Confident governor will be chosen on the first ballot
By Joseph H. Schmalacker
The main body of New York State’s delegation to the Republican National Convention, staking its full strength and voting power on the imminent draft of Governor Dewey for the GOP presidential nomination, last night sped toward Chicago for tomorrow’s convention debut.
All indications were that the solid pro-Dewey delegation would seek to clinch the nomination quickly for New York’s Republican Governor.
Republican Leader John R. Crews, as he headed the Brooklyn unit of the delegation at its departure, said:
I am fully convinced the convention will draft Governor Dewey on the first ballot. The task now is to choose the best nominee for Vice President.
With Governor Dewey as the nominee for President, the ticket will poll millions of independent votes and will sweep the country in November.
Expect near landslide
While Crews and others were making their final pre-convention predictions, political enthusiasm soared among the delegation’s rank-and-file and the unspoken consensus among many of the delegates seemed to indicate they were expecting Mr. Dewey’s nomination to be voted actually by near landslide proportions. Their belief, they said, was based on glowing private reports reaching the delegation from Chicago.
The main body of the delegation left for Chicago in two groups. The Brooklyn delegates (representing Kings County) left with the delegates from Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan and Richmond aboard a New York Central train from Grand Central. Nassau and Suffolk delegates departed hours later aboard a Pennsylvania train from the Pennsylvania Station.
Accommodations on both trains were made available for more than 300 delegates, alternates, leaders and convention personnel under Office of Defense Transportation restrictions. All were required to produce ODT certificates authorizing the convention journey.
W. Kingsland Macy, Suffolk County leader and Republican State chairman, was with the Long Island delegation.
Macy remarked:
When New York elected Joe R. Hanley as Lieutenant Governor last November, I said it was another indication of the trend in favor of Governor Dewey. It has become more obvious every day the sentiment of the country is for his nomination.
Delegation caucus tonight
The entire 93-member New York delegation will meet in caucus tonight at the Hotel Stevens, the New York State headquarters in Chicago, to pledge its formal support for Dewey. Except for the Kings County unit, which adopted a pro-Dewey pledge several weeks ago, the New York delegation has maintained a technically unpledged attitude.
The Brooklyn delegates include Attorney General Nathaniel L. Goldstein, Public Service Commissioner George A. Arkwright, Benjamin F. Westervelt, William E. Rowen, Harold L. Turk, Walter J. Vernie, James Leo Morrison; William S. Webb, head of the State Tax Bureau; Deputy Industrial Commissioner A. H. Goodman, Assistant Secretary Michael Chiusano of the State Labor Department, George Eilperin, Ernest C. Wagner and Walter L. Johnston.
The alternate delegates are Chairman William T. Simpson of the State War Ballot Commission; A. David Benjamin, chairman of the Kings County Republican Law Committee; Assemblyman Robert J. Crews, John Morris, Mrs. Faith Moore Andrews, Samuel Sweet, Joseph F. Keating, Miss Amy Wren, Almert W. Hoff. Harry G. Anderson, George J. Beldock, Henry Sugarman, William A. Root, Jacob Bartscherer and Richard Wright. John Bartels, president of the Brooklyn Republican Club, is an alternate delegate-at-large.
Another prominent Republican in the Brooklyn delegation was Frank Pals, leader of the new 1st AD. Former U.S. Attorney George Z. Medalie, John Foster Dulles, Election Commissioner David B. Costuma, Senator Frederic R. Coudert Jr. and Roger W. Straus were included in the Manhattan delegation. The entire group traveled under the direction of Charles W. Ferry, passenger representative of the Republican State Committee and assistant appraiser of the State Tax Department for the metropolitan district.