The Pittsburgh Press (September 12, 1944)
Dewey’s Army charge denied
Washington (UP) –
House Democratic Leader John W. McCormack (D-MA) today accused Governor Thomas E. Dewey of making “ridiculous and untrue” charges of “political advantage” in suggesting that the administration wanted to retain soldiers in the Army until they were assured of employment.
Mr. McCormack told the House that the Republican presidential nominee made the charge at Philadelphia the day after the War Department announced its demobilization plans.
He recalled that Mr. Dewey attributed to Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Selective Service director, the statement that men could be kept “in the Army about as cheaply as we could create an agency for them when they are out.”
Mr. McCormack said the only bill he could find proposing the sort of provision Mr. Dewey attacked had been sponsored by a Republican, Senator James J. Davis (R-PA). He said both the War Department and Gen. Hershey had opposed Mr. Davis’ bill, which would have barred the discharge of men without their consent unless employment was available.