The Pittsburgh Press (October 24, 1944)
Union says drinking officers provoked ‘Statler battle’
Teamsters official journal prints affidavits to support its version of story
Indianapolis, Indiana (UP) –
The International Teamster, official organ of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (AFL), charged today that two naval officers had been drunk and had provoked a fight with union members in the “Hotel Statler incident” which followed President Roosevelt’s address to the union Sept. 23.
Lt. Randolph Dickins Jr. charged that he and a companion identified as LtCdr. James H. Suddeth of Greer, South Carolina, had been beaten by Teamsters Union members at the Hotel Statler, Washington, following President Roosevelt’s Sept. 23 speech, because they refused to tell who they favored for President.
The magazine’s November issue, edited by International Teamster President Daniel J. Tobin, claimed that “those two young naval officers who have been raised up to high heaven by the newspapers as having been decorated for bravery, were according to all evidence, imbibing freely all evening and were hanging around the mezzanine floor at the entrance to the banquet hall, accosting everyone who came out and challenging them, using vile language and calling them names for supporting Roosevelt.”
Affidavits quoted
Among the affidavits printed by the magazine in support of its story was one from Peter J. Hoban, delegate from a Chicago local, which claimed that “they used grossly insulting language of a nature which is unprintable and addressed same to the President of the United States and to the Teamsters Union.”
An affidavit by Charles A. Burns of Boston related that he heard two naval officers “using profane language and cursing the President of the United States,” and that he saw “a lieutenant commander punching and kicking a man who was holding him and trying to quiet him down.”
Woman tells of affair
“To hell with the President – the President – he is no good,” was a statement attributed to the officers by John F. English, a Teamster delegate, and Mrs. Helen Rowland, declared that an officer “grabbed my arm, swung me around to face him.”
Her statement:
He asked me, “Who are you for?” I replied, “I’m for Roosevelt, the same as you.” He replied, “I’m not, he is no damn good.”
The magazine commented:
Only one of those young men had been overseas and the man who was overseas never was decorated for anything.