THE EDITOR RESERVES THE LAST COLUMN
The Editor Reserves ... The Last Column That Let-Down Feeling THE chorus of criticism which has greeted many of the Roosevelt Administration's post-election activities is interesting mostly...
...But these developments flow inevitably from the failure of the Roosevelt liberals to assert themselves, from their foolhardy declaration of unconditional support of the Administration, right or wrong, from the weak-kneed silence which greeted the Presidential interment of "Dr...
...1 cabinet job which will affect the finances and peace of the world for half a century...
...He referred to Stettinius as a man of "energetic and charming mediocrity...
...PM again found it necessary to express disappointment with the President...
...has again shown his old tendency, when confronted by .a tough problem of Administration personnel, of following the line, of least resistance...
...Evidences of this "cloudy atmosphere" of which Stokes wrote with gentlemanly restraint, could be found most readily in the field of appointments...
...Line Of Least Resistance' HARDLY had the commotion over the appointments and near-appointments to the new Board begun to die away when there was fresh consternation in the ranks of liberal supporters of the Roosevelt regime a3 a result of the appointment of Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., former head of Morgan-dominated U. S. Steel Corporation, to the important post of Secretary of State...
...Roosevelt got off to a shockingly bad start when he picked a pair of Jesse Jones-type Tories to man the new and vital Surplus War Property Disposal Board...
...These developments are all the more shocking, as Max Lerner pointed out, following so closely, as they do, an election whose outcome had been interpreted as a sweeping triumph for "progressivism...
...McKellar has a bitter hatred for- Lilienthal...
...Since Lilienthal's appointment expires next year and reappointment is bound to be opposed by a clique of Tories headed by McKellar, the President sought to duck the showdown...
...After revealing that Robert E. Hannegan, boss of the Democratic National Committee, had sold the President a plan to seek reconciliation with "such Senators as Virginia's Harry F. Byrd and Tennessee's Kenneth McKellar," the Sun explained that the first step in the new "appeasement policy" was to placate McKellar by getting rid of Lilienthal as a power in the TVA...
...The Last Column That Let-Down Feeling THE chorus of criticism which has greeted many of the Roosevelt Administration's post-election activities is interesting mostly because it comes from those liberals and progressives who were zealous advocates of the fourth term, but who now feel frightfully let down...
...Thomas L. Stokes, distinguished Washington columnist who is a sincere supporter of many an Administration policy, summed it up last week when he wrote: "The Roosevelt fourth term Administration, which for all practical purposes is on, is getting off to a bad start...
...F.D.R...
...Supporters of TVA were much concerned over the President's action, fearing that he might not be willing to make a fight for Lilienthal when time comes for his reappointment next year...
...Drew Pearson, Washington columnist who more often than not reflects Administration sentiment, was brutally frank in discussing the Stettinius appointment...
...Now this disclosure comes not from any carping critic of the Roosevelt regime, but from Marshall Field's strongly pro-Roosevelt Chicago Sun...
...The Chief Executive backed down finally, but instead of picking a militantly progressive board to administer this all-important agency, Mr...
...Yet in the first major appointment after the victory .the progressives have suffered a defeat...
...Roosevelt made appointments which Stokes characterized as "strictly political" —two lame duck Democrats, one of whom the President had futily sought to purge in 1938, and a rich and socially prominent San Francisco banker...
...But Lilienthal didn't fall for the bait...
...New Appeasement Policy WHAT was almost as outrageous as the President's cavalier use of the vital new Board to bestow political plums was the White House attempt to ease David E. Lilienthal, vigorous chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, into a berth on the surplus property agency—not so much because Mr...
...The Sun tells us that by getting Lilienthal to switch jobs the President could "keep Lilienthal in an important Government post, get him out of TVA, and satisfy McKellar...
...Kenneth McKellar, Tennessee Democrat, one of the Senate's most hide-bound reactionaries...
...M.H.R...
...Roosevelt wanted the Board to have able, progressive leadership, but because he was anxious to "appease" Sen...
...It is "ironic," Pearson notes, "that Roosevelt, the man who in his first inaugural address promised to 'drive the money-changers from the temple,' now at the threshold of his fourth term has put a J. P. Morgan man in the No...
...The outcry from liberal sources was prompt and pugnacious...
...Here we are just a few weeks after a great progressive electoral victory...
...New Deal," and from the fallacious "don't-rock-the-boat" policy of failing to let loose some thunder on the left...
...A cloudy atmosphere prevails in this post-election period, which everybody had hoped would brighten up with signs of improvement...
...Max Lerner, the paper's chief editorial writer, noted morosely that the appointment "cannot be hailed as a resplendent one...
Vol. 8 • December 1944 • No. 50
