Executive on Strings

Last week Franklin D. Roosevelt, finding that he needed more rest than even he had thought, decided to add a week to his fishing trip aboard Vincent Astor's Nourmahal. There all last week he sat alert at the end of two long strings. One string, strong and tightly braided, slanted off into the pale green waters of the Gulf Stream. The other string, more tenuous and even longer, a string of radio messages and mail planes, soared off to distant Miami.

To both strings he had to pay heed. A tug on one meant that a grouper or a marlin, coming up from the deep, was demanding the most careful attention of the President of the U. S. A tug on the other meant that something in Washington was also coming up to demand Rooseveltian attention. So content was the President in minding his strings that certain good citizens began to worry about the state of his health: rumors began to circulate of illness or injury to him.

They were summarily disposed of when a Navy seaplane carrying a cockpitful of dispatches and two Roosevelt sons-- Elliott who had flown from Texas in company with George Hearst (son of William Randolph), and James who had been ashore for two days to visit Bostonian Joseph P. Kennedy--flew out to the Nourmahal, anchored off Elbow Cay. A few hours later Son Elliott flew back to Miami and told newshawks that:

1) His father was getting sunburned and had never been in better health or spirits.* 2) His father's fishing luck was rotten. He had been fishing all morning with Secret Servant Robert Clark. Sleuth Clark had caught three barracuda, the President none.

That evening President Roosevelt, sitting on the quarterdeck of the Nourmahal with his socialite fishing friends--Frederic Kernochan, George St. George, William Rhinelander Stewart, Lytle Hull, Cousin Kermit Roosevelt, Host Vincent Astor-- was chagrined to hear issuing from a radio the voice of Newscaster Lowell Thomas telling the nation that the President of the U. S., on the authority of his own son, was fishing without success.

Next day Host Astor dispatched an indignant radio message that shook Secretary Marvin McIntyre from pleasant relaxation and lethargy in Miami: "Heard Lowell Thomas relate Elliott's gross libel on President's fishing luck. He said appoint special committee to investigate and secure retraction." Later Host Astor pridefully dispatched another message: "Took 21 fish today.''

Secretary McIntyre, who between golf games was peacefully holding down the Miami end of the President's string of communications, went out grinning and gave the dispatches to the newshawks who for ten days had been sunning their hides without so much as one glimpse of the President. They snatched at the opportunity, radioed offering their services as a fish investigating committee--a gentle hint that it was about time the President gave them some news. The answer came back: "Your generous unselfish suggestion received with pleasure. . . . Fishing data on hand. Witnesses will waive immunity, Franklin D. Roosevelt."

He fished off Salt Cay, swam on a fine sheltered beach on Anguila Island. Only work he did was when a Navy seaplane flew out to the Nourmahal and a temporary office was set up on the Nourmahal's after deck. Sitting at a table wearing sneakers, a pair of dirty white duck pants, a white linen hat, the President signed a bill making cattle, peanuts, flax, barley and grain sorghums basic commodities subject to processing taxes, also the appropriation bill for the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce and Labor. He likewise issued a proclamation making May 1 child Health day and an executive order transferring certain functions from the Veterans Bureau to the Civil Service Commisson--in order to effect an annual saving of $45,000.

Later, when eight newshawks finally boarded the Nourmahal from a launch owned by Gar Wood, the President, seated on a green crescent-shaped divan, solemnly told them he had caught a sperm whale on a three-ounce rod.

*A supplementary report on the President's health was given by Dr. Leroy W. Hubbard of Warm Springs Foundation at a meeting of Physical Therapy Societies last week in Manhattan: "There is a gradual, slow gain in the President's functional ability, with a noticeable increase in his powers of endurance. It is distinctly evident that his ability to walk has improved."

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