The Pittsburgh Press (November 5, 1944)
Willkie backers urge Dewey vote
Portland, Oregon (UP) – (Nov. 4)
Wendell Willkie’s 14-member executive committee tonight urged friends and supporters of the late Republican leader to vote for Governor Thomas E. Dewey for the Presidency.
The committee conducted Mr. Willkie’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year but became inactive when Mr. Willkie withdrew from the race.
The group declared it had joined with Mr. Willkie two years ago to “check the continuing power too long held in our national Capitol” and was vitally interested “in his business-like approach to the solution of our woefully handled domestic economy, his broad concepts of international problems, and the establishment of a world peace organization.”
The statement said:
Our sole interest was the promotion of a presidential nominee with a sound and progressive domestic and international program…
We have not attempted, we cannot and will not, attempt to speak for our late and beloved friend, Wendell Willkie… [but] we believe that Governor Dewey through his potential leadership in national and international affairs will fulfill those aims.
Ralph Cake of Portland, Republican National Committeeman from Oregon and Mr. Willkie’s pre-convention campaign manager, issued the statement, which he said included the views of the following committeemen: Sinclair Weeks of Boston; Frederick E. Baker of Seattle; John Hanes of New York; Robert Burroughs of New Hampshire; Mrs. Grace Reynolds of Indianapolis; J. Kenneth Bradley of Connecticut; Frank O. Horton of Laramie, Wyoming; Harvey Jewett of Aberdeen, South Dakota; Wilson Williams of Atlanta, Georgia; Mrs. Pearle Wates of Birmingham, Alabama; Mrs. Paul Henry of Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Gladys E. Knowles and Mrs. Margaret Marr.