The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1940)
ROOSEVELT ASKS ‘FINAL’ TERM; ‘PEOPLE RISING,’ WILLKIE SAYS
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Needs Four More Years, Executive Says; G.O.P. Nominee Predicts Victory
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WILLKIE BEATS VICTORY DRUMS
By Joseph L. Myler, United Press Staff Writer
New York, Nov. 2 –
Wendell L. Willkie proclaimed to a throng in Madison Square Garden tonight that “Victory is on the march,” that the people, “defying political corruption,” had risen to “write a single word across the vast American sky – liberty, liberty, liberty.”
The Republican presidential nominee said:
The people of this country have never risen up in any cause except the cause of freedom. Believe me, that is their cause today.
This is the Battle of America.
The drums of victory are rolling. The thunderous drums of an aroused electorate are beating in the nation tonight.
‘Victory of the People’
Victory, victory, is on the march –
This is the victory of the people.
We, the people, are defying political corruption. We are defying billions of dollars of political spending. We, the people, defy the entrenched political power.
A free people now arises to write a single word across the vast American sky: Liberty, liberty, liberty.
Urging the people to be “jealous of this power that you hold,” Mr. Willkie said:
Think before you release it to those who prove a lust for power by seeking a third term. For if you release it, you hazard your chance of ever regaining your sovereignty, In this violent world it is later than you think.
Strikes Harder Than Ever
The issue with which you will be presented three days hence is the preservation of the free way of life.
Mr. Willkie precipitated a demonstration of several minutes when he promised the 24,000 persons in the great hall that he would “unite all the people of America” and added:
I have no prejudice against any of them.
Before he started speaking, Mr. Willkie received an ovation that lasted 11 minutes, and time and again he was interrupted by cheers which cut deeply into his radio time.
Mr. Willkie, striking harder than ever before despite the rigors of a most extensive stumping tour concluded yesterday, was making the climactic speech of his whirlwind campaign for the Presidency. He was speaking before a “home town” audience. He was punching wirh everything he had. He was charging “smear” and “intolerance.”
Concentrating all the charges he has thus far made against the New Deal in one blasting speech, he indicted the present Administration on seven counts and, after citing each shouted:
That is the method of the New Deal. It is not the method of democracy.
Charges Summed Up
Summing up the counts of his indictment, Mr. Willkie said:
The unlimited spending of borrowed money – the piling up of bureaucracy – the usurpation of power reserved to Congress – the subjugation of the courts – the concentration of enormous authoirity in the hands of the executive – the discouragement of enterprise – and the continuance of economic dependence for millions of our citizens upon government – these are the methods of the New Deal. But they are not the methods of democracy.
Pledging that he would bring about a “unity that you have not known for weight years,” Mr. Willkie promised further:
We will bring to the solution of our economic and social problems the combined wisdom of labor, agriculture and industry.
‘Will Aid Agriculture’
We will modify those laws who9ch restrict and hamper the development of American agriculture and industry.
We will see to it that taxes are levied not for the purpose of punishment but for the raising of revenue, according to ability to pay.
And we shall levy them with certainty and in such a manner as to release the flow of money into productive enterprises which provide jobs for our people.
Thus we will keep America strong.
Thus we will keep America at peace.
Thus we will keep America free.
Willkie accused President Roosevelt personally of injecting racial questions into the campaign and declared:
I want specifically to denounce, as malicious, reckless and harmful to all concerned, the whispering campaign that is being conducted by the opposition to connect me with that kind of intolerance.
That kind of campaign is not a smear on Wendell Willkie. It is a smear ion our American principles.
I will defend and always have defended the rights and civil liberties of all people regardless of race, creed or color. They are America.
‘No Place For Communists’
There is no place in this crusade for Communists, Fascists or Nazis, and there will be no room in our Administration for fellow-travelers.
Mr. Willkie said President Roosevelt in Brooklyn last night “found it ominous that men of diverse backgrounds, races and creeds – men of different interests and hopes, should be supporting us.”
It did not occur to him that patriotic Americans could be drawn into agreement upon principles and unite in their determination against self-perpetuating power, and against being embroiled in a foreign war.
‘Beware Betrayal’
Since when has it been a crime in America for labor and industry to join hands? Or labor and the farmer? Or Jews and Gentiles?
Believe me, people of America, if you listen to that kind of campaigning you will be betrayed.
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Only desperate men would seek to persuade you that our great cause is the result of sinister forces.
Concerning social and labor benefits, Mr. Willkie said, there is only one issue:
We believe that in order to protect them and to extend them it is necessary to have a government that is financially sound. That means we must have jobs. That means we must put the government back into the hands of the people
Urges Total Defense
Concerning defense, he said:
We believe, all of us, in the need for a powerful national defense. But our administration would have it so powerful that no aggressor would ever dare to strike.
Where then does the conflict lie in this campaign?
It is, and I say it solemnly and with full understanding of the terrible meaning of the words – it is that for nearly eight years our government has been carrying us step-by-step down a road that leads to the destruction of our Democratic way of life.
In returning to his home town, Mr. Willkie was climaxing a campaign which he believes will carry him into the White House.
Aboard Train Since Sept. 12
His arrival here concluded the “campaign on wheels” phase of Mr. Willkie’s pre-election drive. Since the June convention of the Republican Party at Philadelphia where he was nominated, Mr. Willkie had visited 34 states, flown 8,884 miles and traveled 18,759 miles by train.
From September 12 until today he had been almost constantly abroad his special train, going from town to town “preaching the doctrine of production, production, production” to the American people.
Having stumped in virtually every state outside the “Solid South,” Mr. Willkie himself estimated he had made 530 speeches and had been seen and heard by 10 million persons – or 10% of the population of the areas he visited.
Reserves Radio Time
Mr. Willkie has reserved radio time for last minute broadcasts on the eve of election, but expected, if the exigencies of the campaign permitted, to spend Sunday and Monday resting. He will vote early Tuesday at his regular polling place, a school building art 85th St. and Madison Ave., not far from his home at 1010 Fifth Ave.
Mr. Willkie’s arrival in New York ended what old timers among the 45 newspaper correspondents abroad the train said was a unique campaign.
Never before, they said, had a candidate for President traveled so far, made so many speeches, rested so little, driven himself so hard, talked to so many people.