POLITICAL POWER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 10

POLITICAL POWER

ONE-MAN BBAIN TBUSS NEW WHITE HOUSE FIGURE ADVISER OF PRESIDENT [from our own correspoxdext) NEW YORK, August 4 For the past year, or a little longer a new figure has arisen in Washington! Described as President Roosevelt's "oneman brain trust," he is said to wield a power "vaguely resembling that which the Duke of Buckingham held ' under James 1., or which Olivier the Barber held under Louis XI." He is Mr, Thomas Corcoran, attorney, aged# 35, whom the President intimately * calls, "Tommy the Cork.", Members of the Cabinet, senators and representatives are said to show him respect second only to that shown to the President. A protegee of Mr. Raymond Moley, the "first brain truster," Mr. Corcoran was the favourite pupil of Professor Frankfurter, Dean of the Faculty 0 f Law at Harvard. After graduation ha became secretary to Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. At the inauguration of the New Deal, Mr. Moley brought him to Washington. He, in turn, brought to the Capitol the most brilliant of the younger lawyers. Intelligence Service Scattered throughout the Federal public departments, these lawyers act as "contact men" for Mr. Corcoran, whose enemies refer to them as his Ogpu. In other quarters they are described as the most powerful intelligence service in the country's history.. Their leader is credited with writing the President's speeches. An illustration of Mr. Corcoran's power within the White House wa3 afforded by a member of the Congress from Maine, who stated on the floor of the House that Mi\ Corcoran had threatened to halt the 36,000,000 dollar project to harness the Bay of Fuiidy tides unless the speaker voted for the so-called death sentence clause in the bill to controf public utilities. Originally an Opponent Mr. Corcoran is openly charged with threatening senators who intended'to oppose the President's plan to "pack" the , Supreme Court by the appoint- '■ ment of six additional Judges, 2 ; for which he has been the chief lobbyist and publicist. Originally opposed to the New Deal and a supporter of Mr. Hoover, Mr. Corcoran was appointed. to the .Reconstruction Finance Corporation, founded during the ex-President's-term at the White House. When President Roosevelt turned radical. Mr. Corcoran followed suit, and bitterly attacked capitalists, industrialists and' Wall Street. - More than one member of Congress has said that he is becoming tired of Mr. Corcoran and his association with the White House. The spotlight Of publicity has now begun to turn on him. His critics demand, with a growing chorus of agreement, that he emerge into the open. • ?