GREAT TRIUMPH

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25047, 10 November 1944, Page 5

GREAT TRIUMPH

DEMOCRATIC FORCES MR ROOSEVELT PLEASED PROSPECTIVE ALLIED TALKS (Reed. 12.15 a.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 9 President Roosevelt in a statement said it was the first time for 80 years that the United States had held a national election in the midst of a war. "It is really important," he added, "that after all the changes and vicissitudes of four score years we again have demonstrated to the world that democracy is a living and vital force, that our faith in American institutions is unshaken, and that conscience, not force, is the source of power in the government of man. Let us unite to win the war and achieve lasting peace." President Roosevelt is expected to take part in a number of important conferences in Europe on the conduct of the war and the planning of the peace before his inauguration on December '2O, says the New York Times correspondent in Washington. The President is expected to accept General de Gaulle's imitation to visit Paris soon, and he will probably meet .Mr Churchill and Marshal Stalin somewhere in the Middle East. Mr Roosevelt may also visit London. Early Meeting Deemed Certain The Washington correspondent of the Associated Press says the election of Mr Roosevelt makes an early meeting with Mr Churchill and Marshal Stalin virtually certain. Describing election scenes, a United Press correspondent says that President Roosevelt, at tt.so a.m., pushed aside a litter of election charts, dull-pointed pencils and pieces of paper covered with figures and went to bed after a familiar experience—being elected President of the United States. Mr Roosevelt had refused to go to bed until he knew that he had licked his opponent, although ho felt the outcome was obvious before Mr Dewey admitted defeat in a nationwide radio message. Comment on Woman Candidate When the White House staff heard Mr Dewey's broadcast they exploded with shouts of, "We are in again," and slapped each other's backs. Mr Roosevelt then went to bed. tired but jubilant. The newly-elected Vice-President, Mr Truman, said: "It is a grand statement by Dewey. It shows American sportsmanship in this campaign." When the defeat of Mrs Clare Booth Luce, <i Republican candidate in Connecticut and a sharp critic of the Roosevelt Administration, appeared possible, Mr Roosevelt said: "The defeat of Mrs Luce would prove a mighty fine thing for the country, and that's a rough thing to say about a lady." At that 'stage her opponent, Miss Connors, was 4000 votes ahead of Mrs Luce, but later returns gave Mrs Luce a majoritv of 400 in a total vote of 200.000. Mrs Luce today declined to comment on Mr Roosevelt's remark. Eight women have been elected to the House of Representatives. They include the Democrat, Mrs Helen Gahagan Douglas, from Hollywood, wife of the film actor Melvyn Douglas.