GOP NOMINATES DEWEY-BRICKER TICKET
New York Governor Dewey for President!
Ohio Governor Bricker for Vice President!
Address by Ohio Governor Bricker
June 28, 1944
I am deeply grateful to the many friends who have expressed their loyalty to me, far more important than that, to the cause for which I have tried to stand. I have traveled throughout the United States for the last six months preaching to the best of my ability the gospel of Republicanism, which is the gospel of Americanism.
I have talked with you in your homes and your public meetings. I have talked with you privately, and I know the heart, the feeling, the longing, and the determination of the people of America, expressed through the representatives assembled here to preserve, not only for America but for the whole world, the blessings of free government and liberty as we have them here in America.
There has been a magnificent response everywhere to the preaching of fundamental American constitutional doctrine. Everywhere Republicans have come, and come enthusiastically, and Democrats have come by the thousands to Republican meetings.
Time and again I have said throughout this country, to the Democratic friends who are supporters of our cause, that the old-line Democrats, the Jeffersonian Democrats, and the Republicans have so much in common now; neither side has anything to say about what goes on in Washington today.
A thousand times I have said to you and Republicans everywhere that this is an hour when personal ambition should not prevail, that the party is greater than any individual ambition. In this hour, when the nation calls for unselfish service, the Republican Party unselfishly goes into the campaign to redeem free government that the world may be better tomorrow.
A thousand times I have said to you that I am personally more interested â and this comes from the depths of my heart â that personally I am more interested in defeating the New Deal philosophy of absolutism which has swept free government from the majority of countries throughout the world; I am more interested in defeating that than I am in personally being President of these United States.
I say to you today that it is the first duty of every Republican, as of every patriotic American citizen of every political party, to do all in its power to promote the war effort and bring speedy victory, that our boys may soon come home again.
I would not be here today, pleading the cause of the Republican party, if I did not believe with all sincerity in my heart that the best thing that could happen, the one thing that would bring speedy victory, a better world in which to live, better international relations, would be the election of a Republican President and a Republican Congress this fall.
Industry, under the impetus of such a victory, would produce as it never produced before. Labor would work as never before. When victory comes, we should have a stable, consistent economic tax policy in this country which would give greater hope of return than possibility of loss.
Labor would work as never before because it knows, as you and I well know, that this government cannot reach out its tentacles and take a strangle hold on one segment of society unless ultimately every segment of society comes under the domination and dictates of government.
Agriculture would be encouraged as nothing else could encourage it â by a Republican victory â because a bureaucratic government would be taken off its neck and farmers again could till the soil as independent farmers of America have always tilled the soil.
Appreciative as I am of the devotion to the cause which I have tried to represent of the many that are gathered here, I understand it is the overwhelming desire of this convention to nominate a great, a vigorous, a fighting young American, the noble and dramatic and appealing Governor of the State of New York â Thomas E. Dewey.
He charged the ramparts of crime and took them. He took over the government of the great State of New York, the largest state of the Union, and what a magnificent job he has done as Governor of that state! He understands not alone domestic problems, but international issues. The relationships of the nations of the world of tomorrow are going to be more trying than they ever have been before, and we cannot separate our domestic policies from our international program.
The hope of a better tomorrow lies in Thomas E. Dewey becoming the leader of the Republican hosts who will free us from the clutches of bureaucracy next January.
Time and again I have said that as this campaign goes on my heart and soul will be behind it, regardless of who might be nominated here today. Let me say to you that the best President of the United States to build a better international order tomorrow will be the best American President.
He shall speak for the people of America through the platform which has been adopted by this convention, one of sound American doctrine, which will preserve our form of representative republican government and which will bring a Republican victory this fall.
I am conscious of the fact that it is the desire of the great majority of the delegates to this convention to nominate the gallant righting Governor of the State of New York for President. I believe in party organization, as expressed in this legally constituted representative body of my party.
I believe a Republican victory is not only necessary this fall to preserve the Republican Party, but it is necessary likewise to preserve our two-party system. To preserve a representative system of government here in America, and likewise necessary to preserve the Democratic Party.
I appreciate the support which has been accorded me by the delegates from Ohio, especially the support which they have given in the last few days; but I am now asking them not to present my name to this convention, but to cast their votes, along with those of the host of friends I have here, for Thomas E. Dewey for President of the United States.
The Free Lance-Star (June 28, 1944)
GOP NOMINATES DEWEY
Bricker named running mate for New York chosen on first ballot at convention
Nominee to fly to Chicago to make acceptance talk
Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (AP) â
A 1944 Republican ticker headed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey for President, with Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio as his running-mate, was nominated in a whirlwind session today by a national convention that gave Dewey all its votes save one and made it unanimous for Bricker.
Dewey immediately arranged to fly here from Albany and appear before the convention to deliver his speech of acceptance at 9:00 p.m. CWT.
The nominating session recessed at 1:56 until 8:00 p.m. CWT.
A lone delegate from Wisconsin, Grant Ritter, 55-year-old farmer of Beloit, cast his vote for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, explaining âheâs still my candidate. We didnât get an opportunity to present him.â
A committee hurried to telephone Governor Dewey at Albany where he awaited formal notification before going ahead with plans to rush here for his speech of acceptance â tonight, if weather does not interfere with a trip by plane.
Martin wires news
At the same time, Rep. Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts, convention chairman, dispatched the following telegram to Dewey:
May I on behalf of this great Republican convention advise you of your nomination as President.
Heartiest congratulations. We know you will make a winning President.
Even before the roll call, shortly after Deweyâs name was placed in nomination by Nebraska Governor Dwight Griswold, Wendell L. Willkie, the 1940 nominee, whose possible attitude toward a Dewey candidacy was a subject of conjecture, drafted a message of congratulations from New York. A bulletin over the Associated Press wire at the platform brought word of the gesture.
Governor Bricker, playing the key role in a harmony move that developed overnight, announced his own withdrawal as a presidential candidate as soon as Deweyâs name was placed in nomination.
Bricker speaker
In a dramatic convention appearance to tremendous applause, at the termination of a rousing demonstration which greeted the nominating speech for Dewey, the tall Ohioan strode to the speakerâs stand, looked steadily over the vast reaches of the teeming convention hall and said:
I am deeply grateful to the many friends who have expressed their loyalty to me, far more important than that, to the cause for which I have tried to stand.
I am personally more interested â and this comes from the depths of my heart â personally I am more interested in defeating the New Deal philosophy of absolutism which is threatening Americans today; I am more interested in defeating that than I am ever of being President of these United States.
I understand, as you do, that it is the overwhelming desire of this convention to nominate a great, a vigorous, a fighting young American, the noble and dramatic and appealing Governor of the great state of New York â Thomas E. Dewey.
Praises record
There were cries of ânoâ from some of the Bricker boosters, as the Governor continued:
What a magnificent job he [Dewey] has done as Governor! He understands not only domestic problems, but their involvement in international issues. The relationship of the world of tomorrow are going to be more trying than they ever have been before.
Thomas E. Dewey will become the gallant leader of the Republican hosts which free America and return American to the Republican democracy next January.
Bricker thanked the Ohio delegation for its support, saying:
I am asking them not to present my name to this convention, but to cast their votes, along with those of the host of friends I have here, for Thomas E. Dewey for President of the United States.
No sooner had Bricker turned from the platform than Chairman Joseph W. Martin announced, âI now introduce Senator Ball of Minnesota.â
Proud of Stassen
Ball led the campaign on behalf of LtCdr. Harold E. Stassen for President. He said:
Ours has been a clear fight. We are proud of Cdr. StassenâŠ
As long as there was the slightest chance of Stassenâs nomination, we were determined to present his name to this convention. Governor Brickerâs eloquent statement has eliminated any chance that existed. Minnesotaâs delegation has therefore decided not to present Stassenâs name to this convention.
âŠ
If FDR decides to run for a fourth term, itâs going to be a Slam Dunk on the republican party.
Dewey approves party platform
Amplification of views is expected in his acceptance talk; floor fight fails
Chicago, Illinois (AP) â
Governor Thomas E. Dewey apparently held the key today to a question of whether Wendell L. Willkie and other party critics will go along with a Republican platform pledging American cooperation to prevent future wars by use of âpeace forcesâ and ruling out entry into a âworld state.â
The partyâs prospective presidential nominee was expected to amplify, in his acceptance speech, a post-war foreign policy plank shoutingly approved by delegates but sharply criticized earlier by the 1940 standard-bearer and a group of governors.
A convention floor fight failed to materialize after it was reported that Dewey had given the plank his specific approval and two critical governors â Walter Edge of New Jersey and William H. Willis of Vermont â had expressed the view to reporters that nothing could be gained by a fight.
Upon the ability of the New York Governor â assuming, of course, that he will be the nominee â to satisfy criticisms of Willkie and the governors that the plank is âambiguousâ and offers inadequate hope for post-war peace collaboration, possibly hinges the question of whether the 1940 candidate will go along, bolt, or remain silent during the campaign.
Willkie silent
In New York, Willkie refused last night to say what action he would take.
The controverted plank was a featured part of a 2,000-word statement of principles.
On domestic issues, the platform promised the party would devote itself to âreestablishing liberty at home;â to providing stable employment by encouraging private enterprise freed of government competition and âdetailed regulations.â
Remedies for economic and political problems should be based, the statement asserted, âon intelligent cooperation between the federal government and the states and local government and the initiative of civil groups, not on the panacea of federal cash.â
The platform said:
Four more years of New Deal policy would centralize all power in the President, and would daily subject every act of every citizen to regulation by his henchmen; and this country could remain a Republic only in name. No problem exists which cannot be solved by American methods. We have no need of either the communistic or the fascist technique.
Making appeals to business, labor and agriculture alike, the platform charged that New Deal âperversionâ of labor laws âthreatens to destroy collective bargaining completely and permanently.â
Promises to farmers
Farmers were promised an âAmerican market priceâ to be maintained by commodity loans, price supports and other measures, and government aid in dealing with âunmanageable surplusesâ by means of crop adjustment. This probably will go a long way toward removing the principle of crop control as an issue. The Republicans pledged, however, the elimination of subsidies as a substitute for adequate prices at the market prices. They also promised to free farmers from âregimentation and confusing government manipulation and control of farm programs.â
In the field of foreign trade, the Republicans promised farmer, livestock producers, workers and industry that they would establish and maintain a âfair protective tariffâ on competitive products produced with lower-paid labor.
They expressed willingness nevertheless to cooperate with other nations to remove international trade barriers.
Other planks pledged aid to small business; tax belief for individuals and corporations when peace returns; a âgenuineâ Western Hemisphere good neighbor policy âcommanding respect, and not based on reckless squandering of American funds;â rigid economy in government expenditures; extension of Social Security; and enforcement of laws against monopoly and unfair competition.
Address by Governor Dewey Accepting the GOP Nomination
June 28, 1944, 9:00 p.m. CWT
I am profoundly moved by the trust you have placed in me. I deeply feel the responsibility which goes with your nomination for President of the United States at this grave hour of our nationâs history.
That I have not sought this responsibility, all of you know. I told the people of my State, two years ago, that it was my intention to devote my full term as governor exclusively to their service. You have decided otherwise. In accordance with the principles of our republican form of government you have laid upon me the highest duty to which an American can be called. No one has a right to refuse such a call. With the help of God, I will try to be worthy of the trust. I accept the nomination.
I am happy and proud to be associated with my good friend from the state of Ohio, John W. Bricker. For many months, John Bricker has gone from state to state telling the people of the issues, of the great need for better government, for the sound principles of government, and the leadership which will come to it with a Republican victory this year. Never before have I seen such good sportsmanship as that displayed by John Bricker here this morning and I am proud to be associated with him.
I come to this great task a free man. I have made no pledges, promises or commitments, expressed or implied, to any man or woman. I shall make none, except to the American people.
These pledges I do make:
To men and women of the Republican Party everywhere I pledge my utmost efforts in the months ahead. In return, I ask for your support. Without it, I cannot discharge the heavy obligation you lay upon me.
To Americans of every party, I pledge that on January 20 next year our government will again have a cabinet of the ablest men and women to be found in America. The members of that Cabinet will expect and will receive full delegation of the powers of their office. They will be capable of administering those powers. They will each be experienced in the task to be done and young enough to do it. This election will bring an end to one-man government in America.
To Americans of every party, I pledge a campaign dedicated to one and above all others â that this nation under God may continue in the years ahead a free nation of free men.
At this moment on battlegrounds around the world Americans are dying for the freedom of our country. Their comrades are pressing on in the face of hardship and suffering. They are pressing on for total victory and for the liberties of all of us.
Everything we say or do today and, in the future, must be devoted to the single purpose of that victory. Then, when victory is won, we must devote ourselves with equal unity of purpose to re-winning at home the freedom they have won at such desperate cost abroad.
To our allies let us send from this convention one message from our hearts: The American people are united with you to the limit of our resources and manpower, devoted to the single task of victory and the establishment of a firm and lasting peace.
To every member of the axis powers, let us send this message from this convention: By this political campaign, which you are unable to understand, our will to victory will be strengthened, and with every day you further delay surrender the consequences to you will be more severe.
That we shall win this war none of us and few of our enemies can now have any doubt. But how we win this war is of major importance for the years ahead. We won the last war but it didnât stay won. This time we must also win the purposes for which we are fighting. Germany must never again nourish the delusion that she could have won. We must carry to Japan a defeat so crushing and complete that every last man among them knows that he has been beaten. We must not merely defeat the armies and the navies of our enemies. We must defeat, once and for all, their will to make war. In their hearts as well as with their lips, let them be taught to say, âNever again.â
The military conduct of the war is outside this campaign. It is and must remain completely out of politics. Gen. Marshall and Adm. King are doing a superb job. Thank God for both of them. Let me make it crystal clear that a change of administration next January cannot and will not involve any change in the military conduct of the war. If there is not now any civilian interference with the military and naval commands, a change in administration will not alter this status. If there is civilian interference, the new administration will put a stop to it forthwith.
But the war is being fought on the home front as well as abroad, while all of us are deeply proud of the military conduct of the war, can we honestly say that the home front could not bear improvement? The present administration in Washington has been in office for more than eleven years. Today, it is at war with Congress, and at war with itself. Squabbles between Cabinet members, feuds between rival bureaucrats and bitterness between the President and his own party members, in and out of Congress, have become the order of the day. In the vital matters of taxation, price control, rationing, labor relations, manpower, we have become familiar with the spectacle of wrangling, bungling and confusion.
Does anyone suggest that the present national administration is giving either efficient or competent government? We have not heard that claim made, even by its most fanatical supporters. No, all they tell us is that in its young days it did some good things. That we freely grant. But now it has grown old in office. It has become tired and quarrelsome. It seems that the great men who founded this nation really did know what they were talking about when they said that three terms were too many.
When we have won the war, we shall still have to win the peace. We are agreed, all of us, that America will participate with other sovereign nations in a cooperative effort to prevent future wars. Let us face up boldly to the magnitude of that task. We shall not make secure the peace of the world by mere words. We canât do it simply by drawing up a fine-sounding treaty. It cannot be the work of any one man or of a little group of rulers who meet together in private conferences. The structure of peace must be built. It must be the work of many men. We must have as our representatives in this task the ablest men and women America can produce, and the structure they join in building must rest upon the solid rock of a united American public opinion.
I am not one of those who despair of achieving that end. I am utterly confident we can do it. For years, we have had men in Washington who were notoriously weak in certain branches of arithmetic but they specialized in division. Theyâve been playing up minor differences of opinion among our people until the people of other countries might have thought that America was cleft in two.
But all the while there was a larger, growing area of agreement. Recently the overwhelming majesty of that broad area of agreement has become obvious. The Republican Party can take pride in helping to define it and broaden it. There are only a few, a very few, who really believe that America should try to remain aloof from the world. There are only a relatively few who believe it would be practical for America or her allies to renounce all sovereignty and join a superstate. I certainly would not deny these two extremes the right to their opinions; but I stand firmly with the overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens in that great wide area of agreement. That agreement was clearly expressed by the Republican Mackinac Declaration and was adopted in the foreign policy plank of this Convention.
No organization for peace will last if it is slipped through by stealth or trickery or the momentary hypnotism of high-sounding phrases. We shall have to work and pray and be patient and make sacrifices to achieve a really lasting peace. That is not too much to ask in the name of those who have died for the future of our country. This is no task for men who specialize in dividing our people. It is no task to be entrusted to stubborn men, grown old and tired and quarrelsome in office. We learned that in 1919.
The building of the peace is more than a matter of international cooperation. God has endowed America with such blessings as to fit her for a great role in the world. We can only play that role if we are strong and healthy and vigorous as nature has equipped us to be. It would be a tragedy if after this war Americans returned from our armed forces and failed to find the freedom and opportunity for which they fought. This must be a land where every man and woman has a fair chance to work and get ahead. Never again must free Americans face the specter of long-continued, mass unemployment. We Republicans are agreed that full employment shall be a first objective of national policy. And by full employment I mean a real chance for every man and woman to earn a decent living.
What hope does the present administration offer here? In 1940, the year before this country entered the war, there were still 10,000,000 unemployed. After seven years of unequalled power and unparalleled spending, the New Deal had failed utterly to solve that problem. It never solved that problem. It was left to be solved by war. Do we have to have a war to get jobs?
What are we now offered? Only the dreary prospect of a continued war economy after the war, with interference piled on interference and petty tyrannies rivaling the very regimentation against which we are now at war.
The present administration has never solved this fundamental problem of jobs and opportunity. It can never solve this problem. It has never even understood what makes a job. It has never been for full production. It has lived in chattering fear of abundance. It has specialized in curtailment and restriction. It has been consistently hostile to and abusive of American business and American industry, although it is in business and industry that most of us make our living.
In all the record of the past eleven years is there anything that suggests the present administration can bring about high-level employment after this war? Is there any reason to believe that those who have so signally failed in the past can succeed in the future? The problem of jobs will not be easily solved; but it will never be solved at all unless we get a new, progressive administration in Washington â and that means a Republican administration.
For one hundred and fifty years, America was the hope of the world. Here on this great broad continent, we had brought into being something for which men had longed throughout all history. Here, all men were held to be free and equal. Here, government derived its just powers from the consent of the governed. Here men believed passionately in freedom, independence â the God-given right of the individual to be his own master. Yet, with all of this freedom â I insist â because of this freedom â ours was a land of plenty. In a fashion unequalled anywhere else in the world, America grew and strengthened; our standard of living became the envy of the world. In all lands, men and women looked toward America as the pattern of what they, themselves, desired. And because we were what we were, good will flowed toward us from all corners of the earth. An American was welcomed everywhere and looked upon with admiration and regard.
At times, we had our troubles; made our share of mistakes; but we faltered only to go forward with renewed vigor. It remained for the past eleven years, under the present national administration, for continuing unemployment to be accepted with resignation as the inevitable condition of a nation past its prime.
It is the New Deal which tells us that America has lost its capacity to grow. We shall never build a better world by listening to those counsels of defeat. Is America old and worn out as the New Dealers tell us? Look to the beaches of Normandy for the answer. Look to the reaches of the wide Pacific â to the corners of the world where American men are fighting. Look to the marvels of production in the war plants in our own cities and towns. I say to you: our country is just fighting its way through to new horizons. The future of America has no limit.
True, we now pass through dark and troubled times, scarcely a home escapes the touch of dread anxiety and grief; yet in this hour the American spirit rises, faith returns â faith in our God, faith in our fellowman, faith in the land our fathers died to win, faith in the future, limitless and bright, of this, our country.
In the name of that faith, we shall carry our cause in the coming months to the American people.
Völkischer Beobachter (June 29, 1944)
The Free Lance-Star (June 29, 1944)
Dewey to consult leaders in presidential campaign
Party platform approved by nominee; âbiggestâ press conference held
Chicago, Illinois (AP) â
Governor Thomas E. Dewey told what he called the âworldâs biggest press conferenceâ today that he hopes to conferenceâ today that he hopes to confer with all of the nationâs Republican leaders, including Wendell L. Willkie, on presidential campaign plans.
Declining to discuss Cabinet possibilities â if he wins the White House â the smiling GOP nominee gave speedy endorsement to many planks of the partyâs platform, including those on foreign policy, the Presidentâs Fair Employment Practices Committee, foreign trade and others.
One query was how he planned to reach the servicemen with campaign appeals. Dewey replied that had not yet been determined.
Dewey covered a wide range of issues in answer to questions. He said he had read the Republican platform only one â while he was en route here by plane â and that âit represents my views.â
Expresses satisfaction
The nominees expressed satisfaction with the foreign trade plank of the party platform. While stating that some persons thought it might have been better, Dewey said it should be recognized that the platform was drawn by persons with conflicting opinions, and that as a result there had to be some compromising.
Parts of the foreign trade plank may appear, at first blush, to be inconsistent, he said, recalling that the plank promised an âadequate protective tariffâ on competitive products designed to assure American standards.
Dewey said:
The essence of the plank is to be found in the latter part. The party promises that this nation will work with other nations to promote greater trade. This is not inconsistent with the tariff part of the plank.
Foreign policy
Questioned closely about his views on post-war foreign policy, Dewey said he did not believe that the United States should surrender its âsovereign right to make warâ to any international organization.
The nominee defended state regulations of insurance companies at length, and promised a Negro reporter that he would live up to his oath to enforce the 13th and 14th Amendments if he is elected.
More than 500 persons â reporters, delegates and just onlookers â were jammed into the conference room.
When Dewey was asked if he thought the GOP platform ruled out an international police force, he shot back at his questioner, âWhat do you mean by an international police force?â
The reporter said he meant a force to which the various nations would contribute troops. Dewey replied:
If you mean an army with American soldiers, directed by some disembodied spirit, as a world agency, I would say that was ruled out.
To consult Bricker
In discussing the campaign organization, Dewey made it clear that he will consult Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, the vice-presidential candidate, before making final decisions.
Dewey also replied âcertainly I willâ when asked whether he would continue as Governor of New York while campaigning for the Presidency.
The nominee was asked to tell how he would carry out his acceptance speech promise to provide full employment.
âI will elaborate on that later,â he said.
Dewey expressed the opinion that federal aid will have to be given to bolster reemployment in the post-war transition period but said he believed the problem must be met chiefly by private enterprise.
He replied affirmatively to a question whether he believed the party platform presumes establishment of a world court after the war.
Promises able Cabinet
The 42-year-old former racket-buster, in his opening statement to the American electoral jury last night, promised that ânext year our government will again have a Cabinet of the ablest men and women to be found in America.â
The task of achieving a lasting peace, he declared, âis no task to be entrusted to stubborn men, grown old and tired and quarrelsome in office.â
A middle of the road path was advocated by the shaggy-browed 1944 standard-bearer on the touchy foreign policy issue.
He said:
We are agreed, all of us, that America will participate with other sovereign nations in a cooperative effort to prevent future wars.
There are only a few who really believe that America should try to remain aloof from the world. There are only a relative few who believe it would be practical for America or her allies to renounce all sovereignty and join a superstate.
Dewey to confer on GOP chairman
Chicago, Illinois (AP) â
The newly-elected Republican National Committee named a committee of six today to confer with Governor Thomas E. Dewey on his choice for a new national chairman to run his campaign for the Presidency. The full committee will meet again tomorrow morning.
Col. R. B. Creager of Texas was named ex-officio chairman of the six-member group. Other members: J. Russell Sprague of New York, Ezra R. Whitla of Idaho, Werner W. Schroeder of Illinois, Mrs. Horace A. Sayre of Oklahoma, and Mrs. Katharine K. Brown of Ohio.
Although the name of Herbert Brownell Jr., New York lawyer and Deweyâs gubernatorial campaign manager in 1938 and 1942, was the most prominently discussed for the national committee chairmanship, members said a definite decision is still up to Dewey.
Dewey told a news conference he wants to consult further with his running mate, John W. Bricker, before deciding upon a chairman.
âI want to make clear it will be a joint selection,â he said.
Harrison E. Spangler, present chairman who was elected in December 1942, would not say how he expected to figure in the coming campaign; many of his friends were urging his retention.
Mrs. Thomas Dewey is on platform beside husband
Chicago, Illinois (AP) â
Her brown eyes aglow, petite and pretty Mrs. Thomas E. Dewey stood with her husband on the klieg-lighted platform while he received thunderous ovations, last night.
Then, as is her custom, the wife of the New York Governor went to sit quietly to one side and watch and listen to her husband with unflagging attention. Her smile beamed above the white orchids pinned to her sheer black frock. Her only ornament was a double strand of pearls.
This was a far greater show than the Texas-born Frances Eileen Hutt of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, ever dreamed of when, as a chorus girl and music student in New York City, she met and married young Tom Dewey, voice student and struggling lawyer from Owosso, Michigan.
Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. O. T. Hutt, joined their son-in-lawâs mother, Mrs. George M. Dewey, at Chicagoâs bunting-hung stadium to witness Deweyâs acceptance of the presidential nomination.
In his speech, he promised that he would include the âablest men and womenâ in his Cabinet if elected.
This opened the question of which leading women in the GOP might measure up to Deweyâs other specifications â âExperienced in the task to be done and young enough to do it.â
Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT), who addressed the convention Tuesday night, was spoken of, although her political experience is limited to 18 months in Congress.
Another possible Dewey choice might be Mary Donlon, whom he appointed chairman of the state industrial board and who has served this convention as vice chairman of the platform committee.
Völkischer Beobachter (June 30, 1944)
Um Negerstimmen und Judengeld â
Wahlparolen-Allerlei in den USA
Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung
Stockholm, 29. Juni â
Der Gouverneur von Neuyork, Thomas Dewey, wurde am Mittwoch auf dem republikanischen Parteikonvent in Chikago zum republikanischen PrĂ€sidentschaftskandidaten ernannt nachdem der Gouverneur von Ohio, John W. Bricker, seinen Verzicht erklĂ€rt hatte. Dewey vereinte alle Stimmen auf sich bis auf eine, die General MacArthur zufiel. Das Abstimmungsergebnis lautete 1056: 1. Dewey erklĂ€rte vor dem Parteikonvent, ein Wechsel in der PrĂ€sidentschaft im JĂ€nner nĂ€chsten Jahres wĂŒrde keinen Wechsel in der Kriegspolitik der USA mit sich bringen.
Die Aufstellung des demokratischen PrÀsidentschaftskandidaten steht noch aus.
Der Gouverneur des Staates Neuyork, Thomas Dewey, hat seiner Nominierung zum PrĂ€sidentschaftskandidaten zugestimmt, nachdem feststand, daĂ er die meisten republikanischen Stimmen auf sich vereinigen wird. Am Mittwoch begab er sich im Flugzeug nach Chikago, um vor dem groĂen Parteikongress zu sprechen.
Der Kongress selbst wurde im Stadion in Anwesenheit von 15.000 Personen mit dem in den USA ĂŒblichen Rummel â Feuerwerk, allgemeines Singen, Girlparaden usw. â eröffnet. 1.057 Abgeordnete aus den einzelnen Bundesstaaten haben sich versammelt, darunter auch ein waschechter Indianer aus Norddakota im vollen Schmuck seiner Federkrone. Die meisten Abgeordneten tragen eine Plakette am Rockaufschlag, T. W., die sie als AnhĂ€nger Dewey erkennen lassen.
Der Veröffentlichung des Wahlprogramms hatte man mit groĂer Spannung entgegengesehen, vor allem seine auĂenpolitische Formulierung bereite den FĂŒhrern der Republikanischen Partei erhebliche Kopfschmerzen. Wenn auch der Isolationismus alten Stils nur noch ĂŒber wenige AnhĂ€nger verfĂŒgt, so ist doch auch die Zahl der republikanischen, aber auch demokratischen Politiker gering, die Roosevelt auf seinem Wege zu einem verschwommenen Weltimperialismus folgen wollen. Man spĂŒrt instinktiv, daĂ dieser Weg mit einem dritten Weltkrieg enden muĂ. Und wiederum war es Wendell Willkie, der Roosevelt die SteigbĂŒgel hielt. Nach Einsicht in den Entwurf des Wahlprogramms trommelte er die Pressevertreter zusammen und erklĂ€rte, daĂ dieses âkeine wirksame internationale Macht fĂŒr die UnterdrĂŒckung eines Angriffesâ vorsehe. Dieser Angriff Willkies war fĂŒr die republikanische ParteifĂŒhrung insofern unbehaglich, als Willkie noch immer eine Figur ist, mit der man rechnen muĂ. Seiner ErklĂ€rung, daĂ er nur denjenigen Kandidaten unterstĂŒtzen werde, der seine auĂenpolitische Auffassung teile, muĂten die Republikaner, ob sie wollten oder nicht, entsprechen.
Ein weiters Dilemma, mit dem sich die Republikaner, allerdings auch die Demokraten herumschlagen muĂten, war die Negerfrage. Bereits in der vergangenen Woche war ein Negerabgeordneter an den Vorsitzenden des republikanischen Wahlprogrammausschusses, Senator Taft, mit der Forderung herangetreten, daĂ sich die Republikanische Partei fĂŒr das volle Wahlrecht der Neger, das vor allem in den SĂŒdstaaten nicht bestehe, einsetzen solle. In diesem Falle, so wurde Taft zu verstehen gegeben, wĂŒrden die Neger republikanisch stimmen. Aber vor allem auf einen Einbruch in die traditionellen demokratischen SĂŒdstaaten hatte man im republikanischen Lager spekuliert. Unter den Demokraten war seit langem eine âRevolteâ im Gange, die sich gegen die Entscheidung des obersten Richters, des Juden Frankfurter, richtet, wonach es ungesetzlich sei, bei den Vorwahlen zur PrĂ€sidentschaft nur die Stimmen der WeiĂen zu zĂ€hlen. Setzen sich aber die Republikaner fĂŒr das volle Wahlrecht der Neger ein, so laufen sie Gefahr, in den SĂŒdstaaten die erhofften Stimmen nicht zu gewinnen.
Das am Mittwoch von Senator Taft schlieĂlich vorgelegte und einstimmig angenommene Wahlprogramm umgeht daher auch peinlich die beiden strittigen Probleme. Die Negerfrage findet ĂŒberhaupt keine ErwĂ€hnung, wĂ€hrend das auĂenpolitische Thema nur sehr sanft angeschlagen wird. Das Ziel der Partei, so heiĂt es in dem Programm, sei âeine schnelle Erweiterung des Beistandes und der Hilfe fĂŒr die befreiten LĂ€nder.â Die jetzige Regierung wird beschuldigt, diese Hilfe durch BĂŒrokratisierung verschleppt zu haben. Die Republikaner als Partei von âbig businessâ treten dafĂŒr ein, daĂ den âbefreiten LĂ€ndern direkte Kredite eingerĂ€umt werden, damit sie die notwendigen Waren in den USA kaufen können.â Wenn auch in der EntschlieĂung jede Festlegung in der Nachkriegspolitik vermieden wird, so kann man einer ĂuĂerung Tafts doch entnehmen, daĂ die Republikaner den Plan einer internationalen Polizeitruppe ablehnen und ĂŒberhaupt fĂŒr eine groĂe Distanzierung von âinternationaler Seiteâ eintreten.
Da sich die Republikaner in der Negerfrage nicht festlegen wollten noch konnten, haben sie stattdessen bei den Juden UnterstĂŒtzung gesucht. Ihr Wahlprogramm tritt ausdrĂŒcklich fĂŒr die uneingeschrĂ€nkte Einwanderung der Juden nach PalĂ€stina ein und fordert die restlose ErfĂŒllung der Balfour-ErklĂ€rung von 1917 â Zwischen Demokraten und Republikanern dĂŒrfte diesmal ein wenig edler Wettstreit um die Stimmen, vor allem aber um das Geld der Juden einsetzen.