Evening star., 1944-04-06
|DeweySeIection
Without Strings
Held Probable
Governor Is Silent
| On Plans Despite
| Willkie Withdrawal
BY the Associated Press.

oS tHe Assoclafd fIeSs.
A presidential nomination
without strings f1oated enticing-
ly close before Gov. Thomas E,
Dewey of New York today az
Wendell l.. Willkie quit the Re-
publican race after losing a
long-shot gamble for Wisconsin's
delegates.
Gov Dewey, who reached for the
prize at Philadelphia in 1910. only
to find Willkie had received it. stood
far out as the leading possibility
Tor the nomination in the wake Of
Mr.. WILKES dramatic withdrawal
from contest on which he had
spent mostgrof his efforts for the
last four years.
Mr.. Willkie failed to win a dele
gate in Wisconsin, where is pledged
Dewey representatives were elected
despite the New York Governors
previous plea for them to withdraw.
The 1910 nominee threw in the
sponge with the announcement that
1t was obvious he could not be
nominated after his decisive setback
in Wisconsin.
Dewey Silent on Plans.
Characteristically, Gov. Dewey
busted himself at Albany with a
stack of legislative bills and said
nothing about his future plans
silence some of his hackers said
he might maintain up to the time
of the June nominating cc,nven-
ton.
Gle has said he is not cssndi-
date-but never that ne would
not accept.)
Baltimores Republican Mayor,
Theodore r. McKeldin, declared
Gov. Dewey "is 100 per cent candi-
date" after conferring with him In
New York. Gov. Dewey was very
pleased" Mr.. McKeldin said, with
assurances he had Maryland.s sup-
port for the nomination.
While others thought the pressure
for a statement to the effect that he
would take proffered nomination
might become too great to with
stand, intimates Of the Governor
said he had made up his mind that
If he is to be the standard bearer
he does not want to owe his selec-
ton to any individual or single ele-
ment in the party, or to have any
other strings attached.
132 Pledged to New Yorker.
With a minimum Of 1872 conven-
ton delegates pledged or claimed for
him, as compared with 26 pledged
to 1t. Comdr. Harold E. Stassen. and
three to Gen. Douglas Macarthur,
Gov. Dewey seemed well started
toward such a goal. His other major
opponent, Gov. John w. Bricker OF
Ohio, has yet to show publicly in
any Of the 276 convention delegate
selections made
While Gov. Dewey was on all
counts top man in the party as of
today, the question of what Willkie
might do held the intense interest
of Republican politicians, who spec
ulated on these possible develop.
|ments:
l. Mr.. Willkie might plump for q
Republican with liberal interna-
tional views such as Comdr. Stassen,
thus giving that candidates chances
a boost.
2. He might return to the Demo-
cratic party, which he quit before
1940-might even support a fourth
term for President Roosevelt in
preference to aiding a Republican
who did not see eye to eye with him
On foreign affairs. (There was
some conjecture that Mr.. Willkie
might be invited to share the ticket
with the President.)
May Head Liberal Movement.
3. He might head new Bull
Moose" liberal movement away
from the old-line Republican party.
4. Or he might go along with the
COP nominee, whoever that may be.
continuing his appeals for "one
world" program to preserve future
peace, peace he thus could hope
to have some hand in formulating.
Mr.. Willkie announced his exit
from the race in the course of what
had been billed as a presidential
campaign speech in Omaha last
night. He added to his prepared
speech a statement which said, in
part:
1T has been my conviction that no
Republican could be nominated for
President unless he received at the
convention the votes OF some of the
major Midwestern States, for it is in
this section of the country that the
Republican party has had its great
est resurgence.
Therefore, I quite deliberately
entered the Wisconsin primary to
test whether the Republican voters
of the State would support me and
in the advocacy of every sacrifice
and cost necessary to winning and
shortening the war and in the ad-
(See POLITICS, Page A-40