 supporters and the firing is likely to continue against him and his associates.

Mr. Roosevelt emphasized that his repudiation of American Communists “does not in the least interfere with the firm and friendly relationship which this nation has in this war, and will I hope, continue to have with the Soviet Union.”

He continued:

The kind of economy that suits the Russian people is their own affair. The American people are glad and proud to be allied with the gallant people of Russia, not only in winning the war but in laying the foundation for the world peace which will follow – and in keeping that peace.

Raps Republicans

Mr. Roosevelt assailed Republicans for having distributed, under Congressional frank, more than three million copies of a speech made by Rep. Fred E. Busbey (R-IL) attacking the PAC.

Without mentioning Mr. Busbey or PAC, he called on his audience to examine the document which was mailed out by “one Senator and twelve Representatives – all of them Republicans… at the taxpayers’ expense.”

He said:

Well, this document says that the “red specter of Communism is stalking our country from East to West, from North to South” – the charge being that the Roosevelt administration is part of a gigantic plot to sell democracy out to the Communists.

‘Fear propaganda’

He called the document a “form of fear propaganda [which] is not new among rabble-rousers and fomenters of class hatred – who seek to destroy democracy itself.”

He said:

It was used by Mussolini’s Black Shirts and by Hitler’s Brown Shirts. It has been used before in this country by the Silver Shirts and others on the lunatic fringe.

The President ended his speech on that note, saying:

We must and we will continue to be united with our allies in a powerful world organization which is ready and able to keep the peace – if necessary, by force.

To provide that assurance of international security is the policy, the effort and the obligation of this administration.

Vote plea made

Although the broadcast from the White House was especially for Democratic Party workers, the President made an urgent plea to all qualified persons to register and vote, reminding that it is not only a right and duty but a sacred obligation.

Win or lose, Mr. Roosevelt said, he would prefer the outcome to be revealed in a flood tide of ballots rather than with more than half the electorate failing to vote as in 1920 or with one-third being remiss as in 1940.

Soldier vote discussed

Turning then to the political infighting he enjoys, Mr. Roosevelt implied that the Republicans had conspired to make it difficult or impossible for servicemen and women and other absentee voters to participate in this year’s election.

Mr. Roosevelt remarked that there are many undemocratic defects in our ordinary voting laws and made a powerful one-paragraph appeal for Negro support by declaring:

The right to vote must be open to our citizens irrespective of race, color or creed – without tax or artificial restriction of any kind. The sooner we get to that basis of political equality, the better it will be for the country as a whole.

War still to be won

He warned that the war is not yet won, but that German and Japanese resistance remains as “determined and fanatical as ever.”

He said:

We shall have to fight our way across the Rhine – we may have to fight every inch of the way to Berlin. But we Americans and our British and Russian and French and Polish allies – all the massed forces of the United Nations – will not stop short of our final goal.

But the controversial campaign subjects with which Mr. Roosevelt dealt in most detail were Communism and the Republican charge that the administration contemplates keeping men in the armed services until there are jobs for them outside.

Promising that servicemen “will come home and be returned to civilian life at the earliest possible moment consistent with our national safety,” the President accused Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, with use of “reckless words” in implying to the contrary.

americavotes1944

Poll: Roosevelt and Dewey neck and neck in poll of civilians

President leads with 51 percent; service vote may determine result of election
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Gallup Poll has surveyed civilian opinion on the election only. The law prohibits a poll of the Armed Forces. In many states, especially Pennsylvania, thousands of servicemen will vote. The service vote, in a close election, may easily determine the final result. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that this is a civilian poll only.

As the presidential race enters the homestretch, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas E. Dewey are running virtually neck-and-neck in popular votes among civilians, with the President holding a slight advantage.

Latest returns in the Institute’s continuous nationwide polling show that, on the basis of an estimated turnout of 39,500,000 civilian voters in November, the present standing of the candidates is:

Roosevelt 51%
Dewey 49%

Translated into millions of votes, using 39,500,000 as a preliminary estimate of turnout, the above percentages, excluding minor parties, would give Mr. Roosevelt approximately 20,100,000 votes at this time, to 19,400,000 for Mr. Dewey – which would be one of the closest presidential elections in history.

Balloting in the survey began at the time Governor Dewey started his Western tour early in September, and continued up to the first part of this week.

**Most of the returns were in, however, before President Roosevelt’s address to the teamsters Union or Governor Dewey’s reply at Oklahoma City. Hence, today’s figure reflect only in party that colorful exchange of campaign blows between the two candidates.

Future reports based on balloting now in progress will show the full effect of the two speeches.

Today’s survey figures must be interpreted in the light of a three to four percent normal error to which all polling operations are subject. In any election race as close as this may be, the normal error in the poll means that either candidate could win, with the odds at the moment slightly in favor of Mr. Roosevelt.

A second factor to be taken into account is that the present poll results do not include any soldier votes.

The size of the vote in the Armed Forces cannot be estimated with any degree of reliability at this stage of the campaign, nor is the percentage division of political sentiment among the servicemen known.

The present Democratic figure of 51 percent means a net defection from Mr. Roosevelt of four percentage points since the 1940 election. At that time, he polled 55 percent against Wendell Willkie.

Other elections recalled

The trend of sentiment in the past three presidential elections follows:

Roosevelt Republicans
1932 59% 41%
1936 62.5% 37.5%
1940 55% 45%
TOTAL 51% 49%

The four-point defection since 1940 is not as large as the loss between 1936 and 1940, which was 7.5. But the vulnerability of the President’s position lies in the fact that defections since 1940 bring him perilously close to the 50-50 line.

In previous elections, it has usually been necessary for the Democratic candidate to poll around 52 percent of the popular vote in order to have enough electoral votes to win.

In 1940, for example, the Democrats would probably not have won in the Electoral College if they had polled the same percentage of popular votes as they have today – 51 percent.

But with present patterns of political sentiment and redistribution of electoral votes after the 1940 census, the Democrats can come much closer to the 50-50 line and still win.

americavotes1944

Deals in Philly endanger Dewey

Machine’s concern is for city jobs
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

NOTE: Robert Taylor, Washington correspondent for the Press and an experienced observer of Pennsylvania politics, is on a trip through the state sounding out political sentiment. This is the second of the series he is writing.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania –
Philadelphia has a full-time, professional Republican political organization, able to muster 25,000 workers in elections, and its habit of making political “deals” may cost Governor Thomas E. Dewey a chance to get Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes.

“Dealing” in Philadelphia results from the fact that, despite a preponderance of Republicans in the city’s total registration of more than a million, the organization can’t hold voters in line to translate its registration strength into ballot majorities.

Accordingly, the GOP division leaders, seeking to hold the most important offices for the organization – the city offices controlling 20,000 political jobs – make bargains with the voters.

City jobs chief issue

The bargain runs something like this: “Vote for us for city offices and you can vote for whoever you want for President.” Or, “Vote for whoever you want for President, but go along with us for the other offices.”

There are indications that this year’s elections here are being held in the shadow of last year’s deals, when the Republicans, holding a majority of 226,000 in registrations, elected Mayor Bernard Samuel over Democrat William C. Bullitt by a majority of less than 65,000.

The Philadelphia Republican organization’s last line of defense against the New Deal is the city hall payroll and its firm policy is to hold on to that payroll at all costs, even if it means sacrificing party nominees for other jobs.

Made deal to win

Many voters and some division leaders last year were told that if they brought in their votes and districts for Mayor Samuel, they could have a free hand in voting for President. Republican leaders would have been satisfied with a 20,000-vote victory and were jubilant over their majority of nearly 65,000.

By contrast, in the 1942 election for Governor, when Republicans had registration majority of 204,000, Governor Martin carried the city by 157 votes – 317,962 for Mr. Martin to 317,805 for his Democratic opponent, F. Clair Ross.

Philadelphia gave President Roosevelt a majority of 209,876 in 1936, and a lead of 177,271 in 1940. Sample polls and other estimates of voting sentiment indicate that his majority this year will range upward from 140,000. These are based on the situation as of today.

The Gallup Poll’s estimate of 51 percent of Pennsylvania voters favoring President Roosevelt indicates that the largest part of Mr. Roosevelt’s majority will have to be obtained from Philadelphia, which, with Allegheny County, produced his 1940 state majority.

Thus, any large-scale releasing of voters, on the supposition that Pennsylvania is bound to go for President Roosevelt, can sacrifice Mr. Dewey’s chances to local political advantage.

Some Democratic district workers have reported that Republican organization workers now are asking voters to support Republican nominees for Congressional and legislative posts and offering, in return, not to complain if a registered Republican votes for Mr. Roosevelt.

Republican city leaders, however, maintain that the pressure is on in this election, and none of the 1,335 division leaders will be excused from his responsibility for carrying his district for every party nominee.

I DARE SAY —
Al Smith is dead

By Florence Fisher Parry

Socialite denies killing young farm boy-protégé

California matron also says no ‘improper relations’ existed between them