Feb. 20, 1944

We are clearly working up to Walter Winchell’s clash with Congress next month (that is, March 1944).

The Private Papers of a Cub Reporter

Winchell quotes a piece from Princeton Republican, an Illinois paper.

“Last Thursday, the cackling congressman from Michigan, Rep. Clare Hoffman, stood on the floor of the House in Washington and whined that he had been ‘smeared’ by Walter Winchell, whose daily news and gossip column is syndicated to more than 800 U.S. newspapers. Hoffman, who we are ashamed to admit was elected on a Republican ticket, is the bird who told an audience in Niles, Mich., on Jan. 3 that the day is here when the American people, by a march on Washington, by the use of the armed forces which are in this country, must, if either be necessary, put an end to ‘playing at war’ here at home.

“Because Hoffman advocated armed insurrection against the government of the United States, Winchell accused the congressman of conduct tending to treason. Hoffman bawled that he was ‘smeared!’ … He is a disgrace to his state, and to the House of Representatives, and to his country.”

In the rose-colored rear-view mirror, we like to think that the “Greatest Generation” set aside their differences and pulled together to defeat a common enemy. Obviously, they did not.

From the St. Petersburg Times.