The Pittsburgh Press (August 3, 1944)
Fish sorry Dewey disagrees on vote stand
Newburgh, New York (UP) –
Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr., winner of Tuesday’s primary fight for the Republican nomination in New York’s 29th district, said today he was “exceedingly sorry” Governor Thomas E. Dewey had found fault with his statement that Jewish voters favored the New Deal.
Calling his remarks “merely a political prediction and a truthful one,” Fish said as a “loyal Republican supporting the party ticket” he was against a fourth term for President Roosevelt and favored the election of the Dewey-Bricker ticket. He said he thought Governor Dewey had made a “serious political mistake.”
In answer to accusations by Gerald L. K. Smith, leader of the America First Party, that Governor Dewey and the Communist leader, Earl Browder, were supporting the same candidate when they attacked Mr. Fish’s candidacy, the veteran legislator said:
This is a free country and everyone, including Gerald Smith, is entitled to free speech, but I wish he would keep out of the fight in my district.