ROOSEVELT WORKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 150, 28 June 1938, Page 19

ROOSEVELT WORKS

PRESIDENTIAL DAY

VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

A RADIO INTERLUDE

President Roosevelt, waging his v on trade depression in the Unit States, iuinounced to Congress recen his £1,090,000,000 "spending and lei ing" programme. As a privileged gu In his family circle within rec< months, Basil Maine is able to porti in the "Daily Telegraph and Morni Post" the serene but vigorous pers< ality of the President as he deals w problems of administration and woi affairs in the well-regulated busine like atmosphere of the White House More than once I "heard the stc of the visitor who, after visiting Pre dent ROosevelt, was chiefly impress •by the fact that he did not continua ring bells or send Messages, and to it to mean that he could not possil be a dictator, writes Basil Maine. Nai though that evidence appears, it something of an indication. I was lowed to spend a whole morning w: the President, while he carried out normal, programme of work, and I s; nothing and heard nothing that si gested the dictatorial temper. The reader will be thinking tt possibly this was a performance for r benefit; that, like the visitors U.S-SA., or to any other' experirtei ing country, I was permitted to s only the fairest show of things. B in this matter I claim my share ordinary human judgment, and shs say that if that particular morning hi been staged for my benefit, somethir whether a voice-inflection or a sign unreality or of self-consciousne! would ; have told me so. AN AVERAGE MONDAY. No, this was an average Mondi morning for the President of the Unit< States, and I have not yet arrived the stage where I am persuaded tb my presence could have the smalle effect upon the manner In which Sta affairs are conducted. The morning was passed in tb way. First, I had breakfast with Ml Roosevelt at the eastern end of U long gallery which runs right throug the first floor of the White House. T1 President, I was told, would be read at about half-past ten, and, if I wou' meet him then outside his room (whic was dn the same floor), we could % to thg Government Department t gether. At twenty; minutes to >eleye the President was ready, after haviri been attending to the morning ma . since before breakfast. "Good morning," I heard him sa; He had seen me first and I turned 1 be greeted with the renowned sfni! (which, for all that it lends itself s easily-to caricature, is the "most rea suring; of all the smiles I have evt seen),-and, to feel that massive ham grip. His negro attendant wheeled hii into the lift and he began to tell -"in of the arrangements for . the moinini "Not a very exciting schedule, I ai afraid" he added, "but perhaps it wi give you an idea of how things go o here."-' ' Many, pictures of Franklin Rooseve: are fi*Sd in my mind, but none cleafc than tfiose occasion when; v 'as"on tKis-.mbrni'ng and befor and after; dinner, two or three of u Junxrin, the. lift. tude the'sanie, hands upoi his kftees/'fingert moving- as if for ; keyboard exercise, the. fine heai throws back, a cigarette in its holde sticking up at a sharj> angle from thmouth. _ ■; , ROUND THE DEPARTMENT, During the few seconds while Wi were nooving from one floor to the nex he w6iSia? make : inquiries of one or another of us. Then was no waste of time or of words, ye I think of those "interludes as beinj curiously intimate and revealing. "I think you'd better go round th< whole Department first," the Presiden suggested. So I was taken to see th< secretaries' offices, the file room, thi sorting office (whenever the Presiden' makes a speech the order is "Clear th< decks" for incoming letters), the switchboard room, and various othei offices, each adorned with two or three • pictures painted under the auspices 01 the Works Progress Administration and chosen by Mrs. Roosevelt. I was surprised to learn that the White House-is allowed to £11 only thirty-six appointments to .the Government Office staff. The rest are made by the various Governmental Departments. • This tour done, I returned to the room in which the President gives audiences, and faded into the background. This was the famous Oval Room. I sat there while all manner of business was done, interviews, the signing of documents, and so forth, and had the queer sensation of having been transformed into something inani: mate, as tho.ugh I had become one ol the flags or one of the marine pictures that were hanging there, or one of the toys that Were' piled up on a table behind the President's chair. : INFORMAL INTERVIEWS. The interviews were seemingly quite informal. Quiet ddrivefsations they were, -moving ; easily between official and personal matters. One man; having shown to the President the draft of a proposed xeport ajid having received from him suggestions as to its wording, suddenly brought from his pocket a photograph of himself and a large fish he had caught. Roosevelt beamed admiringly,, spoke Of one of his own recent catches, and steered the man back to business. After two or three of these interviews Mr. Matvin -Mclntyre appeared. His is the office adjoining the Oval Room, the last line of defence. Numbers of people who are hopeful of interviewing the President get as far as Mr. Mclntyre'S office and then, with good grace, retire, persuaded that, though they have failed to reach their goal, they have achieved the next best thing in talking to-]fc-Mclntyx%. An Ambassador came in,.and it was then that 1 realised that 1 had not been forgotten after all. The President turned to me and said, "Afraid I'll have to ask you to leave us a moment while we talk foreign affairs." There was humour in his voice, and I almost expected him to add: "Not that it would matter much if you stayed and listened." I went into Mr. Mclntyre's room and there waited. I saw with what smiling tact he turned away a busy-look-ing woman who seemed confident that she was about to break through the last line and talk to the President himself. I was looking at a picture that was hanging near me, and, while he was waiting for the next caller, Mh Mclntyre said, glancing at another picture on the wall behind him, 'This is my favourite," He spoka with a southern drawl/ "Not the best art, maybe; but it appeals to my sentiments." A BROADCAST SPEECH. For a moment I wondered why so veli-favoured a picture had been placed behind his back, and then decided.: that'.perhaps it was the best §osition after all. for it might have een a distraction during working hours. While I was considering these thins? a message was brought t~i me. At 12 o'clock the President would be broad-

J casting a speech from the Diplomatic 3 Reception Room, and it was suggested that I should accompany him there. So in a few minutes the President was being wheeled again through the cloistered way that leads from the Government Offices to the room which is called "Diplomatic Reception," and which on this occasion was to be the origin of a diplomatic transmission to Poland. * That particular day was Pulaski Day, j that, is, it was set aside as a tribute to General Casimir Pulaski, the Polish hero of the American Revolutionary >ar War. To mark the day the remains ed of General Kryzanowski were removed from Brooklyn to Arlington National tly Cemetery. President Roosevelt's speech was a est tribute to these Polish patriots, "whose very names," he said, "are watchwords ' of liberty and whose deeds are part a y of the imperishable record of Amering can independence." Being watchwords, )n- these names had to be correctly proith nounced, and, before broadcasting his speech, the President, with a laugh sg. against himself was making sure that he had them right. iry The words which, by emphasis and a , s j. slower pace, he made the keynote of ei j his talk were these: "We as a nation Uy seek spiritual union with all who love Qjf freedom. Of many bloods and of di)ly verse national origins, we stand before v g the world today-as one people united j s in a common determination. .-That al _ determination is to uphold the ideal of human society which makes conscience 1 superior to brute strength, the ideal * which would substitute freedom for iotfe .in the Governments of the world." at FRENZIED PHOTOGRAPHERS. Ny . In the room were five or six Press to photographers (who could not have it- worked with more frenzy had this ee been their last chance of taking picut tures of Franklin Roosevelt) and a of little group ot broadcasting people, ill tfwo companies were taking the id speech, Columbia and the National g. Broadcasting Company. To one Who is of used to the quiet, orderly announcing ss, at Broadcasting House, it wpz bewildering to hear two announcers at two microphones introducing the President at the same time. One made a, longer >y introduction than the other, yet they !d finished exactly together. That, too, at vvas a little bewildering. But Preat sident Roosevelt was taking all this in st his stride. While he was being ante nounced he lit a cigarette and put his manuscript in order. Then he began is The presence of a few people did not s. tempt him to put on the orator's manie ner. This was to be a man-to-man af:h fair, after the style of his famous Arete side talks. It was an attractive piece [y of reading. Art and skill were there, d yet .were made subservient to the mesh sage. The effects of stress, pause, and ;o varied pace were not superimposed 3- but came from the speaker's feeling n for the words. . g : For the most part he pl&yed upon il the upper register of a voice which . could be described as agreeably barir. tone, played upon it tellingly with n never a strident note. Intonation and ( e diction were equal factors of his eloquence. The English proudly refer to s _ King's English (even those who never , r attempt to speak it). If the Amerii. cans ever wanted to use the term n "President's English" in the same way, they could not'find it better exempli- , fled thf n in Uie speaking of . Franklin n " Roosevelt. J, When the broadcast was finished I walked by,the President's side as he was being taken ? back to the Ova' Room. For a moment he had a ; glimpse through tfte- cloisters of ,the £ morning sunshine, and the sight of it put sadness into his eyes. In fancy I e saw the'look of one who was thinking s of what he, would Jt>e ..dqiijg. on such a morning had he been a free man.