Election 1944: Pre-convention news

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (March 25, 1944)

GOP attacks foreign policy

House ‘freshmen’ confer with Hull

Washington (UP) –
Republican freshmen of the House, unimpressed by Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s outline of U.S. foreign policy, today appeared ready to project into the 1944 political campaign what they described as the administration’s “do-nothing” attitude on international affairs.

They generally agreed that “more action” was necessary and that it would be well to press for a clearer definition of this nation’s relationships with other world powers.

Mr. Hull met with the 24 first-term GOP members yesterday, but later announced that he was not authorized to reveal what had been discussed.

Not convinced

The House members, however, emphasized they were not convinced that U.S. policy is all that it should be and few had comments favorable to Mr. Hull.

One Congressman described Mr. Hull as concerned about many phases of world affairs and relations among the Allies. He quoted the secretary as saying that Great Britain and Russia are no longer on speaking terms because of the Polish border dispute.

There was no confirmation of his observations at the State Department.

Policy called ‘silence’

Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT) observed that:

Silence is still the settled policy of our State Department.

The Congressman who gave his version of Mr. Hull’s talk said the Secretary told in detail how he had taken to Moscow a blueprint of a plan for post-war treatment of Germany even though he had been advised by the Soviet Ambassador here that the Moscow conference must be confined to ways of defeating the Germans.

He quoted Mr. Hull as saying that he did not try to bring up the plan at the formal discussions, but finally gave a mimeographed copy to British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Soviet Foreign Vice Commissar Maxim Litvinov with a request that they look it over.

On ‘right track’

Mr. Hull reportedly said that Eden and Litvinov, when asked four days later how they liked it, both thought it was on the “right track” but that neither has said another word about it since.

The same Congressional source said Mr. Hull told the conference that the Polish border dispute was holding up many important international negotiations. It was then that he allegedly said Britain and Russia are no longer on speaking terms.

Farm story told

Asked about the United States’ policy on the Polish border dispute, Mr. Hull was quoted as saying that Britain and Russia were like two farmers arguing over the dividing line between their respective farms, and that the U.S. would play the role of the clear-headed third farmer and keep out of the argument, although try to bring about a peaceful settlement.

The Congressman quoted Mr. Hull as describing the Polish border dispute as “microscopic” and that in truth border controversies would be settled after, not during, the war.

[NormanStewart]

Dewey blasts curbs placed on war news

Several cases cited by New Yorker

New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, charged last night that apparently “newspapers are being denied the right to print all the news” and laid part of the blame to “administration policy.”

Mr. Dewey told the annual meeting of the New York Press Photographers Association:

Unfortunately there have been increasing signs of late that our newspapers are being denied the right to print all the news.

Vital news withheld

Important matters have repeatedly been withheld for months until they leaked out and became the subject of such widespread gossip that they could no longer be suppressed.

He mentioned several alleged instances of news suppression.

He asserted:

Only now do we learn, because it leaked out, of the shooting down of 23 transport planes and the killing of 410 American paratroopers in Sicily, eight months ago. Even after a presidential broadcast, we still know precisely nothing of what really happened at the much-heralded conference in Tehran.

Pravda’s attacks cited

We only know of the disquieting evidence of disunity which have since occurred in the Pravda attacks on the British and the Vatican, followed by the startling repercussions, brought out by the President’s announcement of the three-way division of the Italian fleet.

He said that it was understood that certain news of a military nature should be withheld but that:

The events of which I speak have not been suppressed to keep information from the enemy so much as to keep them from our own people.

Mr. Dewey praised the U.S. press in cooperating with voluntary censorship, but added that:

The stakes in this war are too high for it to be fought in the dark. The issues are too momentous. It is time we had light as we fight for freedom.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: The Republicans miss a bet

In some Republican circles, the idea got around, earlier in the year, that it would be a smart thing to divide up the ballot for the November election.

No definite plan was made public, but it was indicated the proposal would be submitted to the special legislative session which Governor Martin plans to call to enact soldier vote legislation.

There were varying notions of how the ballot ought to be divided. Some favored putting only candidates for President and Vice President on a separate ballot; others preferring to include the offices of U.S. Senator and Congressman on the presidential ballot. The other ballot would be for state and local offices.

The idea is not new. Governor Bricker induced the Ohio Legislature to enact such a law before the 1940 election and he, a Republican, was safely reelected although President Roosevelt carried the state by a substantial majority.

The plan has been proposed at several sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature but always rejected by leaders of both parties.

Now the Republican Executive Committee, under the chairmanship of Senator M. Harvey Taylor of Harrisburg, one of the leaders who has helped scuttle the plan in previous sessions, has decided to oppose a split ballot.

This action is not based on any idealistic reason. Senator Taylor explained it himself when he said:

We are confident that Pennsylvania will go overwhelmingly Republican.

Political leaders, both Republican and Democratic, are against this plan because straight ballot voting enables them to load up an election ticket with run-of-mine candidates, easily bossed, who can ride into office on the coattails of the head of the ticket.

But such politicians are short-sighted, especially the Republicans. If the ballot had been split in the 1936 and 1940 elections, Republicans might have fared better. And if it had been split in the 1938 election, when the electorate voted against Governor Earle, the Democrats might not have lost so many Congressmen.

But aside from the practical political issue, which is relatively insignificant, the split ballot is in the public interest. Election laws would be even more in the public interest if straight-ticket voting were eliminated altogether.

By encouraging votes for candidates, each on his individual merit, instead of parties, voter discretion would be greatly enhanced, a better class of candidates would be developed and public officials would become more responsive to the wishes of the electorate.

The Republicans, in scotching this idea, have missed a practical political bet and have rejected a plan which ultimately would lead to more satisfactory political organizations.

[NormanStewart]

Federal probe urged by Bricker

Birmingham, Alabama (UP) –
Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, making a bid for the support of Alabama Republicans in his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, last night proposed an investigation of the “entire governmental structure” of this country and the immediate liquidation of all agencies not performing “an essential function.”

Mr. Bricker charged that the “New Deal’s ineptitude in administering even the ordinary affairs of government” had resulted in a “labyrinth” of agencies and bureaus, making coordination:

…hopeless and impossible to attain in the face of duplication, confusion, inefficiency and the totally unwarranted waste of manpower and money.

[NormanStewart]

Stokes: MacArthur

By Thomas L. Stokes

Milwaukee, Wisconsin –
The word here is that Gen. Douglas MacArthur is a receptive candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

“It has been indicated to prominent Republicans that he won’t do anything to get the nomination, but if he gets it, he will accept it,” was the way it was put by Lansing Hoyt, manager of the MacArthur campaign for convention delegates in the April 4 primary in which the general has three rivals – Wendell L. Willkie, Governor Dewey and LtCdr. Harold Stassen, ex-Governor of Minnesota.

Mr. Hoyt added mysteriously:

I can’t tell you how I found that out.

He is hopeful that Gen. MacArthur will roll up such an impressive vote in this state, where he spent his youthful years, that it will set off a national movement that will sweep into the Chicago convention next June. He has so contrived it that the general will have every opportunity for a popular demonstration.

Gen. MacArthur is the only candidate of either party in the primary who is entered also for the presidential preference vote as distinct from the vote for delegates. The popular preferential vote has no relation to the selection of delegates, but a heavy popular vote might make an impression.

Mr. Hoyt was chairman of the America First Committee of Wisconsin and the whole tenor of the MacArthur campaign is to appeal to the isolationist sentiment once so predominant in this state. There still seems to be some latent isolationism.

MacArthur an ‘all-American’

Why are the isolationists supporting Gen. MacArthur?

Mr. Hoyt replied:

Because they think he is all-American. Anybody who’s been out all over the world realizes that the other nations are trying to put it over America. Gen. MacArthur feels the same way, we think. We feel that the United States has to assert its own rights.

Mr. Hoyt, a tall, slender, amiable gentleman with thinning gray hair, a dabbler in Wisconsin politics for years and an engineer by profession, has traveled widely, particularly in the Orient. He has developed a strong anti-British attitude.

With a twinkle in his eye, he related that he was in charge of Wendell Willkie’s 1940 campaign meeting in Milwaukee.

He is directing the MacArthur campaign from three small, sparely furnished rooms in an old office building here. He has no paid staff. The movement is entirely voluntary, he said.

The “native son” angle is being stressed in the campaign. Gen. MacArthur went to grade school and high school here. From here he was appointed to West Point. His grandfather moved to Wisconsin in 1837 and was fifth governor of the state. His father was raised here.

The general is hailed in a campaign dodger widely distributed as a representative of “American interests,” for “his ability to make friends of labor” and as a military man and an administrator. A studied effort is made to meet the argument that the general should remain in command in the Pacific, which Mr. Hoyt labels as “that old New Deal propaganda,” by the counterargument that he should sit in Washington where, as President, he could direct the whole war.

Points to 1940 primary

Mr. Hoyt claims victory for Gen. MacArthur on the basis of the 1940 presidential primary here in which Governor Dewey got 60% of the votes – and all the delegates – and Senator Vandenberg of Michigan got 40%. He expects Gen. MacArthur, he said, to get the Vandenberg 40%, with the other 60% divided among the governor, Wendell Willkie and LtCdr. Stassen.

The former Dewey support, he contends, will be split with Messrs. Willkie and Stassen because Governor Dewey is classed as an “internationalist” on account of his advocacy of a British-American alliance at the Mackinac Conference last September.

With some pride, Mr. Hoyt related how President Roosevelt’s name was withdrawn from the popular preference vote – though a full slate of Roosevelt delegates are entered in the Democratic primary – just an hour after he had filed Gen. MacArthur’s name for the preference vote on the Republican ticket.

“They didn’t want a contrast,” he said.

Democrats are the third party in this state.

[NormanStewart]

Willkie warns of invasion tie-up

Beloit, Wisconsin (UP) –
Although the Allied invasion of Europe will have a profound effect upon the thinking of the American people at election time, the crisis will not necessitate the reelection of President Roosevelt because the country never again will live in a placid hour, Wendell Willkie said yesterday.

Mr. Willkie, making a 13-day statewide pre-primary speaking tour on behalf of his slate of Republican delegate-candidates, predicted the western invasion would begin the next “two or three months.”

He said:

If the present administration is reelected on the basis that this will be a critical moment, it will be reelected again and again, and again because no one in this country who didn’t live before World War I will know what it is to live in a placid hour.

Mr. Willkie called upon the Republican Party to stand for “greater, more effective” contributions and sacrifice for the war.

He denied that a new President would “dismember” America’s fighting units, and said a new Chief Executive would “enliven the Army and give it new power and inspiration.”

Earlier in the day, in an address at Burlington, Wisconsin, Mr. Willkie said he was wholeheartedly behind the administration’s dealing with Éire, and didn’t believe Irish-American Democrats would swing over to the GOP because of the President’s stand.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (March 26, 1944)

Barkley praises party’s record

Charleston, West Virginia (UP) – (March 25)
Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) reviewed the legislative accomplishments of the New Deal tonight and observed that it was unnecessary to emphasize the need for “continuity of leadership” during the war and in the peace to follow.

Senator Barkley told West Virginia Democratic leaders, at a $25-a-plate Jefferson Day dinner, that Americans were “sensible and level-headed people” and that they would not vote in November according to “temporary inconveniences” which he said would never have been tolerated except for the emergency.

In his first major political address since the recent disagreement with President Roosevelt over the tax bill veto, Senator Barkley said there would be those during the coming campaign who would seek to “magnify irksome restrictions and exploit sore toes,” but there such “political ineptitude” would be unavailing.

He declared that there had been “some domestic differences” between Congress and the Chief Executive, but that, on the whole, the Congress had supported the President to an extent never before achieved in American history and that the United States had made greater progress in the prosecution of the war because of that fact.

Oklahomans to hear Senator Barkley

Muskogee, Oklahoma (UP) – (March 25)
Senator Alben W. Barkley will keynote an all-out “party unity” campaign upon which the Democrats base their hopes for victory in next Tuesday’s important second district Congressional election which has attracted national interest as a “border state” political thermometer.

[NormanStewart]

Hull claims comment garbled

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today that accounts given by some Republican Congressmen of their foreign policy discussion with him yesterday were “garbled and inaccurate in important respects.”

Mr. Hull’s brief statement, made in response to a request for comment, follows:

As is usual when a few people get to talking about an off-the-record discussion, second-hand accounts are garbled and inaccurate in important respects, as in this case.

The State Department would not undertake to give what it considered a correct version.

The Republicans, describing the administration as having too much of a “do-nothing” attitude on international affairs, appeared to be preparing to inject that theme in their political campaign.

[NormanStewart]

‘Get into open,’ Dewey dared by Hannegan

Governor is called ‘blushing violet’

Boston, Massachusetts (UP) – (March 25)
Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert E. Hannegan tonight described New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, leading potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, as a “blushing violet” and challenged him to “come out into the sunshine.”

Speaking at a Jackson Day dinner, Mr. Hannegan also challenged minority party spokesmen to discuss openly and frankly government scandals and other incidents that transpired under Republican rule following the end of the Civil War and World War I.

Without identifying Mr. Dewey by name, Mr. Hannegan said his challenge was inspired by predictions of newspaper correspondents that the Republicans would nominate for the Presidency a man who is not even a candidate in the party primaries.

‘Smirking and lurking’

Mr. Hannegan said:

They report that he is smirking and lurking and dodging behind the pretense that he is not a candidate for the Presidency, and hence has no obligation to discuss the fundamental problems which lie before the American people.

If Republican leaders plan to put over such a candidate, then we propose to turn on the searchlight of truth so that all may know their plans.

He described as “arrogance” and as a “libel on our citizenry” a statement which he said Republican National Committee Chairman Harrison E. Spangler made to the effect that the GOP “can win the Presidency with anybody.”

‘Offer nothing’

Mr. Hannegan said:

This means that the Republican Party, in the opinion of its leaders, needs to offer the American people nothing at all – which, in the way of constructive principles, is exactly what the Republican Party has.

It means that the Republican Party is expecting America to accept its own social and economic bankruptcy – take it and like it. It means that our people do not desire nor deserve leadership based on principles of freedom and equality, in the opinion of leaders of the Republican Party.

Mr. Spangler has repeatedly said that he was misquoted in the “win-the-anybody” statement made at a press conference in Chicago during the meeting of the GOP National Committee recently. He contends he said the party could win with anyone the convention nominated, explaining that it “would not nominate a weak candidate.”

Irish issue mentioned

Mr. Hannegan touched lightly on the recent refusal of the Irish Free State to accede to President Roosevelt’s request that Axis missions in Éire be closed for the duration on the ground that they are the sources of espionage activities which threaten the safety of Allied forces poised in England for the invasion of the continent.

Noting that many of his listeners were Irish, Mr. Hannegan said:

The land of our forefathers is in the news these days – not as we Americans would have it, not in the time-honored tradition, not in the great part that Ireland has ever played through the ages in man’s fight for freedom.

Three problems listed

Today, he said, “there is frustration; there is bewilderment. Irish eyes are not smiling.”

Three major problems, he said, will face the post-war world:

• Formation of a just and equitable plan for taking care of the nation’s 11 million returning soldiers and sailors.

• Reconversion to peacetime needs of America’s vast and sprawling war machine.

• Adoption of a peace plan providing cooperation with other nations to banish war from the face of the globe.

[NormanStewart]

Gen. Hurley is mentioned as keynoter for GOP

Washington – (March 25)
Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Hurley, Secretary of War in the Hoover Cabinet and now roving ambassador for President Roosevelt, is being discussed here as a possible keynoter for the Republican National Convention at Chicago in June.

Gen. Hurley’s name, put forward by Rep. Leo E. Allen (R-IL), elicited a favorable response in many Congressional quarters, where it was agreed that he not only would be an excellent choice as the keynote speaker, but that he might develop formidable strength as a vice-presidential possibility.

His colorful career, his military record and his forthright manner of speaking qualify him, in the opinion of his backers, for a place in the front rank of contenders for these posts, while his strongly nationalistic views, coupled with his “energetic support” of Mr. Roosevelt’s foreign policy, would make him an asset to the entire Republican campaign.

The choice of a keynoter will be made by the Committee on Arrangements which will meet April 18 and 19 in Chicago. Others mentioned as possible keynoters are: Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT), Senator Edward H. Moore (R-OK), Senator Chapman Revercomb (R-WV), Pennsylvania Governor Edward Martin and Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green.

Started as miner

Born in the Choctaw Nation before it became Oklahoma, Gen. Hurley made his way from a humble beginning as a coalminer and a cowboy to positions of prominence in the legal profession and in government. his military record is unusual, in that he has held every rank in the Army from private to a major general.

During World War I, he participated in the Aisne-Marne, Meuse-Argonne and Saint-Mihiel offensives. President Hoover appointed him Assistant Secretary of War when he formed his Cabinet in March 1929, and, late in the same year, promoted him to the secretaryship.

On domestic issues, Gen. Hurley opposes governmental ownership in general, and is an ardent believer in private enterprise; yet, abhorring communism and those who advocate its adoption in this country, he is a strong believer in Russia as a world power.

At Tehran Conference

He has long been a member of the English-Speaking Union and believes that the future peace of the world rests upon the maintenance of Great Britain in her present position of eminence.

As one of the President’s aides at the Tehran Conference, he drafted the Iran declaration guaranteeing the independence of Iran and reaffirming the principles of the Atlantic Charter. For several months, moreover, he has been ironing out differences and difficulties between the British and the United States in Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Near Eastern countries.

He thus is being suggested by his friends as the logical answer to the problem which the Republicans face this year in charting a course between the isolationist elements of the party and the interventionist supporters of Wendell L. Willkie.

[NormanStewart]

The New York Times (March 26, 1944)

Support of fourth term is growing despite anti-New Deal feeling

By James E. Crown

New Orleans, Louisiana – (March 25)
Theodore “The Man” Bilbo (D-MS) pointed probably to the most authoritative political trend of the Deep South when, in addressing the joint session of the Mississippi Legislature, he urged the renomination of President Roosevelt for a fourth term.

For some months now, especially in Louisiana and Mississippi, there has been considerable agitation against renaming the President and against the New Deal. The Deep South is still against the New Deal, but opposition to the nomination of Mr. Roosevelt is waning. The tendency in the South now is to select, if possible, a conservative candidate to run as Vice President. In some quarters it is hoped that this man will come from the South. The names of Senator George (D-GA), Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, and in some quarters, Governor of Louisiana Sam Jones, are being mentioned.

Not only the Deep South, but the entire Mississippi Valley is now trying to form a movement to have transportation facilities of the Mississippi River improved. Advocates of greater use of water transportation are organizing all up and down the great artery.

Last year, according to figures made public this week, more than 9,000,000 tons of freight were floated up and down ole man river.

The transportation problem is one that is being wisely studied in the South. It is believed that river transportation will do much toward development of the states bordering the Mississippi.

[NormanStewart]

Willkie’s campaign arouses the voters; draft causes concern

By Roland M. Jones

Omaha, Nebraska – (March 25)
Interest in the Midwest is focused quite sharply on national politics, particularly on the Republican situation. This stems from the imminence of the Wisconsin and Nebraska primaries, the presence of Wendell Willkie, making his campaign tout, and the approach of conventions in Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas. The issue, as voters see it, tends to crystallize into a question of Willkie or anti-Willkie.

Opinion is common that those Midwestern states which turned thumbs down on the third term four years ago will protest even more emphatically against a fourth term this year, with the expectation that they will be joined by many others. But Republican feeling is not so much that the party can win with any candidate as that it matters more than ever who the candidate is.

Increasing concern is felt over the prospect of further service drafts on the labor supply, emphasized by repeated warnings of State Selective Service directors to local draft boards. It is presumed that agriculture will be less affected than small industrial plants having war contracts, but there is an indication that it will feel some of the pinch by the time the harvest season arrives. Operating farmers are well enough protected, but it seems inevitable that hired labor will be harder than ever to get.

Notwithstanding the attention which has been given the soldier vote issue, there is little to indicate any deep popular feeling about the matter, one way or another. Some state absentee voter laws have already been liberalized and others will be, but there still remains considerable question about how many of the absent sons will ever receive their local ballots.

[NormanStewart]

Chicago Tribune stirs up the voters against Willkie

By Louther S. Horne

Chicago, Illinois – (March 25)
Citizens of the Central states became increasingly aware this week that Col. Robert R. McCormick and his Chicago Tribune, pre-war non-interventionists and harsh critics of the Roosevelt administration, are factors to be reckoned with both in the selection of a Republican presidential nominee here in June and in the fall campaign to determine the next White House occupant.

This belief has long been prevalent throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, Tribune circulation territory. Here, large numbers of people either praise or denounce The Tribune’s editorial criticism of the war strategy, its tirades against the administration’s domestic and international policies, the Communists, “global planners” and bureaucrats.

Among this segment of public opinion, the Chicago publisher and his paper loomed larger than ever as political influences after Wendell Willkie, speaking in Wisconsin, “read” Col. McCormick out of the Republican Party, a step the colonel had taken against the party’s 1940 candidate some months ago.

Certain defeat and the re-election of President Roosevelt, Mr. Willkie predicted, face the Republicans if the “taint” of The Tribune’s editorial “preachments” of “narrow nationalism and economic Toryism” is imposed upon the party’s nominee and platform. The people, he said, do not want the leadership “of the Col. McCormick.”

This challenge to the colonel and The Tribune from “the barefoot boy from Wall Street,” as the paper terms Mr. Willkie met a quick retort. Asserting that “Willkie is not so stupid as to think he has a chance of getting the Republican nomination,” The Tribune asked, “What game is Willkie up to?”

Col. McCormick, who refused to have his name placed in the Illinois preferential primary by the Republican Nationalist Revival Committee, an isolationist group, favors Gen. MacArthur as the Republican nominee. If Governor Dewey is picked, The Tribune undoubtedly will support him in the election.

But if Willkie is the choice, what will The Tribune do? That is a question often asked.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (March 27, 1944)

Hull: Governor Dewey wrong

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today that Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York was “100% wrong in the accuracy of his statement” that the State Department had requested the British censors to suppress political news sent to the United States.

Mr. Dewey said last week while awarding prizes at the annual exhibit of the press photographers association of New York:

When we find the State Department requesting the British censor to suppress political news sent to American papers by American correspondents abroad, it begins to amount to deliberate and dangerous suppression of news at home.

[NormanStewart]

Assembly to get soldier vote copy

Martin asks study before session

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Copies of proposed law changes to facilitate voting by Pennsylvania servicemen abroad will be sent to all members of the General Assembly for perusal before Governor Edward Martin convenes a special session of the Legislature.

An administration spokesman explained that while such a procedure might be condemned under normal circumstances:

We believe everyone will understand the Governor’s only motive is to guarantee our servicemen a reasonable chance to voter without incurring unnecessary expenses or causing too great a loss of manpower.

Disclosing that Attorney General James H. Duff is already preparing a draft of what Governor Martin hopes will be the “most liberal” soldier balloting law in the nation, the spokesman said the proposed statute would change the election calendar to give servicemen, Merchant Marines and members of other “war agencies” an extra 20 days, or 70 days in which to vote.

The measure would also eliminate party or non-partisan registration as a franchise prerequisite.

It was understood the Governor’s call, expected to be issued for May 1 convening of the Legislature, may include a measure to allow the State Defense Council to conduct a house-to-house canvass to obtain names and addresses of servicemen to facilitate mailing of absentee ballots.

The session will cost $360,000-$400,000 if completed in less than a month – but each member automatically will have $250 added to his base salary of $500 for an extraordinary session if the meeting goes as much as a day over a month. Governor Martin said all necessary action can be taken in two weeks and hinted he would object strenuously if the session is used as a springboard for the 1944 election campaign.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Oklahoma’s byelection

Having lost an uncomfortable number of byelections in the last year, the Democrats have wheeled in their heavy artillery to win the contest in the 2nd Oklahoma Congressional district tomorrow. They have sent no less a personage than Senate Leader Alben W. Barkley to sing the administration’s song at Muskogee tonight.

On the record, the Democrats should win. If they can’t carry that gerrymandered district they might as well quit. In its 30 years of existence the district has gone Republican only one – in the Harding landslide of 1920.

In the last election, 1942, the Democratic nominee for Congress won by only 385 votes. But there were special circumstances which made the Republican vote so large. An unpopular Democratic Senator – Josh Lee – was being voted out of office; and a full Republican slate of candidates for Senator, Governor, other state offices and county and township offices, was on the ticket.

In tomorrow’s contest there are only the candidates for the Congress seat, and Democrat Bill Stigler is better and more favorably known than the Republican, E. O. Clark. There is no such thing in that district as a Republican organization, while the Democrats have state, county and township machines working together.

In good years, the Democrats carry this district by 2–1; in normal years, their majority is about 15,000. If the Democrat wins tomorrow, it will be only what is expected. If the Republican wins, it will be an upset that will reflect more than just a trend.

[NormanStewart]

Aides insist Dewey to stay on sidelines

Willkie blasts foes who keep silent
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
Associates of Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York are convinced that prior to the nomination of this year’s presidential candidate he will make no further statement regarding the widespread discussion of the possibility of his own selection.

As some observers see it, demands or entreaties for an amplification of Mr. Dewey’s announcement that he would not seek the nomination come for the most past from three sources:

• Wendell L. Willkie, the most active Republican aspirant, has recently been assailing “candidates who refuse to discuss the issues.” Dispatches from Wisconsin, where Mr. Willkie is presently making a pre-primary campaign, suggest that he meant Mr. Dewey, although Mr. Willkie has also said the governor’s statements to date have definitely taken him out of the contest.

• Democrats seeking President Roosevelt’s fourth-term renomination are also raising the issue of Mr. Dewey’s silence. Chairman Robert E. Hannegan of the Democratic National Committee did not name Mr. Dewey before a weekend Boston audience, but evidently had him in mind in an attack on a man prominently mentioned for the GOP nomination who is smirking and lurking and dodging behind the pretense that he is not a candidate for the Presidency.”

• Some of those Republicans who would like to help nominate Mr. Dewey also wish the Governor would give a green light to a national pre-convention campaign. At least as many however are probably content with things as they are.

But the apparent certainty among the Governor’s associates that he has said all he intends to on the subject is generally accepted here as accurately foreshadowing Mr. Dewey’s intentions.

[NormanStewart]

Stokes: Dewey’s chance

By Thomas L. Stokes

Milwaukee, Wisconsin –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York is seemingly missing a big opportunity out this way.

He appears strong in this state and you get the impression that if he were an out-and-out candidate for the Republican presidential nomination he would be very hard to beat in the April 4 presidential primary here, even though he has three rivals – Wendell L. Willkie, LtCdr. Harold Stassen and Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Chunky, vigorous little Ben Gettelman said:

If he would only just say that he would accept the nomination there would be no question whatever of winning easily.

Mr. Gettelman (a state senator) shares with Fred Zimmerman (secretary of state, ex-governor, and outspoken isolationist) the direction of the Dewey campaign here.

He is still confident that the Dewey delegates here will win despite the New York Governor’s message to every delegate a few weeks ago, saying flatly he was not a candidate and demanding that all withdraw their names. Nine complied with his request. But 15 others, including Mr. Gettelman and Mr. Zimmerman, refused to withdraw. Four other delegates who are running uninstructed are for Governor Dewey, Mr. Gettelman said, making a total of 19 in the race.

Dewey’s stand causes resentment

Wendell Willkie has a full slate of 24; Gen. MacArthur, 22, and ex-Governor of Minnesota Cdr. Stassen, 19.

Eight of the 15 pledged Dewey delegates were delegates on the Dewey slate four years ago when he made a clean sweep against Senator Vandenberg in the Wisconsin primary.

Governor Dewey still seems to benefit from the impression he made in his personal campaign four years ago, as well as from his increased political stature since as a result of his election as Governor of New York and his administration in that office.

His flat announcement that he is not a candidate and his demand that his delegates withdraw has caused resentment among some of his delegate candidates, who felt he was letting them down. It is reported also that it affected his rank-and-file support. They are uncertain about his status.

Mr. Willkie is capitalizing upon this confusion by insisting that candidates should discuss the issues here. The MacArthur spokesmen are pushing their campaign among isolationists by classing Governor Dewey as “an internationalist” because of his advocacy of a British-American alliance at Mackinac.

Dewey stronger than Willkie

But Mr. Gettelman is still optimistic and does not concede that Governor Dewey’s uncertain position has hurt him.

He said:

Governor Dewey is stronger today than when Willkie came into the state. I feel he is going to elect all his delegates.

Why is Governor Dewey stronger today?

He replied:

Because the people here believe he is the only one who can cut out those 421 bureaus down in Washington.

Mr. Gettelman’s second choice for the nomination is Governor Bricker of Ohio.

Mr. Gettelman conducts his part of the Dewey campaign here in a small, bare office he shares with his brother, which carries on the door “National Soap and Products Company.” He has a telephone on his desk and a picture of his boy who is serving with Gen. MacArthur. Over his head, on the wall, is a pay telephone stand and roosting on that, a picture of Tom Dewey.

“How’re you doing for dough?” he was asked.

He is the sort of realistic, amiable politician whom you can address that frankly. He grinned.

He answered:

I’m glad you asked me that. I don’t think money will win the campaign this time. I’d rather take out a few cards and make a few radio speeches. This is a shoestring campaign.

Is there any money being provided from New York?

“If there’s any money coming from New York they forgot Wisconsin,” he said, grinning.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (March 28, 1944)

Trial balloon election held in Oklahoma

GOP tries to win Democratic district

Muskogee, Oklahoma (UP) –
Voters in Oklahoma’s traditionally Democratic 2nd district today chose between a Republican and Democratic Congressman in a hotly-contested special election that may prove a trial balloon for both parties.

The race for the House seat vacated by Democrat Jack Nichols was climaxed last night with speeches by Senator Alben W. Barkley, Democratic Majority Leader, on behalf of his party’s candidate, W. G. Stigler, and Senator E. H. Moore (R-OK), who spoke for the GOP nominee, E. O. Clark.

Cooperation stressed

Mr. Barkley, who spoke here and at Okmulgee yesterday, called for the election of a Congressman “who is in sympathy with the great objectives” of the administration and said that Congress must in future months give Mr. Roosevelt “a maximum amount of cooperation.”

Mr. Moore attacked the record of the Democratic Party, repeating his charges that bureaucracy threatens the foundations of American political and business life.

Mr. Barkley criticized Republicans for attempting “to mobilize every sore toe into an army of opposition,” by capitalizing on such war inconveniences as rationing, price control and heavy taxes, and branded his party’s opponents “diehards,” “obstructionists,” and “lying partisans” who “rail out as if they were permanent inhabitants of a national wailing wall.”

Elected only one GOP

The 2nd district gave Mr. Nichols a 20,000-vote majority over Mr. Clark in the 1940 campaign, but this was pared to 385 ballots in 1942 when Mr. Clark was again the Republican candidate.

The district has elected only one GOP representative. That was in the Republican landslide of 1920 when Miss Alice M. Robertson of Muskogee defeated the incumbent by 209 votes.

[NormanStewart]

Bricker lashes Senator Barkley

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (UP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker was scheduled to make an address at Wichita, Kansas, today following his address at a Republican rally here last night in which he accused Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley of “taking orders from the New Deal on Capitol Hill.”

Governor Bricker, candidate for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, said Senator Barkley’s visit to Oklahoma on behalf of W. G. Stigler, Democratic candidate in today’s special election, was “an example of the inconsistencies in which New Dealers engage to retain power.”

Governor Bricker spoke here on behalf of his own candidacy for the presidential nomination, but took advantage of Senator Barkley’s appearance at Muskogee to snipe at the Senate leader and at the same time boost the GOP special election candidate.