The Pittsburgh Press (November 5, 1944)
Final blows struck by Roosevelt, Dewey; bitter campaign ends
Massachusetts Democrats jarred by Truman’s isolationist charge against Senator Walsh
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
New York – (Nov. 4)
The angriest political campaign in recent history was in its final bitter hours tonight and the voters will cast their presidential ballots Tuesday in an election whose winner perhaps may not be known for days or weeks after the polls close.
The unknown factor is the armed services absentee vote. In 11 states with an aggregate of 123 electoral votes, absentee service ballots are counted in whole or part after other ballots have been tallied. The latest count is Dec. 7 in North Dakota.
The most significant delayed count probably will be in Pennsylvania which casts 35 electoral votes and for which complete returns will not be available until Nov. 22 or even later. All service ballots in Pennsylvania will be impounded for the late tally.
The two presidential candidates ended their major campaign efforts tonight.
Democrats jarred
Mr. Roosevelt spoke in Boston where the Democratic Party has been jarred by a chance remark by vice-presidential candidate Herry S. Truman that Senator David I. Walsh (D-MA) was an “isolationist” in need of reform.
Mr. Walsh lashed Mr. Truman in a bitter statement which seemed to invite his friends to bolt the party ticket – although the Senator, himself, said he would vote it straight. Mr. Dewey spoke tonight in Madison Square Garden in another bid for New York’s 47 electoral votes.
Both candidates will rest tomorrow and undertake a bit of neighborhood campaigning Monday, Mr. Dewey in Albany and Mr. Roosevelt up and down the Hudson Valley.
‘Lie’ charge hurled
They have hit at each other with unusual bitterness, charging each with the lie early in the campaign and going on from there, each hoping to convince the voters that if the other were elected the future of the Republic would be in instant jeopardy.
Mr. Dewey has travelled from coast to coast. Mr. Roosevelt got as far west as Chicago, but said he was not campaigning in the usual partisan sense, but only “to correct misrepresentations.”
Some of the presidential campaign bitterness is reflected in lesser contests, notably in New York and Connecticut.
Bennett opposes Fish
Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-NY), whom some of Mr. Roosevelt’s supporters have sought to tag for near treason, is opposed for reelection by Augustus Bennett who lost the Republican primary to Mr. Fish but won on the Democratic primary ballot.
In Connecticut, Rep. Clare Boothe Luce, a Republican member of the House and the prettiest woman in Congress – which is faint praise – is opposed by Margaret E. Connors, a politically experienced young woman who is making a good fight.
Senator Robert F. Wagner (D-NY) is running this time against Thomas J. Curran, Secretary of State here, who was handpicked by Mr. Dewey to take the veteran New Yorker out of national politics.
Hot Illinois contests
Senator Scott Lucas (D-IL), a member of the New Deal wing of the Democratic Party, is opposed by Richard J, Lyons, a Republican, who has the support of the Chicago Tribune. Another hot Illinois contest is between Representative-at-Large Stephen A. Day, Republican, with Tribune support, and Emily Taft Douglas.
There is a straight New Deal contest in Connecticut where Brian McMahon, one-time Assistant U.S. Attorney General, is trying to unseat Senator John Danaher, a Republican, who has been among the most alert and effective Congressional opponents of the Roosevelt administration.
Senator Gerald P. Nye (R-ND), who is high on the list of “isolationists” denounced by administration supporters, is in a three-way race against Governor John Moses, Democratic nominee, and Lynn U. Stambaugh, former national commander of the American Legion, running as an independent.