MEET THE VICE-PRESIDENT Henry Agard Wallace

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 22 February 1941, Page 7

MEET THE VICE-PRESIDENT Henry Agard Wallace

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

MR ROOSEVELT'S NOMINEE Agricultural Journalist with Mystic Trait

Immediately before the inauguration. I of President Roosevelt, m Washington on 20th January. Henry Agard Wallace was sworn in as Vice-President or the United States of America. Though a Vice-President succeeds to the higher office in the event of the j President's death, disability or resigI nation, his election does not mean neci essarily that he is the nation’s second!; choice. Too often the nomination of I ! a candidate for the Vice-Presidenc.y re- J i presents compromise on the part of j j tired and worried delegates, who, afJ ter long debates and successive balj loting for the Presidential nominee, j: | hurriedly name the prospective Presi- h | dent’s running mate. In some instances 1 I a forceful aspirant for the Presidential ■ j nomination, but unacceptable to a dom-ji I inant group in the convention, is side- I 1 tracked by nominating him for Vice- . President, states a writer in the Mel-j: 1 bourne “Age.” A notable example was that of the < Republican convention's decision in 1 I 1900. when President McKinley was ; nominated for a second term. Theo--1 dore Roosevelt, against his indignant! protest, was selected as the convention’s nominee for Vice-President. The < anti-Roosevelt group chuckled; their '< I strategy had relegated the bad boy of i the Republican party to political ob- ] 1 livion. They were satislied his politi- ■ j cal activities would be rendered im- i

, What is the character .>1 this man to whom the President looks fur so much help with so much confidence? Born 51 years ago on an Ohio farm, lie became editor or “Wallace’s Farmer,” an agricultural paper founded by his grandfather. From this position he entered Mr Roosevelt’s Cabinet j as Secretary of Agriculture, about seven years ago. He became the strong-1 est advocate of the New Deal policy, and he has been rewarded j by four-fifths c.f American farmers co-operating with him in his; .crop control scheme, the ultij mate success of which depends upon an extension of Cordell Hull’s policy of reciprocal trade agreements with j foreign countries. He is a mystic j and a Biblical student of deep concentration. He has devoted much time to problems in a wide field of agricultural j research. To find a cheap form of rationed food he lived for live days on cotton-seed meal. Soy bean oil and cauliflower. He has spent many nights studying the stars, to check a personal theory about the relation of the planets !to weather cycles. He is an enthusiastic tennis player, but hardly discloses qualification for a Davis Cup team. Of all forms of exercise to be favoured by an American he has taken up the novel pastime of boomerang throwing. He is proud of his collection of boomer-, angs, one of which returned from his [ throw to cut the face of a press photo-: grapher taking pictures on the White j House lawn. INDIFFERENCE TO DRESS The new Vice-President’s baggy trousers, his rumpled hair and a general indifference regarding dress are regarded by his friends as features offering no hope of improvement. Washington wives will observe with sympathetic interest attempts on Mrs Wallace’s part to bring about the desired change in the new Vice-President's attire. His wife, a graduate of Drake University, is as attractive in appearance as she is loyal in the support of her husband’s very strict religious exercises. Lack of concern regarding his appearance is due, obviously, to a perpetual state of concentration on his work, and to dream stage intervals in the daily life of this mystic. Mr Roosevelt may not be classed as a mystic, but there are many features : common to the two men, who have es- ! tablished an intimate bond of thought ! and action. Both have a deeply rejligious sense. Mr Wallace might have j used the exact words spoken by Mr Roosevelt when, at a White House press I conference, a newspaper representative asked: “Do you propose. Mr President, to do so-ond-so, God willing?” Mr 'Roosevelt replied: “I do,” and after a ! pause. “I’m glad you added, ‘God | willing.’ ” I Over a period of years it was the | duty of the writer to visit the United ! States Department of Agriculture, where, on several occasions, he met Mr Wallace. In a certain interview the subject of mechanised farming was disj cussed. Without quibbling about definitions. Mr Wallace said he regarded unemployment and overproduction as the main current problems of mechanijsation. He considered industrial ex- | pansion a main solution, because injdustry in the United States could take : any unused, unwanted men from farms j and create a wider market for farm

potent in the circumscribed position of j' President of the Senate —the only offi-1 . cial duty allotted to a Vice-President. 1 » Six months after his inauguration Me- j • Kinley was shot by an assassin. Thus j > a fateful turn of fortune's wheel made ; i Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt j' President throughout McKinley’s un-; ; ■ expired term. 1 Nine Vice-Presidents have succeeded: 1 to the Presidency through the deaths { L of occupants of the higher office. In three instances —Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley—the change was due to j 1 ‘ death by assassination. Two other i ; Presidents—Theodore Roosevelt and j j | Franklin D. Roosevelt—were fired at j . by assassins, but in both instances the j : ; bullets fortunately missed their mark, j 1 The most recent instance of transi- ; ; tion from Vice-President to President j 1 , occurred when Harding died. Vice-: President Calvin Coolidge received thej ; news at 2 o’clock in the morning of an! August day in 1923. He was in the Ver- j 1 • mont home of his father, a justice of i ■ the peace, who, by the light of an oil

lamp, swore in his son as President. An interesting Vice-Presidential record is that of the Democratic candidate in the 1920 election. He was defeated. His name is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. NOT A POLITICIAN The latest Vice-President has taken i office in circumstances unique in thej history of the Union. Actually he was j the nominee of his President. Assured of his nomination for a third term, President Roosevelt indicated a desire to see Mr Wallace nominated as his running mate in the election of last November. He was not acceptable to a majority of delegates attending last year’s Democratic Convention, but it is obvious now that Mr Roosevelt was not willing to face the grace responsibilities of the immediate future unless satisfied regarding the character and ability of the man who was to be Vice-President if he (Mr Roosevelt) returned to the White House. So a man named Wallace was to be their unwanted nominee for Vice-President! Impossible, he wasn’t a politician. Worse, he didn’t even care a hoot about politics. But they bowed to the President’s will.

j goods. “The way out,” Mr Wallace i added, “ is through the achievement of a balanced agriculture.” Mr Roosevelt, it has been indicated jin Washington, is determined to allot |to this new Vice-President powers which will lessen the weight at present S carried solely by the President. In his ! eight years as President Mr Roosevelt ! has broken many precedents, and he is quite equal to ignoring the longestablished convention t that a VicePresident is a mere figurehead. Last month he sent Mr Wallace (who speaks Spanish), as Vice-President-clect, to represent the United States at the inauguration of Mexico’s new President. What tasks Mr Wallace will undertake other than the placid duties of President of the Senate remain to be seen. Probably he will concentrate on many domestic problems, and thus allow the President freedom to devote time to the ever-pressing international situation. In whatever direction the President uses his very loyal henchman, it is assured there will be a very earnest, hard-working new Vice-President of the United States of America.