Keynoter’s speech starts demonstration
Magic word ‘Roosevelt’ sets mob to whooping
Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Democrats went whooping into the aisles for the first big demonstration of their convention last night when Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr made a keynoted speech calling for the reelection of President Roosevelt and denouncing Republican administrations under which American “hardened under Harding, cooled under Coolidge, and hungered under Hoover.”
The speech was interrupted by a 12-minute demonstration during which state standards were paraded down the aisles to the platform where Governor Kerr put on a 10-gallon white hate while the band blared, “You’re Doin’ Fine, Oklahoma.”
Governor Kerr’s reply to the Republican Party’s “accent on youth” was the declaration that such “tired old men” as President Roosevelt, Adm. Ernest J. King, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Gen. George C. Marshall “are winning this war.”
Repeating the refrain, “Shall we discard as a ‘tired old man,’” he alluded in staccato succession to 59-year-old Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, 62-year-old Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., 64-year-old Gen. MacArthur, 66-year-old Adm. King, and 64-year-old Gen. Marshall.
Then he added the paragraph which stopped his speech and produced the most deafening demonstration which this convention had seen thus far.
The keynoter said:
No, Mr. Dewey. We know we are winning this war with these “tired old men,” including the 62-year-old Roosevelt as their Commander-in-Chief.
The words “Commander-in-Chief” were almost drowned out by the burst of applause which greeted the word “Roosevelt.”
Governor Kerr himself was caught offguard. He had expected applause, but he hadn’t expected bedlam. He quickly sensed the situation, however, spread his arms like a cheerleader, and urged them on.