Editorial: Eisenhower moves
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Background of news –
New York and the election
By Bertram Benedict
In the election, the state of New York has 47 (17 percent) of the 266 electoral votes necessary to elect a President. This is more than the combined electoral vote of 12 other states.
Governor Dewey has been a good vote-getter in New York. In 1938, he ran against Governor Lehman, another good vote-getter, for the New York governorship and came within a hair’s breadth of winning. Mr. Lehman received 1,971,000 votes on the Democratic ticket and 420,000 on the American Labor Party ticket, for a total of 2,391,000. Mr. Dewey, receiving 2,327,000, was defeated by only 64,000 votes out of more than 4,700,000 cast.
In the same year, the two Republican candidates for U.S. Senator from New York (one for an unexpired term) lost by 438,000 votes and 355,000 votes, respectively. Two years before, the Republican gubernatorial candidate had lost by 521,000 votes.
But in 1942, Mr. Dewey defeated the Democratic candidate and the American Labor Party candidate by a clear majority of 245,000.
Opposed by Willkie in 1942
Mr. Dewey received the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1942 over the ill-disguised opposition of the late Wendell L. Willkie. When the state Republican leaders obviously were about to swing the party nominating convention over to Mr. Dewey, Mr. Willkie came out for a free-for-all nomination race, although disclaiming any ambitions for himself or any participation in a Stop-Dewey movement.
Mr. Willkie himself had run well in New York against President Roosevelt in 1940. There Mr. Willkie had 48 percent of the major party vote, as against 45 percent in the nation as a whole. If one in every 25 New Yorkers, net, who voted for Mr. Roosevelt in 1940 should vote for Mr. Dewey this year, the Republican will carry the state – provided he holds the Willkie voters.
However, the fact that Mr. Dewey ran well for Governor does not necessarily mean that he will run as well for president in the Empire State. Alfred E. Smith was also a great gubernatorial vote-getter, but the state which sent him to the Governor’s Mansion at Albany four times (once in a Republican landslide year, 1924) would not vote to send him to the White House in 1928.
And in 1928, while New York was voting against Mr. Smith as the Democratic presidential candidate, it was voting for Franklin D. Roosevelt as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
The New York vote in 1916
In 1916, the Republicans nominated for the Presidency Justice Charles E. Hughes of New York, largely because he was expected to carry, in what looked like a close election, the state in which he had been elected Governor in 1906 and 1908. The expectation was realized, for Mr. Hughes carried New York by a substantial margin, but he lost the election by 23 electoral votes.
That was really the only time since the Civil War in which the country did not vote as New York voted. True, in 1876, New York voted for its Governor, Samuel J. Tilden, only to see Hayes elected, but probably Tilden was unfairly counted out. As it was, he had a popular majority.
With Dewey vs. Roosevelt, it is the second time since 1904 (Theodore Roosevelt vs. Alton B. Parker) that both major party candidates have been New Yorkers. Four years ago, Mr. Willkie was a resident of New York City. He was a native of Indiana rather than the Empire State, but neither is Mr. Dewey a native New Yorker. He was born in Michigan.
Kirkpatrick: Pétain regime will be tried in absentia
Verdict of treason expected
By Helen Kirkpatrick
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Personality only reason in Stilwell move, China says
Foreign Minister asserts recall had nothing to do with policy of two countries
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Liberty ships to honor Norris, Smith, Willkie
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Simms: Why make issue now out of century-old situation in China
Far East victory may be delayed unless Washington and Chungking recover tact
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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Russia upsets oil plans of U.S., British
Makes belated bid for concessions in Iran
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Stock market officials probe ‘kickbacks’
Fail to end evidence of ‘anything wrong’
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Brundige: D. Lamour again dons sarong!
Bracken co-star in Penn comedy
By Lenore Brundige
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Dorsey witnesses disappear
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Millett: Thoughtless remarks add to war wives’ worries
Stay-at-homes who ‘know how others feel’ just imagine they do
By Ruth Millett
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EXECUTIVE ORDER 9496
Authorizing the Secretary of War to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants and Facilities of Certain Companies Located in or Near Toledo, Ohio
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 3, 1944
WHEREAS after an investigation I find and proclaim that the plants and facilities of the companies listed in appendix A, attached hereto, located in or near Toledo, Ohio, are equipped for the manufacture and production of articles and materials that are required for the war effort or that are useful in connection therewith; that there are existing interruptions of the operation of certain of said plants and facilities and threatened interruptions of the operation of the others of said plants and facilities, as a result of a labor disturbance; that the war effort will be unduly impeded or delayed by these interruptions; and that the exercise as hereinafter specified of the powers vested in me is necessary to insure in the interest of the war effort the operation of these plants and facilities:
NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 9 of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (54 Stat. 892) as amended by the War Labor Disputes Act (57 Stat. 163), as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
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The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed, through and with the aid of any persons or instrumentalities that he may designate, to take possession of the plants and facilities, or any part thereof in which production is interrupted or threatened with interruption, of the companies listed in appendix A attached hereto, located in or near Toledo, Ohio, and, to the extent that he may deem necessary, of any real or personal property, and other assets wherever situated, used in connection with, the operations thereof; to operate or to arrange for the operation of the plants and facilities in such manner as he deems necessary for the successful prosecution of the war; to exercise any contractual or other rights of the said companies, and to continue the employment of, or to employ, any persons, and to do any other thing that he may deem necessary for, or incidental to, the operation of the said plants and facilities and the production, sale, and distribution of the products thereof; and to take any other steps that he deems necessary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this order.
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The Secretary of War shall operate the said plants and facilities in accordance with the terms and conditions of employment which are in effect at the time possession thereof is taken, subject to the provisions of section 5 of the War Labor Disputes Act.
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The Secretary of War shall permit the management of the plants and facilities taken under the provisions of this order to continue with its managerial functions to the maximum degree possible, consistent with the aims of this order.
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The Secretary of War Is authorized to take such action, if any, as he may deem necessary or desirable to provide protection for the plants and all persons employed or seeking employment therein, and their families and homes. All Federal agencies, including but not limited to the War Manpower Commission, the National Selective Service System, and the Department of Justice, are directed to cooperate with the Secretary of War to the fullest extent possible in carrying out the purposes of this order.
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Possession, control, and operation of any plant or facility, or part thereof, taken under this order shall be terminated by the Secretary of War within 60 days after he determines that the productive efficiency of the plant, facility, or part thereof prevailing prior to the existing interruptions of production, referred to in the recitals of this order, has been restored.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 3, 1944
APPENDIX A – LIST OF COMPANIES
TOLEDO, OHIO
Baker Bros., Inc.
Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
Great Lakes Stamping & Manufacturing Company.
Ohio Tool and Die Company.
The Inshield Products Company.
The Crescent Engineering Corporation.
The Toledo Steel Tube Company.
Wayne Metal Products Company.
Reading Eagle (November 3, 1944)
ON THE RECORD —
The Chinese crisis
By Dorothy Thompson
It is probably just as well that the recall of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell from China has lifted the veil on conditions there. Correspondents who have returned from the Far East have discussed the situation privately with anxiety for years. Toward none of our allies, considered as a people, are American hearts warmer than toward the Chinese. The dogged sacrificial heroism of the Chinese common soldier has been confirmed by every American reporting on China,
Nor were we, for a time, in a position to make criticisms of the conduct of the Chiang regime, Stilwell went to China as hardly more than a token of good will, and a promise substantially to aid, as and when we could. No officer ever undertook a more thankless mission. I believe that at least one general turned it down, before Stilwell said laconically: Okay. When do I start?
But with the epochal naval victory in the waters of the Philippines, the war in the Far East enters a new phase, and American prestige has skyrocketed in the Pacific area. So, it became necessary both to clear up certain matters as a preface to new operations, and possible to take a stand in good grace. If the withdrawal of Stilwell is confirmation of a diplomatic failure it is dubious whether our prestige suffers as badly as the Generalissimo’s.
For Lt. Gen. Stilwell is not a man who cares about prestige – certainly not about his own. If he did, he never would have undertaken his mission in the first place. Stilwell is an American patriot, a warm and sincere friend of China, whose language he speaks fluently, and over and above everything else, a soldier. Although the President said in his press conference that it was all just a personal matter – which is the diplomatic way for the head of a state to put it – the personal matter extends to the American Ambassador, Clarence E. Gauss, who has resigned and is on his way home.
The sad truth is that diplomatically and politically we have recognized China as the fourth power on earth, which she potentially is, but as a promise of future greatness and not as an existing fact.
The existing fact is that China is not yet an organized national state, but a country that has been fighting a civil war since 1911, and a foreign war for seven years, without pacifying the internal struggles. We have three Chinese areas: The one controlled by the Japanese; the one controlled by the Chinese “Communists,” who are in reality radical agrarian reformers with attractions toward the Soviet Union, but as a party more independent of Russia than any other Communist Party has been; and, third, the Chung-King area of Chiang’s Kuomintang.
The three areas are at war with each other, and two of them at war with Japan. Constant attempts have been made, with American support, to end this feud, which is tying up, from Chiang’s side an estimated three to five hundred thousand men, and from both sides, from six hundred thousand to one million men.
The opening of the Pacific offers possibilities of fighting the Japs, in other ways than from the interior of China. If we should have a united Chinese Army on the Asiatic mainland, it would be worthwhile to surmount the fantastic difficulties of supplying such a force. But if, on the other hand, this Chinese force is paralyzed within itself, and the leader of the Chinese state unwilling to accept an impartial American command, which might be able to cement the politically divergent forces for military purposes, then every expert on logistics would, I think, say that we should use our ships to reach the Pacific shorelines of China, there create a force of our own, and continue the war against Japan as an amphibious operation, thus putting to fullest use our present naval supremacy.
Also it is an open secret that we hope that with victory in Europe the Soviet Union might join us against Japan and there are compelling reasons why the Soviets might do so, But certainly they will not join us, in order to consolidate in China, the country with which they have the longest land frontier, a regime bitterly hostile to them. There, as in Europe, the Soviets will consider their future security. If Chiang can compromise Chinese differences on a democratic basis, he would be acceptable to the Soviets. If he wants to force a one-sided solution, he will be unacceptable.
Pegler: Dishonest conduct
By Westbrook Pegler
New York –
Tom Dewey recently said that nowadays the problem of the people in judging news from the White House was not whether it was good or bad but whether it was true or false.
In this he challenged not merely the veracity of a rival candidate for office but the morality, the character, of the most influential elective official in the nation. For if, as Dewey said, President Roosevelt is intentionally untruthful, then his morals are bad. And, inasmuch as moral currents emanate from the character of the President and affect his administration, then, if the President is dishonest, tricky and cynical, the morals of the people and the national character must suffer.
It is not only by laws, enforced by policemen, that a moral people are moved to maintain decent standards in their relations between themselves and their government. A finer force, a product of civilization, operates here. For a decisive test of Roosevelt’s veracity, we need proceed no further in his reign than his first Presidency, in which he soon repudiated and violated every persuasive promise on which he had been elected. Economy, which he had promised, became a fabulous program of alms under political control extending down into the very precincts, The bureaucracy which he had condemned in the Hoover administration was multiplied to make places for his political following. He vowed that he would not devalue our money, an inflationary course, but did repudiate the gold pledge. an act of repudiation which shook the confidence of the rest of the world in the United States.
That much being established by citations which could be multiplied a thousand times, how have his actions affected the morals of the people and their confidence in the integrity of their government.
A few nights ago, Roosevelt said, with a note of a snarl in his delivery, that some Republicans were now threatening, in the event of defeat, to refuse to cooperate with him in the building of the peace. They would risk total calamity for partisan political advantage. But what did he do in a similar case, in the interim between his first election and his inauguration of Hoover begged him to cooperate to avert the bank panic, but Roosevelt and the New Deal brain trust hilariously taunted the now powerless chief of an expiring and discredited regime and went away. Merely to humiliate Hoover and create counterfeit political capital, where they have used ever since, they invited the panic and all its consequences for all the people.
They were flippant and frivolous and riding high, and to them the juvenile, exultant fun of mocking a somber and unpopular man was worth all the suffering imposed on millions of others. Yet, ever since, they have profited by the public impression that this panic was not Roosevelt’s and wrought intentionally, but Hoover’s, and due to his reactionary stupidity.
The morality of Roosevelt, himself, was revealed again in his court-packing plan. I could go to the files and cite editorial comments from papers now supporting him for a fourth term. which denounced him in terms so contemptuous that they could not today support him in a petition for a parole from prison were they consistent. They accused him of aspiring to dictatorship, they pointed out the similarity of this scheme to Hitler’s way, they accused him of fraud and “viciousness” was the adjective most generally used. The public which usually grasps only the larger facts of a situation still believes this was a scheme to pack only the Supreme Court. It was much worse. It was a plan to organize a corps of New Deal judges in the federal district courts and to assign these new appointees, and only them, to cases in which the New Deal had a political or ideological interest.
Judges already on the federal district bench were not to be so assigned. They might not rule as he wanted them to. His own new appointees would be chosen for their reliability.
Early in the game there was a small, brief scandal over some extremely valuable philatelic rarities, desperately created by Jim Farley in the Post Office Department. Farley was no stamp collector. He hadn’t yet learned the value of such freaks. But Roosevelt and Harold Ickes were collectors of old. They had been keeping and trading stamps for years and they knew that the sheets of stamps which Farley was sending them for face value were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In one case, as the scandal broke, they were caught in the act, so the stamps in question were devalued by inflation. Farley ran off thousands of sheets more, for general sale, and these particular freaks dropped to par. But what other sheets they had been given we were not told.
Was that the conduct of honest men?
But, surely, President Roosevelt, rich in his own hereditary right and full of honors, wouldn’t stoop to obtain a financial profit or gain!
He wouldn’t? Analysis of his “gift” of his ancestral home to a nation which did not ask the favor shows the it was a tax trick whereby his heirs will save inheritance tax and, adding insult to injury, the transaction was given a false seeming of patriotic philanthropy. His wife’s uncle was given a job at $100,000 a year as lobbyist for the liquor trust soon after repeal as a tribute on the industry in return for the precious gift of renewed life. His mother and his wife both quickly exploited his new office for their private profit, and when the income-tax returns of other citizens were thrown on the table for public analysis by experts, the returns of the Roosevelt family were protected by the head of the family, the President, himself, who had sole authority to authorize their inspection.
The Roberts Report on Pearl Harbor, while convicting two high commanders without trial, plainly shows that Roosevelt had a share of the fault. Yet he has smothered the two service inquiries and suppressed the reports until after election.
This is not even a summary. It is only a random selection of acts of defiant dishonesty and scheming.