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Show 9ftD New State Secretary (ED. NOTE Drew Pearson today awards the brass ring, good for a free ride on the Washington merry-go-round, to Dean Acheson, new secretary of state.) DEAN ACHESON, son of the late Episcopal suffragan bishop of Connecticut, has followed with reasonable consistency an unad vertised but earnest desire to help his country. He has also cherished a desire, ever since he was a young lawyer In Washington, to clean up the horse-and-buggy diplomacy of the state department. Never in his fondest dreams, however, did Dean Acheson, in those youthful days, think that he might become secretary of state. His real ambition was to sit on the supreme court. The fact that he now finds himself secretary of state is probably due not only to ability of which he has plenty but an act of kindness to a little man who had just suffered a slashing political defeat. In November 1948, Harry Truman's Tru-man's party lost control of both houses of congress. The blow was so great that most observers predicted pre-dicted Truman could never be reelected. re-elected. Even some Democrats, especially Senator Fulbright of Arkansas, Ar-kansas, suggested that Truman resign. re-sign. Truman's trip back to Washington Washing-ton from Independence, Mo., where he voted, was almost like a funeral. When he arrived at the union sta tion in Washington, only one member mem-ber of the cabinet was on hand to meet him, and he wasn't really a member. It wa the acting secretary secre-tary of state, Dean Acheson. Acheson rode with the President back to the White House where Truman Tru-man read over the singeing editorial comment and asked Acheson what he should do. Acheson was bold and courageous. He advised Truman to issue a dignified, diplomatic state ment urging cooperation between congress and the White House, pointing to other precedents where Presidents had faced hostile congresses. con-gresses. Truman agreed. Acheson drafted the statement a masterpiece and the two men have been close friends ever sine. Fired Acheson Acheson is one of the few men ever fired by Franklin Roosevelt who has staged a comeback. His mentor throughout the years has been Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who once taught him law at Harvard, recommended him as secretary to the late Justice Brandeis, and urged FDR to make him solicitor general. Instead FDR made Acheson undersecretary un-dersecretary of the treasury, where he was out-of-step and miserable. Dean was more miserable when, one day while waiting in an anteroom ante-room of the White House, newsmen came out to tell him that Roosevelt had just announced his resignation. He did not know until that moment that he had been fired. Frankfurter Friend Almost every morning, the long, lanky Acheson can be seen walking two miles to work beside his old mentor. Justice Felix Frankfurter. It was Frankfurter who persuaded Roosevelt to take Acheson back seven years later as assistant secretary of state, and it was Frankfurter who also urged Acheson Ach-eson to ask the justice department to indict this columnist a proposal which Acheson took up in cabinet meeting without success. Acheson first joined the state department de-partment in 1941 as assistant secretary secre-tary in charge of congressional relations. He was an immediate success. Congressmen like Speaker Sam Rayburn swore by him. Maryland Farmer Despite high position, Acheson never has put on any airs, still likes to do chores around his Maryland farm in old clothes on Sundays. At the stale department he juggled his own tray at the government cafeteria cafe-teria along with clerks and stenographers. steno-graphers. Acheson entered the state department depart-ment pro-Russian that is, in the sense that he felt the United States should do its best to cooperate with Russia, and that the peace of the world depended on the two coun tries. It was not long after Potsdam, however, that he began to be dis illusioned. Ever since, he has been a consistent, vigorous, bitter non appeaser. Frisnd of Hiss Some senators will doubtless look askance at Achesbn's appointmenl because Alger Hiss and others, charged with purloining state de partment documents, served with him, and because Donald Hiss brother of Alger, is now in tht Achason law firm. No one who knows Acheson. how ever, would even remotely suspect him of any toleration of or connection connec-tion with subversive influences. |
