The Pittsburgh Press (September 27, 1944)
New York head of GOP assailed
New York (UP) –
Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan today accused New York State Republican Chairman Edwin F. Jaeckle of anti-Catholic, anti-Polish sentiments and of association with the German-American Bund, and promised further disclosures about “the Dewey cellar gang… the group of men who constitute the real power behind the high-chair of this Republican candidacy.”
Mr. Hannegan said that Rep. Joseph Mruk (R-Buffalo) had been refused endorsement for reelection by Mr. Jaeckle because, according to Mr. Mruk, he was a Catholic and of Polish ancestry.
Mr. Hannegan said:
Jaeckle’s only explanation… was… experience has taught me that situations clarify themselves and controversy is not an aid to clarification.
Mr. Hannegan also charged that Mr. Jaeckle was “attorney for the German-American Bund in Buffalo. A Buffalo newspaper, he said, described a German Day celebration in 1937 “in which Jaeckle appeared with the then Nazi Ambassador, Hans Dieckhoff.