The "Second Congress of Americans of Ukrainian Descent" was held at the Hotel Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, PA, on January 22–23, 1944. With Joseph Stalin now a wartime ally of the United States, following the Nazi invasion of Soviet-occupied Ukraine, Communists and Russophiles, encouraged by their Soviet leaders and agencies, sought to vilify American Ukrainians in America wherever they could. Anti-Ukrainian propaganda even extended to American press and broadcasts, including the radio editorials of Walter Winchell. Anti-Ukrainian books such as Sabotage! The Secret War Against America (1942), by Albert E. Kahn and Michael Sayers accused Ukrainian immigrants of conspiring against the United States. This hostile atmosphere made planning for another national gathering difficult for Ukrainian-Americans, especially with wartime travel restrictions in place.