Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-31
HASKIN DISCUSSES IDENTITY
OF THE NEW KING MAKER
Daily Letter by Frederic J. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30:-When
there is new king there must be-
preforce new king maker. With
a new President in the White House
it becomes of moment as to who put
him there. Ordinarily such an event
follows hard upon the heels of
years campaigning for the nomina-
ton and the election and it is not
so difficult a matter to put one's
finger on the political genius who
turned the trick.
In the present instance, however,
Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the
Presidency, instead of attaining Ii
as the result OF a campaign, and he
did this some three years after his
appearance upon the stage of nat
lional politics. Hence u ere is MOI .
room for doubt and debate as to who
is to be credited with being tho
prime factor in his elevation, and as
to who is the logical man to have
charge of his political fortunes dur
ing the even more momentous year
that is at hand:
This man, and that man, and yet
two or three others, have been
named in this connection, and in the
absence of any decided consensus of
opinion or judgment as to who
made Cal Coolidge President" II
may be we'll to state one incontro-
vertible fact:
James B. Reynolds was at the
head of the Coolidge organization in
I1920 and directed the campaign that
resulted in the nomination Of Mr..
Coolidge for Vice President. He has,
therefore, at least a tltular claim
to the honor that is being so much
discussed.
Mr.. Reynolds is either reformed
or a degenerated newspaper man,
according to the view that is taken
of his evolution from a Boston re-
porter to a Washington banker and
national political figure. When he
left Dartmouth College in the early
eos he took up newspaper work
at the Hub, and aftsr a brief novit-
late there he was advanced to the
post of Washington correspondent of
his paper. He served three years
in that capacity and then he found
himself back in Boston where he
was wanted in the job of secretary
of the Republican State Committee.
There, it may be said, he had val
liable contacts with that master
craftsman Of politics, w. Murray
Crane, who was one CT the domin-
ant figures IN the Republican party
for years,
Back In Washington Again
A few years later TheodOr Roose-
lvelt brought Mr.. Reynolds hack to
Washington and made him one Of
the Assistant Secretaries of the
Treasury, and when the Tariff Board
was created early in the next ad-
ministration President Taft made
him one of the members. The Tariff
Board job did not last long. Cong
ress forgot-or intentionally over
Ilooked-a prime necessity for its
continued existence, an appropria-
ton, and the Board was 'spurlos
Iversenkt."
But the campaign Of 1912 was al
hand and Mr.. Reynolds just natural
lly got back into the active politica
game. He aligned himself with the
forces that renominated President
Taft and when the Republican Nat
lional Committee was reorganized h(
became the Secretary, succeeding II
THAT position William Hayward, now
United States District Attorney II
New York.
Mr.. Reynolds continued as Sec
retary OF the national organization
through the Hughes campaign o
I1916 and up until the eve of the 1920
lcontest. There was a man up Bay
State way then, who had made al
enviable reputation as Governor
and who was being much discussed
as a presidential possibility. Some
one was needed who knew the nat
ional politics and politicians to take
charge of the Coolidge movement
If it was to get anywhere, and ac
lcordingly no one was surprised wher
lit was announced that Mr.. Reynolds
had left the National Committee ant
would be in charge of the Coolidge
headquarters.
1t was not in the cards for Mr.
Coolidge to be nominated for the
presidency that year, but his attain.
Iments and his character were wei
presented to the nation and there
came a time in the National Con.
Ivention when 1t appeared that the
lsecond prize could be his. OF course
no one dreamed that the president.
lial nominee would not survive his
first term, and the Vice Presidency
is not so highly regarded by some