The Pittsburgh Press (October 30, 1944)
Major parties bear down on Pennsylvania
Truman, Bricker lead vote-seeking groups
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Vice-presidential nominees of both major parties were committed today to heavy speaking schedules at opposite ends of politically-doubtful Pennsylvania to highlight intensive final-week campaigning for the state’s 35 electoral votes which may decide the fate of the Roosevelt administration’s try for a fourth term.
Democratic leaders planned a whirlwind tour for the party’s vice-presidential nominee, U.S. Senator Harry S. Truman, whose Thursday itinerary in the West calls for speeches at Braddock, East Pittsburgh, Wilmerding, McKeesport and Uniontown, a 15-minute radio talk and a major address at Pittsburgh.
Bricker invades East
Next day, his Republican opponent, Governor John W. Bricker, returns to the state at Philadelphia following a noon rally speech at Wilmington, Delaware. Mr. Bricker’s Friday schedule lists a speech before Republican workers at Camden, a city-wide rally in Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia, and a discussion of labor problems an hour later at a 5-ward gathering at the Labor Lyceum there.
Mr. Bricker’s bid for a majority of Philadelphia’s potential 900,000 votes will follow by exactly a week President Roosevelt’s tour and speech.
The Philadelphia City Democratic organization holds its annual $100-a-plate dinner there tonight with National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan as principal speaker.
Rises to peak
Democratic State Headquarters announced that the Roosevelt campaign in Pennsylvania would rise to “a sustained peak of effort” this week with 200 broadcast programs to “set a record for radio efforts in a political campaign.”
The principal radio speakers listed by the Democrats, in addition to Senator Truman, were Congressman Francis J. Myers of Philadelphia (the party’s nominee for U.S. Senator), Philip Murray (CIO president), Harold L. Ickes (U.S. Secretary of the Interior), Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence and former Governor Gifford Pinchot. Movie and radio celebrities listed as speakers included Orson Welles, Paulette Goddard, Quentin Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Joan Bennett, Humphrey Bogart, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Merman and Clifton Fadiman.
The Hollywood contingent with Bricker at Philadelphia was to include Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Swanson and Eddie Bracken.
Governor Edward Martin’s activity on behalf of the Republican ticket during the final full week of the campaign will include an address Wednesday at McKeesport.