The Pittsburgh Press (October 16, 1944)
Negroes’ strides cited by Hillman
New York (UP) –
Sidney Hillman, CIO Political Action Committee chairman, told a Negro audience last night that Negroes under President Roosevelt “have made greater strides” toward first-class citizenship “than in any other period in American history.”
Mr. Hillman, speaking before the St. James forum, charged that Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s method of dealing with “troublesome problems” was “stalling” and ignoring measures leading to alleviation of racial and religious discrimination and improvement of Negro housing problems.
The PAC chairman said the Republican Party has not “dared to attack the PAC because it supports Roosevelt policies. It has preferred to attack PAC because I, its chairman, was born in Lithuania which, according to Republican leadership, makes me a second-class American citizen, if not altogether un-American.”