THE WEEK IN REVIEW
THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE 1944 Presidential campaign shot into the home stretch this week with every poll of public opinion indicating a commanding triumph for President Roosevelt in the Electoral...
...One was undecided...
...It was that Congress which then passed the National Selective Service Act, sponsored by a Republican Congressman and an anti-New Deal Democrat...
...GOP Farm Promises Speaking to a cheering crowd in Chicago, Dewey accused the Roosevelt Administration of "lacking even rudimentary honesty" and pleaded that his election is necessary to "restore honesty and integrity to the White House so that its spoken word can be trusted...
...The final few days, he said, would not produce any substantial change in what he called a strong Republican trend in pivotal states...
...It is our solemn duty to equal their contribution by going forward with a productive, growing, and secure America...
...And in doing so, we must again restore the freedom of the individual farmer from dictation and control by his own government...
...As evidence of what he called a "swelling Republican tide," Brownell said that straws had shown a decrease in support for the President since Oct...
...These surveys are a confirmation and extension of the comment of many political observers, who have remarked that the people are about through with Roosevelt but hesitate to take Dewey instead...
...Calling for "real jobs for real money, real prices in a real market," Dewey declared that farm prosperity can be maintained "if we have three square meals a day for all our people," instead of the New Deal's economy of scarcity and "a chattering fear of production...
...It was that American Congress which refused at that historic time to come home...
...The remaining 21 states with 286 votes, are listed as "pivotal states where the lead for one candidate or the other is less than 54 per cent" and hence carried as doubtful...
...Fortune Poll The Fortune Magazine survey, conducted by Elmo Roper, gave President Roosevelt a popular majority of 53.5 per cent among civilian voters, but reported that the margin is unstable and there are several possibilities of an upset...
...Agreement On Foreign Policy Gov...
...George Gallup, director of the American Institute of Public Opinion, concluded from an analysis of the returns of his latest poll that President Roosevelt and Governor Dewey have "almost equal support" as far as popular votes go...
...Increased evidence of Dewey strength found during the last couple of weeks," Dr...
...Hannegan bitterly denied a charge by Gov...
...Calling attention to the same Gallup Poll discussed above, Brownell pointed out that Dewey is credited with a margin over President Roosevelt in 13 of the 21 pivotal states and with percentages even in five of the others...
...Despite political instability," the magazine said, "the public odds on Roosevelt are larger in 1944 than they were in 1940...
...15 "even in the solid South...
...Eighteen states, with a total of 179 votes, are counted "definitely for Roosevelt...
...It was an election year—so in that hour of national peril he said that" a continued session of Congress would serve no useful end except, sarcastically, the laudable purpose of making speeches...
...Newsweek Poll Fifty Washington political correspondents polled by Newsweek Magazine in mid-October reported a "Dewey trend," but a majority voted that President Roosevelt still held the lead...
...The farmers of our country have broken new frontiers in their productive power...
...Two months ago 33 had picked Roosevelt compared to 17 for Dewey...
...Here is a capsule summary of the latest polls and predictions: * * * Gallup Poll Roosevelt has 51 per cent of the popular vote and Dewey has 49 per cent...
...Roosevelt claimed for his Administration the credit for the nation's "incredible achievement" in the war effort...
...Hannegan reflected the optimism which the Roosevelt Administration expressed—publicly at any rate—after President Roosevelt spoke to great crowds in Philadelphia and New York...
...Robert E. Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was just as convinced that President Roosevelt would sweep to a great triumph over Dewey...
...It was that Congress that stayed after it had been told to go home, which ran the appropriations and authorizations for national defense up to 12 billion dollars...
...It stayed in Washington and worked...
...He charged that the New Deal had bought votes with "money that belonged to the needy" and had striven by dishonest means to "perpetuate itself in power...
...Dewey that the Roosevelt Administration "boldly offers for sale 'special privilege.' " The Republican candidate had asserted that Democrats had formed the "One Thousand Club" and offered membership and a voice in the councils of the Roosevelt Administration for all those kicking in with a $1,000 campaign contribution...
...A composite of all the recognized polls and predictions of Washington correspondents gave President Roosevelt 190 electoral votes, with 90 more leaning toward him...
...Dewey 59 certain and 130 leaning toward him, with 62 votes undecided...
...A majority of 266 votes is required...
...The Republican candidate cited GOP platform pledges in behalf of support prices for farm products, commodity loans, surplus controls, and a self-supporting crop insurance program as the basis of a sound program for postwar agriculture...
...These states are South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Rhode Island, Montana, Nevada, California, and Washington...
...The President's lead represents a slight gain over the Oct...
...Both Bosses See Victory The results of these polls did not deter Herbert Brownell, Jr., chairman of the Republican National Committee, from predicting the election of Dewey and "an anti-New Deal Congress...
...In a fighting speech in Philadelphia, Mr...
...Expressing faith in the ability of the nation to meet the challenge of stupendous peacetime problems, the President.promised that wage, price, and production controls would be lifted, and thus, he said, "veterans can grow apples on their own farms instead of having to sell apples on street corners...
...Every full-time job in America must provide enough for a decent living...
...Dewey continued his bitter arraignment of the Roosevelt regime with speeches at Minneapolis, Chicago, and Syracuse, N. Y. In the field of foreign policy, however, he confirmed anew the impression that there is no basic difference between the President and himself...
...F.D.R.'s Campaign Pledges The candidates themselves were active on many fronts during the past week...
...In major speeches at Philadelphia and Chicago before vast throngs, President Roosevelt lashed out at the Republican campaign charges and developed anew the broad outlines of a promised program for the future...
...That future we can and will achieve by the constructive program I have outlined since the beginning of this campaign...
...Speaking to a large crowd at Minneapolis, Dewey asserted that he, too, favored a program which would permit the use of the military might of the United States to deal with future aggression without obtaining Congressional approval in each case...
...Then, with France about to fall, he publicly announced on June 4 that he saw no reason for Congress to stay in session...
...The men and women in the armed services, he said, are coming back to "the best possible place on the face of the earth—to a place where all persons, regardless of race, color, creed, or place of birth, can live in peace, honor, and human dignity—free to speak and pray as they wish—free from want and free from fear...
...At Syracuse, N. Y., Dewey contended that American farmers have been exploited for "political profit" by the Roosevelt regime in its desire to "gain control over the operation of our farms...
...The Democratic Party chairman insisted that President Roosevelt himself knew nothing of the "One Thousand Club" and asserted that "those who subscribe $1,000 are making an investment in democracy and the project has my approval...
...Asked about their personal preferences, 28 expressed support for Dewey, 17 for Roosevelt, four had vo choice, and two wanted neither...
...The President called for a "genuine" crop insurance program for farmers, aid for small business in the purchase of Government-owned plants and inventories, Congressional creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee, expansion of the Tennessee Valley Authority idea into similar developments for the Missouri, Arkansas, and Columbia River basins...
...Gallup said, "has offset any advantage which the Democrats have gained through increased registrations in the large industrial centers of the nation...
...In that same speech the New York Governor recalled that "in those terrifying days of the Nazi blitz, in May of 1940, that he (President Roosevelt) said that we should not become discombobolated...
...7 sampling, Fortune announced...
...He said he had started rebuilding the Navy almost from the first minute of taking off ice—a Navy, which, he said, had been "whittled down" during previous Republican Administrations...
...In Chicago, for instance, he outlined a 60,000,000-job postwar program and asserted that "America must remain the land of high wages and efficient production...
...Twenty-nine of the correspondents gave the edge to the President, as of that time, while 21 were convinced that Dewey's chances were better...
...Correspondents' Poll A poll of 51 newspaper correspondents with Dewey on his final campaign swing through the Middle West last week revealed that 37 of them believe President Roosevelt will be reelected to a fourth term, while 13 said they thought that Dewey will win...
...These are Nebraska, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, Vermont, Indiana, and Wisconsin...
...The New York Governor blasted the Administration for its "inexcusable attempts at increased regimentation" and "its unmanageable surplus of promises...
...Praising the American farmers' production job in wartime, Dewey said: "A productive and prosperous agriculture is essential to the future of America...
...THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE 1944 Presidential campaign shot into the home stretch this week with every poll of public opinion indicating a commanding triumph for President Roosevelt in the Electoral College...
...Defections ranged from one per cent in Alabama to 10 per cent in Texas, he said...
...Nine states, with 66 electoral votes, are characterized as "definitely for Dewey...
Vol. 8 • November 1944 • No. 45
