Show W Washington as h Ington M Round Merry erry- erry G 0 R oun d By Pearson Drew Washington D. D C. C September 4 1942 Major Robert S. S Allen Third Army San Antonio Texas Dear Bob I promised when you left to drop you a line occasionally occasionally occasionally oc oc- oc- oc and let you know how the old town is creaking along in your absence so here goes We all miss you a lot Francis Biddle says that no one bawls him out in press conference any anymore anymore anymore more Jesse Jones is now able to get a good nights night's sleep once in a while and Fanny Perkins is looking much much happier However I confess that life is a little tough for me My buck passing buck days are over When Senator accosts accosts accosts ac ac- ac- ac costs me ne with blood in his eye about some crack I have taken at him I am no longer able to reply Why senator Im I'm awfully sorry but Bob Allen wrote that part of the column I hope that everything is going going go go- goIng I ing 0 O K with you in the Third army and that you make Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu Lieu- tenant Colonel Frank Murphy do doa a little work once in a while I suspect that things are getting getting getting get get- ting along better down there than they are up here To tell you the truth things arent aren't going going going go go- ing here as well as they might I and I get awfully tired of being a constant nagger and of government officials even though it does seem to have a a. beneficial effect on them The other day however I think the administration got the most salutary lesson son it has had in a a. long time time time-Roosevelt's Roosevelt's defeat defeat de de- de- de feat in the New York Democratic Democrat Democrat- ic convention That was a tough pill for him to take but I think it will do him and the country an awful lot of good in the long run Sometimes it takes a political political political cal sock in the jaw like that to wake up the White House and for some time the White House has certainly needed waking up But to me mu much h more significant sig- sig was the primary race in South Carolina where Senator Burnet Maybank a close friend of the presidents president's with the advantage advantage advantage ad ad- vantage of already being in the senate just barely squeaked through South Carolina has been a strong state And Andone Andone Andone one thing that hurt Maybank in that election was the fact that he was a close friend of Roose Roose- In other words the New York convention plus South Carolina plus victory in Texas all go to show that the magic name of Roosevelt cant can't offset the rising tide of resentment in inthe inthe inthe the country over the Inefficiencies inefficiencies inefficiencies of Washington and worry over the war As you know the president understands these political re rebuffs rebuffs rebuffs re- re buffs and that's why I think they are the best thing that could happen to him Because's hes he's a great guy when he doesn't have his head in the sand so now he may wake up in time to clean house You remember back in February February February Feb Feb- when we wrote that series of columns on the Four Old Men which got the president so sore 1 Well in my opinion that's still the basic trouble with the war right now The president has a terribly weak cabinet And because he has a weak cabinet cabinet cab cab- inet met he tries to do everything I himself Just take a look at the men around Roosevelt and you can see why we arent aren't getting along better genial better genial ambling Jesse Jones who has caused as great greata a defeat economically as Pearl Harbor but who is still rewarded reward reward- ed by a position of trust in the cabinet charming fuss-budget fuss Miss Perkins who has had most of her powers stripped from her frustrated Frank Knox a good newspaperman who knows as much about the navy as the navy does about setting type busybody busybody busybody busy busy- body Justice Felix Frankfurter who ought to stick to his job on the supreme court Cordell dell Hull a fine old gentleman whose health keeps him away from the state department six months of the year year and and you cant can't run foreign foreign foreign for for- eign policy on a time part-time basis We could bungle along in ordinary ordinary ordinary or or- peace times with this kind of a cabinet But imagine trying to run a war with a conglomeration conglomeration con con- like this during the most tragic and fearful days in our history And yet the president president president dent is surprised at the growing growing grow grow- growIng ing lack of national confidence in his administration To me the kingpin of all the bunglers and the tip-off tip to Roosevelt's inexcusably benign attitude toward inefficiency is the man closest to him every day Marvin McIntyre You and andI I knew Marvin years ago when he was a out hand-out man who couldn't make more than 50 bucks a week who failed at al almost almost almost al- al most everything he ever tackled and he never tackled anything important Yet through the accident of having covered the navy department department depart depart- department ment when Roosevelt was assistant assistant assistant as as- secretary of the navy he is now the closest man to the president president president-at at a time when the nations nation's life is at stake Of course when some of Roosevelt's closest friends complain complain com corn plain about Mac he always waves them aside with the remark remark remark re re- re- re mark that he personally keeps an eye on things and Mac isn't important But unfortunately the president doesn't have time to keep an eye on everything He ha has enough to do running the war So as you can see things haven't changed I much since you left If anything they have gotten gotten got got- ten worse To me it isn't only winning the war which is at stake theres there's also the danger that we may lose Jose our democracy For you cant can't afford to let people get too sore and too dis dim Roosevelt ha has always sensed this in the past He has always kept his finger on the pulse which pulse which is one of the very things necessary to being president president dent and Roosevelt has been a great president Basically I still think the way we used to about him and I feel that the slap in the face he got from Jim Farley Icy in New York and ODaniel in Texas may be just the sting he needs to snap out of it houseclean houseclean house- house houseclean clean his cabinet and get some real men in to help win the war For F D R is too great a man to be crucified and pulled down into the gutters of history by the well-meaning well bunglers around him and democracy is too precious to be left in their fumbling fum turn bling hands Yours to Set the Rising Sun Drew |