The Pittsburgh Press (February 11, 1944)
Reversing Willkie’s tactics, Ohio Governor seeks to play legislators against a ‘weak’ executive
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Washington –
Governor John W. Bricker’s Lincoln Day speech proposal for absolute prohibition of wartime strikes aroused top interest here today among the issues discussed by the Ohioan in his pre-convention campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
But Governor Bricker’s bid for consideration in this political hotspot proved to be a combination of bitter denunciation of the Roosevelt administration and of significantly kind words for Congress. He pegged his appeal on domestic issues, but did propose that the United States “should take her place in a cooperative organization among sovereign nations after this war.”
Differs from Willkie
His tactics were in contrast with those of Wendell L. Willkie, the Ohio Governor’s most active opponent, who occasionally undertakes to shake Congress by the ears, losing more than a few friends thereby.
Governor Bricker challenged “weakness of the New Deal in handling labor relations” and said:
A law should be enacted by Congress laying down fundamental principles for the administration and adjudication of labor disputes and the prohibition of strikes in time of war.
He said it was too late now to consider a national service act as proposed by Mr. Roosevelt.
In a final major appearance here today, Governor Bricker told the National Press Club at a luncheon that he proposed that the term of the President be limited to one six-year term or two four-year terms. He preferred the latter, he said, but in any event believed that the tenure “must be restricted.”
Express Democratic help
Rep. Joseph W. Martin (R-MA), introducing Governor Bricker to the Mayflower Hotel audience, said it was the largest Republican gathering held here in a dozen years. He predicted victory in this year’s elections, but said it would not be Republican victory alone.
He said:
Victory will come because millions of honest, sincere, patriotic Jeffersonian Democrats will submerge part to the welfare of their country and because independent voters will unite with us.
He told last night’s audience that Mr. Roosevelt’s policies were leading the country to socialism, if not communism.
Proposes fiscal program
In his prepared text, he proposed a new fiscal program linked with early post-war balancing of the budget art a rate of spending approximating $15 billion a year. Here is Governor Bricker’s substitute for what he termed Mr. Roosevelt’s policy of “spend, waste, borrow and tax:”
- Simplify and stabilize the tax laws.
- Use the tax power to raise necessary revenue and not “as an undercover method of effecting social changes.”
- Limit federal taxation so that adequate revenue sources will remain to the states and local governments.
- Adhere to fiscal and tax policies which will stimulate private enterprise and venture capital.
- Reduce federal taxes as soon as possible after victory.
We’re all in the war
Charging that the Roosevelt administration has “bewildered and oppressed” the people, Governor Bricker said:
The New Deal is the American counterpart of the sweep of absolutism which has destroyed so much liberty around the world.
He sought to rebuke Mr. Roosevelt for personifying his administration as “Dr. Win-the-War.”
Mr. Bricker said:
Winning the war is not a partisan opportunity. It is an American responsibility.
Governor Bricker’s bid for Congressional friendship and support was direct and full of sympathy. He said:
The time has come to take the policymaking of government out of the hands of the arrogant bureaucrats and return it to the hands of the elected representatives of the people.
Willkie wants party to look forward
Seattle, Washington (UP) –
Wendell L. Willkie, 1940 Republican presidential candidate, accused the administration of “fighting a soft war” last night and said the people would willingly bear an increased tax burden if the government made an effort to halt the “reckless expenditure of their money.”
Mr. Willkie told a Lincoln Day audience of 2,500 persons:
After the war, we should reverse our taxation system in order to stimulate our economy and prove the largest possible national income.
If the Republican nominee is a forward-looking leader, the rank and file of the party will rally as a unit in his support.
Statement is explained
He confirmed a statement attributed to him at Baker, Oregon, earlier in the day in which he was quoted:
I’m going to be nominated for the Presidency on the Republican ticket.
He smilingly recounted the incident, saying about 300 persons gathered at his train when it stopped in Baker briefly.
He said:
I made a few remarks and among other things said, “I’m going to take you into my confidence – I’m going to be the Republican nominee for President.” You wouldn’t expect me to tell them I was not going to be the nominee, would you?
Program outlined
Mr. Willkie revealed that following an address in Tacoma today and an appearance in Portland, he would fly to Sacramento Sunday and have lunch with Governor and Mrs. Earl Warren and make a radio address there Sunday afternoon. Mr. Willkie has agreed not to enter the California primary, in favor of Warren.
Denying to reporters that the Republican Party is divided, Mr. Willkie said it was natural for the party out of power to have leaders with diverse ideas, and added that the election of 26 governors and additional members of both houses of Congress had given the party “new vigor.”
Sees Roosevelt handicap
In support of his charge that the Democratic Party is divided, he cited refusal of “a committee of Democrats” to support the Treasury Department’s tax program, which he said was itself “wholly inadequate,” and the fact that the states’-rights soldier vote bill was prepared “by members of the President’s own party in opposition to the administration-supported federal ballot bill.”
The Democratic Party is “decadent and falling apart” and President Roosevelt, if reelected, would be frustrated by the division in its ranks, he insisted.
He said:
I am going to break this power in Washington if I can, for if I don’t, everything I hold precious will disappear.
Wallace puzzled by Johnston plaint
Minneapolis, Minnesota (UP) –
Vice President Henry A. Wallace said today that he had not talked to President Roosevelt regarding his candidacy for Vice President in the November elections.
Mr. Wallace, who stopped in the Twin-Cities for several hours when his Seattle to Chicago plane was grounded by storms southeast of here, said:
But then I did not consult with him in 1940 either.
Mr. Wallace said that he had found “an unusual sentiment in the West for a fourth term for Roosevelt.”
When informed that Eric A. Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was critical of his speech at Seattle last night. Mr. Wallace said he could not “see any reason for that.” Mr. Wallace had labeled certain business interests as fascist in tendency.
In Washington, Mr. Johnston said Mr. Wallace was sowing “seeds of disunity… on the event of an invasion which will bring our most crucial military test.”
Mr. Johnston said:
Name calling by the Vice President of the United States is the wrong way to get national unity in this hour of crisis…
American business despises fascism. If there is a threat of it in this country, it is not to be found in big business, but in big government.