Election 1944: Pre-convention news

[NormanStewart]

4th term, wages linked by union

Steelworkers want them both
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Hillman favors a fourth term

Cleveland, Ohio (UP) –
Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO’s National Political Action Committee, added his endorsement today to a fourth term for President Roosevelt.

Mr. Hillman told 2,400 delegates to the convention of the United Steelworkers Union:

In these days of Selected Service, a person, regardless of his own desires, must and will be elected. We must make sure that Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected.

Cleveland, Ohio –
When the big convention of the United Steelworkers of America (CIO) winds up here late this week, it will have asked President Roosevelt to do two things:

• Run for a fourth term.

• Look sympathetically upon the union’s attempt to get a wage boost for its members through smashing the government’s wartime wage controls.

No member of the convention has shown any feeling that the combination of these objectives involves any impropriety or the risk of a charge from Republican critics that they embody an offer of political support in return for a pay raise.

Philip Murray, president of the Steelworkers and also of the CIO, made it plain that he does not regard Mr. Roosevelt as responsible for a situation in which the union asserts “wages have been stabilized, but nothing else.”

Congress blamed

He blames Congress with allegations that it has neglected to curb corporation profits and has favored the farmer over the industrial worker.

The steelworkers are getting out in front on the fourth term question earlier than had been expected. But it was regarded as “inevitable, so why not now?”

Both the CIO and its Political Action Committee are expected to hold conventions in advance of the November election, and to back up the imminent declaration of the steel union.

Thus, a substantial part of the labor vote will be pledged to go the same way it did in 1936 and 1940.

Murray quoted

While talking politics, Mr. Murray declared that the object of the CIO Political Action Committee is merely to “disseminate educational material on important issues of the day.” He continued:

To those saboteurs of our national welfare who are attempting to destroy this movement by calling it subversive, I wish to say to them that they lie. This is an American movement. It is not going to be adulterated by any ideology – nor is it going to allow itself to be destroyed by a Howard Smith or a Congressman Dies.

Rep. Smith (D-VA) has complained to Attorney General Biddle that the CIO unions are violating the War Labor Disputes Act through contribution to a campaign fund. Rep. Dies (D-TX) has charged the CIO Political Action Committee with including a number of Communist sympathizers.

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt greets reporters with word on how to read

By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer

Washington (UP) –
“How did he look to you?” was the question on many lips after President Roosevelt’s first news conference since his return from a month’s vacation in the South.

Three press association reporters had accompanied the President on his holiday at Bernard M. Baruch’s plantation on the South Carolina coast. They came back to Washington with the word of Mr. Roosevelt’s doctor, VAdm. Ross T. McIntire, that his health was back up to par after a winter of nagging illnesses.

Washington correspondents in general had their first chance to see the President late yesterday. One hundred and seventy-three of them, plus 16 out-of-town visitors, packed his office for a news conference – during which he criticized press and radio for not having given what he considered complete accounts of the Montgomery Ward case.

Ready for a fight

Afterward the United Press polled a representative group of correspondents for their answers to the “How did he look to you?” questions. The replies:

• Bert Andrews of The New York Herald-Tribune:

I thought he looked good, much better than on April 7, when I thought he looked ghastly. I thought his face was perceptibly thinner, but clearly a lot of lines of care in his face were gone.

• John H. Crider of The New York Times:

I thought he looked very much better than I have seen him for many months. His voice seemed natural, he looked rested and he had a good coat of tan.

• William H. Mylander of The Des Moines Register and Tribune: “The champ is back spoiling for a fight.”

• Elisabeth May Craig of the Garnett papers in Maine: “He looked swell.”

• Fred Pasley of The New York Daily News:

I think he didn’t possess the high physical buoyancy and abounding vitality that hitherto have marked him at the conclusion of a long respite from the cares of office. He seemed a rather tired man, going through the paces of a… magnificent attempt at verve.

• Walter Trohan of The Chicago Tribune:

I though he looked tanned and had some of the heavy lines out of his face. He was much more spirited than he was in the press conferences before he went away.

• Thomas F. Reynolds of The Chicago Sun:

His health is apparently pretty good, but his temper definitely very bad. His return this time is quite reminiscent of his return after the first war plant inspection tour in late 1942.

The President was ready for a question about the Montgomery Ward case yesterday. He ruffled a two-page memorandum in front of him and pitched in to recite its history. He made it clear that he did not feel the press and radio had presented the full account to the public.

A reading lesson

When he was through, Mrs. Craig brought the Chief Executive up sharply by telling him that she had seen and heard most of what he had said many days before in newspapers and over the air.

Mr. Roosevelt stuck to his criticism of press and radio.

He told Mrs. Craig that he had specialized in reading newspapers; that she ought to read papers like he does.

President expected to emulate sphinx

By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
President Roosevelt’s latest refusal to discuss his 1944 political plans was accepted today as meaning he would not disclose whether he will accept a fourth term nomination until the Democratic National Convention meets in July.

An identical course of action led in 1940 to his third nomination. It is regarded as virtually certain to lead to a fourth this year.

The President was asked at his news conference yesterday about the New York speech in which DNC Chairman Robert E. Hannegan predicted that Mr. Roosevelt would be renominated and reelected.

The President replied that he was not going to talk about it, adding that he had not read Mr. Hannegan’s speech but that when he did read it, he would still not talk about it. That is the third time in as many months that he has parried news conference fourth term questions.

Reminded that the Democratic National Convention is only 10 weeks away, the President replied only that he had not been counting the days.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 11, 1944)

Martin hints GOP may hold back on Dewey

May urge delegates to withhold decision
By Kermit McFarland

Governor Edward Martin has indicated the Republican state organization will not be in too much of a hurry to get aboard Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s bandwagon.

He said in a press conference that he was undecided whether or not the 70 Republican delegates to the presidential convention should endorse a presidential candidate prior to the convention, June 26.

The Governor said:

But if I were to make up my mind today, I’d say “No.”

Caucus set for May 20

Mr. Martin said “the question of getting on the right bandwagon at the proper time” is insignificant in importance as compared to the importance of nominating a candidate.

The Republican delegates, elected at the April 25 primary, will caucus in Philadelphia May 20, the same day the newly-elected Republican State Committee meets to reorganize.

Mr. Martin’s plan to keep the Pennsylvania delegation non-committal until they arrive in Chicago for the presidential convention may meet opposition from some of the delegates who feel that the write-in vote given Mr. Dewey at the primary provides a compelling reason for the delegation to back the New York Governor early in the game.

Most delegates unpledged

There are also some who are apprehensive about the possibility of the Pennsylvania delegation “missing the bandwagon,” as it did at the Willkie convention in Philadelphia four years ago.

Virtually all of the delegates, however, are unpledged, having submitted their candidacies to the voters with the proviso, “Does not promise to support the popular choice.”

Mr. Dewey is the unquestioned popular choice of Pennsylvania Republicans, having polled more than 150,000 votes although his name did not appear on the ballot.

Sure of GOP success

Governor Martin, despite his reticence about the Republican candidates for President, was enthusiastic in his prediction that the Republican, whoever he is, will carry the state “even if Mr. Roosevelt runs again.”

He forecasts the Republicans will carry at least 46 of the state’s 67 counties.

He said:

I don’t believe there is anything to this business about people being reluctant to change horses in the middle of the stream. They’ll be glad to change when they have an opportunity to get a younger, more efficient “horse.”

Doubtful about county

We are going to carry Philadelphia, but I don’t know about Allegheny. However, Allegheny County is in the best position politically from the Republican standpoint it has ever been in.

The enormous cost of government and the interference with the rights of individuals have become so apparent that the great middle class wants to make a change. They feel they can make the change without interfering with the war effort.

[NormanStewart]

Most soldiers to shun voting

With U.S. forces, the Solomon Islands (UP) –
A United Press poll of a cross section of 500 servicemen – both enlisted men and officers in all service branches – showed today that less than one in 10 of them planned to vote by means of absentee ballots in the November elections.

Most of the 45 men who said they were attempting to vote, were officers. A majority of those questioned said they were uncertain of the voting requirements of their states.

Many men who said they would not vote because casting a ballot involved “too much red tape.” Others said it would be “foolish” to vote when they knew nothing about candidates except on national tickets. Most men have been away from home more than two years.

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt’s renomination virtually sure

Tentative vote now exceeds majority
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
President Roosevelt has a tentative majority of Democratic National Convention votes sufficient for a fourth term nomination, barring substantial defections in the big New York delegation where James A. Farley’s strength is still to be determined.

Ohio, West Virginia, Missouri, North Dakota and Wyoming have been added to the Roosevelt column this week despite what is termed by Ohio experts here as a nominal favorite son commitment to State Auditor Joseph T. Ferguson. Washington is to select delegates this week, probably to Mr. Roosevelt’s further advantage.

More votes picked up

The fourth term campaign picked up 118 convention votes in five states this week. Washington has 18 votes. If Mr. Roosevelt could depend on the entire New York delegation, he would be reasonably certain now of 600 convention votes variously pledged, informally committed or reasonably sure. A bare majority in the Democratic convention will be 589 votes.

Of the 21 states and territories from which delegates contribute so far to the Roosevelt total, few have far to the Roosevelt total, few have formally bound their representatives to the President’s renomination. But by convention action, write-ins, commitments by party leaders or otherwise, the votes appear to be safe for the administration.

Pennsylvania in bag

Among the larger states which have already acted, there is no doubt about Pennsylvania’s 72 votes and Ohio’s 52. There is little doubt about Illinois, which casts 58. The favorite son commitment in Ohio is reported to be merely a technicality to conform with state law.

The situation in New York is more difficult to determine. The state casts 96 convention votes. That Roosevelt supporters control most of those votes goes without saying. Mr. Farley is the unknown quantity. He was against a third term and he will be a convention opponent of a fourth, although none doubts that if Mr. Roosevelt is renominated, Mr. Farley will vote for him and reveal such intention publicly.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Names in the news

Robert E. Hannegan, Democratic National Chairman, says it is his firm conviction that FDR will run again. We suspect so too. We also suspect that Mr. Hannegan doesn’t know any more about it than we do, and we don’t know anything about it for sure.

John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers, breaks his engagement to remarry the AFL and demands the return of what Fred Perkins calls John’s $60,000 engagement ring – the check he deposited as a warrant of good faith when he applied for reaffiliation of the Mine Workers with the AFL. John reminds us of the boy who goes home with the baseball bat when the rest of the kids won’t let him be pitcher.

Capt. Robert S. Johnson knocks over his 26th and 27th enemy planes in combat over Germany, tying Maj. Richard I. Bong’s Southwest Pacific score. That’s one victory for each of Capt. Johnson’s years, and three to boot, he being 24. Maj. Bong is 23. Oh decadent American youth, oh effete democracy!

Francis Biddle, Attorney General of the United States, dines on crow at Chicago, confessing in effect that he talked too big the other day when he said that in wartime “no business or property is immune” to a presidential seizure. Can it be that somebody has called Mr. Biddle’s attention to a document known as the Constitution – or to a little matter known as public opinion – or to an event scheduled for November?

[NormanStewart]

Hannegan denies any Dewey smear

Claims criticism was objective

New York –
Robert E. Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, denied today that his address at the Jackson Day dinner castigating Governor Thomas E. Dewey was in any way intended as a “smear” of the leading Republican presidential contender.

Mr. Hannegan said in an interview today:

I felt that as long as I was speaking in New York, I should dwell on Governor Dewey’s record and his qualifications for the Presidency. I don’t think anything I said can be considered a “smear.”

Wrote own speech

Mr. Hannegan admitted that Charles Michelson, known as an astute political manipulator and often charged with engineering “smear campaigns” in the past, was taking an active part in the preconvention drive of the Democrats, but denied that Mr. Michelson was the author of the speech the national chairman made at the Hotel Commodore dinner.

He said:

I consulted with several people about my speech. But I wrote it myself.

Mr. Hannegan said that he was convinced that for the welfare of the country and of the Democratic Party the President must run for a fourth term. In reply to a question that if the war was won this year, would the President feel obligated to remain in power to insure a victory in the peace conference. Mr. Hannegan declared, “That might be a different story. He refused to enlarge on his point.”

The national chairman reiterated assertions made in his address last night that he had not discussed with the President his own desires or intentions with regard to the presidential race this year.

He said:

But in my trips through the country, I have talked with all kinds of people and they are unanimous in demanding the fourth term.

Mr. Hannegan declined to comment on assertions made by Harrison E. Spangler, chairman of the Republican National Committee, that the speech here Tuesday night was the opening barrage in the fourth-term drive.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 12, 1944)

A revolt is broken –
Ex-New Deal critic seeks reelection

And he announces he favors fourth term
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
Another bit of evidence is at hand to demonstrate that the back of the anti-New Deal revolt in the South has been broken, as far as any practical results are concerned, to add to the substantive proof in the recent Florida and Alabama primary victories of New Deal Senators Pepper and Hill.

Senator Andrews (D-FL), in a surprising announcement that he would seek reelection in 1946, urged a fourth term for President Roosevelt in an interview at Orlando.

This is not earthquaking news, but it’s significant, for the Florida Senator has been generally anti-New Dealish in his voting, lining up with the Southern Conservatives. And he was against a third term for the President.

Opposition from governor

The Senator will probably face stiff opposition two years from now, much stiffer than Senator Pepper had May 2, from the present Governor Spessard L. Holland, who has made quite a record. Presumably Senator Andrews thinks it wise to tie up with the President, and well ahead of time, for that turned out to be the wise thing to do in the case of Senator Pepper.

Senator Andrews put the fourth term urgency on the war, speaking of the President as a leader who is needed “in the winning of the war and the making of the peace.” This is the tack being taken by Democrats normally cool to the New Deal as a way out of their dilemma.

Democrats are also drawing comfort from the Ohio primary, even though the total vote rolled up in the Republican primary was substantially larger than the Democrats.

Republican race bitter

Their optimism derives from the character and the vote-getting ability of the successful candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Mayor Frank Lausche of Cleveland, plus an aftermath of bitterness from the hot contest among Republican candidates for the nomination.

Mayor James Garfield Stewart of Cincinnati won the Republican nomination by only a slim margin over Attorney General Tom Herbert so slim that Mr. Herbert has indicated he will contest it.

Mayor Stewart was the candidate of Ed Schorr of Cincinnati, state Republican boss. If he weathers a contest and is the candidate in November, the issue of bossism will be raised against him by the Democrats, and Mayor Lausche is the sort of candidate to make this type of campaign effective.

Lausche strong downstate

The ill feeling engendered in this contest may carry over to handicap the Republicans in November. The Republicans also have a ticket top-heavy, with Cincinnati candidates, with Senator Taft, who is up for reelection. Mayor Stewart and the candidate for Secretary of State all from that city.

Mayor Lausche showed surprising strength in downstate rural districts. He literally gobbled up Cleveland and Democrats are depending on his strength there to offset Republican downstate strongholds and, incidentally, to bolster up the national ticket in November.

Sponsors of the presidential nomination candidacy of Governor John W. Bricker have seized this situation to argue that the Governor, who ran well ahead of President Roosevelt in Ohio in 1940, will be needed on the national ticket to hold Ohio in the Republican column.

[NormanStewart]

Bricker scores farm policies

Omaha, Nebraska (UP) –
Utilization of new crops and general farm conservation have been hampered by the bureaucratic administration of the nation’s farm program, Ohio Governor John W. Bricker, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said today.

Mr. Bricker, en route to Lincoln, Nebraska, for an address, called for an end to “pig killing,” asserting that “you cannot convert scarcity to plenty.”

Farmers must be free to produce to capacity, he said, and must be given full information and instruction from proper authorities.

[NormanStewart]

Dies to retire from Congress

Beaumont, Texas (UP) –
Rep. Martin Dies (D-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, said today in a telegram to Beaumont friends that he would not seek reelection.

Mr. Dies has spent the last several days in a Galveston hospital for treatment of a throat ailment. It was understood he planes to enter the May Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota, for an operation. After that, he said he would reenter the private practice of law.

[NormanStewart]

Barkley backs Roosevelt as best qualified for job

Washington (UP) –
Senate Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley (DKY) today unequivocally endorsed a fourth term for President Roosevelt with the assertion that a vast knowledge of the war and close relations with Allied leaders make him best qualified to guide the nation through the “treacherous cross-currents” it must traverse to achieve victory and write a lasting peace.

Mr. Barkley, who recently submitted his resignation as Senate Majority Leader after the President vetoed the tax bill, prefaced a glowing testimonial to Mr. Roosevelt by emphasizing that he had not discussed a fourth term with him and did not know whether he would accept renomination. He added, however, that he thought the President would do so.

He said in an article in the current issue of Collier’s Magazine:

Nothing that I shall say in this discussion… is to be construed as indicating that he will seek a fourth term or permit a fourth term to seek him. I do not know what his intentions are and I may never know until events reveal them.

Any man, honored already beyond any other American, might well prefer the quiet and refreshing shades of individual peace amid his books and memories. Or he might infinitely prefer to spend his remaining years making an accurate chronicle of the events in which he has played so great a part.

Can he do it? Can he voluntarily renounce any obligation or opportunity to complete the job? I do not think so.

Defends Roosevelt

He unfolded a staunch defense of some of the charges brought by the President’s critics.

• That a fourth term would lead to “dictatorship:”

There can be no such thing as dictatorship which some honest people fear and others pretend to fear, so long as the American people have the right of free choice. There is no pretense anywhere that they do not have a free choice. No sort of coercion of the individual voter is possible or would be attempted or countenanced.

• That the President has violated propriety by breaking the no third term precedent: In accepting a third term, he said, Mr. Roosevelt “fulfilled the very conditions which George Washington Gave in his farewell address as the reason for his own retirement, to wit, that the conditions existing in the country no longer required him to serve as President…” He said he believed Mr. Roosevelt would have liked to retire after his second term but could not, because “the conflagration against which he had warned the people was upon us.

• The President’s use of wartime powers:

There was no way to avoid this enormous and unprecedented delegation of power.

• Mr. Roosevelt’s personal traits:

There are some who say that the President is stubborn now and then, and sometimes unforgiving. He may give way to the impulse to look at the political implications involved in a given course of action. He may even listen too much to the advise of those who always agree with him… So did Theodore Roosevelt; so did Andrew Jackson; so did Grant; so did Hoover.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 13, 1944)

Bricker attacks finance policies

Omaha, Nebraska (UP) –
Governor John W. Bricker, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, believes the nation’s finances must be put in order and the public appraised of the exact purposes for which its money is spent.

Mr. Bricker spoke at a banquet sponsored by the Nebraska Bricker-for-President Committee last night.

He condemned “New Deal bureaucracy,” “deficit spending” and “absolutism” and said that if he is elected President, he will work for restoration of representative government, abolition of “needless bureaus” and “super-czars,” and for distribution of as much present federal activity as possible “back into the hands of state and local governments – where it belongs.”

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 14, 1944)

Stokes: CIO’s strength in politics is spotlighted

Conservative camp showing alarm
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington –
The CIO, by taking a couple of scalps in the South, where they used to chase labor organizers out of town, has suddenly attracted attention as a political force to be reckoned with in this uncertain political year.

It is being given some credit for the defeat in the recent Alabama primary of Rep. Joe Starnes, member of the Dies Committee, for which the CIO has no affection. On the heels of this success, the word went around that the CIO was out to get the head man himself, Rep. Martin Dies

Now. Mr. Dies suddenly announces he is not going to run again. The reason given was ill health, but the CIO likes to think perhaps the threat of a campaign against the Texas Congressman had something to do with it. Whatever the reason, the jubilation was fervent.

Effective politically

The CIO’s unfriendliness to the Dies Committee was intensified recently when a Committee report attacked the CIO Political Action Committee because of alleged Communist affiliations.

It is news when a labor organization can be effective politically in the South, and the CIO claimed a share, too, in the victories of New Deal Senators Pepper in Florida and Hill in Alabama.

Only nine years ago, a labor organizer friend of the writer was shot in a Southern mill town and was chased away in a shower of bullets falling around the auto driven by his wife, who had to take him 7 miles to a hospital. There were mill towns where this organizer had to sneak down backstreets and slip furtively into the officers or homes of sympathizers.

This has all been changed now.

30 on ‘purge’ list

Emboldened by its success in the South, the CIO Political Action Committee has drawn up a “purge” list of 30 Southern Congressmen and Senators, which was read into the Congressional Record yesterday by Senator Eastland (D-MS) during debate on the anti-poll tax bill.

The organization’s apparent headway in the South is beginning to open the eyes of politicians elsewhere, particularly Republicans, for the CIO Political Action Committee, directed by Sidney Hillman, is going down the line for President Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Its theory is that it may prove the decisive factor in the big urban centers in the East and the industrial Midwest, which are touch and go this year. It is putting on an intensive campaign to register workers, particularly those who have moved into Eastern and Midwestern centers to work in war industries.

Conservatives alarmed

Labor is learning the primary lessons of precinct politics, with well-organized, doorbell ringing brigades. Checks are being made in war plants on registration, and workers are being pressed to become eligible. Labor leaders woke up after the 1942 Congressional elections to discover that many thousands of workers who had migrated to key Midwestern states had not qualified themselves to vote.

The fear of shrewd politicians in the conservative camp is already manifest in the noise they are making about the CIO Political Action Committee and by their attempts to circumscribe the use of a $750,000 fund subscribed by union members for use all over the country. The conservatives contend this is in violation of the Connally-Smith Act’s prohibition against acceptance of contributions by a political committee from a labor union or corporations.

Attorney General Biddle has held there is no violation of law by the CIO political adjunct.

Incidentally, that $70,000 probably would not cover the amount spent in only two states, Florida and Alabama, by anti-New Deal interests in the recent primary elections, which obviously came, although deviously, from corporate interests.

[NormanStewart]

Bricker charges U.S. needs change

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (UP) – (May 13)
Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio said tonight that the United States needs a “change in leadership – a new President who is not afraid to speak for America.”

The Governor, who is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said:

We want a President who will speak for America’s rights, her convictions and ideals with the same force, the same sturdy voice and the same staunch determination with which Churchill speaks for England and Stalin speaks for Russia.

“If I am elected, that will be my policy,” he told Milwaukee’s Sunday Morning Breakfast Club, which sponsored the address.

He said:

We want cooperation with all friendly powers and are proud to fight beside our friends for freedom of the world. But we do not intend to underwrite any alien empire nor further any nation’s imperialistic ambition.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Pennsylvania and Dewey

Legally, the Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican presidential convention is not bound to support any particular candidate for the Republican nomination.

But logically, there is sound moral reason why the delegation should support Governor Thomas E. Dewey.

The 70 delegates to the Republican convention are not legally bound to vote for Mr. Dewey because, through the manipulation of the Republican organization, nearly all of them ran as unpledged candidates.

Under each name of the ballot, they frankly told the voters: “Does not promise to support popular choice.”

Bu, as it turned out, few of these delegates were opposed at the April 2 primary. And in many cases where there were contests for delegate, the opposing delegates likewise dodged any commitment.

So Pennsylvania voters, by and large, had no choice. There were no Dewey candidates, nor Willkie candidates, nor MacArthur candidates, nor Stassen candidates. And very few agreed to abide by the preference of the voters.

As a result, the voters utilized the next best means of demonstrating their choice.

They wrote in the names of the candidates they favored. An overwhelming majority of them said they favored Governor Dewey. The write-in vote he received in Pennsylvania was spontaneous and proportionally large. No other candidate was fairly in the running.

While delegates to the national conventions are elected under pretty loose instructions from the voters, they are, nevertheless, representatives of the electors in their party. As such, they have a moral obligation to represent the views of those voters.

The Pennsylvania delegation has a moral duty to vote for Mr. Dewey.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 15, 1944)

Ferguson: Fair play in politics

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Political campaigns always bring out the worst in us. This year some of the stuff we read doesn’t make sense to me. For example, here’s a gem from the New Republic:

There has been a flood of talk in the press regarding a lack of visible American foreign policy. Some of this talk has come from sources hostile to the Roosevelt administration and can be discounted for that reason. Some of it, however, comes from supporters of the President who are genuinely alarmed over the way things are going.

Maybe, I don’t understand English, but the writer seems to be saying that criticism from anti-New Dealers must be regarded as unwarranted, insincere and irrelevant, while that which issues from the opposite camp is wise and constructive and therefore merits attention.

In plain terms, it means that no one except friends of the administration should be considered worthy to criticize its policies. Other Americans, we suppose, should keep their mouths shut and take what comes.

There is a steady effort to discredit the opinions of those who oppose the present Washington regime.

Harsher words have often been spoken by political rivals in the history of our nation. Mudslinging is an old device for winning campaigns. But never in modern times have so many honest Americans been smeared with charges of treason because of political differences. In the interest of national unity, this ought to stop.

The man who whoops it up for a fourth term does not necessarily want to sell out his country to the Communists. By the same reasoning, the person who disagrees with the administration or even hates Mr. Roosevelt, cannot be justly accused of Fascist leanings. Or do we have no rules for civilized warfare in political campaigns?

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt and Dewey to go over the top in week’s primaries

Warren is boomed for No. 2 GOP spot
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
It looks today as though Governor Earl Warren of California can have the Republican vice-presidential nomination if he wants it, but Republicans statesmen wish they knew whether the Governor means it or is not a candidate.

No one seems to doubt that Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York will accept the Republican presidential nomination if it is offered despite his refusal to make a pre-convention campaign. None of the Democrats – not even those who oppose the administration – seems to doubt that President Roosevelt will accept a fourth term renomination.

Appeal is geographical

But Governor Warren has the politicos guessing. Most of them do not know him but have read about the Warren family. They her that Governor Warren wants to earn a lot of money. They are beginning to be afraid that he intends to do just that by returning to private law practice.

The Governor’s appeal is strictly geographical. He demonstrated that he could carry California for the Republicans after long years of Democratic rule. California casts 22 electoral college votes.

Furthermore, the Republican presidential nominee probably will be from New York and surely will not come from farther west than Ohio. Presto! Governor Warren, from a doubtful state, becomes the ideal vice-presidential running mate for 1944.

Bricker is strong

As delegate sentiment is recorded so far, Governor Dewey may be a first ballot nominee at Chicago. He and Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio are not far apart in actually pledged delegates, though on the basis of various informal commitments Governor Dewey has a claim of one kind or another on close to 500 delegates.

Governor Bricker’s forthright campaign for the nomination is in no way belittled by the fact that he is frequently mentioned as a possible running mate for Governor Dewey.

Governor Dewey’s early ballot nomination would enable him practically to dictate the vice-presidential nomination. That is where Governor Warren’s reluctance may be put to the test. Some persons believe the Dewey supporters eagerly want the Californian on the ticket.

Stassen also supported

Former Governor Harold E. Stassen of Minnesota would have considerable support. He is a lieutenant commander serving in the South Pacific. The Farmer-Laborites and Democrats have merged in Minnesota after years of courtship which began in 1936.

But do not overlook Rep. Everett Dirksen, a smart Illinois Republican, who is campaigning for a place on the ticket, or Eric Johnston, the West Coast industrialist who has just been reelected president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Johnston daily behaves more like a candidate for office. He is regarded as a spokesman for enlightened capitalism. He writes books and he travels like Wendell L. Willkie. Mr. Johnston leaves this week for Moscow to talk with Marshal Joseph Stalin.

If Mr. Johnston’s presence in Russia soon is impressively brought to your attention – do not be surprised.

[NormanStewart]

Delegate majorities are in the offing

By Russell Turner, United Press staff writer

Washington (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were expected to emerge at the end of this week as the opposing candidates for the next four years in the White House as the result of new state conventions and primaries this week in four states.

Though neither “candidate” has said he would run, the President’s improved health and Governor Dewey’s heavy backing by already chosen delegates to the GOP convention are taken as general indications that neither will refuse to be “drafted.”

Mr. Roosevelt is already assured of a fourth term nomination if he decides to run. A United Press survey of primaries and conventions already held shows that he has 662 delegates pledged – many more than the majority needed for selection on the first ballot.

Dewey is also strong

Governor Dewey now has 436 delegates pledged or prepared to support him, which is only 94 short of the 530 needed to win the nomination.

With 208 more GOP delegates to be chosen this week, Governor Dewey is almost certain to win a large block of votes which should give him the nomination – barring an unforeseen convention upset – either on the first or at least the second ballot.

Governor Dewey’s biggest gain this week is expected in California, where a 50-man Republican delegation is scheduled to go to Governor Earl Warren, a Dewey man and himself vice-presidential timber.

Mr. Roosevelt already has an advance pledge of California’s 52 Democratic delegates.

Schedule for the week

The dates and contests this week in each state are as follows:

MAY 15
Oklahoma Democratic State Convention. Delegation of 22 already pledged to Mr. Roosevelt.

MAY 16

• California state and presidential preference primary, with President Roosevelt’s domestic policies the main issues. Seat of Senator Sheridan Downey (D-CA) is at stake, along with 23 House seats.

• Montana Democratic and Republican State Conventions. Eleven Democratic delegates pledged to the President if he runs. Eight Republican delegates will be uninstructed and will be contested by supporters of Governor Dewey and Governor John W. Bicker of Ohio who is actively campaigning against Governor Dewey.

• New Jersey state and presidential preference primary. Republicans will name 34 convention delegates and the Democrats 3, each block probably going to Governor Dewey and Mr. Roosevelt, respectively.

• Delaware Democratic Convention. Expected to be pro-Roosevelt. Delaware GOP convention delegates meet May 20 to determine whom they will back.

MAY 17

• Arkansas Democratic Convention. Twenty delegates already pledged to Mr. Roosevelt.

• South Carolina, first of three Democratic conventions.

• Vermont Republican Convention. Delegation of nine will be traditionally unpledged. Vermont Democrats meet the next day to choose six convention delegates.

MAY 18

• Mississippi Independent Republicans (so-called lily whites) meet to choose convention slate which will be contested by regular Republican organization. The latter does not meet formally until June 7.

• Illinois State GOP Convention meets to choose delegates-at-large to fill out state delegation of 59 at national convention. Delegation originally leaned toward Gen. Douglas MacArthur but now appears to favor Governor Dewey.

• Alabama GOP Convention to choose 14 delegates.

• Oregon state primary. Included in offices at stake is the seat of Senator Rufus Holman (R-OR).

MAY 20

• Pennsylvania GOP delegation of 70 meets in caucus in Philadelphia.
• Utah Republican Convention. Eight delegates to be chosen.

[NormanStewart]

Hillman forecasts fourth term plea

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
A demand for a fourth term for President Roosevelt will be made before a special meeting of the CIO Political Action Committee here tomorrow, its chairman, Sidney Hillman, predicted today.

Mr. Hillman, general president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which opened its 14th biennial convention today, said the convention is expected to “give some time” to the CIO Political Action Committee.

Mr. Hillman was asked:

Is the Political Action Committee interested in who the Republican nominee will be?

He replied:

Yes, in a sense, we’d like to know who’s going to lose for the Republicans.

Mr. Hillman denied reports that the Political Action Committee had been out to beat Rep. Martin Dies (D-TX), who announced last week that he would not seek reelection.

Mr. Hillman said:

Mr. Dies has made wild statements that we were spending $250,000 to beat him in his home district. We haven’t spent seven cents to beat Dies.

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Communists leery of Governor Dewey

New York (UP) –
Israel Amter, state chairman of the New York Communist Party, asserted yesterday that Governor Thomas E. Dewey has expressed “hope” of post-war collaboration with Russia because “he knows that a candidate daring to question it has no chance whatever of election.”

Mr. Amter told nearly 1,000 delegates attending the party convention that Governor Dewey is the “most likely candidate” of the Republican Party for the Presidency.

Recalling that Governor Dewey criticized American recognition of Russia four years ago, Mr. Amter said, “Mr. Dewey has not, as reported, widened his outlook.”

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (May 16, 1944)

Polls indicate a close race for President

Danger signals found for Democrats
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

Washington –
Public opinion polls forecast the closest presidential election contest this year since 1916 when California’s 22 electoral votes for Woodrow Wilson kept Charles Evans Hughes out of the White House.

There has not been a presidential contest since then whose result was not fairly obvious prior to Election Day.

Assuming even that President Roosevelt is the Democratic nominee again, there are some danger signals for the Democratic ticket in recent polls. The polls must be read, however, in light of an allowable error of some 4%.

The National Opinion Research Center, with headquarters at the University of Denver, Colorado, spotlights a couple of them in a poll survey.

Businessmen favor Dewey

There is nothing surprising, nor likely to disturb Mr. Roosevelt, in the report of the magazine Fortune poll that among a representative list of top-ranking business executives fewer than nine of each 100 wanted Mr. Roosevelt reelected.

This business and management group favored Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York of the four men suggested to them.

A Gallup poll was predicated on the European war still being on next November but under circumstances indicating it shortly would be over. The question was limited to Mr. Roosevelt and Governor Dewey.

Trouble signs for Democrats

Business and professional groups gave Governor Dewey 58% of their vote and the remaining 42% to the President.

The Roosevelt 42% was six points less than he received in 1936 from that strata of voters. But it was a 6% increase over the percentage of business and professional voters who supported the President in 1940. That represents a substantial gain which might be vital in a close contest.

The most alarming development from the Democratic standpoint is indicated in Gallup’s survey of farm sentiment. On Election Day 1940, it is estimated that 51% of farmers outside the South were for Mr. Roosevelt. By August 1943, a Gallup poll reported that support had shrunk to 39%. As of now, it has slumped further to 35%.

That means political trouble for the Democrats in the Farm Belt and in the so-called farm states which, prior to the New Deal, had been considered traditionally Republican.

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22 for Roosevelt

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (UP) –
Oklahoma’s 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention had instructions today to support President Roosevelt for a fourth term at Chicago in July.

Democrats at the State Convention so instructed their delegates last night after Robert Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, predicted that Mr. Roosevelt will accept a fourth term nomination “when he weighs the national security against his personal feelings.”

Mr. Hannegan insisted, however, that he was not speaking for the President.

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California votes

Sacramento, California (UP) –
Californians went to the polls in a consolidated wartime primary today, to ratify unopposed presidential delegate slates pledged to President Roosevelt and Governor Earl Warren and select nominees for one U.S. Senate seat, 23 posts in the House and for state legislative offices.

President Roosevelt was assured of 56 unopposed delegates to the Democratic National Convention, while Governor Earl Warren automatically will win 50 delegates to the Republican convention. The Warren delegates are expected to switch later to Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York.

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New Jersey votes

Trenton, New Jersey (UP) –
Voters in New Jersey went to the polls today to select delegates to the national presidential nominating conventions and to nominate candidates for the U.S. Senate and House.

The state Republican organization had a full slate of convention delegates, including seven for delegates-at-large and two from each of the state’s 14 Congressional districts. Governor Walter E. Edge, former supporter of Wendell L. Willkie, heads this slate. An opposing faction, pledged to draft Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York entered a slate for the delegates-at-large seats, and also contested state organization choices in three Congressional districts.

Delegates supporting President Roosevelt for a fourth term had no opposition.