The Pittsburgh Press (August 11, 1944)
Dewey studies Roosevelt trip
Governor confers with GOP chairman
Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential candidate, and GOP National Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr. today plotted the next move in their campaign to put the GOP back in the White House.
Fresh from conferences with Republican leaders of 11 Midwestern states, Mr. Brownell said he carried an optimistic report. He told the Governor, however, that “plenty of hard work” has to be done between now and November and party followers are ready for action.
In long conference
Mr. Brownell was an overnight guest at the executive mansion and he and Mr. Dewey talked until after midnight. One of the principal topics was reportedly President Roosevelt’s inspection trip to Honolulu.
On his last visit to Albany, Mr. Brownell charged that Mr. Roosevelt was the first of 32 Presidents to claim that the title of Commander-in-Chief made him a soldier and that he was using the title to “perpetuate himself in public office.”
At that time, Mr. Dewey heard reports the President would deliver his speech accepting the Democratic nomination from foreign shores and he said if Mr. Roosevelt did, “I might have something to say about it.”
Concerned about trips
Republican leaders are concerned over Mr. Roosevelt’s inspection trips to the war fronts during the campaign. They are attempting to determine when such trips are necessary.
The Governor is expected to remain silent on the President’s Honolulu trip until Mr. Roosevelt has made his “report to the nation.”