| Show I I W Washington as he Ington M Round Merry erry- erry G 0 R oun d Pearson By Pearson Drew DrewI WASHINGTON Franklin Roosevelt this week begins his eleventh and probably bly toughest year in office It will be tough not because of the war which is In good shape but because of increasing battles on the home front Nothing can ever detract from the long view record of Roosevelt Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt as a great war leader Butin But Butin Butin in winning the war Roosevelt's greatest danger is that he may lose th the battle at home not home not for himself not for the Democratic party which are not important but for the hopes hopes' and ideals of the American people There is nothing so dangerous as repeated disillusionment And if the American people were to suffer the same shattered hopes again as after the last war if ii they were to see their permanent permanent permanent perma perma- nent peace dreams go up in smoke if they were to experience experience experience ence the anguish of another depression depression depression de de- and the hatt hatreds eds of violent violent violent vio vio- lent internal wrangling then our political system might not weather the strain That is why some of the presidents president's presidents president's presidents president's dents dent's friends have tactfully suggested that he follow Abraham Abraham Abra Abra- Abraham ham Lincoln's example of devoting devoting devoting de de- voting more time to domestic problems The war war they feel is well under way The main spade work has been done It is no necessary longer longer necessary to watch all the details Meanwhile a lot lotof lotof ot of disagreeable politics has been going from bad to worse for lack of Roosevelt's masterful touch Lincoln faced with a tragic war and a difficult home front divided his time between them He listened patiently to almost every disgruntled politician with an ax to grind struggled to keep his political support Roosevelt Poosevelt faced with the same problem has spent his time almost exclusively on the war Much of this this' is necessary But the president carries it to ex ex- Actually the president is reliving re re- living his old days as assistant secretary of the navy days which he loved laved days when he ho could afford to take time for ship design and admirals But now a political empire is disintegrating around him with a foreign policy necessarily so difficult dif dif- that its intricacies m may y sour a naturally isolationist American people In the 10 years he has been in office Roosevelt has not really changed But the people around him have And in all the reams written about Roose Roose- velt after a decade in the WhiteHouse White WhiteHouse House no one has emphasized the most important change in his staff It is his f faithful personal secretary secretary sec sec- secretary Miss Marguerite Missy Le Hand Fland Few people knew it but it was Missy who every evening eve evening eve eve- ve- ve ning after the stream of callers left got the chief alone and made him make important deci deci- Postponement of decisions which may jar p peoples people's oples ople's happi ness Wens is natural for any president dent And F D R is no tion flan I But Missy lived on the theory that there was no use putting off till tomorrow what you could do today and she saw that the boss lived nip vp to it Jt Furthermore when he made his decisions she was always in there fighting for far the little fel fel- low Today Missy Is ill a casualty of the tremendous tremendous- pressure of White House work In her pl place ce are Harry Hopkins a worse procrastinator procrastinator procrastinator pro- pro than Roosevelt and General Pa Watson who N shields his chief from unpleasant ant things with a curtain of gold braid brad That perhaps is one reason why when when a White House order order or- or der er comes through it frequent frequently frequently ly ly happens that the cabinet offiCer officer ter or administration tion sub commander com com- mander mender waits about two days before carrying it out This occurred in the case of ofEd ofEd ofEd Ed Flynn Back in 1940 when Jim Farley got out of the Democratic Democratic Democratic Dem Dem- national committee F D R persuaded Flynn to become be be- come chairman He lie didn't i nt want the j job b but the the president president said You can resign and become an ambassador after the campaign is over All right I want to togo togo togo go to Mexico Flynn replied Later the state department objected ob ob- jetted to Mexico but agreed to Australia and the president told his secretary Grace Tulley Tolley to have press relations secretary Steve Early issue an official statement But St Steve e waited two days Flynn having received word from the president as to when the White House statement would be issued went ahead with his announcement in New York He did not know that the t presidential orders dont don't mean so much these days with WhiteHouse White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House sub commanders Two days later when Steve Early got around to it he issued his announcement nt but by that the t time Flynn was out on an a limb To the senate it looked as if he had forced Roosevelt's Rooseve ts t.'s hand That two-day two delay delay- was what defeated Flynn Flynn Flynn-a a defeat which Roosevelt could not afford the afford the first defeat of its kind since the Civil war And it set a prece prece- dent The senate now knows its strength and is challenging g I White House appointments 4 |
