E. Wallace Chadwick - Election of 1946

Election of 1946

On Feb. 13, 1946, hours before Wolfenden's press release announcing his retirement from Congress was received by the Chester Times, Chadwick, by coincidence, issued a release of his own declaring his candidacy. Indeed, five days earlier, with the approval of the former judge, nominating petitions had been circulated by his supporters. But, with Wolfenden's departure, other Republicans were interested in the $10,000 a year job also, among them state representative James, who filed petitions of his own for Congress, instead of running for another term in Harrisburg. Even though it was rumored that McClure had promised the seat to James two years earlier, on March 8, the party endorsed a federal labor mediator, James F. Dewey, rather than James.

Declaring to the voters, "I want you to reclaim Delaware County from the stigma of McClurism", the 62-year old Chadwick eventually nosed out James Dewey by only 287 votes out of 76,543 cast, according to unofficial results. He was able to pull off this narrow victory over the county machine by carrying 31 of the 49 municipalities in the congressional district, especially the larger towns of Haverford (3,919 to 3,604), Lansdowne (1,755 to 703), Ridley Township (1,363 to 1,145), Springfield (963 to 761), Swarthmore (a whopping 817 to 172), and most surprisingly, Wolfenden's Upper Darby (8,669 to 6,734).

His showing in Chester was even respectable, a loss of only two-to-one 9,131 to 4,540. Also, two state legislative candidates, who ran on the Chadwick ticket, ex-marine Walter F. Layer of Ridley Park and former state representative T. Jay Sproul, of Nether Providence, won, squeezing past William H. Milliken, of Sharon Hill, later to be congressman, and Samuel Walker of Upper Darby. The third at-large seat was won by McClure candidate incumbent Elwood Turner, also of Nether Providence.

Perhaps all of the thousands of veterans who returned from fighting for freedom overseas saw for the first time that their own local government was not being true to the American principles of political freedom and democracy and opted for a change. With this narrow victory, Chadwick has the distinction of being the only person to defeat the War Board as a declared independent in a countywide Republican primary for Congress, or for any major office, for that matter.

In the fall of 1946, the Republican campaign battle cry to the voters was "Had enough?", in response to fourteen years of Democratic rule and the difficult postwar adjustment period, which included soaring inflation, numerous union strikes and the "Red scare", the fear of communists in our government. The Chester Times ran a headline, stating: "Only Mystery of Election is Size of GOP Majority", which summed up the view of most political observers.

Once again, Vernon O'Rourke was the Democratic nominee, but unlike the previous election, he generally maintained a low profile, as Democrats across the nation were forced to the defensive.

In October, Chadwick, in one of his frequent radio addresses, which must have been a new experience for county residents who were used to a less visible candidate, called for a Republican House majority. He stated that "Congress needs more than an appeaser - a comprehension of the nation's problems, a desire to serve America and my people of Delaware County that transcends any thought of profit to myself..."

The Media League of Women Voters forum on October 18 was generally a low-key affair, with positions on several foreign and domestic issues given by both candidates. Regarding the hot issue of whether the wartime price controls should be lifted, Chadwick was emphatically in favor, while O'Rourke took the traditional Democratic view that the controls should be retained.

Arthur Bretherick, chairman of the county Republican committee, gave a speech in which a ludicrous charge was made, apparently linking the Democrats to the Communists. "Soviet Moscow in an official radio broadcast to the U.S. has demanded the defeat of Edward Martin for U.S. senate, James H. Duff for governor, E. Wallace Chadwick for Congress, as well as our other candidates. Let's give Stalin and Tito our answer on Tuesday with a great Republican majority." (There was no indication whether Soviet dictator Stalin or Yugoslavian leader Tito responded.)

Although registered Republicans outnumbered the Democrats by 152,367 to 27,719, the Democrats predicted that O'Rourke would beat Chadwick by about 5,000 votes.

Chadwick easily defeated his Democratic challenger, 76,021 to 38,253 in the great Republican landslide of 1946. The G.O.P. was resoundingly returned to the majority, seizing fifty-six additional House seats and thirteen in the Senate. The new lineup was 246-188 in the House and 51-45 in the Senate.

In Pennsylvania, the G.O.P. was still firmly in the driver's seat, giving Senator Guffey a win over his opponent, while James H. Duff, won the governorship over John S. Rice, 1.828 million to 1.270 million. Further, the Democrats would be sending five congressmen to Washington from the keystone state, while the G.O.P. had 28. This would be the last election in which the Republicans would command such an overwhelming lead over the Democrats in Pennsylvania.

Because of the Democratic lock on the ten former states of the Confederacy, the "Solid South", it was not always easy for the Republicans to pick up enough seats in other regions to gain numerical control of the House. In 1946, there were no Republicans serving in the House out of 95 seats in the deep South. In the border states, the Democrats also led, 30 - 23.

To more than offset this advantage, the Republicans captured 135 out of 180 seats in the larger states and had a huge margin in the relatively sparsely populated farm belt. As the Democrats continued to make inroads in these normally Republican states, the former would be assured control of the House for the next three decades.