The Pittsburgh Press (October 18, 1940)
Willkie Attacked —
‘FALSIFYING’ LAID TO FOE BY ROOSEVELT
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President Says He Will Present ‘True Facts’ in Five Speeches
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Washington, Oct. 18 (UP) –
President Roosevelt charged today that his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie is systematically falsifying the issues in the presidential campaign.
Without mentioning Mr. Willkie by name, Mr. Roosevelt asserted at a press conference that his opponent is falsifying major issues in a manner which is deliberate rather than unwitting.
Because of this, Mr. Roosevelt said; he has been forced to abandon his silence in the campaign and schedule five major addresses between October 23 and Election Day which will present the “true facts” to the American people.
Ready to Pay
He recalled that in his July 19 address accepting the third term nomination, he told the Democratic Convention that he would have “neither the time nor the inclination” to engage in political activities. But in that same address, he recalled, he promised to reply to many “deliberate or unwilling falsification of fact.”
A “systemic program” of such falsifications now has developed, Mr. Roosevelt said.
Mr. Roosevelt’s major address will be delivered October 23 at Philadelphia, October 28 at New York City, October 30 at Washington or Baltimore, November 2 at Cleveland and November 4 at Hyde Park, N.Y. In each instance, the speech will be broadcast on network radio purchased by the Democratic National Committee.
Democrats to Pay
His trips to make the addresses, Mr. Roosevelt said, will include inspection ours of nearby defense projects. He said that despite the semi-official character of such trips, he will have the Democratic Committee pay the travel costs as a matter of “ethics.”
The possibility arose that both he and Mr. Willkie may appear in Baltimore the same night – October 30. He said the Baltimore date still is a possibility, and he let that statement stand after he was reminded that Mr. Willkie will be speaking in Baltimore that same night.
Formal Statement Read
The President made his charge about falsifications in a formal statement issued at his press conference, which read as follows:
In the speech of acceptance to the Democratic convention on July 19, 1940, the President said:
"I shall not have the time or the inclination to engage in any purely political debate. But I shall never be loatheThere has been in this campaign, however, a systematic program of falsification of fact by the opposition. The President does not believe that it has been an unwitting falsification of fact. He believed it is a deliberate falsification of fact.
Silent on Details
He has, therefore, decided to tell the American people what these misrepresentations have been and in what respect they are false. With that purpose in mind, the President will make five speeches between now and Election Day.
Mr. Roosevelt declined to discuss now the nature of the alleged falsifications.
He said there were no political implications in his conference yesterday with President John L. Lewis of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Mr. Lewis came to the White House to discuss two strike conditions, he said.
Going to Hyde Park
Mr. Roosevelt leaves tonight for Hyde Park, beginning the series of trips which will keep him on the move until Election Day. Over the weekend at Hyde Park, he will entertain the Canadian Governor-General, the Earl of Athlone, uncle of King George VI.
Discussing Canadian questions, Mr. Roosevelt refused to give his viewpoint on proposals that Canada enter the Pan American Union.
The Democratic High Command is wholly confident of election results. But among the campaign organization there is speculation regarding the possibility of persuading former National Committee Chairman James A. Farley to lend a hand and discussion of the extent to which the Italian vote has been moved by Mr. Roosevelt’s address last spring in which he said Italy had stabbed France in the back.
Farley’s Aid Welcome
Farley speeches would be welcome, especially for their effect in Massachusetts and New York, although some of the most realistic of political experts are convinced that Mr. Roosevelt, if necessary, could repeat the feat of Woodrow Wilson of being elected President without the 47 electoral votes here.
The former chairman is against a third term for Mr. Roosevelt. He is not likely to make any speeches in his behalf. But if Mr. Farley were asked whether he intended to vote the Roosevelt-Wallace ticket this year, the odds favor an affirmative reply.
Mr. Farley was too long a Democratic worker and party official to begin bolting his party now.