Dewey Hits Racial “whispering Campaign” in Election; Prizes Good-will over Office

Declaring he held the spirit of racial and religious goodwill to be more important than the Governorship, District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, Republican candidate for Governor, issued a statement yesterday denouncing a racial “whispering campaign” in the current election.

The statement, which Mr. Dewey repeated in an address at the Manhattan Opera House last night, said: “Whispers concerning racial and religious prejudices have been injected into the campaign on both sides. The man or woman who votes for a candidate because of his race or religion or who votes against him for such a reason is a disgrace to American citizenship. I condemn and despise any support that is based on racial or religious prejudices. There are some things more important than being elected Governor, and one is the spirit of religious and racial good-will. I would rather go down to defeat than be elected by any vote based on race or religion.”