The Pittsburgh Press (October 16, 1940)
WALLACE SEEKS VOTE IN STATE
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Makes Major Speech Tonight at Mosque
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Henry A. Wallace, Democratic candidate for Vice President, swung into the presidential campaign in Pennsylvania today, visiting a number of Western Pennsylvania cities and towns before his major speech in Syria Mosque tonight.
Erie was the first scheduled stop for Mr. Wallace. Edinboro, Sharon, and Farrell were other towns on his itinerary.
On the heels of Mr. Wallace’s visit, Republicans and Democrats will stage rival attractions. District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey of New York, will speak for the Republicans in Hunt Armory, Emerson St., East End, tomorrow night.
LaGuardia Tomorrow
Also tomorrow night, Mayor F. H. LaGuardia of New York, and former Gov. Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania, will address a Democratic meeting in Carnegie Hall, North Side. Mr. Pinchot’s speech will be his first since the recent announcement of his support of President Roosevelt for re-election.
Mayor LaGuardia will arrive here by airplane tomorrow afternoon. He will address an open air meeting at 3:30 p.m. near the main entrance to the Clairton Works of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co.
Meanwhile, President Roosevelt was planning a new visit to Pennsylvania.
May Dedicate Turnpike
It was announced in Washington that the President may dedicate the new $70 million Pittsburgh Turnpike October 24, the same day on which his Republican opponent, Wendell L. Willkie, will be campaigning in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Mr. Roosevelt also has on his tentative schedule a “defense inspection” visit to the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia. This will be the President’s second visit to Philadelphia and his third of the campaign in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Willkie is scheduled to visit Erie and Sharon October 24 and the next day will appear to Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. He will deliver a major address in Wilkes-Barre, heart of the anthracite region, October 25.
Lessen speakers also were busy in the state.
Cooke at Vandergrift
Jay Cooke, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, speaking in Vandergrift, Westmoreland County, last night, accused his Democratic opponent, Senator Joseph Guffey, of believing in “special privilege for his millionaire friends.”
Mr. Cooke based his accusation on the Senator’s bill in Congress to reimburse Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, U.S. Ambassador to Poland for $243,000 in damages to personal belongings during the Nazi invasion of Poland.
U.S. Senator Warren R. Austin (R-VT), addressed a Republican rally in Philadelphia and asserted the election of Mr. Willkie “would signify the determination of the citizens of America to beat Hitler in the American way.”