Decision 1944! ROOSEVELT WINS!

[NormanStewart]

ELECTION BULLETINS

Dewey 29, Roosevelt 8, in Massachusetts town

Mount Washington, Massachusetts –
Mount Washington, the first Massachusetts town to report complete returns, today gave: Roosevelt 8, Dewey 29. In 1940, the town gave Roosevelt 10, Willkie 32.

Dewey votes in New York City

New York –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey voted today as “Thomas Edmund Dewey, New York, lawyer.” He voted at a polling place, just three blocks from his legal residence in the Roosevelt Hotel. Approximately 100 persons waiting in line to vote, gave him a round of applause.

Chickasha puts Dewey in lead

Chickasha, Oklahoma –
The first 58 votes counted in a Chickasha precinct today gave: Dewey 35, Roosevelt 28.

‘Tree grower’ Roosevelt casts vote

Hyde Park, New York –
“Tree Grower” Franklin D. Roosevelt voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt for president today for the fourth time. He cast his vote in the old Hyde Park Town Hall where he made his first political speech in 1910. Mr. Roosevelt drove from his home with his family in an open touring car.

Early West Virginia returns

Charleston, West Virginia –
Here are some early, and incomplete, returns from West Virginia: From 10 precincts in Beckley; of 1551 votes already cast, 724 were for Roosevelt; 417 for Dewey. From one precinct in Pt. Pleasant, Roosevelt 28, Dewey 61. From one precinct at Wilsonburg, Harrison County, five for Roosevelt, 20 for Dewey. From two Charleston precincts, 62 for Roosevelt, 108 for Dewey. From a Kanawha County precinct, 25 for Roosevelt, 55 for Dewey. From two Ohio County precincts: 38 for Roosevelt, 258 for Dewey.

Dewey early leader in Kansas City

Kansas City, Kansas –
Early returns from 26 scattered precincts today gave President Roosevelt 901 votes against 1,084 for Dewey. The first 10 precincts reporting here gave the President 269 votes and Dewey 244. These same precincts went three to two for Roosevelt in 1940.

Oklahoma town favoring Roosevelt

Duncan, Oklahoma –
Unofficial, incomplete returns from five Duncan, Oklahoma, precincts today gave: Roosevelt 250, Dewey 91. Complete returns from the same five boxes in 1940 gave: Roosevelt 986, Willkie 444.

Republican lead cut down

New Ashford, Massachusetts –
New Ashford, formerly the first town in the nation to report its returns in presidential elections, today gave: Roosevelt 21, Dewey 22. In 1940, the town gave Roosevelt 13, Willkie 33.

Roosevelt gains one, so does GOP

Hart’s Location, New Hampshire –
This hamlet, first in New Hampshire to report its returns today, gave Roosevelt 6 and Dewey 4. In 1940, it gave Roosevelt 5 and Willkie 3.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Be sure to vote early!

Polls will be open until 8 o’clock tonight.

Because of heavy voting there may be a last-minute rush; therefore, we urge you to vote just as early as possible.

All polls and forecasts indicate that Pennsylvania is a crucial state and that the result here may have a vital hearing on the national election.

Therefore it is unusually essential that all citizens vote.

Don’t forget that the machine vote, the controlled vote, the Communist vote and the intimidated vote is always cast – but many citizens of other groups chronically fail to cast their ballots.

Don’t be among the non-voters. Perform the highest function of citizenship by casting your ballot – and do so as early as possible.

[NormanStewart]

Odds on Roosevelt

St. Louis, Missouri –
The books of James J. Carroll, St. Louis betting commissioner, today read President Roosevelt as the favorite with odds of 1–3 while Governor Thomas Dewey’s odds are 2½–1.

[NormanStewart]

I DARE SAY —
That Yankee tempo!

By Florence Fisher Parry

It won’t be long now. The suspense is awful – much worse, I think, than in 1940. But now that the tumult and the shouting have died down, one thing stands out clear. We are a far more nervous, impatient and quick-tempered people than we’ve ever realized before.

The strain and suspense, the fear and uncertainty which the war has put upon us, is telling in our tempers. Our control is wearing a little thin. Not that we haven’t always been an impatient people. Our tempo has always been quicker than others’. There’s something within us that clicks faster than in any other people. We have fewer processes; we have quicker arrivals. We get there. We cut corners to get there. There’s an urgent pulse in us not to be found in other people.

It’s in our speech. It’s in our very walk. It’s a certain wiry, nervous, irritable drive. It ties up with our very chemistry. We catch on faster than other people. That’s why our speech is so vivid and explicit. That’s why we need slang and use it so much and are always adding to it, and condense in a word, in a phrase, what “Regular” English would require whole long sentences to convey.

Quick on the trigger

And because we’re geared high, and because of our nervous, accelerated tempo, we get there first, whatever the goal. Never has this American attribute stood out so markedly as during this present campaign. I would say that there has not been a campaign speech made by anyone that the listening audience hasn’t been way ahead of the speaker! That’s why our speakers have had such a tough time keeping back the applause until they’ve made their point. That’s because their audiences get the point almost before the poor speaker has had a chance to begin his sentence!

Now there’s been a lot of talk about how the President’s delivery has slowed down lately, how very, very different it is since even four years ago. Frankly, I suspect that it isn’t so much that the President has slowed down so much as if is that we have stepped up so much.

All this being so, it is amazing that it has not been recognized more successfully by the motion picture producers and directors. For in direct ratio to the stepping-up of our national tempo has been the motion picture producers’ tendency to make longer movies and longer drawn-out sequences.

In the last month, I have seen half a dozen movies that have worn me out, in something the same way that one is worn out it one has to walk with someone who has to move very, very slowly.

Now I am going to name some of these pictures: Since You Went Away, Going My Way, Casanova Brown, The Seventh Cross. These come most quickly to mind. It seemed to me as though they would never end!

Some of them were very good pictures indeed, or would have been if they’d been stepped-up in their pace and cut in their contents.

The same thing occurs in our public functions. There have been innumerable luncheons and banquets and meetings im town lately, designed to promote some of the worthiest causes that have ever enlisted our support. Yet in nearly every case the function was simply too long! The other day I sat for four solid hours at a luncheon, first eating and then listening to the speakers.

That’s America

We’re always hearing about the graces, the leisures and the ampler, richer ways of life which have been adopted by our charming neighbors, the South Americans; by our charming Allies, the English; by our new and interesting Allies, the Russians; by our ingratiating Allies, the Chinese. All these others (we crude, unschooled and unaged Americans are told) have discovered the secret of leisurely living, and we are adjured to take example from them.

Now with all due respect to these estimable friends and neighbors, and with due regard for their more – shall we say? – civilized mode of life, I attest: Our quick, hasty, nervous, restless, American tempo suits us best. It’s our very makeup. We burn up energy needlessly. We scorch our highways with speed-burning tires. We run when we could walk. We stand when we could sit. We talk when we could be silent. We get mad when we could be calm.

We’re a fast steppin’, quick thinkin’ dynamo. We’re America! We want to get a move on!

[NormanStewart]

Gubernatorial races test major parties

Voters in 31 states to name executives

New York (UP) –
Voters in 31 states today were deciding major political party strength in state governments which have been edging toward Republicanism in recent elections.

Last ditch battles, which may determine the GOP’s state prowess for the next two years, were underway in Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Dakota, Idaho, Colorado and Utah.

Less doubtful, but by no means assured early today, were the results of elections in Indiana, Washington and Tennessee.

Republicans, with holdover governors in New York, New Jersey, Maine (elected in September), Pennsylvania, Kentucky, California and Oregon, were virtually certain of victories in Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

If, as Republicans were predicting, Washington stayed in the GOP camp, their total would be at least 21.

Sure of nine states

The Democratic Party was sure of nine states – Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas and West Virginia – to add to its holdover strength in 10 states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina, Virginia, Wyoming and Oklahoma.

They expected, also, to capture Indiana and Tennessee for a total of 21, thereby putting the emphasis for a balance of power in the six other contests.

Two doubtful in East

Massachusetts and Connecticut were the only doubtful states in the east, while other heated battles were limited primarily to the western regions.

In the Bay State, where Boston’s Democratic mayor, Maurice J. Tobin, was neck-and-neck with Lieutenant Governor Horace T. Cahill, observers weighed Mr. Cahill’s chances in the light of the strength he derives as a party mate of the popular governor, Leverett Saltonstall, who is assured of a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Governor Raymond E. Baldwin, one of 12 Republicans seeking re-election, was vigorously fighting in Connecticut against former Democratic Governor Robert A. Hurley, who was swept into office on President Roosevelt’s coattails in 1940 and was beaten by Mr. Baldwin in 1942.

Experts favor Jackson

In Indiana, Democratic Senator Samuel D. Jackson was matched against a strong Republican candidate, Ralph Gates. The present governor, Henry F. Schricker, was a sensational contender. Both candidates had strong support in industrial districts. Political observers conceded the likelihood of a Democratic state victory even if Indiana went for Dewey.

Although not in the close category, the Ohio gubernatorial election attracted attention. It pitted Cleveland’s Democratic mayor, Frank J. Lausche – who was expected to win – against another municipal chief, Republican James G. Stewart of Cincinnati. Mr. Lausche, who bucked the Democratic State organization in his mayoral fight and who was opposed by the American Federation of Labor, was a 9–5 favorite in betting circles.

Gubernatorial contests in Colorado and Idaho, both Republican, and in North Dakota and Utah, both Democratic, were expected to be decided by the vote for the presidential candidates.

Tight contest assured

The Washington battle, which appeared to lean to the incumbent, Republican Arthur B. Langlie, was marked by the stiff opposition of Democratic Senator Mon C. Wallgren.

In addition to Governor Baldwin and Governor Langlie, 10 Republicans were seeking reelection: John C. Vivian of Colorado, Walter W. Bacon of Delaware, Dwight H. Green of Illinois, Andrew F. Schoeppel of Kansas, Harry F. Kelly of Michigan, Edward J Thye of Minnesota, Sam C. Ford of Montana, Dwight Griswold of Nebraska, M. Q. Sharpe of South Dakota and Walter S. Goodland of Wisconsin.

Democratic repeaters – all deemed safe – were Sidney P. Osborn of Arizona, J. J. Dempsey of New Mexico, J. Howard McGrath of Rhode Island, Coke R. Stevenson of Texas and Herbert B. Maw of Utah.

Fourteen states had third-party candidates, none of whom were considered serious contenders. Michigan had Prohibitionist, Socialist, Socialist-Labor and America First candidates.

[NormanStewart]

New ‘league’ at stake in Senator vote

36 to be elected; could block treaty

New York (UP) –
Thirty-six U.S. Senators – three more than the 33 whose adverse votes could block a treaty – will be selected by the voters today.

Voters in 34 states will cast their ballots in perhaps the most crucial senatorial elections since 1918, when victories at the polls for isolationists foredoomed U.S. participation in Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations.

At stake this time is a new “league” – the Dumbarton Oaks agreement for a world organization.

Will decide faith

The men elected tomorrow, plus the incumbent Senate members who are not running this time, will decide is fate sometime next year.

Expected to win without difficulty are the following candidates:

Senators Lister Hill (D-AL), Carl Hayden (D-AZ), Claude Pepper (D-FL), Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), Walter F, George (D-GA) (no opposition), John H. Overton (D-LA) (no opposition), Pat McCarran (D-NV), Eugene D. Milliken (R-CO), Clyde M. Reed (R-KS), Charles W. Tobey (R-NH), Chan Gurney (R-SD), George D. Aiken (R-VT), and Alexander Wiley (R-WI).

Rep. J. Wilham Fulbright (D-AR) was nominated for Senator by an overwhelming majority in the primaries, and is conceded election, as is popular Republican Governor Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts. Democratic Gov. Olin D. Johnston won the South Carolina senatorial nomination in the primaries.

Favored in close fights

Facing stiff opposition, but given a better-than-even chance for victory by most observers, are: Senators Robert A. Taft (R-OH), Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), Guy Cordon (R-OR), and James J. Davis (R-PA).

Wayne L. Morse, former member of the National War Labor Board and liberal Republican candidate for Senator from Oregon, is generally conceded to be leading his Democratic opponent, Edgar W. Smith, in the home stretch.

The hottest senatorial fight of the lot is in North Dakota, where isolationist Republican Senator Gerald P. Nye is engaged in a three-way scramble for votes with Democratic Governor John Moses and Independent Lynn U. Stambaugh.

May go either war

Hotly contested races, which may tip one way or the other according to the presidential results in the respective states, include:

Connecticut, where Republican Senator John A. Danaher is opposed by Democrat Brien McMahon; California, where Democrat Sheridan Downey is running against Lieutenant Governor Frederick H. Houser; Illinois, where Democratic Senator Scott W. Lucas faces Republican Richard J. Lyons; New York, where Democratic Senator Robert F. Wagner is opposed by Republican Thomas J. Curran; Utah where Democratic Senator Elbert D. Thomas faces Republican Adam S. Bennion; and Oklahoma, where Democratic Senator Elmer Thomas is opposed by Republican William J. Otjen.

Seesaw races

Also in the seesaw category are Idaho, where Republican Governor C. A. Bottolfsen is contesting with Democratic Glen H. Taylor for the seat left vacant by the primary defeat of Democratic Senator D. Worth Clark, and Washington, where Democratic Rep. Warren G. Magnuson is running against Republican Lt. Col. Harry P. Cain for the seat left vacant by the resignation of Democratic Senator Homer T. Bone to be a judge of the Ninth Circuit Court.

In Indiana, where Democratic Governor Henry F. Schricker is running against Republican Homer E. Capehart, the outcome is also believed to hinge on the presidential results in the state. Also in Indiana, Democratic Cornelius O’Brien and Republican William E. Jenner are contending for the short term which runs from Nov. 7 to Jan. 3 of next year.

Missouri and New Jersey complete the list of states where the senatorial outcome may depend on whether Governor Dewey or Mr. Roosevelt wins the presidential electoral vote. In Missouri, Democrat Roy McKittrick faces Republican Governor Forrest C. Donnell, while in New Jersey Democratic Rep. Elmer H. Wene is opposed by Republican H. Alexander Smith.

In Iowa, Democratic Senator Guy M. Gillette is running against Republican Governor Bourke B. Hickenlooper. Senator Gillette’s chances for reelection in heavily-Republican Iowa are considered slight.

[NormanStewart]

GOP hopes to control House

New York (UP) –
Today’s election determines which major party will organize the House of Representatives and assume responsibility for vital tax and appropriations legislation in the next two fateful years.

Whether the war is cleaned up on both sides of the world in that time or whether the next election will find the Pacific War still to be won, the new House is certain to face great and difficult decisions in those fields of legislation which it only can initiate – taxation and appropriations.

Republicans claim that when the votes are counted, they will have won a majority of House seats. They have contended all along that this year they had their best chance since the Hoover administration of capturing House control. Democrats dispute this claim.

Neither has majority

Neither big party now has a majority in the House. To achieve a bare majority, one of them must win at least 218 of the 435 seats. The present lineup is 214 Democrats, 212 Republicans and four minority party members, with five vacancies.

The pre-polling indications were that many of the Congressional races would be close. Only 60 candidates are unopposed. House battles receiving a sizeable share of national interest included:

• Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-NY) vs. Augustus W. Bennet (nominee of the Democratic, American Labor, Good Government and Liberal parties). The issue: Fish’s pre-Pearl Harbor isolationism.

• Rep. Stephen A. Day (R-IL) vs. Democrat Emily Taft Douglas. Mr. Day was supported by the Chicago Tribune and the issue was the same as in Fish’s case.

• Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT) vs. Democrat Margaret E. Connors, and Socialist Stanley W. Mayhew. Miss Connors has campaigned on a promise to cooperate with President Roosevelt’s programs if they both win.

• House Republican leader Joseph W. Martin Jr. (R-MA) vs. Democrat Edmond P. Talbot. The Democrats have been claiming that the veteran Mr. Martin “has a race on his hands.”

• Rep. Andrew J. May (D-KY) vs. Republican Elmer E. Tabbard. Republicans think Mr. Tabbard may win.

• Rep. Usher L. Burdick (R-ND) vs. Republican Charles R. Robertson and Democrat J. L. Kennedy. Mr. Burdick sought the Republican nomination for Senator against Senator Gerald P. Nye and lost. He is seeking reelection to the House as an Independent Republican.

• Hal Styles (D-CA) vs. Republican Gordon L. McDonough. Mr. Styles defeated Rep. John Costello for the Democratic nomination. In the campaign, the charge of membership in the Ku Klux Klan was raised against Styles, and Republicans assert Mr. McDonough is in.

Martin’s ambition

If the Republicans recapture the House control which they lost after the 1930 election, and if Mr. Martin survives the race with Mr. Talbot, he will become Speaker to succeed Sam Rayburn of Texas.

In all his years as Republican leader, Mr. Martin has had but one ambition – to become Speaker. After the 1940 presidential campaign, Mr. Martin quickly scotched reports that he might be available as a presidential candidate in 1944. He told newspapermen then that he’d rather be Speaker than President.

If the present ranking Republican members are reelected and the party wins a House majority, new chairmen of the more important committees would be:

WAYS AND MEANS: Harold Knutson of Minnesota, succeeding Robert L. Doughton (D-NC).
APPROPRIATIONS: John Taber of New York, succeeding Clarence Cannon (D-MO).
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Charles A. Eaton of New Jersey, succeeding Sol Bloom (D-NY).
MILITARY AFFAIRS: Walter G. Andrews of New York, succeeding Andrew J. May (D-KY).
NAVAL AFFAIRS: Melvin J. Maas of Minnesota, succeeding Carl Vinson (D-GA).
RULES: Hamilton Fish Jr. of New York, succeeding Adolph J. Sabath (D-IL).
BANKING AND CURRENCY: Jesse P. Wolcott of Michigan, succeeding Brent Spence (D-KY).

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt’s Boston speech irks Ely

Boston, Massachusetts (UP) –
Democratic former Governor Joseph B. Ely of Massachusetts, an anti-fourth-term candidate for the party’s presidential nomination this year, charged today that President Roosevelt has attempted “to wrap around himself the mantle of a Great American, Alfred E. Smith.”

Mr. Ely, who nominated the “Happy Warrior” for President at the 1932 Democratic national convention. declared that Mr. Roosevelt injected Mr. Smith’s name in his final major campaign speech Saturday night “for the obvious purpose of luring to his support men and women who loved Al Smith.”

The President blocked Al Smith’s nomination in 1932, Mr. Ely charged, and consistently ignored his advice on matters of policy.

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Election facts at a glance

New York (UP) –
Voters today are electing: President, Vice President, 36 U.S. Senators, 432 members of the House of Representatives, 31 Governors and thousands of state and local officials.

Candidates for President and Vice President are:
DEMOCRATIC: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.
REPUBLICAN: Thomas E. Dewey and John W. Bricker.
SOCIALIST: Norman Thomas and Darlington Hoopes.
SOCIALIST-LABOR: Edward A. Teichert and Arla A. Albaugh.
PROHIBITION: Claude A. Watson and Andrew Johnson.
AMERICA FIRST: Gerald L. K. Smith and Harry Romer.

[NormanStewart]

Indiana squabbles over vote order

Indianapolis, Indiana (UP) –
The Indiana election board today instructed its 92 county boards to allow unlisted voters to cast ballots merely by showing their registration receipts and signing affidavits.

Attorney General James A. Emmert, Republican candidate for reelection, promptly charged the Democrats were attempting to “steal” the election and advised the county boards to disregard the state board orders.

He charged that the instructions are “a clear violation of law” and “open the door for the grossest kind of election frauds.”

Governor Henry F. Schricker, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, and David M. Lewis Jr., Democratic member of the election board, said the affidavit system is authorized by a provision in the state board’s manual interpreting state election laws.

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Intercession asked for voting time

Seattle, Washington (UP) –
Senator Mon C. Wallgren, Democratic candidate for Governor, today wired President Roosevelt asking immediate presidential intercession against the alleged refusal of the management of the “hush-hush” federal project at Hanford, Washington, to grant workers time off to vote.

Senator Wallgren’s wire stated:

I ask your immediate intercession to see that regulations promulgated by other federal departments be made applicable to the Hanford engineering project.

Security regulations in the past have prevented mention of the number of employees working at the huge project, or the nature of the work involved.

[NormanStewart]

Coast candidate files libel suit

Hollywood, California (UP) –
Radio producer Harold “Hal” Styles, Democratic Congressional candidate in California’s 15th district, today filed a million-dollar libel suit against the Los Angeles Examiner, charging the newspaper “maliciously” linked him with the Ku Klux Klan.

The suit, filed in Superior Court, was based upon an article and a cartoon appearing in the Oct. 26 edition.

Mr. Styles said he had demanded and been refused a retraction.

[NormanStewart]

Fighting men overseas will get results

Broadcasts begin at 7 o’clock tonight

Washington (UP) –
Election returns will be radioed to U.S. fighting forces on every continent and in the remotest islands of the South Pacific today.

News will be flashed over Signal Corps and commercial wireless by a special point-to-point voice-casting arrangement.

Six shortwave transmitters on the East Coast will send five-minute bulletins across the Atlantic beginning at 7:00 p.m. EWT and seven other shortwave outlets will provide identical coverage starting at 8:00 p.m. EWT.

Far into the night

Also at 8:00 p.m. EWT, six powerful transmitters on the West Coast will begin flashing returns to the small Pacific Islands, Alaska, China, Hawaii, the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia.

Two stations made available to the Army by OWI will broadcast bulletins and summaries on the returns from the Army News Service in New York from 9:45 p.m. EWT through 2:30 a.m. EWT to Great Britain, Italy, the Mediterranean and North Africa.

The Army Communications Service hopes to reach even Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s troops on Leyte with a point-to-point voice casting by Army announcers direct from New York.

State returns tomorrow

Additional election coverage by Signal Corps and commercial wireless, through extra editions of The Stars and Stripes and widely-scattered unit newspapers and rebroadcasts of shortwave will give soldiers on isolated fronts full returns.

Tomorrow, a detailed analysis of the state voting will be sent by airmail to all overseas newspapers and radio stations.

[NormanStewart]

President will vote in Hyde Park hall

Hyde Park, New York (UP) –
President Roosevelt today did all he possibly could toward defeating his Republican opponent, Governor Dewey, by going to the polls and voting – for Roosevelt.

Following a custom of the years, the President and his wife were scheduled to appear at the white-walled town hall of Hyde Park this afternoon and cast their ballots.

To get returns in home

Tonight, the President will settle down in the library of his home and watch election returns fed into his house through press association wires and in other dispatches from party leaders throughout the nation. And if around midnight there is a clear trend of his victory, the loyal Democrats of predominantly Republican Dutchess County will organize a torchlight parade and weave through the President’s estate to give him their personal congratulations.

Last night, the President returned to his house after an afternoon tour of the Hudson Valley to broadcast an appeal for a vote of 50 million to prove the democratic process in this country and resultantly assure a lasting peace.

Introduced by Georgia girl

He was introduced on the air by Bettie McCall, Decatur, Georgia, who was chosen as the typical 18-year-old Georgia college girl who, under her state laws, is eligible to vote. She was presented on a Democratic committee program by Julius O. Regnier, 94, who will vote in his 19th presidential election and who shook hands with Abraham Lincoln at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1898.

In the afternoon, the President made a four-and-a-half-hour drive around the Hudson Valley, giving a “howdy do” to his neighbors and a sharp political needle to Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-NY), who is one of the President’s more outspoken and active political foes.

The President made no political predictions except to say that he “hoped” he would not be beaten “too badly” in traditionally-Republican Dutchess County.

He recalled that when he campaigned down the Hudson Valley four years ago, he was reputed to have said that obviously was his last trip as a candidate for public office. “This time,” he added, “I’m not doing any prophesying.”

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Governor to ballot in New York City

Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Dewey submitted his candidacy for the Presidency to the nation’s voters today with an appeal for a Republican victory “to shorten the war” and lay the groundwork for post-war peace and prosperity.

That was the theme of his final message closing the first wartime political campaign in America since 1864.

The GOP candidate asked that every qualified voter in the nation participate in today’s election. He proposed to suit his own words to action by traveling from Albany to New York City, where he has been a registered Republican for 21 years.

To vote after noon

His schedule provided that, accompanied by his wife and a host of reporters, he leave Albany by special tram and arrive in New York City at 12:10 p.m. ET, there proceeding directly to his polling Place at 108 East 48th Street to cast his vote before retiring to his suite at the Roosevelt Hotel to await the election returns.

The Governor made his last speech of the campaign last night in a 15-minute radio talk over all networks.

Describing today’s election as one which “may be the most fateful in our history,” and “a test for each of us of our devotion to the American system of government,” he declared:

The great test is whether, knowing we need a new administration, we will make the change necessary to speed victory and to build the peace to come.”

Three questions for voters

He predicted that the years from 1945 to 1949 will be important, difficult years, requiring “vigorous, hardworking, harmonious leadership, with abiding faith in America.”

He asserted that “everyone will agree that we need improvement and need it badly.”

In conclusion, he posed for voters in today’s election three questions:

How can I help shorten the war? How can I help secure lasting peace? How can I help give jobs and opportunity in the years that lie beyond our victory?

He said:

If you will soberly ask yourself these questions and will think the answers through in the light of your own knowledge, I have no doubt of the outcome.

[NormanStewart]

West Virginians vote on governor

By the United Press

West Virginia’s two gubernatorial candidates took to the airways last night in a last-minute appeal for the support of the state’s 1,046,514 registered voters and to land a final punch in one of the most strenuous general election campaigns in state history.

Both candidates, confident of victory, spoke from their home cities in an effort to bring out the vote today.

Mayor D. Boone Dawson, GOP nominee, spoke from Charleston, delivering a “thank you” message to the voting public.

Circuit Judge Clarence W. Meadows, Democratic nominee, spoke from Beckley and urged a heavy vote.

In addition to electing a governor, West Virginians will select members of the Board of Public Works, a judge of the State Supreme Court of Appeals, 16 Senators, 94 members of the House of Delegates, 25 judges and six Congressmen.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: United we stand

Today we vote as partisans, but we do not cease to be Americans, We shall prove that, when the verdict of the polls is in, by laying politics aside and joining hands to support the chosen President.

People in other countries are said to be amazed that we in the United States have dared, at a crucial moment in history’s greatest war, to argue our differences of opinion publicly and hotly and even bitterly in an election campaign “as usual.” They think it displayed a lack of unity which we might wisely have concealed.

Such people do not know the secret of our strength. They fail to understand that we preserve our unity because we do argue publicly about our differences and because, at stated intervals, we settle our arguments by casting our ballots and accepting the results. If we had feared to hold an election at this time, that would indeed have been a sign of division, deep and dangerous.

In this campaign, as in many, many others, things have been said on both sides that might better have been left unsaid. But a reading of history would show that more bitter campaigns than this one have come and gone and left no lasting scars. And none has revealed a more fundamental agreement on main objectives – to win the war quickly, to make America’s influence count decisively for enduring peace, to achieve sound prosperity and abundant employment within the framework of the private-enterprise system.

Those were the things pledged by both presidential candidates, for the compelling reason that those are the things most desired by a vast majority of the American people, Democrats and Republicans and independents alike. Our arguments have been about methods and men, not about goals.

The next President, whether his name be Dewey or Roosevelt, will need the support of a united nation. He will have it. The nation will need the leadership of a President whose aim is to preserve unity. May it have that!

As we await the returns tonight, let us resolve not to gloat in victory, not to sulk in defeat, not to cherish partisanship and forget sportsmanship. We have mighty tasks ahead of us. We must tackle them together.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: You can always turn it off

Not so many years ago, a citizen could take his politics or leave it alone. He didn’t have to listen to campaign speeches unless he wanted to.

Then, the radio revised campaign methods in 1928 and now you can’t escape hearing the candidates.

But there’s more to come – in the post-war world. Senator Wagner, last Sunday night, was the first candidate for major office to be televised right into the homes of voters. Wonder what the campaign of 1948 will be like?

[NormanStewart]

Ferguson: Political campaign

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

As this is written the election is in doubt. Although many people are saying so, this campaign has been no meaner than many others we’ve staged. Between campaigns, we forget old rancors.

The reason we can forget the wounds of political campaigns is because we are essential a fair-minded people. Even when contests are hottest, neighbors and friends on opposing sides can laugh together over their differences.

Editorial and platform accusations sometimes sound vicious, but that’s a part of the game too, and those who are engaged in the fight know it. In Washington, Democrats and Republicans fraternize in private even while the public is led to believe them mortal enemies. Those skilled in political techniques use every device to win, but a good deal of their alarmist talk is pure bosh and nobody knows it better than they do.

Whatever the election outcome, the country faces a crucial period. It will take the best efforts of all good Americans to pull us through. We could therefore utilize the day to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves seriously why mankind has not been able to outlaw war.

We know the answer, too. Peace is not built on hates. It does not spring from greed. It is the result of human behavior. And a good many humans must change their behavior in order to achieve it. Maybe that means you and me, as well as our leaders.

[NormanStewart]

Bricker casts vote

Columbus, Ohio –
Governor John W. Bricker, Republican vice-presidential nominee, today voted the Republican ticket “all the way down the line.”

[NormanStewart]

Texan for Dewey

Houston, Texas –
John H. Crooker, Texas elector, declared here today that he will cast his electoral vote for Governor Thomas E. Dewey and Governor John W. Bricker “if that’s the best way to defeat the Roosevelt-Truman ticket,” and indicated other electors of the anti-Roosevelt party will do likewise.

[NormanStewart]

Stokes: Turn of affairs

By Thomas L. Stokes

Washington –
One very significant fact emerged from the 1944 presidential campaign as to the future function and objective of our government.

This is that laissez-faire, though long dead, was finally buried formally for all time, both as affects our place as a nation among other nations, and as affects the role of our government in the life of its people.

Both parties, through their platforms and candidates, agreed that no longer can there be any hit-or-miss, any happy-go-lucky attitude, any return to the principles of what are fondly called “The Good Old Days,” in the conduct of our affairs with other nations, or our own affairs within our country.

There will, of course, be dissenting voices in Congress, and perhaps bitter fights in Congress over the method of our cooperation with other nations and the method of adjusting our national economy. But it will be a battle over a plan, and not a battle as to whether there should be a plan.

The principle of national planning, of supervision from Washington of the delicate mechanism of our national economy, has been established and accepted finally, just as has the necessity of planning our relations with other nations of the world.

Significant turn

This is a simple fact, long recognized in many quarters, though hotly disputed in some others during this campaign. It is worth noting, for it represents a significant turn in national affairs that perhaps will assume more importance in the history books than it does now when seen as closely.

President Roosevelt and Governor Dewey stood together on the creation of a post-war world organization. Primarily such an organization is to keep the peace. But in that objective, it must plan in other directions – to do away with trade barriers, to open up access for all nations to raw materials, to check international monopolies, to protect minority groups, and the like, It is from these sources of irritation that wars spring.

The United States has taken the lead in the past in all these areas and is prepared, from its experience, to furnish leadership now.

Earlier in his campaign, before the fur began to fly, Governor Dewey expressed a philosophy of broad national government participation im meeting economic and social problems. Even before that, in his St. Louis conference with Republican governors, Governor Dewey supervised the drafting of a program which called for broad use of federal powers, in cooperation with the states, to promote the social and economic welfare of the people.

OK’d New Deal reforms

In his campaign along the Pacific Coast, he accepted the various domestic reforms of the New Deal, speaking as the leader of his party. At the same time, he espoused government intervention to keep the economic structure in balance, to provide jobs when private industry could not, to support prices of farm crops against collapse, and so on. He pronounced the end of the “Dog-Eat-Dog” philosophy.

At Los Angeles, he went a step further and advocated extension of social security to cover 20 million persons not now included, and additional assistance to veterans in getting jobs and being rehabilitated.

Simultaneously with advocacy of a broad participation of the national government in the lives of the people, Republicans made quite an attack on “bureaucracy” which raised an inconsistency often pointed out. The reforms of the New Deal require lots of personnel to administer, though not near as much perhaps as the government now employs.

Extension of Social Security undoubtedly would add some more.

What this all adds up to is that if people are to be given this sort of government, as both parties are agreed, then it will require continually large personnel to administer it. There is no way around it, even though politicians in the heat of a campaign don’t say so while making their promises.

But there is a “bureaucracy” issue in the top-heavy, inefficient structure, with its duplication of agencies and its waste, and Republicans performed a service in pointing this out. President Roosevelt recognized this vulnerability early in the campaign when he issued orders for a survey to prepare for liquidation of war agency personnel.

But more than a survey will be needed to cut the government structure down to size.

[NormanStewart]

Gracie Allen Reporting

By Gracie Allen

Hollywood, California –
Well, so far as I’m concerned, the election is already a success. The official at the polls this morning asked me if I was old enough to vote.

I was so eager to cast my ballot that I told a little white lie and said I was.

George is terribly nervous waiting for the election returns to come in. And when he’s nervous he likes to smoke one cigarette right after another. Today he’s already gone through three cartons… But he didn’t find any cigarettes.

According to early reports, the Solid South is going the same way it has for the last 70 years… it still prefers Boubon.