The Man

The only thing Latin Americans like better than a crisis is a strong man to sit back and look to during it. They habitually refer to such a cynosure as El Hombre --The Man. Last week Latin Americans picked out El Hombre to cope with the world crisis. They wrote editorials praising his attitude, talked about him in bars, shops, homes, and, as if he were a fighting cock to be pitted one day against the ruler of the roost, began to say that in the end it would be up to El Hombre to stop the Fuehrer. El Hombre's name: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

When the 21 independent countries of the Americas gathered at Lima last year to draw up an antitotalitarian pact, most of them were determined not to let El Hombre's delegate, Cordell Hull, run the show. Argentina in particular hemmed, took exception, offered substitute phrases. The final draft, a reluctant Argentine compromise, postulated the 21 countries' common interest, provided that in time of crisis the signatories would consult each other. When war broke out fortnight ago, Argentina did a complete about-face and put herself in the forefront of the rush to implement the Lima Declaration.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Dr. Jose Maria Cantilo quickly called all American diplomatic representatives in Buenos Aires for consultations. Argentinian sympathy for Germany, which was supposed to be strong, disappeared overnight. A decree curtailing the barter deals with the Nazis restored to the U. S. many of the orders for fuels, electrical appliances, chemicals, drugs, newsprint which had been coming from Europe. The War Ministry discussed discharging the German military mission which had been instructing land forces. And Argentina heartily endorsed a proposal originated by El Hombre Roosevelt but officially put forward by Panama: that the signatories of the Lima Declaration meet at Panama City late this month to work together on neutrality measures.

El Hombre was not altogether unconscious of the big brown eyes staring up at him. Pointedly he said for two continents to hear: "[U. S.] safety is, and will be, bound up with the safety of the Western Hemisphere and of the seas adjacent thereto."

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