Old Man's View

Puffing on a pipe in his book-lined living room in Cherry Cottage, Buckinghamshire, Clement Attlee, old soldier (a major in World War I) and mild-seeming architect of Britain's 1945 Labor revolution, was in a mood to speak out; he was under the impression that the go-minute interview would not be shown on TV until after his death. But last week, as a result of some "fast talking" by his interviewer (and old friend) Francis Williams, Lord Attlee agreed to a 45-minute version to be shown over the BBC on his 76th birthday. Among his tart but mellow observations on the men he has known:

Stanley Baldwin: "In his way, you know, [he] was a great parliamentarian. I mean, he played on the House with very great skill. If there was anything awkward, he'd get up and talk about airy nothings. Nothing whatever to do with it. But he'd soothe the House."

Ramsay MacDonald: "Curious bird. He had a kind of Highland aloofness. You never quite knew where he was. Always rather apt to impress on you the whole burden of the world was on [him]."

Neville Chamberlain: "Always struck me as a rather cold fish. I mean he had a look on his face--a sneer. I don't know whether it was intended."

Winston Churchill: "A great parliamentary figure, but not a great parliamentarian. He never took the trouble to understand procedure. He always had a general idea that he might talk whenever he pleased ... I once had to say: 'I must remind the Right Honorable Gentleman that a monologue is not a decision.' . . . What Winston always requires is some strong people round him saying, 'Don't be a fool over this.' I remember Lloyd George saying to me once, apropos of something, 'There's Winston--he's got ten ideas on this and one of them is right--but he never knows which it is.' "

Ernest Bevin: "He always professed he never understood the 'Ouse very much. But he'd get across all right. Provided he could be himself. But the danger was occasionally he'd want to read a Foreign Office brief. It was quite fatal."

The French War Leaders in 1940:

"Weygand looked like a little rat in a trap --caught. Petain looked like a great old image. Darlan trying to show the bluff sailor. And the politicians snatching at everything. I thought they were a hopeless lot."

The German Generals: "A futile lot, I thought. Lacking in will and lacking in execution. How they failed to bump off Hitler with the opportunity they had, I don't know."

De Gaulle: "A very good fellow. I reviewed his book and I said then, General de Gaulle is a very good soldier and a very bad politician. He wrote back to me saying, 'I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.' "

Governor General Jinnah of Pakistan: "I knew him as long ago as 1927. I never liked Jinnah. I don't think he was very genuine, you know."

Molotov: "Molotov only laughed with his mouth, not his eyes."

Roosevelt: "I think he had been brought up to think of us as a colonial imperialist power. I don't think he really understood European politics much. I don't think any American did, much."

Truman: "One of the best. He didn't know much to start, but he learned very quickly. Very courageous fellow."

Eisenhower: "Ike? Oh, a very good fellow. Extremely good diplomat. Man to get 'em all working together. A man of courage. Not a great soldier ... I begged him not to [go into politics]. I said, since George Washington none of your soldiers have made very good politicians. I said the most successful was Harrison; he died within three months."*

* Soon after riding on a white horse to his inaugural on a miserable day, General William Henry ("Old Tippecanoe") Harrison got caught in the rain while out walking, died of pneumonia one month after taking office.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.