America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

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Drive for Presidency becoming most bitter since 1928 campaign

Both parties question opponents’ honesty; White House replies to Dewey charges

Washington (UP) – (Oct. 14)
The 1944 presidential campaign appeared tonight to be living up to advance predictions that it would be the roughest, toughest, and – the word seems to be “dirtiest” – since 1928, when Herbert Hoover defeated Alfred E. Smith.

This year, campaigners for both major parties have made blockbuster attacks on their opponents’ honesty, and the most frequently employed verbal weapon, translated into barroom English, has been: “You’re a liar.”

The White House issued a bill of particulars today designed to show that Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, has played fast and loose with the facts in quoting administration spokesmen to their own disadvantage.

Replies to Dewey

At the same time, Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle Jr., whom Dewey quoted a week ago tonight in charging the administration with Communist intentions, asserted in a letter to President Roosevelt that the Republican candidate had been “surprisingly dishonest.”

For his part, Mr. Dewey scheduled a broadcast from St. Louis Monday night on the subject of “The Urgent Need for Honesty and Competence in Our National Government.”

The White House bill of particulars, which it called a list of “facts,” inferentially accused Mr. Dewey of quoting administration officials out of context to support charges voiced in his campaign speeches.

Others quoted

Mr. Dewey had quoted Gen. George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff; Gen. H. H. Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces; Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO), the Democratic nominee for Vice President; Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) and Mr. Roosevelt himself to back up charges that war caught this country unprepared and that the administration was to blame.

The White House list introduced additional “quotes” from the same sources and occasions, presumably to show that Mr. Dewey had misinterpreted or misemphasized out-of-context statements to make them appear to support his contentions.

The White House statement was presented without comment, but it served to indicate the increasing bitterness being engendered in this campaign, as did another of today’s developments – a refusal by Mr. Roosevelt to share a speaking platform with Mr. Dewey.

Dewey to speak

White House Press Secretary Stephen T. Early disclosed the President had rejected an invitation from Mrs. Ogden Reid, vice president of The New York Tribune, Inc., to speak at the Herald-Tribune Forum next Wednesday. Mr. Dewey will make a major foreign policy address at the final forum session.

Meanwhile, Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan and Republican National Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr. were casting mild aspersions on each other’s honor. Mr. Hannegan said the opposition was starting a whispering campaign about the President’s health. Mr. Brownell said there was no truth in the charge.

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And he’s a Republican, too –
Hershey assails Dewey on demobilization charge

Draft director says his quoted statement was ‘hypothetical’ and ‘personal opinion’

Washington (UP) – (Oct. 14)
**Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey said today that a remark attributed to him by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, and interpreted by the Republican candidate for President as indicating a “defeatist” attitude

Mr. Hershey, who is a major general in the Army, said in a letter to President Roosevelt that he made the remark at a press conference in Denver in reply to a hypothetical question and that it was “given as my personal opinion in a field over which I have no responsibility.”

The Hershey letter was the third document released by the White House today in an effort to refute charges against the administration by the GOP candidate. The others were a letter to Mr. Roosevelt from Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle Jr. – accusing Governor Dewey of playing “fast and loose” with the public – and a White House list of “facts” dealing with specific Dewey charges.

Charge recalled

Governor Dewey had quoted Gen. Hershey as saying it would be cheaper to keep men in the Armed Forces after they were no longer needed militarily than it would be to create an agency to find jobs for them. The Republican candidate cited Gen. Hershey’s remark as indicative of the administration’s intent toward war veterans.

Gen. Hershey’s letter, in which he revealed that he has always been and still is a Republican, said that the circumstances in which he made the remark were such that it was clear he was voicing a personal opinion about a matter which “was a responsibility of the director of Selective Service.”

“It was clearly indicated at the time,” Gen. Hershey said, “that my personal opinion was not popular and probably would not be given consideration.”

Decries partisanship

Subsequently, he said, the War Department announced its point-system plan for partially reducing the size of the Army after victory in Europe, depending upon military necessity and shipping space, and based on “polls of Army personnel.”

Gen. Hershey emphasized that “partisanship ha had no place in Selective Service.”

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Wallace pays $1, joins the NCPAC

Indianapolis, Indiana (UP) – (Oct. 14)
Vice President Henry A. Wallace joined the National Citizens Political Action Committee today, receiving a membership card from Mrs. Ruth Bennett, wife of an Auto Workers Union member to whom he paid $1.

Later, while waving the card during a speech, Mr. Wallace said:

I have just become this day a member of the Political Action Committee. This is a certificate in the great order of the common man.

The Vice President referred to “the boys in the Union League Club who have to pay $1,000 to their party,” and added:

This [the membership fee] comes a lot cheaper. And the reason it’s cheaper to become a Democrat is that there’s so many of them.

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Bricker raps court policy of Roosevelt

U.S. ‘taken for ride,’ Ohioan declares

San Francisco, California (UP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker – lawyer – said tonight the United States was being “taken for a ride” by President Roosevelt’s court-packing which thrust “bedlam and confusion” upon every court in the land.

The fresh young blood Mr. Roosevelt promised the Supreme Court in 1937, he said, turned out to be nothing but “New Deal plasma.”

The sole reason for the present court situation, the Ohioan said, was the smashing of the constitutional barrier to remaking the U.S. government “similar to state socialism.”

Court appointees cited

The Republican vice-presidential candidate hammered out one of the harshest and most detailed criticisms of the American court system yet addressed to the nation.

The former Ohio Attorney General pointed out that Mr. Roosevelt appointed 165 of the 275 judges on the Supreme Court, Circuit Court of Appeals, and the District Courts. Only two of the appointees were Republicans, he said, while a “large number” were “active New Dealers,” some of whom had previously been “repudiated at the polls.” These appointees, he charged, “inevitably clothes their decisions with their personal philosophies” and “turned the courts into conclaves of “New Deal theology.”

New Deal plasma

The President failed in his 1937 effort to attain “court-packing by legislation.” Governor Bricker asserted but “succeeded in the spirit of the attempt.”

He said:

Clearly, Mr. Roosevelt has successfully “packed” our federal judiciary from top to bottom. The fresh young blood he promised to put into the aging veins of the Supreme Court in his crusading days of 1937 has proved to be the plasma of the New Deal.

American voices ‘stifled’

The President’s court-packing, Governor Bricker summarized, has:

  • Disfranchised judicially and stifled the voices of the 22 million Americans who voted Republican in 1940.
  • Discolored the Supreme Court rulings with New Deal ideologies.
  • Brought Supreme Court approval of usurpation of legislative powers by the executive.
  • Created bedlam and confusion in the adjudication of litigation in every court in the land.

He said:

A vote for the Republican ticket is a vote to restore America to a government of delegated authority. It is a vote against one-man government.

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Probe decision Wednesday –
Battle of Statler civilians known

Senator says none is Roosevelt friend

Washington (UP) – (Oct. 14)
Civilian participants in the now-historic “Battle of the Statler” probably will be identified by a Senate investigating committee next week, but Chairman Theodore F. Green (D-RI) said tonight that no one will be found to be a personal friend of President Roosevelt.

Almost immediately after the Sept. 23 clash, in which two naval officers engaged in fisticuffs with guests at an AFL Teamsters Union dinner a few minutes after President Roosevelt made his first 1944 campaign speech, the report got out that one of the Teamster participants was a friend of the President.

Denies black eye rumor

All Senator Green would say at a news conference today was that “a man was struck, his identity is known and he is not a personal friend of the President.”

Names of the two naval officers involved – Lt. Randolph Dickins Jr. and LtCdr. James H. Suddeth – have been made public, but the identity of civilians involved has not.

Senator green also scotched another report – that Committee Counsel Robert T. Murphy had a black eye when he returned to the capital from New York last night after interviewing members and officers of the Teamsters Union.

The chairman said that “Mr. Murphy had a very successful trip;” that Daniel Tobin, head of the union, “was very cooperative,” and that Mr. Murphy brought back a handful of affidavits.

Green belittles incident

Senator Green shied away, however, from questions about the number of affidavits or their content. The committee will meet Wednesday, he said, to get a full story from investigators, and members will decide then whether to hold a formal investigation.

Senator Green added that consideration of the Statler battle was not first in importance on the committee’s agenda. The only reason the affair had achieved wide public interest, he said, was because reporters on Capitol Hill “had nothing else to write about” while Congress was in recess.

The only detailed story of the battle is that told by Lt. Dickins, who said it started when some Teamsters demanded to know whether the officers were going to vote for their Commander-in-Chief and they replied, “None of your business.”

Lt. Dickins said he knocked down four or five out of six Teamsters involved, and added that one of his opponents told him afterward he had floored a friend of the President.

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Aid to labor boomerangs against GOP Congressman

Endorsed by national union leaders, he finds local groups – who vote – oppose him
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Evansville, Indiana – (Oct. 14)
Rep. Charles M. La Follette, who gained national prominence by following “labor” rather than the Republican leadership in Congress, returned here to find he drew a blank.

Although endorsed by national labor leaders and the high command of the Political Action Committee, he learned that local union leaders are more interested in places on the Democratic ticket than Mr. La Follette’s record in Congress.

And it turned out that his Democratic opponent, Charles J. Eichel, as Vanderburgh County chairman, was a boss with sufficient power to give the labor-politicians what they wanted.

Mr. Eichel tells the story quite frankly. It was verified by union leaders themselves. The union leaders asked for all the Vanderburgh County seats in the Indiana Legislature. Mr. Eichel was glad to oblige.

Union men are nominees

Consequently, the Democratic Legislature ticket shapes up like this:

  • STATE SENATOR: Charles F. Lietz (Typographical Union, AFL)
  • STATE REPRESENTATIVES: Walter Hayden and Charles E. Wright (Electrical Workers, CIO) and Leo A. Meagher (Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen).

In return, the local PAC has not endorsed Mr. La Follette for reelection. And Mr. Eichel says with assurance they will not do so.

A visit to their headquarters confirmed this. John Sternaman, head of the Vanderburgh County CIO Council, said the local PAC will not take a stand. He was wearing an Eichel button.

So, Mr. La Follette will have to be content with endorsements from AFL President William Green, CIO President Philip Murray, A. F. Whitney (president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen) and Indiana State PAC leaders, none of whom vote in this district.

Roosevelt is issue, too

Mr. Eichel explains that Republicans shouldn’t have PAC support (in addition to the local deal) because they are against President Roosevelt.

He declared:

Labor wants to keep President Roosevelt in because they know he will protect them in the courts.

Mr. Eichel calls himself a “labor attorney.” He represents some unions here. When he saw a case-hardened reported wince at such remarks, he added: “You know, appointments and things like that.”

Money problem solved

It takes money to run a campaign – even with union support. Mr. Eichel, an old hand at such matters as fundraising, has solved that problem.

Just two doors away from his spacious Democratic County Headquarters is “The Young Democrats Club.” An electric sign above the door says “Playland.”

An afternoon visit there failed to unearth any “young Democrats.” Instead, one of the biggest bingo games was going on. Middle-age women were packed by the dozens at long tables. A fat fellow sat on a perch calling out the numbers. It’s bingo that brings in the dough.

‘Price’ of votes increases

The police have no interest. The legal explanation is that gambling is OK in “clubs.”

Mr. Eichel contends that Republicans are rich, anyway. He says they have about $100,000 to spend in the Vanderburgh County campaign. He estimates the Democratic kitty at $40,000 and admits they want all they can get. He explains why:

You see we will have to pay more for votes this time. We used to buy them for $2 or $3, but this time it will take at least $5.

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Rep. Luce: Dewey policies like G.I. Joe’s

Roosevelt assailed on foreign program

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Roosevelt-Hillman ‘break’ forecast

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Governor Green scores New Deal on labor

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Kirkpatrick: Gestapo’s hangouts in Paris reveal Nazis’ medieval barbarism

Tortures used to extract information overshadow atrocities like village burning
By Helen Kirkpatrick

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First U.S. general captured by Nazis

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Perkins: Employers still denied right to call election

New ruling unlikely before Nov. 7
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Washington – (Oct. 14)
Another labor controversy not likely to be settled before election” Whether employers are to be given a share of the rights now enjoyed by unions under administration of the Wagner Act by the National Labor Relations Board.

The question has been pending since May 19, when NLRB held a hearing in which spokesmen for practically all branches of organized labor opposed vigorously a suggested change in the Board’s rules to grant employers the right, on expiration of a contract with a labor union, and in the absence of a contest by another union, to petition for a collective bargaining election to determine whether the certified union still has a majority in the plant.

NLRB’s five-month delay in deciding the question, it was learned today, is due partly to its inability to reach an agreement on the general question with the War Labor Board.

Morse urges revision

Wayne L. Morse, former public member of the War Labor Board, now a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Oregon, has attacked exclusion of employers from rights under the Wagner Act as it is now administered. He has declared for legislative revision of this act, but the particular point now long-pending could be handled without any more law – merely by a change in regulations.

Denial to employers of the right to petition for an election (which the National Labor Relations Board would reserve the right to deny) has been charged with bringing on the Montgomery-Ward seizure last spring, although it has been admitted that Sewell L. Avery, head of the company, might have found another line of attack on government policies.

Union delayed election

In this case the company contended the union did not represent a majority of employees in the affected plants, and the union delayed its own petition for an election to determine the question. Finally, the election was ordered, the union won, and the company contended too many units had been included in the election.

Gerard V. Reilly, member of NLRB, proposed the change in the Board’s rules, without reference to the Montgomery-Ward case. In a recent opinion dissenting with the other two NLRB members, he upheld the principles of his proposal.

Agencies in conflict

Correspondence between Mr. Reilly and William H. Davis, chairman of the War Labor Board, shows the conflict between the two agencies. The WLB by a majority vote of its public and labor members is disposed to recognize a union’s certification as continuous during the war period. The NLRB, under the Reilly proposal, would require periodic proofs that a majority of the employees want the union to continue as bargaining agent.

NLRB is a permanent government agency, under the law. WLB is a temporary agency for the war period, under the law, but appears to be the dominant organization in labor-regulatory circles. The present government setup provides no way out of a stalemate when these two agencies are in disagreement – except through presidential action.

Perkins: Labor and its friend, FDR

By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent

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2,200 heavies rip four Nazi supply points

250 Italy-based raiders rip oil plant

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Formosa commands route to Japan’s stolen empire

Island called storehouse of supplies for war-strained enemy in Pacific

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MacArthur fliers blast two islands

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They cheered Wehrmacht’s march –
Aachen citizens stunned by fate

By Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer

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Carlisle: Patton’s army great because of Patton

General inspires men to big achievements
By John M. Carlisle, North American Newspaper Alliance

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60,000 Germans hold out on coast

‘Suicide’ garrisons block use of ports

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Simms: Pan-American session now vital to new world League

Post-war policies of Latin America, U.S. and Canada must be decided
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

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Canadians cross key canal on Adriatic front in Italy

Gain in Rimini–Bologna highway area in drive toward Po Valley
By Eleanor Packard, United Press staff writer

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New super-fuel to aid Superfortresses

Range of B-29s due to be increased

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Ex-governor cleared of bribery charge

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FBI: Enough draft cases handled to form 28 Army divisions

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GALLUP POLL SHOWS NECK-AND-NECK VOTE
Neither has majority of electoral votes; Pennsylvania sentiment listed 50–50

Survey lists only civilian ballots and soldier vote may be of great importance
By Dr. George Gallup, director, American Institute of Public Opinion

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