The Pittsburgh Press (September 17, 1944)
Bricker plans major speech here Tuesday
Both parties schedule series of rallies
Leading off with the appearance here Tuesday of Governor John W. Bricker, Republican candidate for Vice President, local politicians have planned a series of public campaign rallies for the next two weeks.
Mr. Bricker will deliver a major campaign address, with nationwide radio hookup, from Syria Mosque at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday ET.
This is one of four principal stops the Ohio Governor will make in Pennsylvania this week. He will be in Erie Tuesday noon, in Harrisburg Wednesday noon and in Wilkes-Barre Wednesday night.
Three other major events
Three other major campaign events coming up include:
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The American Slav Congress, at Carnegie Music Hall Saturday and Sunday, at which President Roosevelt is expected to win a fourth-term endorsement.
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Local Democrats will open their campaign Sept. 25 in North Side Carnegie Hall with statewide candidates heading the program.
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Vice President Henry A. Wallace will speak in Carnegie Music Hall Sept. 30 under the auspices of an independent committee supporting the President for reelection.
Davis to speak
The Syria Mosque Republican meeting will start at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, with U.S. Senator James J. Davis (candidate for reelection), Superior Court Judge Arthur H. James, County Court Judge Blair F. Gunther and Rev. Cornell E. Talley of the Central Baptist Church, listed as preliminary speakers.
Judge Gunther, incidentally, recently resigned as chairman of the board of the American Slav Congress, charging the organization was being converted into a “political instrument by extreme leftists.”
Governor Edward Martin, who will accompany Governor Bricker throughout his Pennsylvania tour, will introduce the vice-presidential nominee to the Syria Mosque audience. Mrs. Bricker and Mrs. Martin will be in the party.
Conference planned
Mr. Bricker will arrive here at 6:30 p.m. Prior to his speech, he will confer with local Republican leaders. His Harrisburg speech will be delivered from the steps of the State Capitol. The address in Wilkes-Barre will be broadcast over a statewide radio network.
Congressman Francis J. Myers of Philadelphia, candidate for U.S. Senator, will be the chief speaker at the Democratic rally Sept. 25. Others expected to appear include Auditor General F. Clair Ross (candidate for the Superior Court), State Treasurer G. Harold Wagner (candidate for Auditor General) and Ramsay S. Black of Harrisburg (who is the Democratic candidate for State Treasurer).
Federal Judge Charles Alvin Jones (nominee for the State Supreme Court) and Superior Court Judge Chester H. Rhodes may appear.
Movie to be shown
One of the features of the Democratic rally, over which City Treasurer James P. Kirk will preside, will be the showing of a motion picture, Lest We Forget. The picture is a review of the Roosevelt administration.
Otherwise, the political front was marked yesterday by continued charges and counter-charges exchanged by spokesmen of the rival parties.
In a speech to the Westmoreland County Republican Committee at Greensburg, Governor Martin said:
We are up against strong opposition. The New Deal is powerful. We face a federal payroll of more than 200,000 here in Pennsylvania. The corrupt political machines of the Hagues, the Kellys, the Pendergasts and the Hannegans dominate the big cities. Every Communist in America will vote for Roosevelt. Every other anti-American group is solidly against Dewey and Bricker. The Hillman-Browder axis has taken over the Democratic Party.
Myers assails Dewey
Speaking to the Fayette County Democratic Committee in Uniontown yesterday, Mr. Myers charged Governor Dewey with “spreading the seed of disunity and deliberately violating a pledge not to inject issues into the campaign which would interfere with the war effort.”
He scored Mr. Dewey for an implication that the Roosevelt administration had let down Gen. Douglas MacArthur, for charging that the administration “is afraid” to release men from the Armed Forces and for allegedly claiming that meat rationing is “unnecessary.”
Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence renewed his charge that Senator Davis “is an isolationist,” an allegation Mr. Davis said is “unfounded.”
Davis’ record cited
Mr. Lawrence said:
He opposed Lend-Lease as a step toward “dictatorship;” he opposed conscription, believing this nation was in no danger; he condemned reciprocal trade treaties; he exhibited a complete lack of foresight in his failure to recognize that the Allies before Pearl Harbor were fighting our battle as well as their own.
A Senator who was willing to see Great Britain go down to defeat in March of 1941 when he voted against the Lend-Lease bill will have a hard time convincing the voters of Pennsylvania that he is not an isolationist.