The Pittsburgh Press (October 22, 1940)
FOE DESPERATE, WILLKIE SAYS
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G.O.P. Nominee Renews Attack on ‘Machines’
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Abroad Willkie Train En Route to Chicago, Oct. 22 (UP) –
Republican presidential nominee Wendell L. Willkie told a boisterous crowd of 40,000 to 50,000 at Rockford, Ill., today that his opposition is “developing a deep sense of fear” and is “getting desperate.”
I know how the opposition feels. They have brought this government with the people’s money and they see it going away from them and don’t want to lose.
Mr. Willkie’s aides said the crowd around the rear platform at Rockford was the largest train crowd he had drawn in his weeks of campaigning.
Mr. Willkie urged his listeners not to pay attention to his opposition’s “desperation.”
Whatever attempts they may make to stop public discussion, or bring pressure on certain groups of our population. I don’t want anybody associated with me to adopt similar tactics.
I want a free and open election. I don’t want people on relief subjected to pressure concerning how they vote. I don’t want government employees solicited for campaign funds as Edward J. Flynn, Democratic National Chairman, is doing.
He said reports to him from every state showed “there is a prairie fire on,” and that the “great upsurge of public opinion” means a G.O.P. victory Nov. 5.
The Republican presidential nominee aid he was confident that “we’ve got them on the run” as he traveled back to Chicago, domain of the Kelly-Nash Democratic organization for two nationally broadcast speeches. En route he will tour the steel manufacturing centers of Indiana.
KQV will broadcast Mr. Willkie’s address in Chicago at 9:30 tonight. WCAE will broadcast Mr. Willkie’s Question and Answer program at 10:30 tonight.
Mr. Willkie began a new attack on the political machines last night in an address to Young Republicans at Milwaukee.
Questions Asked
He said that when President Roosevelt begins his “belated and forced” discussion of the issues of the campaign, he wanted the President to answer one question.
You say that you seek no dictatorial powers because you submit yourself to a free election in America. Do you call it a free election in view of your combination and sitting in conference as you have, with the Boss Hagues, the Boss Flynns and the Kelly-Nashes? Do you call it a free election when the chairman of your committee – and he could not do it without your knowledge – sends out lists of government employees and seeks to collect campaign contributions from them?
Do you count it a free election when you begin to put pressure upon relief receivers and people upon WPA employment?
‘Mockery’ Charged
No such mockery was ever attempted in the history of this country. Here is a candidate for President of the United States who has proclaimed himself as a liberal, as a reform candidate, but who allows three of the most corrupt political machines to try and steal the election for him without even a rebuke to them.
Mr. Willkie told the Young Republicans that “with your help, I predict victory on November 5.”
He said he anticipated New Deal arguments that business now is reviving and unemployment declining.
Let me never hear the New Dealers point with pride to a business revival based on the creation of the huge war machine that we are building. Let me never hear them boast that they have reduced unemployment by the sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of young men have made in joining the Army.
Those are not achievements on the road to process. Those are terrible duties that we must perform. Only dictators make the boast that they have ‘solved’ their domestic problems that way.
More than 6,800 supporters heard his Milwaukee address. The crowd which filled the auditorium was jostled by police who refused entry to several prominent Republicans and even some members of Mr. Willkie’s party. Ann Gillis of the Columbia Broadcasting System was injured slightly.
Two tomatoes were thrown at the Willkie party during the tour of Wisconsin. One struck this correspondent who was standing on the rear platform of the train at Lond du Lac and the other struck Stephen Buckley, New York detective assigned to guard Mr. Willkie, as the candidate motored from the train to the Milwaukee Auditorium.