America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

3756

americavotes1944

Remarks by President Roosevelt
November 4, 1944

Delivered at Bridgeport, Connecticut

fdr.1944

This is not a formal campaign speech. It’s just a visit from one neighbor to a lot of other neighbors, because, you know, from my place up on the Hudson River when I look east I can see into Connecticut, and it doesn’t take me very much more than an hour to get down to Bridgeport from my house.

So let me just tell you as a neighbor that I am glad to be back.

This being war, though I am told not to mention that subject, I always remember back in 1917 or 1918 coming to Bridgeport when I was in the Navy Department, and seeing the building of ships, the manufacturing of munitions, guns, and bullets. And I remember very well the reputation that Bridgeport had in those days in the first war. And it has got the same reputation for a magnificent industrial effort and help to our troops in this war.

I hope that, while we are alive, Bridgeport will never be called on again to make munitions in a world war. And it is interesting, at this time, for the first time since the days of Lincoln, that we are conducting a war and carrying on a presidential election at the same time.

Some of us are trying to get excited about politics. Some of us become even rather agitated. You ought to know. Yes, there are a few politicians, even men and women, who work themselves into such an emotional state that they say things I hope they will be sorry for before they die.

There isn’t very much that I can say, except to talk about the record. You know that. A lot of people don’t like me to talk about the record. They don’t like to be reminded that people have been taken care of by the Congress through the passage of all kinds of social legislation. When I talk about those things again, some people say, “Oh, why do they have to bring that subject up?”

I think we have made a pretty good record in running this war, and they don’t like that talked about either. They like to talk about some kind of a wild, weird future. Well, believe me, you see it and then you don’t see it. One candidate says one thing and, in another place, simultaneously, another candidate says another thing. I get tremendously amused by some of this – not all of it – because I wish in a way I were back in 1910, when I was running for the State Senate in the State of New York, and I had a particularly disagreeable opponent, and he called me names. Well, I wasn’t anything in those days – I wasn’t President – and I answered him in kind. And the names that I called him were worse than the names that he called me. So, we had a very joyous campaign.

In this campaign, of course, all things taken together, I can’t talk about my opponent the way I would like to sometimes, because I try to think that I am a Christian. I try to think that someday I will go to Heaven, and I don’t believe there is anything to be gained in saying dreadful things about other people in any campaign.

After next Tuesday there are going to be a lot of sorry people in the United States.

I want to say, looking into the future, that I hope some of my good friends who happen to be running for office – your candidate for Governor, your candidate for the Senate – both of them old friends of mine – will be elected; and I hope, too, that very soon after the first of January, Mrs. Roosevelt and I will have a call – in the White House – from the charming lady, Miss Connors, on my right.

So it’s good to see you all, and I’ll be back some day, very soon I hope, as President.

Thanks.

3757

americavotes1944

Remarks by President Roosevelt
November 4, 1944

Delivered at Hartford, Connecticut

fdr.1944

I am glad to come back here. It’s rather a happy surprise. Four years ago, I was told terrible things were being circulated all over the country. People all over the United States were being told that if I got reelected, all of the Hartford insurance companies would go broke. So, coming in here, I expected to see vast, empty buildings not being used and employing no people. The insurance business was going to go flat. And yet they are still present. And, of course, the joke is that the insurance companies, not only of Hartford but of other places, are better off than they ever have been before. They are pretty good insurance companies, you know. They subscribe to the war loans. They have been patriotic. They just have only one unfortunate habit which they acquire every four years – in fact, the last few months of every four years. They say, “If this man Roosevelt gets elected President, we will have to go out of business!” So, it is good to see them still going good to see that Hartford is not a city of empty homes.

But, you know, that was like a lot of other campaigns. Back in – what was it? – 1932, they said that grass was going to grow in the streets. But it didn’t! And Mr. Hoover wasn’t reelected President.

And then in 1936, some of the people all over the country – you know the kind I mean – tried to instill fear in the minds of the American people by saying that the social security funds of the United States were no good – they weren’t safe. They even went to the extent of having some of their large financial backers put this type of scare material in the pay envelopes of millions of employees. And the interesting thing was that the employees didn’t fall for it. They thought they knew better than the president of the company. And they took another chance with me.

Now, they will apparently never learn that this kind of campaign does not produce the results they look for. In fact, it usually produces the opposite result. It is going to do that again this year.

And they are making the fantastic claim this year that your government is now engaged in some deep-dyed plot to take over the insurance business.

Well, it so happens that I have had some experience in the insurance business myself, and I know that the workers and managers in that business cannot be easily fooled by that type of propaganda.

Why, the insurance policies of the United States and your savings are safer than they ever were in the whole history of the United States – and so is the insurance business.

That was not true in 1933 when I took office. I don’t have to recall to you the closing banks and the shaky insurance companies of those days. In fact, I think it is safe to say that a great many of the insurance companies in 1933, if they had tried to liquidate their assets for the benefit of policyholders, would have found themselves in the “red.” They would not have had enough money. And the reason is obvious – because before 1933 – a year before and the year before that – the value of the farms and mortgages and other properties on their books had depreciated so much that by March of 1933, they couldn’t have been liquidated at anything like the figures at which they were carrying their assets on their own books. That’s a pretty serious charge. But the record is there. Under the last Republican administration, the insurance companies were “bust.”

You know what happened in 1933. You know how quickly the action of this administration resulted in increased earnings and savings and property values. And that is what this “bungling, incompetent” administration has done for the people of the United States.

There is one thing that I have meant to say for the last two months, and haven’t had a chance. It’s a word about a group of our citizens that have been pretty hard hit by the war. They have not been able to earn the high level of wages that have been paid in shipyards and war factories – and yet, with amazing patience and fortitude they have continued in their essential jobs – carrying on as best they can. And those are the white-collar workers of America.

I think, however, that in addition to being thoroughly patriotic, staying at their work, they realize that this administration has done a pretty good job in keeping down the cost of living, in protecting the purchasing power of their dollars in terms of rent and other necessities of life. Compared with the skyrocketing cost of living in the last war – twice as much of a rise as in this war – our record in this war, on the whole, has been very good. And I want you – as they used to say – to give a hand to the white-collar workers of the United States.

Because during the war, for the first time in history, we have avoided wartime inflation. Inflation means nothing more than a rise in the cost of things, and the white-collar workers’ wages haven’t gone up anything like what the wages have gone up in other professions or trades.

The lesson of the last war was clear to us – nearly all of us – in the administration, but to many Republicans it was not plain at all.

Time and again the Republicans in the Congress voted overwhelmingly against price control, and in favor of letting prices go skyrocketing.

So, I make an assertion. The Democratic Party in this war has been the party of sound money. The Republican Party has been the party of unsound money.

If the Republicans had had their way, all of us – farmers, white-collar workers, factory workers, housewives – we would all have had our dollars cut by inflation and a higher cost of living.

I hope to come back here very often either as a private citizen, or as President of the United States. But I am very confident today that when I come back during the next four years it will be as President of the United States.

And in saying goodbye to you, after this very pleasing visit, I assure you that when I do come back, I will still be able to wear the same size hat.

3758

The Pittsburgh Press (November 4, 1944)

Yanks fall back in Reich under Nazi counterdrive

Germans regain half of 2½ miles lost to 1st Army near Aachen
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer

…

3759

Jap tanks land on Leyte; big battle due

U.S. planes batter enemy relief column
By William B. Dickinson, United Press staff writer

…

3760

1,100 U.S. heavies hammer Germany

Oil plants, railroad targets plastered

…

3761

americavotes1944

Roosevelt to speak in Boston tonight

President lays ‘fear’ campaign to foes; Hudson Valley tour planned

Hartford, Connecticut (UP) –
President Roosevelt, carrying his fourth-term campaign into this insurance center of the nation, charged today that the Republicans are making “a deliberate attempt to panic the American people” by saying that their insurance policies will be worthless unless the Roosevelt administration is beaten.

He arrived here at noon en route to Springfield, Massachusetts, and Boston after making a platform speech at Bridgeport.

His speech here was the second in a series of four in a day-long tour that will be climaxed with a major address tonight at Boston’s Fenway Park.

KDKA, WJAS and KQV will broadcast the speech at 9:00 p.m. EWT.

‘Like previous campaigns’

In a year platform address here, he told a station throng that he wanted to say a word “about the campaign of fear which some Republican orators are seeking to spread among holders of insurance policies.”

He said:

It is much like previous Republican campaigns.

Today as before, they are saying that unless this administration is removed from office, the insurance policies of the people of the United States will be worthless.

The President said that type of campaign has “been rebuked by the American people at the polls before – and it will be again.”

GOP policies scored

He also charged that:

Time and again the Republicans in the Congress voted overwhelmingly against price control, and in favor of letting prices go skyrocketing.

He said:

The Democratic Party, in this war, has been the party of sound money. The Republican Party has been the party of inflation.

If the Republicans had their way, all of us – farmers, white-collar workers, factory workers, housewives – we all would have had our dollars cut down by inflation and higher living costs.

Without mentioning Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey by name, he struck sharply at Mr. Dewey’s campaign charge that this is a “bungling, incompetent administration.”

Record cited

Referring to the “record” of this administration after 11 came into office in 1933, he said:

You know how quickly the action which this administration took resulted in increased earnings and savings and property values of our people.

That is what this bungling, incompetent administration has done.

Denouncing what he described as a Republican campaign of “fear,” he said:

Republican leaders tried the same kind of campaign in 1932 – when the people… were told that “grass would grow in the streets…” unless Mr. Hoover were reelected.

Well, he was not reelected President. But instead of grass growing in the streets we saw the streets hum with a revival of business and revival of employment.

From Hartford, Mr. Roosevelt was proceeding to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was due for another rear-platform speech. The presidential train will also make a brief stop at Worcester, Massachusetts, to pick up Senator David I. Walsh (D-MA) and proceeds to Boston, where it is due at 5:30 p.m.

For the most part, tomorrow will be a day of rest at Mr. Roosevelt’s Hyde Park (New York) family home. Monday he will make what has become a traditional tour if the Hudson Valley around Hyde Park.

To vote in Hyde Park

Tuesday, the President will make his usual trip to the white-walled town hall in Hyde Park village where the election registrar will ask his name and occupation and the President will reply, “Franklin D. Roosevelt, tree grower,” before casting his ballot.

At Bridgeport, the President was greeted by Democratic officials who flanked him as he spoke from the rear platform of his special train.

Addressing a station throng, Mr. Roosevelt said he hoped that very soon after the first of January he and Mrs. Roosevelt would be able to greet at the White House “the charming lady on my right” – Miss Margaret Connors, Democratic candidate for Congress opposing the incumbent, Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT).

Two developments

As the President left Washington last night, there were two developments:

  • The President, asking employers to give their workers sufficient time off Tuesday to vote, asked “that any employee who is not allowed enough time to vote inform me of the circumstances, together with the name of his company and other pertinent facts.” The President pointed out, too, that companies having government contracts would be allowed to charge as reimbursable cost the pav to workers for election time off.

  • White House Press Secretary Stephen T. Early said Senator Carter Glass (D-VA) had telephoned him, asking him to give the President his “love” and assure him that Mr. Glass would vote for him. Mr. Glass opposed the third term nomination and until a day or so ago had said nothing about favoring a fourth term.

3762

americavotes1944

Dewey to speak in New York tonight

GOP nominee to summarize campaign issues; election eve speech planned

Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey brings to a white heat tonight his campaign to enter the White House next January and conduct “the greatest housecleaning in the history of Washington.”

The Republican presidential candidate will speak in Madison Square Garden at New York City before the last big GOP rally of the campaign.

KDKA and WJAS will broadcast the speech at 10:30 p.m. EWT.

Mr. Dewey will return to Albany tomorrow and will make a final speech from the Executive Mansion Monday night over all networks. It is expected to stress principally the importance of voting in Tuesday’s presidential election.

To summarize issues

Mr. Dewey will return to New York Tuesday to vote.

The campaign windup rally in Madison Square Garden is traditionally devoted to a summarization of campaign issues. For this Mr. Dewey has laid the groundwork in 20 major speeches from Boston to Los Angeles.

Mr. Dewey has argued that “it’s time for a change” by charging:

  • That the Roosevelt administration has grown “tired and quarrelsome in office.”

  • That it has strangled private enterprise and failed to provide jobs under a peacetime economy.

  • That it had employed secret diplomacy in foreign relations.

  • That it has abrogated for political gain the right of collective bargaining.

  • That it has sold out the Democratic Party to “subversive forces.”

Pledges listed

He promised, if elected, to replace it with an administration which would:

  • “Bring an end to the quarreling and bickering and confusion in the nation’s capital,” and foster “harmonious action between the President and the Congress.”

  • Eliminate “unnecessary burdens and handicaps placed by government upon the job-making machinery of our economic system” and lower individual and corporate income taxes.

  • Merge all labor agencies into one, “take the hand of government off free collective bargaining, choose a Secretary of Labor “from the ranks of labor” and provide jobs for all.

  • Extend social security to “those who most desperately need protection and are not now covered.”

  • Be “free from the influence of Communists and domination of corrupt big city machines.”

  • Protect farmers “against extreme fluctuation of prices” without “dictation and control by his own government.”

  • Retain in command Army and Navy leaders to whom he credits military victories, restore unity which would “speed victory” and bring home and release members of the Armed Forces “at the earliest practical moment after victory.”

  • Carry on the fight until the military might of Germany and Japan is crushed, and establish “a world organization in which all nations may share as sovereign equals, to deal with future threats to the peace of the world.”

In the three major speeches at Louisville, Kentucky; New York City, and Minneapolis, Mr. Dewey went farther than any Republican candidate in history. He proposed that the peace organization be set up as rapidly as possible instead of waiting for military victory. He argued that only Congress can determine the scope of U.S. participation in such an organization but he advocated that participation be undertaken without “reservations that would nullify” is power to act speedily to halt aggression using force if necessary.

Mr. Dewey, returning from a final campaign swing through Maryland and Pennsylvania spent a quiet day at the Executive Mansion in Albany yesterday putting the finishing touches on tonight’s speech.

3763

U.S. seizes eight plants involved in MESA strike

Companies to Toledo area are affected; walkout may spread to Cleveland

…

3764

Lost Yank company saved from Nazi trap in Holland

Americans in waterlogged foxholes fight off counterattacks for three days
By Boyd Lewis, United Press staff writer

…

3765

Stilwell arrives in Washington

…

americavotes1944

Flood of GOP money lowers Dewey odds

St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
Maury Cooper, St. Louis betting commissioner, today lowered the odds on Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, “because of a flood of GOP money from all over the country.”

Cooper placed the odds on Mr. Dewey at 14–5, and against him at 16–5. The odds on Mr. Roosevelt, he said, were now 5–19. At one time, the President’s odds were 1–4.5.

3766

I DARE SAY —
This is America, too!

By Florence Fisher Parry

…

3767

Warships may sail without chaplains

…

Black wig slips, youth arrested in nurse uniform

…

3768

8th Army head gets post in Southeast Asia

Gen. Leese to be Mountbatten’s aide

…

3769

Nazis planned to bomb U.S. French claim

Worker slowdown prevented completion

…

B-29s undamaged in Rangoon raid

…

3770

Reform school fugitive poses as colonel five weeks

British youth even penetrates Allied HQ, inspects France with officers
By Edward V. Roberts, United Press staff writer

…

Mizrachi promotes campaign

Plans to raise $250,000

…

3771

americavotes1944

Editorial: Roosevelt and the war

…

3772

americavotes1944

Editorial: Another reason why it’s time for a change

…

3773

americavotes1944

Editorial: Controls? What kind?

…

3774

americavotes1944

Edson: Thousand-dollar contributions not so flush

By Peter Edson

…

3775

Ferguson: More power for women?

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

…