The Pittsburgh Press (October 15, 1944)
Dewey makes major speech here Friday
Candidate to appear at Hunt Armory
By Kermit McFarland
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate for President, will deliver a major campaign speech in Pittsburgh next Friday.
Mr. Dewey will speak in Hunt Armory, East Liberty.
Arrangements for the Governor’s Pittsburgh visit were completed last night. Details have not been announced, but Mr. Dewey is expected to arrive here in the afternoon before his speech.
The Republican candidate’s appearance here tops a schedule of three major political rallies now lined up by the rival political parties here.
Truman to speak Nov. 2
U.S. Senator Harry S. Truman, the Democratic candidate for Vice President, will speak in Syria Mosque Thursday, Nov. 2, Democratic headquarters announced.
Congressman Clare Boothe Luce, one of the speakers at last June’s Republican National Convention in Chicago, will address a Republican rally in Syria Mosque tomorrow night.
This will be Mr. Dewey’s second Pittsburgh appearance since he became the presidential nominee, and his fourth since he became a national political figure.
He was here in July for a series of conferences with local political, business, labor, agricultural and war veteran groups, but made no speech.
Spoke here for Willkie
He addressed a dinner here in June 1941 when he was national chairman of the USO campaign for funds. And he spoke in Hunt Armory Oct. 17, 1940, on behalf of the late Wendell Willkie’s candidacy for President.
Mr. Dewey’s Friday address will begin at 9:30 p.m., but the rally probably will open at 8:30 p.m. Governor Edward Martin will undoubtedly appear on the program. The presidential candidate’s address will be broadcast over a nationwide network.
Details of the Truman rally here Nov. 2 are also lacking. Like the Dewey meeting, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate’s appearance here has been in the making for several weeks. The influence of County Commissioner John J. Kane, the original Truman proponent, and of Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence, virtually assured a Pittsburgh speaking date for the Missouri Senator.
Date moved forward
Mr. Dewey, who opened his campaign in Philadelphia, practically had assured Governor Martin and local Republicans that he would come here near the end of the campaign. Until yesterday, Oct. 30 had been listed as the tentative cure.
Republican National Chairman Herbert Brownell was here Wednesday, and the Dewey speech is a direct result of that visit.
When Mr. Dewey spoke in Hunt Armory, the largest hall in the city, in 1940, he was heard by an audience of 8,000. His main theme in that speech, a theme repeated in recent campaign addresses, was a charge that the Roosevelt administration had failed to begin soon enough the job of preparedness.
Clare Luce speaks tomorrow
Mrs. Luce, Congressman from Connecticut and wife of the publisher of Time, LIFE and Fortune magazines, will begin her address tomorrow right at 9:30. The speech will be broadcast over a statewide radio network.
Republican Headquarters announced that the doors at Syria Mosque will be open at 6:30 p.m. Prior to Mrs. Luce’s appearance, the program will be made up of music, community singing and an hour’s vaudeville show, featuring a patriotic tableau.
Republican County Chairman James F. Malone said a feature stunt of the rally will be an “old-fashioned political parade” through the aisles of the hall, led by an orchestra and the North Catholic High School Band.
Speakers will include Governor Martin, Republican State Chairman M. Harvey Taylor of Harrisburg, Mr. Malone, Mrs. Edna R. Correll of Philadelphia (Republican State Vice Chairman) and Mrs. Worthington Scranton (Pennsylvania member of the Republican National Committee). Candidates for statewide offices and Rev. James R. Cox of Old St. Patrick’s Church will be introduced.
Dewey revises speaking plans
Albany, New York (UP) – (Oct. 14)
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, in addition to scheduling a major speech at Pittsburgh Oct. 20, revised his campaign itinerary tonight to include: St. Louis Monday, The Herald-Tribune Forum in New York Wednesday, Minneapolis Oct. 24, Chicago Oct. 25, Buffalo Oct. 31, Boston Nov. 1, New York City Nov. 4, and a speech from a radio studio Nov. 6 Election Eve.
It was indicated the Governor may sandwich a speech in between the Chicago and Buffalo appearances and if he decided to do so, it probably would be at Detroit or Cleveland.
The Governor spent most of the day at the Executive Mansion working on his St. Louis speech with his close adviser, Elliott Bell. He took occasion to issue a proclamation designating Oct. 27 as Navy Day.
The Governor declined to comment on President Roosevelt’s declination to appear at the Herald-Tribune Forum and he had also “no comment” regarding charges by Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle that the GOP candidate had been “surprisingly dishonest” in some of his campaign speeches.