The legislation that established the WAVES was silent with respect to race, but Knox said that black WAVES would be enlisted "over his dead body". After Knox's death in April 1944, his successor Forrestal moved to reform the Navy's racial policies, and on July 28 he submitted to the president a proposal to accept WAVES on an integrated basis. Aware that 1944 was an election year, Forrestal tried to compromise by offering segregated living quarters and mess facilities, but Roosevelt decided to hold it up until after the election on November 7. The Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, criticized the administration for discriminating against African-American women during a speech in Chicago. On October 19, 1944, Roosevelt instructed the Navy to accept African-American women into the WAVES.