THOMAS DEWEY IS THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 June 1948, Page 5

THOMAS DEWEY IS THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT

He Accepts With A Speech Calling For Freedom For All Men Received 9 p.m. NEW YORK, -Tune 24 Governor Thomas Dewey won the Republican Party’s nomination for Presidential candidate, taking all 1094 votes. There was a determined coalition effort to stop Dewey on the first ballot, but his organisation started to exert its power in the second ballot, and the opposition cracked wide open in the third ballot, when Mr. Robert Taft, Mr. Dewey’s closest rival, announced his withdrawal from the contest.

One by one the other candidates mounted the rostrum to concede their defeat.

A mighty roar went up from the Convention floor to nominate Mr. Dewey by acclamation, but the chairman 'Mr. Martin) ruled that a ballot had to be taken. It is the custom lor American political conventions to make the final Presidential nomination unanimous, regardless of the voting struggles which may have preceded it. Accepting nomination. Mr. Dewey, in a speech, said: “I pray God I may deserve this opportunity to serve our country- I come to you unfettered by a single obligation or promise to any living person, free to join you in selecting to serve our nation, the finest men and women in the nation, free to unite our party and country in meeting the gravest challenge of our time. United, we can match this challenge with a depth of understanding and a largeness of spirit with a unity that is above recrimination, above partisanship, above self-interest. These are the articles of faith wherefrom the greatness of America has been fashioned. Our people are eager to know again the power of that faith. They are turning to us to put such a faith at the heart of our national life. That is what we are called to do. That is what we shall do!” Mr. Dewey added: “The responsibility and opportunity that come to our party are the greatest in the history of the free, meaning that mankind everywhere, yearning for freedom.

will..take heart and move forward, out of this desperate darkness, into the light of freedom’s promise. We must labour by every peaceful means to build world order, founded upon justice and righteousness. We shall harness the unimaginable possibilities of atomic energy to bring men and women a full and larger life. As long as the world is half free and half slave we must peacefully labour to help men everywhere achieve liberty. Governor Dewey led the first ballot with 434 votes—ll 4 short of the required majority of 548. A second ballot was held, but Mr. Dewey was still unable to gain the number of votes necessary to win the nomination- He led the second ballot with 515 votes —33 short of the required number, In the first ballot Senator Taft polled 224 votes, Mr. Harold Stassen 157, Senator Vandenberg 62, Governor Earl Warren, of California, 59, and Governor Dwight Green, of Illinois, 56. There were six other candidates, including General MacArthur, who polled 11 votes, Dewey’s sudden leap into comfortable lead in the second ballot convinced most observers that he would clinch the nomination at the next ballot, despite deals other forces might make. The atmosphere in the huge hall was eftremely tense during today’s balloting. The eyes of the nation were on the Convention Hall. Every bar, club,- and theatre with television was packed to the doors and it is estimated that over 15,000,000 American “saw” the convention.