The Pittsburgh Press (October 27, 1944)
Nelson, Ball urge return of Roosevelt
Former WPB head says he has ‘knowhow’
Washington (UP) –
The reelection of President Roosevelt as the man with the “knowhow” on both foreign and domestic questions was urged last night by Donald M. Nelson, former chairman of the War Production Board, and Senator Joseph H. Ball (R-MN).
In his radio speech, Mr. Nelson said that the nation “cannot afford to take chances on the Presidency,” and that he therefore would vote for Mr. Roosevelt because he has “the knowhow to lead the nation to swift and absolute victory in this war, to a firm and lasting peace, and to higher living standards for all.”
Stating that he had voted the Republican ticket more often than the Democratic, Mr. Nelson said that he also had “enthusiastic” support for Senator Harry S. Truman, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.
Senator Ball, who announced earlier this week that he would back Mr. Roosevelt because of Governor Dewey’s asserted failure to take a stronger stand on international collaboration, charged that the Republican candidate had failed to offer a constructive program on domestic issues as well.
He also criticized Governor Dewey and other Republican campaign speakers for their attempts “to scare the American people into believing that reelection of Mr. Roosevelt would mean a Communist dictatorship in the United States.” This, he said, has “seriously weakened the chances of a Dewey administration being able to cooperate with Soviet Russia.”
Charging that it is ridiculous to present Communism as a serious menace now, Senator Ball said:
The rights and liberties of the American people are in far less danger from the little handful of Communists on the outer fringe of the New Deal than they are from the rabid isolationists and labor haters who unfortunately occupy positions of much greater influence in Governor Dewey’s campaign.