America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

2709

Führer HQ (October 13, 1944)

Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht

Bei zunehmender feindlicher Fliegertätigkeit hielten unsere Truppen weiteren Angriffen der Kanadier aus ihrem Landekopf südöstlich Breskens stand. In Holland wurden von der Scheldemündung bis an die Maas örtliche Angriffe des Feindes abgewiesen. In der Schlacht um Aachen setzten die Amerikaner gestern vor allem starke Verbände ihrer Luftwaffe ein. In heftigen Luftkämpfen schossen unsere Jäger acht feindliche Flugzeuge ab. Panzer- und Infanterieangriffe am Ostrand der Stadt brachen unter hohen blutigen Verlusten für den Feind zusammen. Eigene Angriffsgruppen drückten sowohl nördlich wie nordöstlich Aachen den Gegner zurück.

Die Amerikaner und ihre französischen Hilfstruppen rannten beiderseits Remiremont wiederum gegen unsere Bergstellungen an. Nach heftigen Kämpfen konnten sie sich in den Besitz einer Höhe und einiger Waldstücke setzen.

Das „V1“- Feuer auf London hält an.

Nach den vergeblichen Durchbruchsversuchen auf breiter Front fasst der Gegner nunmehr in den etruskischen Bergen und an der adriatischen Küste seine Kräfte unter hohem Materialeinsatz noch stärker zusammen. Trotzdem wurde der angreifende Feind auch gestern überall abgewiesen. Nur in einem schmalen Abschnitt konnte er wenige hundert Meter Vordringen. An der ligurischen Küste führte der Gegner eine Reihe von vergeblichen Vorstößen.

Auf dem Balkan kam es zu Kämpfen mit bulgarischen Verbänden im Raum östlich und südöstlich Nisch. An der unteren Morawa sind südöstlich Belgrad Kämpfe mit den über den Fluss vorgegangenen sowjetischen Verbänden im Gange.

Auf dem Westufer der oberen Theiß warfen deutsche und ungarische Truppen die Sowjets an mehreren Stellen im Gegenangriff zurück. Im Raum von Debrecen und Großwardein hat sich die Schlacht zu noch größerer Heftigkeit gesteigert. 70 feindliche Panzer wurden dabei gestern vernichtet. Unsere Schlachtflieger zerstörten in diesem Raum zahlreiche Kolonnen der Bolschewisten.

In den Ostbeskiden nahm der Feind nach Zuführung neuer Kräfte seine Angriffe gegen die Passstraßen wieder auf, ohne Fortschritte zu machen.

Unter Einsatz frischer Divisionen rannten die Sowjets auch nördlich Warschau von neuem gegen unsere Stellungen an. Die Mehrzahl der Angriffe brach bereits im Artilleriefeuer zusammen; alle anderen wurden in Nahkämpfen zerschlagen.

Bei Rozan konnte der Feind infolge unserer zähen Abwehr nur unter hohen blutigen Verlusten geringen Geländegewinn erkämpfen. Im Gebiet der unteren Memel scheiterten die mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften fortgesetzten Angriffe der Sowjets an dem hartnäckigen Widerstand unserer Truppen. Die Besatzung von Memel schoss bei den erfolgreichen Abwehrkämpfen am 11. Oktober 44 Panzer ab.

Südöstlich Libau, bei Riga und auf der Halbinsel Sworbe führten die Sowjets vergebliche Angriffe und verloren dabei 78 Panzer. Ein erneuter Landungsversuch auf Sworbe schlug fehl. Zahlreiche Landungsboote wurden vernichtet und mehrere hundert Gefangene eingebracht.

Sowjetische Flugzeuge griffen in der Ostsee zwei deutsche Lazarettschiffe an und beschädigten eines davon durch Bombentreffer.

In Mittelfinnland verlaufen unsere Bewegungen befehlsgemäß. An der Eismeerfront schlugen die auf den Brückenkopf Petsamo zurückgenommenen Truppen alle Angriffe des nachdrängenden Feindes ab.

Vor der nordnorwegischen Küste versenkten Sicherungsfahrzeuge eines deutschen Geleits zwei sowjetische Schnellboote.

Bei Tage griffen nordamerikanische und britische Terrorbomber Osnabrück, Bremen sowie Orte im Rheinland und in Westfalen an. Tiefflieger fügten durch Bombenabwurf und Bordwaffenbeschuß auf Ortschaften und Straßen in Süd- und Südwestdeutschland der Zivilbevölkerung Verluste zu. Britische Flugzeuge warfen in der vergangenen Nacht Bomben auf Hamburg. Die Anglo-Amerikaner verloren gestern 44 Flugzeuge, darunter 12 viermotorige Bomber.

In den zehntägigen harten Kämpfen im Wald von Parroy hat sich die durch andere Einheiten verstärkte 15. Panzergrenadierdivision unter Führung ihres Kommandeurs Generalleutnant Rodt durch besondere Standhaftigkeit und zähen Abwehrwillen bewährt und in schwierigem, unübersichtlichem Gelände dem Gegner hohe blutige Verluste beigebracht.

Bei den Kämpfen in Ostserbien hat sich das zweite Regiment der Panzergrenadierdivision „Brandenburg“ ausgezeichnet.

2710

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (October 13, 1944)

FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD

ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section

DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
131100A 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. 188

Further reinforcements have been landed on the south shore of the Scheldt Estuary east of Breskens.

In the Sint-Lenaarts Canal bridgehead, the village of Biezen was cleared of the enemy. Heavy fighting continues in both areas.

Near Antwerp, and enemy counterattack was repulsed.

Fighters and fighter-bombers continued to support our ground forces in the Breskens area. Troops and strongpoints were hit. Fortified positions at Oostburg, Sluis and Schoondijke were again attacked by rocket-firing fighters. Heavy bombers struck at gun emplacements at Fort Frederik Hendrik. Batteries north of Knokke were bombed, without loss, by medium bombers.

Other fighters and fighter-bombers provided support for our troops near Arnhem and Nijmegen and attacked transportation targets in the Amersfoort and Apeldoorn areas and elsewhere in Holland.

On the east side of the Dutch salient, Allied troops have retaken Overloon. Medium and light bombers hit road junctions at Venray, south of Overloon.

In Germany, Aachen was dive-bombed and strafed yesterday by hundreds of fighter-bombers.

Other fighter-bombers attacked tanks east of Aachen. Enemy fighters came up to give battle over the city. Twelve were shot down and others damaged for the loss of four of our aircraft.

Northeast of Aachen, a heavy enemy counterattack, with infantry and tanks, has been launched in the Bardenberg area. Earlier, counterattacks from the east in the vicinity of Verlautenheide and Haaren were repulsed by our artillery.

Fighting is still in progress at Haaren and Würselen, where an enemy pocket has been cleaned up.

Air attacks were made during Wednesday night on our troops in the areas of Schaufenberg and Siersdorf, east of Alsdorf, and increased artillery fire has been encountered in the area southeast of Geilenkirchen.

Four miles east of Stolberg, our forces have advanced slightly against heavy enemy resistance.

Further south, in the Hürtgen sector, we reached Vossenack, but were pushed back slightly by a counterattack.

Striking at communications in the Aachen sector, medium and light bombers, with fighter escort, bombed a railway bridge across the Erft River at Grevenbroich and the towns of Aldenhoven and Langerwehe. At Ahrweiler also, a rail bridge was bombed.

South of Monschau, patrol activity continues and our troops are encountering sporadic artillery and mortar fire.

Down south, near Nancy, fighter-bombers, in advance our infantry, dropped fragmentation bombs in wooded country.

East of Lunéville, our patrols have advanced to the eastern edge of the Forêt de Parroy and the town of Parroy has been cleared of enemy. Local counterattacks have been met near Coincourt.

In the Épinal–Belfort sector, our troops have made substantial gains over rugged country in the bend of the Moselotte River, north of Le Thillot. Several villages have been taken. Heavy enemy counterattacks were repulsed in this area as well as in the vicinity of Le Thillot where our positions were improved.

Elsewhere in the Vosges foothills, activity was limited mostly to artillery exchanges and patrolling.

Strong forces of heavy bombers, with fighter escort, attacked an aircraft component factory at Bremen and other targets in northwest Germany. Other escorted heavy bombers struck at the synthetic oil plant at Wanne-Eickel. Medium and light bombers attacked also targets in Henningen.

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/
2711

U.S. Navy Department (October 13, 1944)

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 150

Carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet fast carrier task force striking Formosa on October 11 (West Longitude Date) shot 124 enemy aircraft out of the air and did heavy damage to enemy shipping and shore defense works. Preliminary pilot reports and photographs show that 97 enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Initial reports indicate the following damage to enemy shipping:

SHIPS SUNK:

  • Large cargo ships: 2
  • Medium cargo ships: 2
  • Small cargo ships: 12

SHIPS DAMAGED:

  • Large cargo ships: 2
  • Medium cargo ships: 7
  • Small cargo ships: 10

In addition to the foregoing, extensive damage was done to hangars, buildings, oil dumps, warehouses, docks and industrial establishments at Einansho, Okayama, Tamsui, Heito, Reigaryo and Taichu. Our losses were 22 aircraft. There was no damage to our surface ships.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 151

During the late evening of October 11 and night of October 11‑12 following the first day of its attack on Formosa, small groups of enemy aircraft attacked one of our fast carrier task forces operating in the approaches to the Japanese positions in Formosa and the Ryukyus, and repeatedly attempted to torpedo or bomb the carriers or supporting ships in the force. Night fighters sent up by our carriers shot down three fighters in the early evening, and later eight enemy aircraft were sent down in flames by ships’ anti-aircraft fire.

During the day of October 12, Formosa and the Pescadores were again brought under attack by fast carrier task forces, and heavy damage was done to the enemy air force and its bases, to shipping, port facilities, and shore installations.

A preliminary resume of damage inflicted upon the Japanese in the two-day strike which began before dawn on October 11, shows the following totals:

ENEMY AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN: 221.
ENEMY AIRCRAFT DESTROYED ON THE GROUND: 175.

SHIPS SUNK:

  • 2 large cargo ships
  • 4 medium cargo ships
  • 9 small cargo ships
  • 12 coastal cargo ships

PROBABLY SUNK:

  • 1 large cargo ship
  • 3 medium cargo ships
  • 3 small cargo ships
  • 1 oil tanker
  • 5 coastal cargo ships
  • 1 minesweeper

DAMAGED:

  • 6 medium cargo ships
  • 15 small cargo ships
  • 1 large troop transport

In addition to the foregoing 37 small craft were sunk or damaged. We lost 45 planes in the two‑day attack. Reports are not yet available as to flight personnel rescued.

CINCPAC Communiqué No. 152

More complete reports of the strike made by carrier‑based aircraft of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on October 9 (West Longitude Date) against the Okinawa Islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago indicate that the following dam­age was inflicted upon the enemy (the following figures are a revision of those previously announced in USPACPOA Communiqué No. 146, and do not represent figures on the recent Luzon and Formosa strikes).

SUNK:

  • 1 destroyer escort
  • 4 small submarines
  • 14 cargo ships
  • 1 submarine tender
  • 1 oiler
  • 25 small ships
  • 41 barges and small craft

PROBABLY SUNK:

  • 10 small ships
  • 1 minesweeper
  • 9 small craft

DAMAGED:

  • 8 cargo ships
  • 1 medium landing ship
  • 1 light minelayer
  • 10 small ships
  • Numerous sampans, luggers and barges

AIRCRAFT DESTROYED:

  • 23 shot down in the air
  • 59 destroyed on the ground

AIRCRAFT DAMAGED: 37 damaged on the ground

INSTALLATIONS DESTROYED OR DAMAGED:

  • 1 ammunition dump
  • 3 fuel dumps
  • 3 hangars
  • 2 lighthouses
  • 1 factory
  • Many barracks, buildings, warehouses, etc.

In addition on Yama Island in the Harbor of Naha on the Island of Okinawa and also the North shore of the Harbor of Naha were devastated by explosions and fire.

UNITED STATES LOSSES:
Our own losses were relatively light: 8 planes in combat, 5 pilots and 3 aircrewmen.

In the attack on Luzon Island on October 10, more complete reports indi­cate that numerous buildings were set afire in the region of Aparri, on the Northern Coast, and that 10 to 15 enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. There was no enemy airborne opposition.

Organized resistance in the Southern Palau Islands ceased on October 12, with mopping up operations continuing on Peleliu and Angaur Islands. Small pockets of enemy resistance on both of these islands have been further reduced by United States troops.

Corsair fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing continued attacks against shipping and enemy installations on Babelthuap Island, sinking or damaging 11 barges in the Ngatpang River; and sinking or damaging 17 barges, 2 small boats and 8 motor launches off the west and east coasts of the Island. In addition, boathouses at Arumonogui Point and Gamilangel Bay were damaged and a locomotive near the villages of Ngardmau was strafed and bombed. One of the Corsair pilots was forced to bail out of his plane but wits rescued later.

Liberators of the 7th Air Force bombed enemy installations on Yap Island on October 12, encountering no anti-aircraft fire.

Truk was also bombed on the night of October 11, by another group of 7th Air Force Liberators.

Enemy‑held positions in the Marshall Islands were bombed on October 11.

2712

The Pittsburgh Press (October 13, 1944)

396 JAP PLANES BLASTED
63 ships hit in 2-day blow at Formosa

Attacks cost U.S. 45 aircraft
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

…

2713

Aachen Nazis weakening as Yanks gain

Germans mass tanks for counter-push
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer

…

2714

americavotes1944

PAC discovers dollars are hard to get

Heads report interest but little cash
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania –
The Pennsylvania Citizens Political Action Committee has learned one of the primary lessons of politics: It’s hard to get campaign money, even from your own members and even at the modest rate of a dollar per head.

The pro-Roosevelt PAC several months ago divulged a simple plan to raise a war chest of $5 million in the nation and some $400,000 in Pennsylvania by tapping each CIO member for a dollar.

Today, however, PAC heads ruefully admitted that fundraising isn’t as easy as it sounds, and that something will have to be done to fill the coffers of the new campaign organization before Election Day.

Interest, but little cash

PAC chairmen representing the state’s principal counties verified the lack of cash in a meeting here yesterday, held to receive reports on the campaign to date.

One said collections were “difficult.” Another said union members are interested and active in the campaign, but not to the extent of giving a dollar. Others reported that, although some local unions contributed handsomely, in most places the “Buck for Roosevelt” plan wasn’t going well.

One delegate said perhaps their wives gave union members only a dollar a week out of the paycheck. Miss Connie Anderson, chairman of the women’s division of PAC, suggested that if the men paid more attention to the women, they might get two dollars a week.

Collections ‘look bad’

No collection totals were announced, but Joseph A. Donoghue, chairman of the PCPAC, told the meeting “the raising of funds looks bad.”

He warned:

Every effort will have to be made by the county committees to raise money. If we don’t have some money to spend on Election Day, the workers will feel they are being let down.

Mr. Donoghue added, however, that the PAC’s principal contribution to the campaign is the work of men and women, and not money.

He told the PAC chairmen he had discussed campaign plans with Sidney Hillman, national chairman of the PAC, and had been directed to coordinate all PAC campaign activity with that of the Democratic organization.

Results of the campaign to get voters registered, he said, had contributed to what is apparently a greater voter registration than that of 1940 – the all-time peak of vote registrations in Pennsylvania – and the PAC’s job now was in the last phase of getting out the vote.

He said:

We want to work with the Democratic organization, and fill in the weak spots where we’re needed. We can get watchers’ certificates only through the Democratic organization, and we want to coordinate our efforts and see that the polls are manned.

He suggested that every local or shop unit arrange with its employer for time off to vote on Election Day, preferably in the early morning, to help the morale of their own poll workers and clear the polls for the heavy vote later in the day.

Local union offices should be closed on Election Day, he advised, so their personnel can work on the election and – if finances permit – every available piece of sound equipment should be obtained for last-minute appeals to “get out and vote” in industrial sections.

Big vote favors Roosevelt

He said:

The national and state offices of the PAC will help in every way possible to assure the victory of liberalism over the reactionaries of the Republican Party. We know the wealthy backers of Dewey are praying for a small vote – the smaller, the more chance they have of occupying the White House.

All indications now are that Mr. Roosevelt will be reelected. Shrewd politicians predict that if 45 million vote, FDR will go in. But if only 40 million vote, the election will be close.

We don’t intend to let apathy or overconfidence lose the fight. We’ll take nothing for granted until every eligible voter casts his ballot – and then we’ll know that the forces of reaction have been defeated.

2715

americavotes1944

Roosevelt talks about making more speeches

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt told his news conference today that he is talking about plans for additional speeches beyond the Foreign Policy Association address he has scheduled for Oct. 21 in New York.

Asked whether he planned any speeches beyond the Oct. 21 date, the President said it depended on what the questioner meant by plans, but that he was talking about it.

He added that when the decision is made it probably will be announced locally or through the Democratic National Committee rather than in a White House news conference.

Actually, he said, he could not get frightfully interested in the matter.

President informed on Moscow talks

Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt said today he was being kept abreast of the Moscow talks between Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but that it was silly to assume that Churchill was dealing with Stalin for both the United States and Britain.

Asked whether there was any prospect of his meeting with Stalin and Churchill this year, Mr. Roosevelt said he did not know. This, he added, was literally true.

He said dispatches on the current Moscow talks caused him to be late for his news conference this morning. It was nearly an hour late in starting.

The President said he had nothing to report on the progress of the talks.

2716

Poll: Roosevelt leads in West, but Dewey is improving

President ahead in six, GOP candidate in four and one is evenly divided, survey shows
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

…

2717

Called ‘selfless patriots’ –
‘Home-sneaking’ film stars scored by G.I.’s in Burma

Entertainers break faith, soldiers say

…

2718

americavotes1944

Army shows care on ballot letters

Washington (UP) –
There have been 268 cases discovered in the Army and Navy in which censors have stamped war ballot envelopes, the War Department said yesterday, but only two cases in the Army in which such envelopes have actually been opened by censors, it was said.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson told his news conference:

In view of the more than four million ballots requested, this number is so infinitesimally small that it fully indicates such incidents were due to accident or mistake and not to design.

He recalled his earlier statement that an Army order was sent to censors in December 1943 prohibiting them from opening ballots. Directions drawing attention to the order were radioed later to all overseas commands, he said.

2719

americavotes1944

State farmers more strongly GOP than ever

They’re mistrustful of New Deal, labor
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent and a veteran observer of Pennsylvania politics, is making a trip to various parts of the state to sound out political sentiment.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania –
Pennsylvania’s farm sections, individualistic by tradition and mistrustful of New Deal farm and labor policies, will turn in a heavier voter than usual for the Republican ticket this year, according to forecasts in agricultural areas.

The Republican plan for carrying Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes for Governor Thomas E. Dewey calls for a heavy vote in farm sections, most of them firmly Republican, and some estimates claim 75 to 80 percent of the farm vote.

There is no doubt that Pennsylvania farmers, like those in other states, are impatient about government controls and hampered by wartime restrictions and shortag4es in achieving record food production. Even in 1940, a trend away from the New Deal was noted.

This time, however, there is a factor in the rural vote that wasn’t there before the establishment of war plants and new industries in rural sections and the organization of labor unions in counties that never previously had any organized labor.

PAC in 40 counties

War production generally brought a large increase in the industrial population at the same time the farm population was decreasing, with farm labor being hired away by high wages in industry.

In the farming sections themselves, War Department installations and private plants converted to war production, or enlarged with government funds, required large labor forces and hired local residents wherever they were available.

Some of this labor force came from the farms and some of the farm population is now unionized in industrial jobs and among the 400,000 or so CIO members represented politically by the Political Action Committee, Rural and semi-rural counties account for more than one-fifth of the state’s voters.

PAC now claims organizations in 40 counties. It has no organization in 27 rural counties, but in most of these there are CIO or other labor unions. Only five of the state’s 67 counties now have no organized labor units. In 12 counties, CIO unions have been organized since 1940.

Farmers fear PAC vote

What this will do to offset the farm vote is something only the final results of the Nov. 7 election can decide.

Fear of the new power of organized labor, particularly since the organization of the PAC, is one of the factors influencing farmers to vote Republican, according to farm leaders in position to talk with farmers in various sections of the state.

Others include subsidies, which the farmer doesn’t like because he fears what may happen when the subsidy ends and feels that the subsidy issue portrays him as a war profiteer; and crop restrictions which may be all right in grain states but which Pennsylvania farmers feel are improper on small farms here.

The farmer has his troubles hiring labor and in trucking his own products to city markets, where he contends he had been “hijacked” by unions requiring employment of a union truck driver.

CIO seeks farm votes

The CIO-PAC tries to influence the farmer vote, and part of its program for the nation is devoted to farm policies. In Pennsylvania, it has the help of the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union, affiliate of the National Farmers Union.

PAC pamphlets trace the rise of farm incomes under the New Deal from $4.7 billion in 1932 to $19.3 billion in 1943, and point to the subsidy issue as a development that helped the farmer, while holding down the cost of living.

Some farm counties of Pennsylvania are Democratic, and have been since before the New Deal. This year, it is estimated that of 1,200,000 voters in 42 rural and semi-rural counties, 700,000 are registered Republican and 500,000 Democratic.

Important farm counties

The six principal counties in this important farm section are Chester, Lancaster and Lebanon (all Republican in 1940); and Berks, York and Cumberland (Democratic four years ago).

In 1936, only Chester and Lancaster remained Republican in the face of President Roosevelt’s sweep of the state. That year, the total vote in the six counties was 155,669 for Alfred M. Landon, 199,829 for FDR.

In 1940, Lebanon returned to the Republican fold and Mr. Roosevelt’s majority was reduced in every county. The six-county vote was 164,306 for Wendell L. Willkie; 176,000 for Mr. Roosevelt. While they are recognized farm counties, three of them – Berks, York and Lebanon – have important industrial areas now employing more men and women than ever before.

2720

Body of New York heiress found in Hollywood apartment bathtub

Piece of cloth stuffed in mouth

…

Aimee’s death laid to sedative

…

2721

americavotes1944

Ammunition for GOP –
Perkins: Roosevelt left out in limb by WLB’s inaction

Pay decision now is tied to election
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Washington –
Critics of the Roosevelt administration’s labor policies, including Governor Dewey, will find more ammunition for their attacks in the current situation of the War Labor Board.

This board, after spending 10 months in compiling a huge mass of testimony and arguments on the question of revising the Little Steel formula which is the basis of wartime wage control now has disqualified itself, through the stand of its public members from making a recommendation to the President.

The effect is that Mr. Roosevelt, before or after election, will have to make a one-man decision affecting the incomes of an estimated 20 million Americans and with possible repercussions on all other citizens. Through the mechanics of the stabilization program, Mr. Roosevelt could make this decision anyway, but he would be helped in the public mind if he had some backing from the agency that was appointed to handle the wartime wage problem.

Heat applied to President

Thus “the heat” is applied to Mr. Roosevelt, in the closing weeks of his effort for a fourth term, by an agency of his own creation and with the labor members of this agency announcing they will see that the question is before him well in advance of Nov. 7.

If Mr. Roosevelt decides the issue before election, he will have to choose between pleasing or disappointing the labor groups now supporting him; and between risking a defection of labor votes or of chancing an inflationary rise in cost-of-living prices affecting other groups. If he defers the question until after election he will disappointing the labor spokesmen, including Philip Murray of the CIO and George Meany of the AFL, who have shown a determination to get the issue on the presidential desk by the end of next week.

The WLB directed public members to submit the first draft of their report on the cost of living and inequities between wages and prices next Tuesday and then recessed until that date, thus delaying by five more days, at least, Board action to speed the report to the White House.

Labor to fight delays

The labor group of WLB had declared it will not wait for the lengthy processes of the board, including consultation with other government bureaus concerned with stabilization, but will send its plea directly to the White House. This would be contrary to bureau procedure, but would concentrate the heat where the labor spokesmen think it would have most effect.

Board has ‘failed’ President

The labor members of WLB declared:

The wage-earners of this country are entitled to know, and to know now, in direct and specific language, what this board intends to recommend to the President. By dodging this responsibility with another factfinding report, the Board has demonstrated a timidity unworthy of men charged with so important a phase of our war activities.

The President has relied upon the Board to advise him in matters affecting wage stabilization. At a crucial moment in the administration of that policy, the Board has failed him.

Industries with dispute cases with unions before the WLB are alarmed at the Board’s apparent determination to decide pending cases under present stabilization policies “immediately” after completing its report to the President.

‘Ickes makes us sickies,’ USC Trojans say

…

2722

americavotes1944

O’Daniel charges probe is ‘smear’

Says facts about his paper are on record

Washington (UP) –
The Senate Campaign Expenditures Committee, now engaged in an informal study of the “Battle of the Statler,” headed toward a new controversy today, this time over the anti-Roosevelt newspaper published by Senator W. Lee “Pass the Biscuits Pappy” O’Daniel (D-TX).

Chairman Theodore F. Green (D-RI), who has set Oct. 18 and 19 for public hearings into the W. Lee O’Daniel News, was asked by the Texas Senator to “stop smearing” him and to call off his “gumshoe investigators.”

O’Daniel charges ‘smear’

Declaring that Mr. Green’s job “is to smear, not investigate,” Mr. O’Daniel said all facts concerning his publication – subscriber lists, receipts, names of staff members and the paper’s backers – had been on public file with the Post Office Department for five months.

Mr. O’Daniel said:

If Green had been as interested in getting the facts as he was in smearing a United States Senator, he would have found all this out long ago, instead of making a mystery out of it and then passing it along to New Deal propaganda minister Drew Pearson to broadcast on the radio.

No decision on tussle

Mr. Green told reporters that there was still no decision on whether the Committee would hold public hearings into the tussle that took place at the Statler Hotel here shortly after President Roosevelt’s address to the AFL Teamsters Union Sept. 23. Two naval officers and reportedly members of the union were the principals.

Committee Counsel Robert T. Murphy is now in New York hoping to see Daniel Tobin, president of the Teamsters, Mr. Green said. The chairman refused to comment on reports that the officers involved were intoxicated.

2723

americavotes1944

A free Italy pledged again by Roosevelt

Nation told it can decide own destiny

New York (UP) –
President Roosevelt, in a brief radio address from the White House, reaffirmed last night that the Italian people “will be free to work out their own destiny under a government of their own choosing” when Allied armies have completed the liberation of Italy.

Accepting a Four Freedoms Award made by the Italian-American Labor Council, he also said that the United Nations are determined that “every possible measure be taken to aid the Italian people directly, and to give them an opportunity to help themselves.”

“To the people of Italy,” he said, “we have pledged our help – and we will keep the faith!”

Italy is ‘paying now’

The President’s speech was followed by an address, broadcast from Rome, by Premier Ivanoe Bonomi of Italy, who said that Italy now “is worthy of retaking her place among the free democracies of the word” and asked the American people that his country be “welcomed as a sister who has long suffered.”

Bonomi said:

Italy is paying now with her war-stricken land, her destroyed cities, slain or deported citizens and the loss of wealth, for the sims of having too long tolerated the dictatorship of a sawdust Ceasar who had neither honor nor genius.

May I ask you to welcome this returning Italy who, in the day wherein you celebrate the glory of one of her sons and the united fortunes of America, asks only for that justice to which she is entitled.

Aid to Italy cited

Mr. Roosevelt said the American and British governments agreed that their responsibility to help Italy “is great.” Then he outlined what has been done and what the Allies propose to do in the way of aid to Italy.

The mails have been opened for letters to the liberated provinces. Facilities are now available for small remittances of funds from this country to individuals in Italy for their individual support. Shipment of food and clothing have been delivered. Normal life is being gradually introduced. We are taking every step possible to permit the early sending of individual packages by Americans to their loved ones in Italy.

Our objective is to restore all avenues of trade, commerce and industry, and the free exercise of religion, at the earliest possible moment.

Help to Allies lauded

He also lauded the contribution to the Allied war effort of the Italian people, who he said, had been thrown by Mussolini “into an alliance which they detested.”

It was Mr. Roosevelt’s second tribute of the day to the Italian people. Earlier in a Columbus Day address to Latin American diplomats, he told of “Italians bravely fighting for the liberation of their country.”

The President received from Premier Bonomi a Columbus Day cablegram expressing thanks for the “rebirth” of friendship between Italy and the United States and asserting that the ties joining “the new Italy” and the United States were “cemented and reinforced by the blood shed together against a common enemy.”

Biddle presents award

Attorney General Francis Biddle, who received the Four Freedoms Award last year, presented this year’s award to Mr. Roosevelt, asserting that the President’s decision two years ago to regard the Italian people in the United States as non-enemy aliens had been completely justified.

Mr. Biddle said:

The President believed that these 600,000 people who lived in our American land were able and willing to fight against tyranny; the records prove that Italians in our country were proud to do so. The war effort has been benefited immeasurably by their participation.

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Truman begins first leg of swing around country

Aboard Truman’s campaign train (UP) –
Senator Harry S. Truman, Democratic vice-presidential nominee, rolled west across Texas today on the first leg of the avowedly political part of his swing around the country.

He will arrive Sunday morning at Los Angeles where he will discuss reconversion Monday night in the first campaign address of his current tour. He scheduled platform appearances at Houston, San Antonio and El Paso.

He entrained last night at New Orleans where he had spent three days and attended the annual conference of the Mississippi Valley Association. In two addresses yesterday he said floor control should be given first priority among post-war public works projects and urged using the experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a guide for developing other river valleys particularly the Missouri.

Mr. Truman traveled in a special car attached to a regular train on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was accompanied by Matthew Connelly (his secretary), Hugh Fulton (former counsel of the Senate Truman Committee) and Edward McKim of Omaha, Nebraska (insurance man and old personal friend who served under Mr. Truman during World War I). Mr. Fulton will be the nominee’s principal adviser in the preparation of his speeches.

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Dewey favors Jewish nation in Palestine

Governor reviews Columbus Day parade

Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey said today that he “heartily endorsed” proposals to reconstitute Palestine as a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth.

The Republican presidential nominee issued a statement supporting the Palestine plank of the GOP platform after a conference with Dr. Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland, chairman of the executive committee of the National Zionist Emergency Council.

Favors Palestine opening

Governor Dewey said:

I heartily endorse the Palestine plank in the Republican platform. I again repeat what I previously stated to the great leader of the American Zionist movement and distinguished American, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, that I am for the reconstruction of Palestine as a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth, in accordance with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the resolution of the Republican Congress in 1922. I have also stated to Dr. Silver that in order to give refuge to millions of distressed Jews, driven from their homes. I favor the opening of Palestine to their unlimited immigration and land ownership.

Governor Dewey and his wife registered last night to vote in New York City. He gave his age as 42 and his residence as the Roosevelt Hotel.

Windup plans set

Governor Dewey plans to deal with international affairs, agricultural problems and the future of small business during the closing days of his campaign, it was reported reliably today.

He will discuss foreign policy next Wednesday at the Herald Tribune Forum in New York City. The farm speech probably will be delivered on his trip through the Midwest and the problems of small business in one of the Eastern talks.

Governor Dewey, it was said, is planning a strenuous “stretch drive.” This strategy was seen in his decision to return here last night, rather than remain in New York City. His aides said there would not be so many interruptions if they worked on the speeches at the capital.

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Bricker urges world bases to protect U.S. interests

GOP candidate ends Oregon tour, begins in California tomorrow

Aboard Bricker campaign train (UP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker wound up his campaign for Oregon’s six electoral votes today after coming out for U.S. maintenance of bases to protect American interests “around the world if necessary.”

The Republican vice-presidential nominee made only three rear-platform talks on the eve of his entrance into California, whose 25 electoral votes have remained a political prize since they topped the scales in favor of Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

Governor Bricker chatted with railroad station gatherings at Roseburg, Grants Pass and Medford during his final day in Oregon. He will meet California Governor Earl Warren at Sacramento tomorrow, speak at luncheon there, and appear at Richmond, Berkeley and Oakland before making a major address at San Francisco tomorrow night.

Clarifies stand on bases

Mr. Bricker’s endorsement of protective bases was made last night at Eugene, Oregon, when he told a press conference the United States “should maintain bases within our sphere of responsibility.”

In response to questions, he explained he meant “sphere of responsibility to trade and security.”

“We should maintain bases wherever our interests lie,” he said, adding that he did not necessarily mean military bases in every ocean and on every continent, but “bases from which we could protect our spheres everywhere.”

“And there’s no imperialistic design in that either,” he said.

Oregon students parade

Governor Bricker’s final formal speech in Oregon was delivered at the University of Oregon, where hundreds of students greeted him with a torchlight parade. He charged that bureaucrats were “stuffed to the suffocation point” through the nation and demanded that the bureaucratic system “patchwork” be “taken apart and streamlined government substituted.”

Subversive charge answered by Hillman

New York (UP) –
Sidney Hillman, CIO Political Action Committee chairman, yesterday charged Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, GOP vice-presidential candidate, with “deliberately impugning the patriotism of the more than five million members of the CIO and other millions of Americans who support its purpose.”

Terming Mr. Bricker’s charge that the PAC is subversive, “the cry of a defeated candidate,” Mr. Hillman said “the Republicans are scared” by the large registration totals “and so Governor Bricker has been selected to do the unutterably filthy job of setting neighbor against neighbor – a job which, from his easy association with Gerald L. K. Smith and other American Fascists, he is well equipped to undertake.”

Mr. Hillman said:

As for the allegation that there is anything remotely illegal in the work of the PAC, the record is quite clear. Two Congressional committees, in addition to the Department of Justice, have investigated PAC and no finding of law violation has been made.

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‘Cold storage’ urged for some Roosevelt aides

Washington (UP) –
Senator Edwin C. Johnson (D-CO) suggested today that Earl Browder, Sidney Hillman and Vice President Henry A. Wallace be placed “in cold storage along with Eleanor” – Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt – for the rest of the campaign.

Mr. Johnson, who personally opposed third and fourth term nominations for President Roosevelt, said the three men “are proving to be a millstone around the President’s neck.”

He said the task of putting them in “cold storage” should go to DNC Chairman Robert E. Hannegan.

Mr. Johnston said his suggestion was based on a belief that the Communist leader, the chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee and the retiring Vice President are alienating independent votes by the prominent parts they are taking in the Democratic campaign.

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Mrs. Luce, Kerr open Illinois fight

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Rep. Clare Boothe Luce, GOP glamor girl, and Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr, keynoter of the Democratic National Convention last July, will feature tonight’s opening battle for Illinois’ 29 electoral votes.

Mrs. Luce will speak at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and Governor Kerr will address a Democratic rally at Joliet.

KQV will broadcast Mrs. Luce’s speech at 10:00 p.m. ET.

Mrs. Luce urges change

Both speakers participated in warmup address last night, Mrs. Luce addressing a pro-America Republican women’s organization rally at St. Louis and Governor Kerr speaking at Duluth, Minnesota.

Mrs. Luce called upon the nation’s voters to “do your part in changing horses this year, including Senator Harry S. Truman, the new end of the horse that was cleared at Chicago by Sidney Hillman.”

Dewey ‘shadowboxed’

Governor Kerr told his Duluth audience that in his speech at Oklahoma City, Governor Dewey only “shadowboxed with the champ, leaving unanswered pressing farm problems and a pledge for international cooperation.”

Governor Kerr called Governor Dewey’s indictment of President Roosevelt for unpreparedness “contemptible” unless it is backed by the Republican nominee’s own “record of preparedness for war and peace – a record I fail to find.”