The Pittsburgh Press (October 13, 1944)
Truman begins first leg of swing around country
Aboard Truman’s campaign train (UP) –
Senator Harry S. Truman, Democratic vice-presidential nominee, rolled west across Texas today on the first leg of the avowedly political part of his swing around the country.
He will arrive Sunday morning at Los Angeles where he will discuss reconversion Monday night in the first campaign address of his current tour. He scheduled platform appearances at Houston, San Antonio and El Paso.
He entrained last night at New Orleans where he had spent three days and attended the annual conference of the Mississippi Valley Association. In two addresses yesterday he said floor control should be given first priority among post-war public works projects and urged using the experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a guide for developing other river valleys particularly the Missouri.
Mr. Truman traveled in a special car attached to a regular train on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was accompanied by Matthew Connelly (his secretary), Hugh Fulton (former counsel of the Senate Truman Committee) and Edward McKim of Omaha, Nebraska (insurance man and old personal friend who served under Mr. Truman during World War I). Mr. Fulton will be the nominee’s principal adviser in the preparation of his speeches.