The Pittsburgh Press (September 12, 1944)
Hannegan denies Hillman order
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Chairman Robert E. Hannegan of the Democratic National Committee, denied today he had ever been instructed by President Roosevelt to “clear everything with Sidney [Hillman]” in behind-the-scenes maneuvering at the Democratic National Convention in July.
Mr. Hannegan said the charge was made by Governor John Bricker of Ohio, GOP vice-presidential nominee, in a speech last Saturday, but he said:
The fact is that President Roosevelt, with whom I conferred along on hat occasion [the President’s trip to Chicago prior to the convention], did not say that.
Nor did he say anything else which could have been tortur3d to convey that meaning. That story is absolutely untrue. I don’t know who invented it. I presume that Republican orators will keep repeating this favorite fiction until Election Day in the forlorn hope that some people will believe it is true. I want to get the record straight and identify this one as fabricated out of whole cloth.
Mr. Hannegan was asked if Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee, has anything to do with the convention’s vote, and replied: “If he was a delegate, then he had a vote.”
Mr. Hannegan told a news conference he did not sidetrack Vice President Henry A. Wallace and put in Senator Harry S. Truman, although “I was for Truman.”
Mr. Hannegan was here to confer with Democratic leaders from 22 Midwestern and Southern states on campaign strategy and finances.