Hustings & History

Not only the hustings but U. S. history seemed to be in Franklin Roosevelt's mind as, in his ten-car, air-cooled special train, he rolled westward out of Washington last week. Politician Roosevelt was out to whoop it up for his supporters in this autumn's Congressional elections. At the same time Statesman Roosevelt, midway of his second and (perhaps) last term as U. S. President, was out to impress his name yet deeper in The People's memory. Until Congress adjourned, polls of public opinion had shown New Deal popularity on the wane--not Franklin Roosevelt's personal appeal, but his methods and policies. His obvious job was to persuade the nation to look upon his works as statesmanlike achievements.

The 150th anniversary of the establishment of American civil government in the Northwest Territory at Marietta. Ohio, offered him an occasion, reeking with history, to hang a large historical backdrop behind the little political maneuvers of this trip. He did so with one of his analogies between the old frontier of ''new land, new game, new opportunity" and the F. D. R. frontier of social and economic security. Said he:

". . . Under new conditions, the American people as a whole nation, the original thirteen States and all the West and South that has grown out of them, is on a mental migration, dissatisfied with old conditions, seeking like the little band that came to Marietta, to create new conditions--of security."

Speaking at Louisville, Ky. he dwelt on flood control in similar statesmanlike perspective : ''When I went to Washington nearly six years ago, I found that there were many different agencies . . . dealing with disasters . . . but there was no coordination between them. That flood last year on the Ohio and the Mississippi gave me an opportunity to test out the new machinery which I created. . . .

"It is another proof of the necessity of planning, and a lot of people laugh about all the planning that we are doing in Washington. In the long run, taking just flood prevention as one of many examples--in the long run, we will save hundreds of millions of dollars by planning for the future." In Bowling Green, he summoned up the spirit of the era of Roosevelt II: "You cannot compare the conditions of 1932 with the conditions of 1938. I sort of sense a deep understanding, a human happiness in the hearts and in the minds of the great majority of Americans, a happiness that this country is surviving under a democratic form of government."

But while history embellished, it was not supposed to conceal, the hustings. Election of the men he wants was Franklin Roosevelt's immediate mission. Along his way, Senators and would-be Senators crowded close, competing to enjoy the magic of his aura, the salvation of his smile.

In Ohio, they were Senator Robert Johns Bulkley and oldtime George White. As the National Democratic Chairman of 1920 (when Franklin Roosevelt ran for Vice President), Mr. White was entitled to a seat beside the President. To Senator Bulkley, however, the President gave his nod: "The cavalry captain of the old days who protected the log cabins of the Northwest is now supplanted by legislators, men like Senator Bulkley, toiling. . . ."

In Kentucky, they were Governor Albert B. ("Happy") Chandler and Senator Barkley, who as Administration leader in the Senate is "Dear Alben" to the President. Grinning bumptiously, the young Governor plopped himself down between the President and Mr. Barkley in the official automobile. At the Latonia racetrack in Covington, before the speechmaking began, "Happy" Chandler got to the front of the platform for a lot of wisecracking and folksy gesturing until suppressed by Secretary Marvin Mclntyre. When the President's turn came, he frankly listed the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into Kentucky by the New Deal, flatly said: "I have no doubt that Governor Chandler would make a good Senator from Kentucky--but I think he would be the first to acknowledge that, as a very junior member of the Senate, it would take him many, many years to match the national knowledge, the experience and the acknowledged leadership ... of that son of Kentucky of whom the whole nation is proud, Alben Barkley."

"Any time the President can't knock you out, you're all right!" was "Happy" Chandler's attempt at cheerfulness after Franklin Roosevelt had departed. But that night at Bowling Green, in praising Kentucky's other Senator, Marvel Mills Logan, for standing "square like a rock" on a certain occasion, the President dealt the young Governor a painful backhand blow. Senator Logan explained that on the occasion referred to. "Happy" Chandler had gone to the White House with the proposal that Senator Logan be made a Federal judge so that Chandler could go to the Senate without threatening the seat of Majority Leader Barkley. The President and Senator Logan had both nobly refused "to traffic in judicial appointments."

Into Oklahoma rumbled the Roosevelt special. There, silver-crowned Senator Elmer Thomas is engaged in a three-cornered fight with oil-rich Governor Ernest Marland and Indian-blooded Representative Gomer Smith. To potent Governor Marland the President was most polite. Upon Gomer Smith, loud exploiter of Townsend Plan promises, he cracked down by inference, quoting Roosevelt I on the "lunatic fringe." Senator Thomas was allowed to ride on the Presidential train (but so was Governor Marland), was called "my old friend," described as "of enormous help ... in keeping me advised as to the needs of the State."

As the Roosevelt cortege drove through Oklahoma City, out of the crowd toward the President's car ran a tattered figure. Firemen and National Guardsmen fell upon the man, pummeled him until the Secret Service identified him as harmless Woody Hockaday, 52, Kansas eccentric who two years ago, shouting "Feathers instead of bullets!" burst a bag of feathers in the office of Acting Secretary of War Harry Woodring (TIME, Aug. 17, 1936). This time eccentric Hockaday's idea had been to shine the President's shoes for 10-c-, raise $1.40 more through 14 other shines, buy a bushel of wheat, make 60 loaves of bread, sell them for 10-c- each and a profit of $4.50--which he would then distribute to baker, miller and middleman.

At Shawnee, Okla., Franklin Roosevelt paused to lend the radiance of his smile to another kind of personage. The station crowd guffawed when he declared :

"I wish to introduce my small boy, Elliott. Elliott and I have inferiority complexes, as we are the runts of the family. I am six feet one and Elliott is six feet two."*

To Elliott's home on a hilltop outside of Fort Worth went the President. Out to the lawn was brought a microphone from Elliott's wife's Station KFJZ over which Elliott broadcasts every Sunday.

Father Roosevelt took the air to tell Texas, of whose spirit he was proud, that it needed more industries but should not get them "by the route of cheap labor."

To Publisher Amon Giles Carter of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Governor James Valentine Allred he was especially kind. At Bowie, Tex., old home-town of both, Franklin Roosevelt staged an act of buying a sandwich from Mr. Carter, onetime newsboy, for 10-c-. At Wichita Falls, the Governor's present hometown. Franklin Roosevelt announced he had offered Mr. Allred a new Federal judgeship. Said the Governor of Texas: "I am just so thrilled. . . !"

*Franklin Jr. is 6 ft. 3 in., James 6 ft. 3 in., John 6 ft. 4 in.

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