OCR Text |
Show THE MEN WHO DECIDE OUR DESTINIES 3 '"-T- From a log cabin on a tobacco V Y f farm, this genial extrovert 1 I has gone on to success in 1 j- - 1 business, politics, government ! ,1 and-family-l- ife i v i, - 1 i J.:.. :F By FLORA RHETA SCHREIBER and consternation." hTnnhemef-Hodges!--, was increasing the industrial development of it created interest North arolina4hrough Operation Bootstrap?' industries were aggressively Big out-of-sta- te phancBJiiL'iKfiiSle. encwragecFtoset financial transfusions Small businessmen when the Governor created the Business Devel- -- opmentJCori). with lending power of $10 million to service industriesneeding special helpT In l956rHodgesnentered four-yeterm as governor and won in a He served longer as: governor than anyother man elected to that job. T srot - .... ar TFlwaTlusTTri V1IVV "V vi - that he was invited to Palm nnlitips .. Kennedyn President-elec- t Beach nouneed his appointment as Secretary of Commerce. On the plane returning from Palm Beach, silver-haire- d dynamo sat deep in the thougM. His private secretary leaned over. "Has J -r' ill" 62-year-o- ld, 1 " rv-v.".- v-" lAml , mdwsralsedrtaTO reolied. 'Tve already started working." TTTTTfrsft Washington's Woodley Place. Their children are Nancy,J5, tne wiie ' of John C. Finlay, aniTexecutiveTlivsTh TOhT7Thltia7-Bet5yr36- ri company engineer and lives in Anacortes, Wash. Luther It, 25, is doing research in business at the University of North Caro-lina. ThTllodgesareolidrmdpaTe ""' "" efght" youngsters; on-Nor- There are no oM is sentimental, but his exterior doesn't show it. He's a very complicated man " iTQpparentlyappliech hiswnearly background to the rearing of his children. iWhen my son was about 10," he says, "we came home after a year in Europe, where he had been getting an allowance.I told him then, " Hodges assumed the post of Secretary of Commerce without illusions. He knew that for many ing Democraticand Republican administrations, the power of . the Commerce .haddeclined, that its single towering years,- - in both De-apartm- ent -- , co-chair- of the. important advisory committee nJabor-manageme- . with responsibility for the President's . . withits role international trade. Hodges' job also is to reassure businessmen that the President is not antibusiness. "I want theDepartment)fCoTnmerce to meanrto ; the : -- Tileiriifn 10:30), even if there. are guests. He says, "I beans, turnip salad, and corn bread He has kept hisveight at 190 pounds, the sameas it was have-hande- t ToVi?tllowanf lutfAro'ivintr hnrno in tho mAminff nni) firrivpn d -f- smoke, and drinks verymoderately. His twin fetishes are punctuality and speed. With his associates,Ee is demanding. His own average businessman what the Department, of --LaborhaYco Secretaiyj ' told me.; . Luther IIodgesJbelieves.Armlythat.the.American dream that' propelled him is still a great national resource, but one that citizens must them as a dole. not expect to t - is- - the earclcf or sec u rity' he tol d me, -i "that keeps men from getting ahead. If they ; -- would stop thinking of punching the clock, work for the love of work; and not beaf raid tomake '"l)old1mWeljtherwoufdl)e no'stopping them." Behindachword, one seems to hear the fiTncrJin TTrflirfs hn HvPtl hv' Tt pan hp flnni." . He eats lightly, and his favorite foods are white sworninaorovernorrlle-does- spalledwage:price broader powers, Secretary Hodges is buoyantly youthful. He whenirwas .(the nt ommitteefchejiasdeyeloped cordial relations with the Department of Labor, which had long been hostile to Commerce. Congress, at his request, has set up the.U. S. Travel Service to stimulate tourism in the United States. The bu loAmeHca;Youill-have-to-earn-yourow- 'n L .figure1 hadbeen Herbert- - Hoover To his .new employees, he quipped: "The onlyvvyay this partment can go is up." Up is where he is trying to take it. As rat-extrov- ert n at 8. or 8:15 "with a. brief case The Only Way Is Up in-fish- he-was-- office crammed with, "Klotz: What think? H" or "RuderrSee HrBy 8:30 he expects an answer.. After all, it is two hours since he thought of itj When he loses patience he is likely to apologize though in an indirect wayr'I've decided," who had briefly fallen, he once told from grace, "that you and I shouldn't get mad at the same time." i rftraflv.ELanMne spending money. at his The Hodges are urbane and cosmopolitan. They enjoy good books and cherish their associations with playwright Paul Green of IhcTCaf-olin- a Haymakers; and with Carl Sandburg. Mrs. Hodges, who is popular with the cabinet Ivives lfwhstfrsher "share of public events and used to entertain extensively. Yet essentially she is not a clubwoman or a joiner. Her deepest satisfactions are in reading, bridge (which she. aysvvithtoTirnament skill h;historyj rand painU ing still life;and landscapes. The Secretary, on the other hand, is indeand hunting. Says General; fatigable Wayhick, "When he pulls a trigger, something . asjikely to drop." He is facile, too with a quip. Asked by a re- porterientheBusiness Ethics Advisbry Coun- til of the Commerce Department will 'complete the code it began last.May, he said, "About January." Asked why the delay, he replied, "It's hard to write a new Ten Commandments." s has. and ontimist.-HodgeAnatu i le ild- ing his career, he was active in the Methodist rhiirchand theYMCA; He organized classes for illiterate millworkers and for 10 years' taught at night. Entering pontics, ne developed a snow- man's flare7When a magazine asked him to posenjjJyijLderwearj Jie C?niany complied Martha Hodges, more reserved than he, thought that this was too great a price for the governor of North Carolina to pay. ' varsity basketball team. th EmdyBLllfid end Earlyjp Hiso . . . 13 not For all his fany a demonstrative father or grandfather. "In gen- - In coiJeee, Hodees made Luther is an indeatigable hunter and fisherman. Here he Carolina coast. spends an afternoon sur ishing , 'Family Weekly, AjpnTtTiS" . |