Zwischen Schelde und Maas –
Montgomery hat acht Wochen verloren
…
Führer HQ (November 3, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Die tapfere Besatzung unseres Brückenkopfes nordöstlich Brügges wurde nach heftigen Nahkämpfen um den Gefechtsstand ihres Kommandeurs, Generalmajor Egerding, vom Feinde überwältigt. Aufopfernden Widerstand leistend, hat sie in den schweren Kämpfen der letzten Wochen über 50 feindliche Panzer im Nahkampf vernichtet. Auf der Insel Walcheren stehen unsere Truppen im Stadtgebiet von Vlissingen und an der Westspitze der Insel in schwerem Abwehrkampf gegen fortgesetzte Angriffe und Landungen. Marinebatterien vernichteten 17 große Landungsboote des Gegners und fügten dem Feind starke Verluste zu. Sicherungsstreifkräfte der Kriegsmarine versenkten vor der niederländischen Küste zwei britische Schnellboote und beschädigten sechs weitere schwer.
Nördlich Roosendaal stehen Unsere Truppen im Kampf mit feindlichen Verbänden, die in unser Hauptkampffeld eindringen konnten. Im Wald von Hürtgen, südöstlich Aachen, griffen die Amerikaner mit Panzerunterstützung unsere Stellungen an. Der Angriff blieb nach geringen Anfangserfolgen liegen.
Französische Bataillone, die am gestrigen Vormittag nördlich Baccarat angriffen, wurden zurückgeworfen. Entschlossener Widerstand und Gegenangriffe unserer Grenadiere hielten in den Wäldern zwischen Meürthe und Mortagne die den ganzen Tag über mit stärkeren Kräften angreifenden Nordamerikaner auf.
In Mittelitalien stand der Tag bei anhaltendem Regenwetter im Zeichen erfolgreicher eigener Unternehmungen. Fallschirmjäger warfen den Feind aus wichtigen Höhenstellungen westlich Imola, Grenadiere zerschlugen britische Angriffe vor unseren neuen Stellungen südlich Forli.
Auf dem Balkan verwehrt der erfolgreiche Abwehrkampf unserer Truppen im Strumicatal wie nordöstlich Skoplje und Pristlna den fortgesetzt angreifenden Bulgaren jedes Vordringen. Auch im Quellgebiet der westlichen Morava schlugen unsere Verbände die Bolschewisten zurück.
Das Drinatal und der Raum zwischen Save und Donau südlich Vukovar sind von Banden gesäubert.
Nordwestlich Kecskemét stehen deutsche und ungarische Verbände in schwerem Kampf mit bolschewistischen Infanterie- und Panzerkräften, die auf Budapest Vordringen. In die Kämpfe griffen auch unsere Schlachtflieger trotz schlechten Wetters mit guter Wirkung ein. Im Raum Szolnok erlitt der Feind bei heftigen, aber erfolglosen Angriffen erhebliche Verluste.
Zwischen den Waldkarpaten und dem Kurischen Haff kam es nur zu erfolglosen Einzelangriffen des Feindes in den Ostbeskiden und bei Goldap. Die Wucht der feindlichen Angriffe in Kurland hat gestern infolge der wirksamen deutschen Abwehr nachgelassen. Angreifende bolschewistische Verbände wurden zurückgeschlagen oder rasch wieder zu Boden gezwungen.
Anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber mit starkem Jagdschutz griffen am Tage mitteldeutsches Gebiet sowie die Städte Bielefeld, Duisburg and Trier an. In erbitterten Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie wurden 82 Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
In der vergangenen Nacht erzielten Nachtjäger und Flakartillerie bei Angriffen britischer Flugzeuge auf Düsseldorf mit dem Abschuß von 52 viermotorigen Bombern einen weiteren Abwehrerfolg. Damit verlor der Feind in den letzten 24 Stunden über dem Reichsgebiet 134 Flugzeuge, darunter 108 viermotorige Bomber.
Bei der Säuberung der Insel Piscopi, westlich Rhodos, haben sich die dort kämpfenden deutschen Kräfte unter Führung des Oberleutnants Jenninger und des Leutnants Biggelmann in entschlossenen Angriffen besonders ausgezeichnet.
Im ostpreußischen Grenzgebiet hat das Artillerieregiment 561 einer Volksgrenadierdivision unter Führung von Oberstleutnant Kauffeld schärfste Nahkämpfe mit eingebrochenem Feind bestanden und hierbei in zehn Tagen 42 Panzer vernichtet. Als Kampfstütze der schwer ringenden Infanterie war das Regiment an der Abwehr der Angriffe von fünf sowjetischen Divisionen und etwa sechs Panzerbrigaden hervorragend beteiligt.
In der Abwehrschlacht südöstlich Libau haben die fränkisch-bayerische 4. Panzerdivision unter Führung von Generalmajor Betzel und die norddeutsche 30. Infanteriedivision unter Führung des Oberst Barth den erstrebten Durchbruch des Feindes in zäher Abwehr und durch schwungvolle Gegenangriffe an entscheidender Stelle vereitelt.
Bei den Kämpfen im Petsamo- und Varangerraum hat sich die ostmärkische 6. Gebirgsdivision mit unterstellten mainfränkischen Grenadieren unter der tatkräftigen Führung von Generalmajor Pemsel in hartem Abwehrkampf besonders ausgezeichnet.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (November 3, 1944)
FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
031100A November
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. 209
Progress on the island of Walcheren continues. Allied forces moving from Westkapelle have now bypassed Domburg, while others have reached a point within two miles of Flushing. Fighting continues in Flushing itself and at the western end of the Walcheren Causeway. All resistance in the area of Knokk and Zeebrugge has ceased. Fighters and fighter-bombers attacked enemy troops and positions in the region of Knokke during yesterday morning. Coastal guns and strong points on the Walcheren Island were also attacked, and close support was given to our ground forces north of Breda.
In southern Holland, bridges, locomotives and barges were attacked and rail lines cut. In the Meijel area, Allied troops advanced to within 2,000 yards of the town. Our troops, attacking in the Hürtgen sector after heavy artillery preparation, made gains of 2,500 yards. The town of Vossenack, one and one-half miles south of Hürtgen was taken, and our drive is continuing against stiffening resistance. A factory south of Bonn and an airfield to the east of Trier were targets for fighter-bombers, which also attacked locomotives and freight cars and cut rail lines in the Köln and Düsseldorf areas. Heavy bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked the synthetic oil plant at Homberg in the Ruhr. Three enemy aircraft were shot down. Four heavy bombers and three fighters are missing.
Five rail bridges behind the enemy lines were the targets for medium and light bombers; the bridges attacked were in the Moselle River Valley at Konz-Karthaus, Ehrang, and Bullay, over the Nette River at Mayen, and over the Erft River at Euskirchen. The medium bombers were escorted by fighters. Last night, more than 1000 aircraft were over western Germany with Düsseldorf as the main objective. Light bombers attacked Osnabrück. In France, Baccarat in the Vosges Foothills has been freed and the villages of Gélacourt and Deneuvre, near Baccarat, are in our hands. Gains were also made farther south where the village of La Bourgonce was taken against heavy resistance. In the Moselotte River bend our positions have been improved.
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/U.S. Navy Department (November 3, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 173
During the night of November 1‑2 (West Longitude Date), nine enemy twin‑engine bombers, presumably from bases in the Bonins, bombed and strafed Isely Airfield on Saipan and the northern airfield in Tinian. Three of the enemy raiders were shot down, one by night fighter aircraft and two by anti-aircraft guns. Our personnel casualties were four killed and one seriously injured when one of the enemy planes was shot down and crashed on the field. Minor damage was suffered at both airfields.
An enemy reconnaissance sea plane attacked Peleliu Island on October 31 but was shot down by one of our Hellcat night fighters.
One of the Third Fleet carrier groups was attacked by enemy fighters and dive bombers on November 1, inflicting some damage to several ships and light personnel casualties. Six enemy planes were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire and four others were shot down by our aircraft.
Eleventh Air Force Mitchell bombers dropped fragmentation and incendiary bombs on Paramushiru on October 31. One of our planes was attacked by five enemy fighters but is reported to have landed safely.
Seventh Air Force Army Liberators and Navy search Liberators of Fleet Air Wing One teamed up to hit enemy positions in the Volcano Islands and the Bonins on October 31. Airfields at Chichijima and Iwo Jima were bombed, shipping at Iwo Jima was attacked, and buildings at Hahajima were hit. Anti-aircraft fire was intense. Seventh Air Force Liberators bombed four cargo ships at Chichijima on November 1, scoring several direct hits. One ship was sunk, one was left burning while the other two were damaged. Seventh Air Force Liberators also bombed shipping in the harbor at Hahajima on the same day.
Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing set barges afire at Babelthuap Island in the Northern Palaus on October 31. Corsairs also bombed the airfield at Yap Island.
Corsairs of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing strafed enemy targets on Rota Island on October 31. On November 1, targets on Rota were again strafed by Corsairs while 7th Air Force Thunderbolts launched rockets against supply dumps on Pagan Island.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 617
For Immediate Release
November 3, 1944
RAdm. Walden L. Ainsworth (USN) of Wonalancet, New Hampshire, has assumed command as Commander Cruisers and Commander Destroyers, Pacific Fleet, CINCPACPOA Adm. Chester W. Nimitz (USN) announced today.
RAdm. Ainsworth succeeds RAdm. James L. Kauffman (USN) of Miami Beach, Florida, who has been assigned another sea command. Before taking over his new post, RAdm. Ainsworth was commander of a cruiser division.
A veteran campaigner, the flag officer has commanded numerous task forces in the Pacific since the outbreak of war. With one exception, he participated in every major naval action in the South Pacific area since December 1942. Units under his command have engaged in most of the recent combat in the Western Pacific.
Statement by President Roosevelt to Employers
November 3, 1944
I urge that all employers allow such time off to their workers as is necessary to give them an adequate opportunity to vote on Election Day.
It is important that the mandate of the election should be as representative of the whole people as possible, irrespective of whom they vote for.
I am informed that certain companies having contracts with the government have raised with the procurement agencies the question whether, under such contracts, pay to their workers will be allowed as reimbursable cost if time off is granted on election day.
The agencies have ruled that such payments are legitimate expenditures under cost-plus contracts; that they may be considered for the purpose of making any computation or adjustment required by the provisions of fixed-price contracts; and that they may also be appropriately allowed as such expenditures in renegotiation of lump-sum contracts.
Under these circumstances all firms having contracts with the government are especially urged to allow their workers – who have done so much to help win this war – to have full opportunity to express their choice in this election whatever that choice may be.
And I ask that any employee, who is not allowed enough time to vote, inform me of the circumstances, together with the name of his company and any other pertinent facts.
There has been much interest in the subject of soldier voting. I am sure that there is an equal interest in facilitating the vote of civilian workers, regardless of their choice. This point of view seems to be essentially American.
The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1944)
BATTERED JAPS FLEEING LEYTE
Last of foe pocketed on west coast
MacArthur’s forces drive across island
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer
…
Yanks gain 2½ miles in Reich
First Army 27 miles from Cologne; British take city of Flushing
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer
…
boooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooo! GET OUT OF HERE IDIOT!
Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Hollywood, California –
Well, I’ve never heard of so many election bets. Why, even Ann Sheridan has promised to go down Hollywood Boulevard made up in blackface if her candidate is defeated. But if she loses the bet, she won’t lose any “oomph.” It’s not the color of her skin that interests the men; it’s the way it fits.
President Roosevelt bets a quarter on each election and admits that he loses every time. My goodness, if he bets a quarter every time he runs, that could run into big money.
George and I have a bet on which candidate will carry California. If I win, George has to give me the money for a new hat. If I lose, I’ll just charge it.
‘Send in the company’s name’ –
‘Get time off to vote or let me know,’ Roosevelt tells U.S.
President tempers advice with plea to employers, warns of possible GOP ‘trick’
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt requested today that any employee not allowed sufficient voting time away from his job next Tuesday “inform me of the circumstances together with the name of his company and any pertinent facts.”
Urging all employers to allow workers enough time off to vote, the President said certain companies with government contracts had raised the question of whether pay to their workers will be allowed by procurement agencies as reimbursable costs if the Election-Day time off is granted.
He said:
The agencies have ruled that such payments are legitimate expenditures under cost-plus contracts, may be considered for the purpose of making any computation or adjustment required by provisions of fixed-priced contracts, and also may be appropriately allowed as such expenditures in renegotiation of lump-sum contracts.
Asks vote for all
The President said that under these circumstances:
All firms having contracts with the government are especially urged to allow their workers to have full opportunity to express their choice in this election, whatever that choice may be.
And I ask that any employee not allowed enough time to vote, inform me of the circumstances.
Mr. Roosevelt stressed that the mandate of this election “should be as representative of the whole people as possible, irrespective of whom they vote for.” He added:
There has been much interest in the subject of soldier young. I am sure that there is an equal interest in facilitating the vote of civilian workers.
Works on speech
Meantime, Mr. Roosevelt was working on the remaining speeches that will carry him down the home stretch to Election Day, particularly the major address he will deliver in Boston tomorrow night after a day-long tour of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
All Pittsburgh stations will broadcast the speech at 9:00 p.m. EWT.
Questioned about various reports published today about his administration, the President recalled his warning in his radio speech last night that there would be “hysterical, last-minute accusations or sensational revelations” which should not be believed.
Wallace for Hull?
He was asked specifically about:
-
A statement by Rep. Walter H. Judd (R-MN) that Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, recently relieved as Far Eastern American commander, was an agent of the White House and gave Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek an ultimatum to turn over command of all Chinese forces to him.
-
That Vice President Henry A. Wallace would succeed Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the election.
The President said of both reports that maybe this was what he was talking about last night when he warned that “trumped up” accusations or purportedly “sensational developments,” “may come in an attempt to “panic” voters into the Republican camp.
‘No news’ about Hull
Asked whether he had any indication that Mr. Hull planned to resign, the President said no.
The President said he was praying for good weather tomorrow for his trip to New England. His first stop will be at Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he will speak briefly from his train.
The party will proceed by train to Springfield, Massachusetts, where the President will make another rear platform appearance, then leave for Boston.
‘Spite’ attempt charged
Accusing the opposition and some newspapers of campaigning with whisperings, rumorings and “wicked charges,” Mr. Roosevelt told his radio audience last night that he did not propose to “answer in kind.”
“This election will not be decided on a basis of malignant murmurings – or shouts,” he said. “It will be on the basis of the record.”
Speaking from the White House, Mr. Roosevelt also charged that the Republicans were threatening to build a “party spite fence between us and the peace” by saying that Congress will not cooperate in fashioning the peace unless Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the GOP candidate, is elected.
‘Busy days’ cited
The Chief Executive said that the exigencies of war had prevented him from making a personal swing to Cleveland, Detroit and Upstate New York as he had desired. He said: “Therefore, I am speaking to you from the White House… I follow the principle of first things first; and this war comes first.”
Declaring that the war against Japan is “many months ahead of our own optimistic schedule,” Mr. Roosevelt expressed satisfaction at the “record of our teamwork with our Allies,” and said this team work would prove a foundation for a “strong and durable organization for world peace.”
Plans for future
Without mentioning Governor Dewey by name, Mr. Roosevelt replied to the Republican nominee’s charges that the present administration had no adequate plans for the future.
“By carrying out the plans we have made we can avoid a post-war depression – we can provide employment for our veterans and our war workers – we can achieve orderly reconversion,” he said. And then, in an implied reference to the Hoover era, he asked:
Above all, we can avoid another false boom like that which burst in 1929 and a dismal collapse like that of 1930 to 1933.
Hannegan speaks
Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, speaking from New York on the same radio broadcast, said that his party had conducted a campaign “based on three simple issues – victory, peace and jobs.”
“On these three issues the Democratic Party was able to present to the American people not merely promises but a record,” he said.
Emphasizing that the Democrats were confident of “overwhelming victory,” Mr. Hannegan devoted a major part of his speech to answering, Republican campaign charges which he said were “falsehoods and designed primarily to create hate.”
Mr. Hannegan predicted that Mr. Dewey’s “smear” will prove offensive to many Catholics who believe Mr. Roosevelt’s doctrines of social justice are essentially those that Catholic leaders have been advocating since the time of Pope Leo XII.
Mr. Hannegan also hit at attacks on Sidney Hillman, the CIO Political Action Committee chairman. and asserted that Governor Dewey had not considered Hillman a threat when, running for office in 1937, Mr. Dewey “solicited and received a $5,000 contribution from him.”
Communist charge denied
Mr. Hannegan cited three publications to prove that Hillman is not a Communist. He said the three were America, The Commonweal and The Liguorian.
Mr. Hannegan said:
Here is what the Commonweal leader in the AFL ever hunted down Communists with more relentless zest than Sidney Hillman in his own union. In the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Communists are as inconspicuous as Nazis in liberated Paris. Sidney Hillman preaches and practices the theory of capital-labor collaboration for mutual interests.
After careful investigation of Mr. Hillman, The Liguorian reached the same conclusion.”
He also declared that “the Democratic Party is not for sale,” adding that a “well known labor leader discovered that in 1936 and is now in the Dewey camp,” obviously referring to John L. Lewis.
Dewey charges secret deals by Roosevelt
Says New Deal’s afraid to tell truth
Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey returned to the Executive Mansion here today after his swing through Pennsylvania yesterday and last night during which he again accused the New Deal of selling “special privilege” through the “notorious 1000 Club.”
Mr. Dewey elaborated charges that the New Deal also was “selling something else – something it doesn’t dare put in writing.”
Letter is quoted
Governor Dewey was to spend most of today putting finishing touches on the speech he will deliver tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
KDKA and WJAS will broadcast the address at 10:30 p.m. EWT.
Speaking yesterday in Pennsylvania, Governor Dewey said he had a letter, written on stationery of the Democratic National Committee, which was sent “to a select list in Kansas.” He said the letter ended with the words:
Membership in this group will be a badge of distinction forever. There are other advantages which I can explain when we meet.
‘Special privilege’ hit
Governor Dewey continued:
Mr. Roosevelt’s club offers in writing to give “special privilege” to a select group of men who can afford $1,000 for a campaign contribution. Then it offers something more – something it doesn’t dare put in writing.
We can only guess what it is. Has this special privilege to do with war contracts? Or is it special concessions on income taxes? Or is ‘Mr. Roosevelt’s club peddling special influence with the War Labor Board or the National Labor Relations Board?
One thing I do know. We are not fighting a war for freedom in order to have a government of special privilege by a select few contributors or for the Communists.
Woos Democrats
Speeding northward from Baltimore, where he invited Democrats to vote the Republican ticket next ‘Tuesday as the only hope of saving their party from capture by “a coalition of subversive forces, including New Dealers, members of the Political Action Committee and Communists,” Governor Dewey made station stops at York, Harrisburg and Sunbury.
At Wilkes-Barre, he addressed a crowd estimated at nearly 20,000 and repeated many of his challenges of the Roosevelt administration’s record.
From Wilkes-Barre, Governor Dewey went by motorcade 20 miles to Scranton, passing through several mining towns where the streets were lined with crowds, In the Scranton Armory, Mr. Dewey delivered almost the same speech as at Wilkes-Barre to a crowd estimated at 11,500.
Appeal made to labor
Bidding for labor votes in Wilkes-Barre, an area dominated by the United Mine Workers, Governor Dewey promised, if elected, to “take the hand of government from free collective bargaining.” He said he would merge the 25 government agencies now handling labor matters into one and would choose “a Secretary of labor from the ranks of organized labor.”
He also proposed a revision of the tax system to relieve both low-income individuals and corporations. The goal, he said, should be “higher and higher national income,” “new jobs at high wages,” and “employment for every American.”
Returning to his attack on “secret deals” in international relations, Governor Dewey asserted that the country has never been told fully and completely what agreements President Roosevelt may have made with Premier Joseph Stalin of Russia.
“We don’t know where we’re going,” Governor Dewey said, “and we don’t know where we have been.”
Poll: Millions unable to name vice-presidential nominees
Bricker better known among Dewey backers than Truman is among Roosevelt followers
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
…
Navy officers sue Teamsters, Tobin
Washington (UP) –
The “Battle of the Statler” was carried into federal court today when the two Navy officers involved in the fracas with Teamsters Union (AFL) officials filed $200,000 libel suits each against the union and Daniel J. Tobin of Indianapolis, its president and editor of the union publication, The International Teamster.
The officers are LtCdr. James H. Suddeth of Washington, and Lt. Randolph Dickins Jr., now in Bradenton, Florida.
The suits charged that an article in The International Teamster falsely accused the Officers of drunkenness, attacks on union members, and using profane language against the President of the United States following Mr. Roosevelt’s Sept. 23 address to the Teamsters. The suits said the latter charge, if true, would subject the officers to court-martial and probable dishonorable discharge from the Navy.
Dewey for Roosevelt; Roosevelt for Dewey
Phoenix, Arizona (UP) –
Gazette columnist Bill Turnbow is certain that Dewey will go for Roosevelt and Roosevelt for Dewey in next week’s presidential election.
Dewey was for Roosevelt in the 1940 election and Roosevelt was for Willkie, Turnbow recalled. Dewey and Roosevelt are Arizona towns. The former was named after Adm. George Dewey and Roosevelt was named for Theodore Roosevelt.
Truman raps GOP promises at rally here
Candidate headlines ‘variety’ program
By Kermit McFarland
Headlining a “variety” program offered by the Democrats as the closing rally of the election campaign, U.S. Senator Harry S. Truman, Democratic candidate for Vice President, last night in Syria Mosque charged that the best Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican candidate for President, had to offer is “promises that the Republicans will not destroy what they never would have created.”
Senator Truman asked:
Even if you could rely on the campaign promises of the Republican candidate, why should you? The best that he offers you is a belated acceptance of the great liberal program which we Democrats already had forced through.
Mr. Truman, making his last campaign speech before he goes home to Independence, Missouri, to vote, headed a speaking schedule which included such diverse personalities as the movie notable Orson Welles, former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania Gifford Pinchot, Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt (widow of the son of Teddy Roosevelt) and representatives of the CIO and the AFL.
Draws bobbysoxers
This was the third Syria Mosque rally of the campaign and the Democrats, in point of size, turned out the best audience (After all, they do control the City and County payrolls, and Orson Welles drew a humorous contingent of bobby-sox girls and checker-jacketed lads who stormed the platform for autographs when he finished speaking).
Mr. Truman dug up the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover administrations again, claiming all had “failed to carry out the campaign promises made to obtain their election.”
Phony prosperity
He alleged:
The attention of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover was lavished upon the bankers and Wall Street speculators. A phony prosperity was created for them at the expense of the working man and the farmer. Andrew Mellon and his favored friends made millions.
Senator Truman said the voters Tuesday must determine whether they want “the President and the Democratic administration which carried out those [liberal] reforms over the opposition of the Republicans in Congress to continue them or whether you want to elect the candidate of the Republican Party which so recently became converted to those reforms.”
He charged the Republican “reactionaries” don’t like “some of the things Mr. Dewey is saying,” but “they do not believe he means what he says.”
Charges ‘straddling’
“They have heard him talk out of both sides Of his mouth on foreign policy,” the vice-presidential candidate said, “and they know that he is an expert on straddling.”
To provide jobs after the war, Mr. Truman said:
We must see to it that all the great planta and facilities that were built to win the war are put to work producing peacetime goods to establish a better life for all of us.
Senator Truman inserted in his speech a special reference to U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey, who sat on the platform. He said Pennsylvania is “very ably represented” by the Senator from Pittsburgh, by whom he said he has sat in the Senate for nine years and nine months.
Pinchot speaks
Mr. Pinchot, twice governor of the state, charged that if Mr. Dewey’s “friends” had had their way, “America would have been helpless when Germany and Japan did attack us.”
And that is not the worst of it. The President’s opponent not only has the support of the isolationists, but he himself, according to the papers, has actually been backing some of the worst of them and urging their reelection to Congress.
Strange contradiction
Mr. Pinchot said there was a “strange contradiction” between Mr. Dewey’s promises and “some of the men who are trying to get him elected.”
He said:
Dewey promises everything the farmer wants. Yet the men who grow fat off the farmer are in is camp.
He promises everything labor wants. Yet the chief labor baiters of the nation are for him.
He promises to do away with monopolies. Yet the great monopolists are backing him up.
He says he is for little business. But the big business leaders are carrying his banner.
He tells us, although in very limited and guarded words, that he is for cooperation among the nations. Yet the leaders of isolation, and the isolation newspapers, are his supporters and have been from the beginning.
Defends Hillman
Mr. Pinchot belittled the Communist issue raised by the Republicans against Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee.
He said:
In the first place, nobody runs Roosevelt. He paddles his own canoe. And in the second place, Hillman is not now and never was a Communist. Hillman is an old friend of mine and I know he’s not a Communist.
Monahan: Orson, amateur politico, proves BO (box office)
Drama critic finds actor packs more appeal at rally than in stage realm
By Kaspar Monahan
As a self-confessed amateur politician, actor Orson Welles holds more box-office appeal in the hurly-burly realm of politics than as a practitioner in the sock-and-buskin trade.
That was demonstrated conclusively last evening at Syria Mosque which was jammed from top to bottom with folks who came to see and hear Mars’ most notable, not to say its most indispensable, citizen.
Of course, there were some high-ranking politicians on hand, including Senator Truman, who is running for Vice President on the Democratic ticket. But obviously, last evening it was Orson Welles who was the major drawing card, no matter what the program had to say about top billing, as they used to call it in the old vaudeville days.
In the words of the better drama critics, actor Orson wowed ‘em. He wowed ‘em so completely that even Mr. Dave Lawrence, an old and experienced gladiator of the political arenas, wound up the occasion by refusing to make an oration of his own.
Lawrence foregoes talk
Quoth Mr. Lawrence, slated as last speaker on the program:
It would be an imposition to keep you good folks here after you have listened to that orator of orators, Orson Welles.
The huge assemblage cheered at Mr. Lawrence’s succinct summary of the situation – then the young females on hand made a wild rush for the exits. They wanted to get Orator Orson’s autograph before he vanished from his scene of triumph.
This reporter couldn’t help but contrast this local reception for actor-orator Orson Welles to the one accorded him not many months ago when he made his initial entrance in Jane Eyre, which is a movie.
Then – in shadow – Mr. Welles was wearing a flowing, ebony cloak and he was riding a horse, a real horse. And by his side was a huge dog, the size of a small cow, and the dog was baying and snarling and scaring the daylights out of poor Joan Fontaine, who was playing the title role in this movie.
The audience – comprised solely of Dewey supporters, of course – snickered. Snickered, hell – they howled and guffawed.
Such uncouth conduct did not mar last evening’s triumphant debut of Orson the Orator. This time he did not wear his flowing, ebony cloaks. He had no horse and no wolfhound. Furthermore. he had – for him – a close-clipped haircut. Nothing bizarre about him, except, perhaps his big, bulging tie, tucked beneath his flaring collar points.
He was broad-shouldered, burly, impressive. And his Shakespearean voice boomed valiantly as he flung hefty verbal broadsides at Tom Dewey. Unlike the other major speakers of the evening, Orator Orson, the erstwhile boy wonder, spoke extemporaneously. No notes. He made it up, it seemed, as he went along.
It was a swell performance – his most effective in the opinion of this reporter, who has observed him, not always favorably, in many a movie and stage piece.
Right off he slashed violently at an editorial appearing in this newspaper the other day – an editorial which implied that, maybe, it would be better if Hollywood’s beautiful people would stay in Hollywood and just go on making endless variations of boy-meets-girl fables, instead of traipsing about the nation making campaign talks.
The slumberous eyes of Orator Orson blazed. One big hand shot out over the rostrum. And he tossed into this political rally a classic bombshell by bringing up the name of Pericles (At this point the party’s big shots on the stage stirred uneasily – for up to now Pericles’ name has not been made an issue in this campaign, and some wondered which side he was on).
“It reminds me,” boomed Orator Orson, “of Pericles speaking over the Athenian dead.” Now I don’t know Greek but he said something like this: “We hold those men who do not meddle in affairs of state as worse than nothing.”
Welles explains
That meant, as Mr. Welles was quick to elucidate, that plumbers, dentists, boilermakers and even movie actors had a right to get up on their hind legs and take sides in a political campaign.
There were cheers from the packed audience – more than 4,000 inside and a couple thousand outside. Pericles knows his onions – and no fooling.
“I suggest” (still quoting Orson) “the Republican Party doesn’t exist.” Then he swiftly sketched highlights of the 1940 campaign, commenting on “the men who scuttled the Republican Party in 1940,” and everybody looked sad and shook their heads over his skullduggery of four years ago.
His resonant powerful voice lit into the GOP claims of Communist infiltration into the Democratic Party, the alleged Hillman-Browner alliance, saying “Why, Hillman and Browder have never met each other.” And he said, “Isolationism isn’t dead – it haunts the speeches of Dewey and Bricker,” and he drew a parallel between Lincoln and Roosevelt, and bitterly blasted the “professional wreckers of peace.”
He would up for a stirring “curtain line” by calling not only for a Democratic victory but for a “Roosevelt landslide,” urging everyone to sit up with their friends who insist on voting for Governor Dewey. “They are sick,” he said. “Do something for them.”