Huge crowds greet Dewey in St. Louis
GOP nominee repeats ‘unprepared; charge
St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey was given a tumultuous welcome when he arrived in St. Louis today to open his bid for the nation’s farm vote in a major campaign speech tonight.
KDKA and KQV will broadcast the speech at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Thousands of cheering Midwesterners lined downtown streets as the Republican presidential nominee rode in an open auto to his hotel.
The New Yorker said he would “bring honesty to the national government” after Jan. 20.
He said:
That is the issue of this campaign: Whether we want to continue down the New Deal road or whether we want a new administration that will bring opportunity and jobs for all.
25,000 line parade route
The Dewey party was saluted with loud explosions of cannon firecrackers, and torn paper fell from the high office buildings when he reached the downtown section. Police estimated crowds along the parade route at between 25,000 and 40,000.
Governor Dewey last night issued a statement to accompanying newspapermen contending the White House reply to his campaign speeches confirmed his charge that the Roosevelt administration failed to prepare the nation for war.
He reiterated the charge he made at Oklahoma City three weeks ago as his response to the White House statement of refutation.
Roosevelt ‘admission’
The White House statement, issued Saturday, quoted parts of the Oklahoma City speech in which Governor Dewey traced to Army officials and administration spokesmen the authority for his unpreparedness charge. Each Dewey statement was followed by longer quotations, obviously designed to accuse the New York Governor of distortion.
Mr. Dewey said:
In this statement, Mr. Roosevelt confesses that every single statement I made in my Oklahoma City speech was exactly correct down to the last period and comma.
The record is dreadfully bad. It cannot be concealed by epithets or by hiding behind the symbol of the White House.
Three-part reply
The White House refutation of Governor Dewey’s charges was in three parts – the refutation of his Oklahoma City speech, a letter from Assistant Secretary of State Adolf E. Berle Jr., accusing Governor Dewey of “misquoting” him at Charleston, West Virginia, Oct. 7, and an explanation by Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Selective Service director, of remarks on which Governor Dewey based charges that the administration “is afraid to let men out of the Army” after the war is won.
Governor Dewey’s response to Mr. Berle’s letter was to quote the State Department executive at greater length in an effort to show that the administration’s economic trend is toward Communism.
Asked about a reply to the Hershey disclaimer, Governor Dewey’s press secretary, James M. Hagerty, replied: “Just wait,” indicating it may be forthcoming in tonight’s speech.
Statement ‘dusted off’
Mr. Dewey charged that Mr. Roosevelt had used bis position in the White House to get widespread attention for the refutation of his campaign speeches.
Governor Dewey said:
Exactly the same statement was put out by the publicity director of the Democratic Party to its speakers 10 days before. Mr. Roosevelt has found it necessary to dust it off and issue it with the sponsorship of the White House.
Repeating his quotation of Gen. George C. Marshall, Gen. H. H. Arnold, Senator Harry S. Truman, the vice-presidential nominee, and Senator Alben W. Barkley, Democratic leader in the Senate, Mr. Dewey said:
Mr. Roosevelt’s failure to prepare this country and the resulting price we have had to pay is established out of the mouths of his own followers.
As I have said, I did not intend debating the tragic results of Mr. Roosevelt’s total failure of leadership. But the facts are even more clearly etched as a result of his statement of yesterday.
Berle letter ‘amazing’
Governor Dewey called it “amazing” that Mr. Roosevelt “should find it necessary to get his subordinate and close associate, Mr. Berle… to write him a letter accusing me of misquoting, dishonesty, and of having ripped a sentence from its context.”
Mr. Dewey went on:
Once again, the facts are very simple. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Berle again admit my statement that Mr. Berle said in a memorandum: “Over a period of years, the government will gradually come to own most of the productive plants of the United States.”
Other language cited
Mr. Berle claims he meant the opposite and cites other language in the memorandum, But he skillfully omits to quote the relevant language in the very same passage, from which I have quoted above. It reads:
If the country desires to make wealth creation a function of government [I personally believe it must do so in a larger measure than it has heretofore], the choice should be the considered choice of the country and not the result of a policy of drift.
The government’s ability to create wealth efficiently is denied by a good many people. It seems to me a good many of these attacks are unjustified, though I am frankly biased in favor of public ownership of certain forms of wealth.
Governor Dewey said the only conclusion he could draw is that Roosevelt is continuing the slippery tactics the New Deal has always employed.