THE EDITOR RESERVES THE LAST COLUMN
The Editor Reserves The Last Column THE dramatic break between Sen. Barkley and President Roosevelt, the subsequent exchange of greetings between "Dear Alben" and his "Chief," and the overwhelming...
...Roosevelt, instead of always reporting for orders at the White House, Sen...
...His row with the President may well make Barkley an infinitely more valuable Majority Leader, not only for Congress, but for the President and the nation generally...
...F.D.R...
...Let me tell you about Brazil,' said the President.' " Sen...
...Louis Post-Dispatch, made this clear-cut judgment: "It was generally agreed at the politically-minded Capitol that Barkley had not been trying to better himself in Kentucky by breaking with the President...
...Roosevelt in view of the latter's loss of popularity...
...Having read the comments of a dozen or more correspondents, ranging from the violently pro-Roosevelt to the just as violently anti-Roosevelt, I think the conclusion is unavoidable that Sen...
...Barkley emerged from the fracas a stronger and more appealing figure than the White House drudge he has always been pictured...
...He has the habit of taking the ball in those White House conversations and running away with it...
...Republican leaders, whose political strategy seems to consist of the hope that the Democrats will hand them the election, oozed wishful thinking through every pore when Barkley denounced the President...
...I. F. Stone, pro-Roosevelt correspondent for PM, the "Roosevelt-can-do-no-wrong" tabloid, put it this way: "Unfortunately, the President seemed to pay little attention to what Barkley was saying...
...They have argued that Barkley, being a candidate for reelection, has sought to disassociate himself from Mr...
...Barkley has been a loyal servant of the President, accepting all kinds of orders from the White House without a whimper and performing duties which would have made rebels of less loyal and more imaginative followers...
...Roosevelt an opportunity to practice a change of pace in his strategy (See editorial in first column...
...Barkley and President Roosevelt, the subsequent exchange of greetings between "Dear Alben" and his "Chief," and the overwhelming vote by which Congress overrode the President's veto of the tax bill constituted one of the most striking and significant home-front developments of the War, but one whose political and permanent significance could be and has been greatly exaggerated...
...This view is not shared by any of the well-informed Washington observers who had front-row seats at the whole show...
...Sober observers have pointed out, however, that Barkley's tongue-lashing was confined to the one subject of the tax bill, that his second letter dripped good fellowship and reconciliation, and that the "break" came early enough in the campaign to give Mr...
...Barkley may help prevent a tragic repetition of the fate of Woodrow Wilson, who cut himself off from Congress and the country and pursued his lonely course to defeat...
...Barkley trudged his way to the White House —not this time to wait for orders, but for once to plead with his Chief—plead against a veto of the tax bill in the interest of a better relationship between Congress and the White House...
...Even so incorrigible a defender of the President as Raymond P. Brandt, chief Washington correspondent for the St...
...If he displays his newly revealed independence in standing up to the President and presenting the position of Congress and the country to Mr...
...The President,' one informed authority said, 'is not too good a listener...
...Apologists for the President have sought to explain the Kentuckian's belligerent behavior in terms of personal political ambitions...
...You remember the old story about the ambassador just back from five years in a foreign country, let us call it Brazil, who went to make his report at the White House...
...So Sen...
...Remember Wilson's Fate Barkley exploded—and you know the rest...
...Never Listens The facts of the Barkley-Roosevelt affair seem to be these: Sen...
...The press, quick to catch the contagious disease, broke out with a rash of stories which were little short of obituaries of the Roosevelt Administration...
...The President made no answer to Barkley's remarks but went on talking about the veto message...
...M.H.R...
...Barkley was obviously troubled by the President's refusal to listen, but appeared to accept it without unusual reaction...
...When the tax bill passed, he recognized its inadequacy, but he knew, too, that many months of hard work, bitter controversy, and give-and-take compromise had gone into its making...
...His deliberateness and obvious sincerity while delivering his breathtaking address convinced his listeners that as a legislator, he was truly shocked by the President's accusations of bad faith or judgment, and that he was not thinking, of his personal political fortunes...
...The President refused to listen, preferring partly to accept the counsel of the Byrnes-Vinson team which runs the home front, but mostly his own hunches...
...But he was shocked when the President's veto message did arrive—shocked by the harsh, accusing language which the vote-minded President threw at Congress...
Vol. 8 • March 1944 • No. 10
