Election 1944: Pre-convention news

[NormanStewart]

Invasion may dull Mississippi issue

Democratic convention today may show political effect of news amid rebellion
By Turner Catledge

Jackson, Mississippi – (June 6)
The domestic political reaction to the long-awaited invasion of Europe may have its first practical demonstration tomorrow at the Mississippi State Democratic convention which, until tonight, had been all set to “read the riot act” to President Roosevelt and the New Deal wing of the party regarding white supremacy, states’ rights, the poll tax and Vice President Henry A. Wallace.

The dominant anti-New Deal leadership of the Mississippi Democratic organization declared that they still had the strength to put through a series of resolutions demanding that the party nationally take no stand prejudicial to the South on the above-named issues. They were able, too, they said, to send an uninstructed delegation to Chicago and to nominate an uninstructed delegation to Chicago and to nominate an uninstructed set of presidential electors to vote for “any other Democrats” except those named at Chicago if the demands were ignored.

“These things we can do, invasion or no invasion,” one of the original planners of this strategy said tonight.

But news tones down issue

Regardless of this contention, there was evident among these leaders, and some of their followers, a disposition to crowd in behind the banner of the President’s war leadership as news of the invasion continued to flow through the newspapers and over the radio.

Leaders of the “revolt” wanted it distinctly understood that whatever was done here at their behest tomorrow, it must not be construed as aimed at Mr. Roosevelt’s war commandership but at the “anti-Southerners” with whim they maintain he has surrounded himself in management of domestic affairs.

The anti-New Dealers came here with a set of resolutions already virtually drawn. These resolutions called first for rejection of Mr. Wallace as the party’s vice-presidential candidate. They demanded that the party at the Chicago convention restore the rule requiring a two-thirds’ majority to nominate candidates for President and Vice President; that it reject any proposals for equality between the white and Negro races; that it turn down any platform plank proposing federal action against the poll tax, or limiting in any other manner the rights of the state to conduct its own affairs.

One of the first tangible reactions to the invasion news was a revival of the pro-Roosevelt forces among the Democratic ranks. Until today, these forces had remained quiet, seemingly content to let the anti-New Dealers go through with the program.

Agree on race question

They feared local repercussions over the race issue if they tried to stop it, and on that issue, there is no division among Mississippi Democrats.

But with the opening of the invasion, the pro-New Dealers saw a rare opportunity to raise the slogan of “stand by the Commander-in-Chief.” They were joined quickly by some of the forces of Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, who was not present for the convention in person. The Bilboites appeared not so much impressed by the virtues of the New Deal and the President as by the possibility of slapping down the prosperous business, professional, planter elements leading the other side.

Regardless of the new life of the pro-Roosevelt forces, most observers agreed tonight that the antis were in the saddle and whatever comes out of the meeting tomorrow will be their brew.

Moreover, it was evident on every hand here that Mississippi Democrats of virtually every strip are smarting irritably under what they regard as the efforts of the Northern wing of the party “to tell us how to run our business,” especially in dealing with the Nego problem. It seems an inevitable reaction to the pressures outside the South for the fuller emancipation of the Negroes, and particularly to the consciousness that those pressures are growing strong within the very party through which they have maintained white supremacy since Reconstruction. The invasion may have modified the immediate emphasis, but it has not changed the fundamental differences, nor can it.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 9, 1944)

Battle lines form as GOP meets to name candidates

Battle lines for the Kings County political campaign were being drawn this afternoon as Republican leaders went into session to name the first of their candidates for the 1944 elections.

Leaders of 24 Assembly districts, headed by County Chairman John R. Crews, assembled at GOP headquarters, 32 Court Street, to begin shaping their ticket.

Their first move was slated to be the designation of Judge Nicholas Howard Pinto, now serving as Governor Dewey’s temporary appointee on the County Court bench, as the GOP candidate for election the full 14-year term in November.

The Democrats, out to recapture the judgeship which their party lost when Dewey chose Judge Pinto to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Democratic Judge Peter J. Brancato, named Senator Carmine J. Marasco as their designee yesterday.

Meanwhile, as the vanguard of the leaders trooped into the GOP headquarters strong suggestions began emanating from usually well-informed quarters that a political surprise would be sprung at the leaders’ session. None of the leaders would comment.

Like the Democratic organization, the Republicans will name nine candidates for Congress, nine for the State Senate and 24 for the Assembly at Albany. It was indicated that the complete slate would not be filled immediately, but that further time would be allowed for the consideration of designees before primary petitions are filed June 27.

[NormanStewart]

Farley resignation seen as prelude to 4th term fight

May enter race for nomination

Democratic and Republican leaders today agreed in interpreting the surprise resignation of James A. Farley as State Democratic chairman to mean that he intends to take an active part in attempting to prevent a fourth-term nomination for President Roosevelt, even if his own name has to be entered as a contender for the nomination.

Farley’s announcement, based on his claim that “business duties and obligations” would prohibit him from giving to the campaign the time he felt would be necessary to its success, had a hollow ring to most political experts, who said they saw in the explanation a literal warning to the President that his former staunch ally was preparing to fight a fourth-term nomination more vigorously than he opposed a third term for Franklin Roosevelt.

After the former Postmaster General released his prepared statement announcing the resignation in his Hotel Biltmore office yesterday, newsmen piled him with questions, but he refused to be pinned down. The only query he answered for the record concerned his future interest in politics.

“It is only natural for a fellow who has always been a Democrat to be interested in the success of the Democratic Party,” he said. Beyond that, he would not go.

Farley said he will attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, July 19, as a delegate. But he flatly refused to say if he would be a candidate for the presidential nomination.

It was reported that President Roosevelt knew in advance of the resignation, but that the information did not come from Farley himself.

Farley called a meeting of the state committee for July 11, just a week before the national conventions opens, at which his successor will be chosen, but he made it clear he had made no recommendations to the committee or any of its members.

Kelly’s name mentioned

Although Frank V. Kelly, Kings County Democratic leader, announced that he is not a candidate to succeed Farley as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Rudolph Reimer, former Commissioner of Immigration, said today he believes the committeemen should urge the election of Mr. Kelly to that post.

Farley’s political career began when he was elected town clerk of Stony Point when he was only 22. He rose through a succession of posts, including assemblyman, member of the State Athletic Commission, Postmaster General and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. His success in the party’s top position led Franklin Roosevelt to choose him to run his campaign for nomination in 1932. It was during the President’s second term that the rift between them began to make itself noticeable. Farley had never been a full New Dealer. He opposed the President’s Supreme Court “packing,” the purge of anti-New Dealers and the third term.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 10, 1944)

Bricker assails New Deal ‘policy of regimentation’

Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, last night assailed the “New Deal philosophy of individual regimentation and centralization of power” and said that in contrast the Republican Party proposed “an atmosphere of opportunity and real incentive to achievement.”

Bricker charged on a broadcast over NBC:

For 11 years our national leaders have tried to change our system of free enterprise and representative government. They argued now that our nation had reached maturity. The President himself said: “Our task now… is the soberer, less dramatic business of administering resources and plants already in hand.”

Upon that defeatist premise, the New Deal launched its program of administrative management and regimentation.

The New Deal degenerated into arbitrary and capricious management, Bricker charged, with governmental planners hostile to new business enterprises, strangling small business, devising tax legislation for the purpose of effecting social changes and launching upon a program of unlimited spending.

He attacked the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week holding that insurance was subject to federal antitrust statutes and said that the Democratic platform upon which the present administration was elected contained a plank “in unequivocal language favoring the continuance of state supervision” over insurance.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 11, 1944)

North Carolina Governor decries revolt in South

Governor J. Melville Broughton of North Carolina, whose delegation to the Democratic National Convention is instructed to vote for his nomination for Vice President, told a press conference yesterday that, regardless of “upsurges” occurring in the Southern states, the solid South would stand behind the President for a fourth term and that he would be reelected on the war and peace issue.

He also voiced the judgment that issues which have arisen would be “reconciled” at the national convention without being permitted to reach a point where a split might ensue.

Answering a question whether he believed President Roosevelt would run, he said:

I believe that he will be a candidate and will be reelected, notwithstanding various upsurges and the feeling of resentment which is directed against encroachment upon matters which the South feels should be treated purely at the state level.

I think the decisive issue to be the conduct of the war and the conduct of the peace after the war and that all other issues will be obscured in the minds of the people. I say this although I have heard some people say this with a great deal of reluctance and purely as a realistic appraisal.

Governor Broughton held a press conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania before meeting Governor John W. Bicker of Ohio, an active candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, in a radio discussion of national issues last night.

Asked about the so-called political “revolt” in some of the Southern states, Governor Broughton said he was “not competent to comment on what’s behind it.” He said that from information reaching him it had originated from resentment toward what was considered “interference with state prerogatives.”

“They don’t charge it to the President, but to some parts of the administration’s program,” he said.

His state has no poll tax

His own state has not had a poll tax for many years, but, at the same time, would not, the Governor said, attempt to tell another what stand it should take on the question. He said he did not consider the poll tax issue as one to be handled in the party’s platform. Later, he said, in answering questions, he did not believe the CIO Political Action Committee would insist upon an anti-poll tax plank in the Democratic platform to the point where a clash over the issue might jeopardize the President’s chances of reelection. He admitted the South’s fight for restoration of the two-thirds rule at the convention was “a right strong movement.”

He said:

I don’t know how far it will get, although I doubt this question alone would be sufficient to cause a split.

The Governor said in his judgment the border states of Kentucky, West Virginia and Oklahoma will go Democratic and he also suggested Ohio was more likely to be carried by President Roosevelt than for Kentucky to go Republican.

Governor Broughton, declaring North Carolina has enjoyed a huge industrial boom, said that, in his opinion, all the states were in an excellent financial condition to meet post-war problems “without looking to the federal government.”

[NormanStewart]

Lindley: Campaign in France scanned for effect on home politics

By Ernest Lindley

The Republicans have been relieved of one worry which had begun to plague at least a few of them: that the invasion had been timed to coincide with their national convention. The suggestion that this might occur originated some time ago, probably with a joking newspaper correspondent. But as time passed, and the invasion did not begin, some of the politicians began to take it seriously – even to the point of discussing what to do in such a predicament.

Now an effort is being made to read political significance into the fact that it may be six weeks before the success of the battle now begun can be accurately appraised. This would be just before the Democratic National Convention, whereas when the Republicans meet the issue between the Allied armies and the German forces in France probably will not have been decided.

That forecast may be correct, on both counts, although, since the enemy has something to say about the matter, the best-informed and most expert “insiders” can do no more than conjecture as to whether the main crisis will come in four weeks or 60 days or later. The inference is being drawn, however, that Mr. Roosevelt contrived the timing of the invasion so that the Republicans would have to meet amid uncertainty while he could have the advantage oi knowing whether the invasion was an assured success before deciding on his own course.

Some of this talk may be inspired by the hope that if all has gone well on the Western Front by mid-July, and the defeat of Germany seems likely to come before election, Mr. Roosevelt will decline renomination. In the opinion of many political observers, the surrender of Germany before Election Day would diminish Mr. Roosevelt’s chances of reelection. If that were so, and if Mr. Roosevelt were really eager for another term, and if he were that kind of man, one would assume that he would have seen that the invasion was delayed until there would be no opportunity of compelling the surrender of Germany before mid-November.

It may seem incredible that any sane person could think that the President would juggle war plans to suit partisan or personal political purposes. But it was charged in 1940 that he was overemphasizing the danger to this country in order to get himself reelected. It was charged then and since that he was contriving to get us into the war in order to fasten a permanent “dictatorship” on the country. And it is quite clearly the intention of certain elements in the extreme opposition to resume this line of attack during the campaign of 1944. Indeed, they have already done so. Compared to these charges, the adjustment of an invasion date would be only a misdemeanor.

Some who make these charges and insinuations do not believe them themselves. They simply regard some of their constituents as gullible. Others simply are gauging the President by their own political standards – although some of them, if they had the responsibility, might make these weighty decisions quite as conscientiously as he does. Their affliction may be that the only responsibility they feel, the only task to which they have been rededicated by the great campaign of liberation, is the winning of the 1944 election, no matter by what means.

Mr. Roosevelt would have preferred, I think, that the national nominating conventions be deferred until September. But the Republicans insisted on having theirs at the usual time, and the Democrats decided not to delay beyond July. Obviously, all of these months right up to the election, and probably for some time thereafter, will be months crowded with momentous events. Mr. Roosevelt has a great role to play in these. These events, and his role in them as the responsible head of the nation, will be the principal part of his campaign, assuming that he accepts renomination.

It would be surprising if certain spectacular occurrences did not coincide with political rallies, speeches, or tours, planned by the Republicans or, for that matter, by sundry Democratic candidates, including Mr. Roosevelt. All campaigns are fought at many levels, ranging from the noblest words of the leading candidates to the skullduggery of ward-heelers. In this, the various levels are likely to be especially noticeable. And the outcome may depend on whether the voters are taking their politics as usual or whether the greatest enterprise of our time – winning the war and organizing the peace – does make a difference.

[NormanStewart]

The Free Lance-Star (June 12, 1944)

Texas Democrats refuse to change

Dallas, Texas (AP) –
The Texas State Democratic executive committee by a vote of 37–6 today refused to certify the name of Texas Democratic presidential electors named at a pro-Roosevelt convention for printing on the July primary ballot.

The committee turned down a request by pro-Roosevelt Democrats to submit at the Party primary a question for binding presidential electors to vote for the party’s candidate for President.

Merritt Gibson, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, said that the question has been decided at the state convention, out of which the Roosevelt backers walked after losing two test votes.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 13, 1944)

War vote cards swamp election officials here

Vacations canceled as clerical shortage becomes very serious
By Joseph H. Schmalacker

The arrival of the first substantial load of war ballot applications for the 1944 elections has caused a manpower emergency in the Board of Elections, which threatens apparently to become worse as the flood of applications increases, it was learned today.

Harassed officials of the board have been forced to order cancellations of all vacations of the board’s clerical employees and to appeal to the city administration for at least additional temporary clerks to keep pace with the influx of applications.

The first batch of applications, including the names of about 9,000 of the Brooklyn men in the Armed Forces, has reached a total of 35,000 for the five New York City boroughs.

“And this,” said S. Howard Cohen, president of the board, “is only a beginning.”

250,000 estimated

According to present estimates, he said, this was expected to grow to at least 250,000, which would be about 33⅓% of the total number of individuals now in the Armed Forces from New York City.

Each applicant’s name as it is received requires an examination of old and new voting lists and maps to determine the election, as well as the assembly district where the serviceman’s ballot would be cast. The process has been complicated by the State Reapportionment Act, which revised, consolidated or abolished old districts and established a series of new ones, with all district lines being changed.

The applications pouring into the board’s offices are being transmitted from the State War Ballot Commission at Albany, which is receiving them from men in the Armed Forces in the continental United States and from foreign war stations. The Dewey war ballot law enacted by the Legislature at Albany requires Board of Elections to begin sending out war ballots and envelopes to the men in the Armed Forces on Sept. 7, with Oct. 16 as the deadline. The ballots, to be counted, must be returned no later than Nov. 3 – four days before the date of the presidential election.

Overtaxing staff

Commissioner Cohen said the influx of applications was overtaxing the capacity of the board’s staff to handle them. He said the board’s clerical forces were undermanned and that, in all probability, the employees would be forced to work at night. On top of the huge flood of war ballots, he said, the board faced the problem of handling requests for 40,000 or 50,000 absentee ballots from New York City voters who are entitled to vote although their business affairs make it necessary for them to be out of the state at the time of the election.

The board’s clerical staff has been undermanned since the city administration dropped eight clerks several years ago without replacing them. Hiring temporary clerks represents a problem in itself, according to officials, because of the low pay which the city provides for such work.

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (June 17, 1944)

Verworrene Innenpolitik der USA –
Katalog der Präsidentschaftskandidaten

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

dr. th. b. Stockholm, 16. Juni –
In wohlbemessenen Dosen hat Roosevelt immer wieder die Meldung verbreiten lassendes scheine noch nicht sicher oder wahrscheinlich, daß er zum viertenmal kandidieren werde. Dabei hat kein ernsthafter Mensch jemals daran gezweifelt, daß er das nicht versuchen würde. Wenn jetzt also der Daily Express aus Washington meldet, in Kreisen, die dem Weißen Haus naheständen, erkläre man, daß sich Roosevelt nun doch endgültig entschlossen habe, zum viertenmal zu kandidieren, so ist das alles andere als eine Sensation. Wer als Vizepräsident kandidieren soll, ist allerdings weniger klar.

Der bisherige Vizepräsident Wallace versucht zur Zeit, Bolschewisten und Tschungking-Chinesen durch zu nichts verpflichtende Reden zu beglücken. Seine Aussichten sind nicht groß. „Big Business“ liegt ihm nicht. Anders ist es mit Wendell Willkie, der als republikanischer Kandidat ausgespielt hat – noch einmal wollen sich die Republikaner durch eine Scheinoffensive wie 1940 nicht aufs Glatteis führen lassen – aber doch in einzelnen Staaten des Mittelwestens über eine ansehnliche Zahl von Anhängern verfügt, die er als Morgengabe in die politische Ehe mit Roosevelt einbringen könnte.

Sollte Wendell Willkie wirklich als Vizepräsident von den Demokraten aufgestellt werden, was durchaus noch nicht sicher ist, so würde sich das innerpolitische Bild noch mehr als bisher verwirren. Zum Schluss dürfte niemand mehr recht wissen, für wen oder für was er wählt, so fließend sind die Grenzen zwischen den Parteien geworden. In Roosevelt und Dewey, dem wahrscheinlichen Kandidaten der Republikaner, stehen sich zwar zwei ausgeprägte Persönlichkeiten gegenüber. Mit einem Gegensatz der Charaktere und Temperamente aber läßt sich ein Wahlkampf allein kaum bestreiten.

Auf welcher Grundlage und mit welchen Parolen der Wahlkampf auch immer ausgefochten werden wird – feststeht, daß er sich auf das Feld der Innenpolitik beschränken muß, es sei denn, es käme während des Wahlkampfes zu einer militärischen Katastrophe für Roosevelt.

Die Demokraten werden auf die „Fortschritte“ hinweisen, die das Land in den letzten elf Jahren gemacht hat. Die Republikaner werden demgegenüber betonen, daß „frisches Blut“ notwendig sei. Die Republikaner werden das Zentralisierungsbestreben der Regierung angreifen. Die Demokraten werden entgegnen, daß ohne eine gewisse Zentralisierung Reformen nicht möglich seien. Die Republikaner werden erklären, daß die Agrarpolitik der Regierung zu einer Warenverknappung geführt hat. Die Demokraten werden von einer Stabilisierung in der Landwirtschaft sprechen. Die Republikaner werden es als verfassungswidrig bezeichnen, daß ein Mann über zwei Perioden hinaus Präsident ist. Die Demokraten werden entgegnen, daß man Roosevelt als Führer im Kriege nicht entbehren könne. Die Republikaner werden behaupten, daß die Kriegsanstrengungen nationale Einigkeit erfordern und daß das amerikanische Volk mehr und mehr republikanisch gesinnt sei. Die Demokraten werden das auf das bestimmteste verneinen.

Solche Kontroversen und noch manche andere müssen also ausreichen, um einen Wahlkampf zu bestreiten, dessen Bedeutung für den weiteren Kriegsverlauf zwar groß, aber noch nicht entscheidend ist. Der Ruck nach der republikanischen Seite hält zwar an, aber es bleibt weiter zweifelhaft, ob die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung der Vereinigten Staaten bereit ist, „in der Furt die Pferde zu wechseln.“ Alles hängt, wie gesagt, von der weiteren militärischen Entwicklung ab.

Neutrale Beobachter in den Vereinigten Staaten sind in ihrer Beurteilung der öffentlichen Meinung nach dem Beginn der Invasion sehr vorsichtig. Sie weisen darauf hin, „daß die meisten Amerikaner eigentlich erst seit der letzten Woche ähnlich wie Willkie entdeckt hätten, daß die Erde rund ist.“ Die Kämpfe in der Normandie stießen nicht nur, weil hunderttausend amerikanische Truppen in sie verwickelt seien und schwere Verluste erlitten, auf tieferes Interesse, als man ursprünglich vermutet habe. Man müsse abwarten, ob diese Reaktion anhalte, vor allem aber abwarten, welche Folgen ein ernsthafter Rückschlag haben werde.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 18, 1944)

Would use Farley, Bricker in presidential coalition

Washington (UP) – (June 17)
Rep. Noah M. Mason (R-IL) today proposed former Democratic National Chairman James A. Farley as vice-presidential candidate on a coalition ticket with Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio as the presidential nominee.

Mason said:

A coalition ticket such as this would provide a clean-cut division between conservatives and radicals.

It would mean that internationalists and left-wingers would remain New Dealers and all conservatives and nationalists would find a home in the Republican Party.

[NormanStewart]

Heffernan: Bricker and state’s rights

In one of the radio forums the other night, John W. Bricker, Governor of Ohio, contended for the rights and asserted the ability of the states to meet the economic problems of the post-war era. Governor Bricker, an avowed candidate for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, pointed out that the huge debt of the national government, the tremendous cost of administration of the New Deal theories and extension of an already-insupportable parasitic bureaucracy would not only deprive Americans of the liberties they once enjoyed but incapacitate the federal administration, leaving it without ability to meet the situation which will arise when the litigation of the guns has ceased.

On the other hand, said the Governor of Ohio, the states are in the main in a better financial condition to provide the needed remedies and sustain the federal government in the performance of the functions which the necessities of the time may demand.

There is a growing number of people in the United States who are more and more finding themselves in agreement with the fine American statesman, whose gubernatorial activities in the great state of Ohio have set an example of inestimable value. These people realize that the war has taken from us the cream of our young manhood. They feel that it is their obligation to keep for those men now in service the America for whose sake the men in the fighting lines have placed their lives on the altar of sacrifice. And they have the guarantee of his record that John Bricker knows how to administer American constitutional government justly, efficiently and with benefit to all his people.

It was my hope that when events began to favor the Republican Party that party would forget patronage, forget cheap politics and not repeat the Harding mistake of 1920. It was my hope that it would not forget that its noblest exemplar and greatest President summed up all that there is of American democracy in these words:

That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The states of the Union are the natural pillars of the federal government. Jefferson so called them long ago. To set up instead of them artificial regional areas, each governed by an appointive satrap of an all-powerful central government, is not to go forward but to go backward to the old systems that have cursed the Old World for generations. Can we not remember that it was Mussolini and Hitler who declared that democracy was dead? Are we to bury it next November?

[NormanStewart]

CIO Political Action Committee moves to hop over law barrier

Washington (UP) – (June 17)
The CIO Political Action Committee moved today to strengthen its hand in the 1944 presidential campaign by announcing plans for a committee modeled after national political parties, which would be exempt from the Smith-Connally Act’s restraints.

Already committed to support President Roosevelt and Vice President Henry A. Wallace for reelection, the Political Action Committee revealed plans to establish a national committee, with representatives from outside as well as within the ranks of labor, which would receive and spend voluntary contributions from individuals.

The plans were announced at the closing session of a two-day conference attended by 300 delegates representing CIO affiliates.

CIO President Philip Murray and Political Action Committee Chairman Sidney Hillman told the conference that the proposed program would set up machinery for achieving goals ln the platform adopted by the delegates yesterday. They also assailed Governor Dewey of New York and Governor Bricker of Ohio, the principal candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

While Hillman reiterated that the Political Action Committee had no purge list, he promised that foes of the committee could expect “more surprises” and that changes would be made in the membership of Congress.

[NormanStewart]

The Free Lance-Star (June 20, 1944)

More recognition for South is asked

Richmond, Virginia (AP) –
Governor Colgate Darden Jr. has given his approval to a proposal by Alabama Governor Chauncey Sparks calling for more recognition of the South in Democratic councils and a sympathetic recognition of its social and economic problems in the writing of the next Democratic platform.

The Virginia Governor informed Sparks that he believed “sound and constructive” suggestions to that effect were made by Governor Sparks. The latter had asked for opinions from other Southern governors.

Among the Alabama chief executive’s suggestions, which have also been approved by North Carolina Governor Broughton, was that the South should be given the Vice Presidency spot if President Roosevelt is renominated. Broughton is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for that office.

Sparks also suggested that the platform should “recognize the inherent right of every state to control its internal affairs” and should call for “equal economic opportunity for every section.”

[NormanStewart]

The Free Lance-Star (June 22, 1944)

Predict Roosevelt to accept 4th term

Washington (AP) –
Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia came out of President Roosevelt’s office today and predicted the Chief Executive will accept a fourth term nomination of it is tendered him by the Democratic National Convention.

The Governor, freely admitting he had “talked politics” with the President, said he would not be surprised if Mr. Roosevelt makes a public statement shortly after next week’s Republican convention “as to his willingness to abide by party decisions irrespective of his personal desires and that he will submit to the mandates of the Democratic convention.”

The Georgia Democrat voiced this comment to reports as he left the White House after an appointment with Mr. Roosevelt which some Democrats in Congress hailed as a peace gesture toward Southern Democrats, some of whom have been cool toward the fourth term movement.

The Governor said Georgia’s electoral vote will be pledged to support the party nominee and said the action could be taken as a castigation of Texas, Mississippi and South Carolina where proposals have been made that electoral votes be withheld if the Democratic platform contains planks distasteful to the South.

[NormanStewart]

Bricker to keep name in running

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
Ohio Governor John W. Bricker asserted flatly at a press conference today he would not withdraw his name from consideration for the Republican presidential nomination. He added he did not expect to be offered the vice-presidential place on the ticket.

The Ohio Governor, who arrived with a fanfare of a band playing the strains of “Beautiful Ohio,” met the press in a conference preceding his appearance tomorrow before the convention’s resolutions committee when he will report as chairman of a post-war advisory group on domestic issues.

The gray-haired Governor, flashing a smile, told reporters that he intended to keep his name before the convention despite reports that New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey has a long lead in delegate support.

[NormanStewart]

The Free Lance-Star (June 23, 1944)

Boom for Byrd

GOP Congressmen see him as possibility for second place

Washington (AP) –
A boom for Senator Byrd (D-VA) as the vice-presidential candidate nominee on the Republican ticket developed today among GOP members of Congress.

House Republican Leader Martin (R-MA), who will be the permanent chairman of the Chicago Republican convention convening Monday, told newspapermen “there appears to be a great deal of sentiment for Senator Byrd.” He added that, “I’ll have to get to Chicago before I know just how strong this sentiment is.”

Rep. Knutson, Republican leader of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters he would arrive in Chicago Saturday, and would promote the idea of offering the Virginian the second place on the Republican ticket.

Rep. Eaton (R-NJ), ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was in the group discussing the convention and commented:

Senator Byrd is a great national asset. His party label doesn’t mean a thing. He’s an American.

Knutson said that with Byrd on the ticket, “We can carry Virginia, the Carolinas and several other Southern states.”

While observing that there is substantial sentiment for the Virginian, Martin did not express any personal preference, reminding those with whom he talked that his responsibility was to preside over the convention.

Disclaimed by Byrd

Byrd promptly said, “I am not a candidate on any ticket whatsoever.” He would not comment when newsmen told him that sometimes men are drafted at political conventions.

He said he had not heard of the announced plan of Rep. Knutson (R-MN) to work for him at Chicago and emphasized, “I am not a candidate and haven’t been a candidate.”

Byrd was on the floor of the Senate today submitting a report by his economy committee and incidentally taking time out to accuse Senator Guffey (D-PA) of making “a cowardly attack” on an absent Senator.

Guffey had taken the floor earlier to excoriate Senator Bailey (D-NC) for a speech several weeks ago calling CIO leader Philip Murray and Sidney Hillman “communists.”

Byrd stated:

I have been in the Senate 12 years and I have never seen a more bitter, vindictive and I think more untruthful attack on an absent Senator.

He said that Senator Bailey was absent for a necessary operation. The Virginian said:

Senator Guffey knew he was not here today and yet he selected this day to make this malicious and unwarranted attack on him.

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt dodges 4th term queries

Washington (AP) –
President Roosevelt declined with a grin today to confirm or refute a prediction by Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia that the Chief Executive would soon express his willingness to accept a fourth term nomination.

A reporter asked Mr. Roosevelt at today’s news conference if he planned such a statement shortly after next week’s Republican National Convention, as forecast by Arnall.

The President commented that it was the same old question taking a new form today.

“A new form in the light of recent events,” the reporter said. “Well, it won’t work,” Mr. Roosevelt replied. “Don’t I get anything for the effort?” the reporter asked. “No,” said the President and told him he would have to write it off as a total failure.

Another reporter asked the President if he will consult political leaders before making a decision on a presidential nomination. The President replied that this occasion was supported to be a news conference and that the inquiry was a boudoir question at the present time.

[NormanStewart]

Dewey critical of bureaucracy

Asks greater harmony between President and Congress

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey sent Republican platform drafters a message today criticizing the national administration as “a sprawling, overlapping bureaucracy” and calling for a new regime in which the President would act with Congress to “raise the federal service to a high level of efficiency and competence.”

The message from Dewey, whose supporters have contended he will win the Republican presidential nomination on the first or second ballot at next week’s convention, was read to the platform committee after Senator Vandenberg (R-MI) had presented a proposed foreign plank calling for creation of “peace forces” to prevent future aggression.

In connection with presentation of a report on the Post-War Advisory Committee on government reform, Dewey’s message said:

The national administration has become a sprawling, overlapping bureaucracy. It is undermined by executive abuse of power, confused line of authority, duplication of effort, inadequate fiscal controls, loose personnel practices and an attitude of arrogance previously unknown in our history.

The times cry out for the restoration of harmony in government, for a balance of legislative and executive responsibility for efficiency and economy for pruning and abolishing unnecessary agencies and personnel, for effective fiscal and personnel controls, and for an entirely new spirit in our federal government.

We need an administration wherein the President, acting in harmony with Congress, will effect these necessary reforms and raise the federal service to a high level of efficiency and competence.

[NormanStewart]

Essary: Many in capital head for GOP convention

Much hip-hip-hurrahing to be absent this year
By Helen Essary, Central Press columnist

Washington –
Half of official Washington is packing its bags for Chicago and the gathering there on June 26 of the Republican hopefuls. Despite the cut and dried program that awaits the delegates, and the prospect of news scarcity in the goings on there, many newspapers sent their correspondents out a week before the opening day.

I’ve been wondering about the mood of the convention. Would it be the usual compound of bands, waving flags, backslapping favorite sons and smoke-filled rooms? I called Robert Prichard, the Republican National Committee’s No. 2 man at the job of selling the country the virtues of the GOP and asked about the prospect of good cheer at his convention.

Prichard said:

The theme of the convention will be patriotism. We are going to cut down the number of bands. Of course, there will be music. But none of the old-time hurrah… Flags? Oh yes, some in the convention hall. But not all over the plane as they used to be… Elephants? Absolutely not. Tied to a string and being led around to whip up the crowds? No, sir-ee! It isn’t going to be necessary to have party mascots this time. This isn’t a circus we are putting on. We’ve got real business to transact.

All convention speeches will be shorter than ever before, Prichard promised. Seconding speeches will be limited to 15 minutes. Former President Herbert Hoover is allowed a speech of 45 minutes. Mrs. Clare Luce, who some people think may stampede the convention and get herself nominated for the Vice Presidency, will talk for 30 minutes.

Hoover and Mrs. Luce have already sent their speeches in to the Republican National Committee, where they are being peppered up or flattened out as the need calls. How long Governor Warren of California will talk is as yet uncertain. He hasn’t yet submitted his keynote speech to headquarters.

The Democrats have not gotten down to convention routine. Their committee on arrangements met in Chicago June 15 and 16. At the moment there are still some delegates unnamed.

But things will whip up in no time and as for that choice of vice-presidential nominee – why, anything can happen.

Some people think the Northern Democrats can be made to agree with the Southern, the Eastern, the Midwestern, the Northwestern and the Western Democrats (big country this), and line Henry A. Wallace up for Vice President.

Some people – not Democrats – say Mr. Roosevelt has the convention – and the country – and the world – on the spot and can get anything done he wants done. Anyhow the vice-presidential nomination will be the only fun the Democratic meeting of mid-July will provide.

I asked Miss Virginia Rishel, who gets out the Democratic Digest, official publication of the Democratic National Committee, if she thought her party’s Chicago meeting would be a merry one.

The wise Virginia said:

Oh, no! On the contrary, Hannegan, our national chairman, has passed the word down the line, “We’ve got to get down to work at once, get the work done and get out as fast as possible. This is no time for skylarking or cheering.”

Speaking of the international influence, I suppose there will be a lot said in words of many syllables at both conventions about “our foreign policy.”

Well, it is not surprising that we have no concrete foreign policy, actually most of the people in this country aren’t interested in a foreign policy simply because most of the people in this country are not interested in foreign countries.

It will take a powerful amount of sales talk to persuade half the country that the troubles and hates of Europe, Asia and Africa are our responsibility forevermore. And it isn’t impeding the war effort to say this.

I still hope, maybe it is a Pollyannish wish, but I don’t apologize for it, that some day some genius will sell the world the idea of the stupidity of war. Could anything be more imbecile than the way we killed, maimed and starved the Italians when they were fighting with the Nazis, and then suddenly changed to loving, feeding, arming and clothing the Italians the moment we captured Rome?

Before the war is over, we may be killing Italians once more. Four-legged animals aren’t half as dumb as we, the two-legged creatures provided by nature with what is supposed to be a thinking mind. Four-legged animals fight only when they have to and when they are mad.

[NormanStewart]

The Brooklyn Eagle (June 25, 1944)

Dewey managers seek first ballot nomination as opposition wavers

Assurance of Governor’s backers seen checkmating Bricker-Stassen challenge
By Lyle C. Wilson

Chicago, Illinois (UP) – (June 24)
Governor Dewey’s “draft” managers are driving tonight for his ballot nomination on the Republican ticket against opposition that seems unable to organize effectively.

The first big test for the Dewey managers was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. CT when Illinois leaders were to caucus the state’s 59-vote delegation.

Plans for the Republican National Convention meeting here June 26 have been streamlined for adoption of a platform and nomination of the ticket by June 28. The successful candidate is scheduled to accept the 1944 leadership of the Republican Party against the New Deal-Democratic Party Wednesday or Thursday.

Platform building is slowed by pulling and hauling over the foreign relations plank, but it is obvious that the convention will adopt some kind of pledge for post-war international cooperation.

Three names before delegates

At least three names will be before the delegates for the presidential nomination. The managers of Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio claim they have 200 to 225 first ballot votes. LtCdr. Harold E. Stassen’s supporters expect the former Minnesota Governor to poll about 65 votes on the first ballot.

Dewey backers are making no public claims and their smug assurance pinpricks the opposition. Bricker spokesmen estimate that Dewey will have 385 votes on the first ballot. Any candidate would need a bare majority of 529 to be nominated.

The Bricker-Stassen challenge to the Dewey “draft” probably will justify itself or collapse 12 to 24 hours before the convention meets when some of the big state delegations begin to caucus to decide with whom to ride on early ballots.

Hopes to hold Dewey

Bricker has a chance among all of them and there is the possibility that state leaders may decide to cast favorite-son votes on early ballots from a safe position on the fence. Bricker is counting on that, hoping to hold Dewey for a couple of ballots and then chip away his lead, as was done four years ago in Philadelphia.

Those tactics might easily lead to deadlock in which event a lot of smart money would be put down quickly on Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH), whose stature in the party has risen steadily and is still going up.

California, Illinois and Pennsylvania apparently control the situation and they are expected to hold hotel room caucuses over the weekend to decide, in effect, whether the East or Midwest shall provide the man with whom the GOP will attempt for the third time to defeat President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The party regulars are talking a Dewey-Warren ticket, insisting that Governor Earl Warren of California can be persuaded to accept the vice-presidential nomination despite his known disinclination for the assignment.

If Warren balks, there are a dozen other Republican governors who are willing and able to grace the ticket and Rep. Everett Dirksen (R-IL), who campaigned for the presidential nomination, is recognized now as a contender for second place.

Rep. Harold Knutson (R-MN) arrived today from ballyhooing a coalition ticket on which Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA), a notable anti-Roosevelt Southerner, would be nominated for Vice President. The party regulars are not impressed and some of the more sarcastic remark that they tried to win an election in 1940 with a Democrat on the Republican ticket and that it will not work. They refer to Wendell L. Willkie, the 1940 GOP presidential nominee, who was a Democrat before Mr. Roosevelt began making some changes in that party.