Rosenmcm to the Rescue

Franklin Roosevelt, sailing mysteriously to sea (see p.16), left behind him big, unpublished news last week: he had at last decided that the time was ripe to do something final about the staggering, boggling defense program. And the man the President had chosen to outline the cleanup was his most intimate adviser, Samuel Irving Rosenman, a judge of New York's Supreme Court.

Judge Rosenrnan is a quiet, shy, almost anonymous jurist. Texas-born, Jewish, 45, married, with two sons. He dislikes physical effort, delights in mental exercise. Scholarly, retiring, an easy conversationalist, Rosenman is the President's unofficial speechwriter. Out of 13 years' experience, the President has an absolute respect for Rosenman's judgment, calls him "Sammy the Rose."

Just before the President and Winston Churchill left on vacation, Mr. Roosevelt called in Judge Rosenman, gave him orders large and new, fit for the deed he had to do: draft a reorganization plan that would wake up the U.S. people, produce war materials, aid all victims of aggression. The Judge was given complete freedom to rip OEM, OPM, NDAC, OPACS, etc., etc., etc., up & down & sidewise, if he saw fit; the thunderous sky was the limit.

Franklin Roosevelt's order made Judge Rosenman one of the most important individuals in the U.S.

The Augean stables of the defense program had been cleansed before, but they were still in a mess (see p. 27).

Somehow the production program rocked powerfully on; tanks and planes, guns and ships were being made, millions of men were working three shifts a day--but production totals were pitifully small beside the real U.S. potential.

". . . And Three Motorcycles." The top organization, Office for Emergency Management, was aptly described by Washington News Columnist Richard F. Scholz as "President Roosevelt, Wayne Coy and three motorcycles." OPM, the great factory whose most famed product is bottlenecks and coordinators, was in almost mortal combat with OPACS--merely over method. OPM and Lend-Lease Administration were fighting fiercely over jurisdiction. OPM and the Army were scrapping about ordnance; the Army and Lend-Lease were at loggerheads over which should get the produced planes, tanks, guns, etc. OPM and the Office of Civilian Defense were at odds; the State Department wrestled with the new Office of Economic Defense; OPM's priorities section skirmished steadily with Federal agencies which wanted priorities.

The entire OPM v. OPACS fight over how-much and in-what-way the production of automobiles should be cut down became futile this week when the shortage of copper became so acute that there would be none left for non-defense consumption (see p. 61}.

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