FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944

16: Democrats in Convention

163 On Wednesday, July 19, at four minutes past noon, Robert Hannegan banged his gavel and called the 1944 Democratic convention to order. The temperature in Chicago Stadium was in the low 80s, still warm but far more comfortable than the 100-degree heat that the Republicans had to contend with in the same building. The seats were about half filled when Hannegan got things under way. A Catholic monsignor delivered an invocation, soprano Eleanor Steber of the Metropolitan Opera sang the national anthem, and the national committee secretary read the official call of the conclave. Hannegan then introduced Chicago’s Mayor Kelly, whose speech of welcome was followed by one from Illinois Senator Scott Lucas. After Lucas came Thomas Courtney, the Democratic candidate for governor of Illinois,whowasfollowedbypartytreasurerEdPauley(whoreported theparty’spoorfinancialcondition)andChicagoCongressmanWilliam L. Dawson, the only black member of the House. With a recess until the evening, the first and most peaceful session of the convention was over. While these activities were going on, the platform subcommittees were holding open hearings, giving numerous witnesses an opportunity forshortspeechesof fiveminutesorless,despitethegeneralunderstanding that most of the platform had already been written in the White House, with the committee in Chicago just doing some tinkering.1 The evening gathering was a good bit more entertaining. One of the first things to stir up the crowd was the arrival of Henry Wallace, as he 1 6 Democrats in Convention 164 FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 pushed his way in to his Iowa delegation. Parts of the crowd whooped andhollered,thebandplayed“Iowa,That’sWheretheTallCornGrows,” and a brief demonstration followed. Chairman Hannegan called the festivities to order at a few minutes after 9 o’clock. After a talk from the lady who headed the party’s women’s division, Hannegan electrified the capacity crowd by reading a bulletin announcing the resignation of Hideki Tojo and his Japanese war cabinet. This news produced a genuine demonstration of roaring joy, a demonstration that would have been far louder had the delegates known that at about that very time a German officer was placing in an East Prussian bunker an explosive intended to kill Adolf Hitler. (The attempt, unfortunately, failed.) After this, the chairman introduced the convention keynoter, Governor Kerr of Oklahoma. Kerr gave a stem-winder of about an hour’s length, touching all the required bases. “Do you remember,” he boomed, “the twelve long years from 1920 thru 1932 when America ‘hardened’ under Harding, ‘cooled’ under Coolidge and ‘hungered’ under Hoover?” He said the “mantle of Herbert Hoover” had been “placed upon the shoulders of his cherished disciple, Thomas E. Dewey.” But, shouted Kerr, it was no mantle but a shroud! Kerr ridiculed Dewey’s attack upon the administration’s “tired old men,” pointing out that Admiral Chester Nimitz was 59, AdmiralHalsey62 ,MacArthur64,AdmiralKing66,andGeneralMarshall 64. “No, Mr. Dewey,” he continued, “we know we are winning this war with these ‘tired old men,’ including the 62-year-old Roosevelt as their commander in chief.” As Kerr came to his conclusion, he received the “applausemeritedbyanhour’svocaltoil,”andbroughtthenight’sformal activities to an end.2 The major drama of the night was yet to transpire. Alben Barkley had been visited during the afternoon by Ed Flynn and Frank Walker, who told him that the President’s choice for vice president had fallen upon another man—Truman—and that Barkley would not be considered . The Kentucky senator, brooding upon what he considered his mistreatment by Franklin Roosevelt and thinking over what Byrnes had urged upon him, decided that he would not give the nominating speech forFDRthefollowingday.Thetextof histalk,alreadygiventothepress, was withdrawn. His refusal would obviously be headline news. Late in Democrats in Convention 165 the evening of the 19th, some Kentucky politicos, fearing that Barkley woulddohimself greatharmbybackingoutof thespeech,urgedWilson Wyatt, the young mayor of Louisville, to talk to the senator to see if he wouldchangehisposition.Wyattwasdoubtfulthathecouldaccomplish anything, but he agreed to try.3 Around midnight, Wyatttookacabto Barkley’shotelandhesitantly knocked on the senator’s hotel room door. When he was ushered in, Wyatt found himself in the presence of some party heavyweights—Jim Farley , Les Biffle (sergeant-at-arms of the Senate), and several of Barkley’s fellow senators. As he entered, Wyatt heard Farley say, “Alben, you have been double-crossed by the boss—just as I was.” Nevertheless, Barkley toldWyatttospeakhispiece.Wyatttoldthesenatorthathisactionwould likely be completely misunderstood by his Kentucky constituents, that it would look like nothing so...