The Pittsburgh Press (October 15, 1944)
Probe decision Wednesday –
Battle of Statler civilians known
Senator says none is Roosevelt friend
Washington (UP) – (Oct. 14)
Civilian participants in the now-historic “Battle of the Statler” probably will be identified by a Senate investigating committee next week, but Chairman Theodore F. Green (D-RI) said tonight that no one will be found to be a personal friend of President Roosevelt.
Almost immediately after the Sept. 23 clash, in which two naval officers engaged in fisticuffs with guests at an AFL Teamsters Union dinner a few minutes after President Roosevelt made his first 1944 campaign speech, the report got out that one of the Teamster participants was a friend of the President.
Denies black eye rumor
All Senator Green would say at a news conference today was that “a man was struck, his identity is known and he is not a personal friend of the President.”
Names of the two naval officers involved – Lt. Randolph Dickins Jr. and LtCdr. James H. Suddeth – have been made public, but the identity of civilians involved has not.
Senator green also scotched another report – that Committee Counsel Robert T. Murphy had a black eye when he returned to the capital from New York last night after interviewing members and officers of the Teamsters Union.
The chairman said that “Mr. Murphy had a very successful trip;” that Daniel Tobin, head of the union, “was very cooperative,” and that Mr. Murphy brought back a handful of affidavits.
Green belittles incident
Senator Green shied away, however, from questions about the number of affidavits or their content. The committee will meet Wednesday, he said, to get a full story from investigators, and members will decide then whether to hold a formal investigation.
Senator Green added that consideration of the Statler battle was not first in importance on the committee’s agenda. The only reason the affair had achieved wide public interest, he said, was because reporters on Capitol Hill “had nothing else to write about” while Congress was in recess.
The only detailed story of the battle is that told by Lt. Dickins, who said it started when some Teamsters demanded to know whether the officers were going to vote for their Commander-in-Chief and they replied, “None of your business.”
Lt. Dickins said he knocked down four or five out of six Teamsters involved, and added that one of his opponents told him afterward he had floored a friend of the President.