Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-04
COL. HOUSE TAKING
PART IN 1882 RACE;
SUPPORTS ROOSEVELT
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page.)
did not wish to answer any more ques-
tions for the present and thus politely
retired into diplomatic silence.
When told that Col. House had &C
knowledged his activity, persons close
to Gov. Roosevelt admitted that they
had been aware of 1t for some time.
Values Houses Advice.
1.-The Governor has been on friendly
terms with Col. House since during the
war" one of them said. He has al
ways valued very highly Col. Houses
political acumen and advice"
Until now Col. House has been asso-
ciated with only one figure in Ameri-
can national politics, Woodrow Wilson.
He began dabbling in politics while
student at Cornell and. upon his return
to his home State of Texas, quickly &C
uuircd the role of confidential political
adviser He never held public office.
But he managed the campaigns of three
Governors of Texas and, in 1911, came
East to look over the field of pot initial
nominees for the presidency. He met
Woodrow Wilson. who in his first year
as Governor of New Jersey was emery
ing as a leader of the progressive DEM
ocratS.
Withdrew After 1915.
Col House decided Wilson was the
man he was looking for and jumped into
the campaign to obtain the presidential
nom nation for him. Always he re-
manned a silent figure, moving quietly
behind the scenes. In the White House
he became the Presidents intimate pr
sonal adviser and confidential repre-
sentative, first in the domestic field and
after the outbreak of the World War
upon diplomatic missions to both Ger
many and the allies.
Since the campaign of 1916. in which
President Wilson was reelected, Col.
House has taken no part in national
politics, either before or after the ma
tioral conventions. He has lived in
Semi-retirement.
1t was generally assumed that he had
retired permanently from politics.
Roosevelt Prominent in Party.
1t has been generally recognized that
Mr.. Rocsevelts strength as a potential
nominee for the presidency lay partly
in his identification with the Wilson
administration, during both of which
he served as Assistant Secretary of the
Navy. The same element in the party
was conceded to be behind the interest
in the nomination of Newton D. Baker
of Ohio, former Secretary of War. Since
the termination of the Wilson era the
Wilson Democrats have not held COM
handing influ-nce in the party. Mr..
Roosevelt was nominated for the vice
presidency in 1920 as the representa-
tive of the administration to compen-
safe for the nomination for the presi-
dency of James M. Cox, Governor of
Ohio, who, although he made whole
hearted n9nonniOn for tho nf
Nations, was originally the candidate
of the arti-Wilson Democrats.
Mr.. RooseveltS subsequent prominent
place in the movement to nominate Gov.
Alfred E. Smith for the presidency gave
him a close affiliation with the urban
Northern wing of the Democratic party
which few other of the leading Wilson
Democrats have had. His close friends
see in that dual identification unique
advantage to him.
COlonei's Support Welcomed.
Members of Mr.. Roosevelt's political
family who knew of COL Houses re-
cent activities did not attempt to con-
ceal their satisfaction. They pointed
out that probably few men in the
country have so many political con-
facts or a larger political experience,
and did not repudiate the suggestion
that in becoming sponsor of Mr..
Roosevelt at this early stage of the
pre-convention campaign, very much
as he had become one of the early
workers for Mr.. Wilson. Col. House
was marking Mr. Roosevelt as in his
opinion the rightful successor to Wood
rev wilson
The Roosevelt boom has assumed
greater proportions at this stage of
the convention campaign than his
political advisers would have preferred
to have it assume, according to their
own statements. His election as Gov
ernor in 1923, when Alfred E. Smith
lost the State as candidate for Pres
ident, put him among the five or six
men most frequently mentioned as po-
tential candidates. With his re-elec-
ton by the unprecedented plurality CT
1885, 900 last Fall, he stepped toward the
front. The Progressive Conference in
Washington in March, at which he was
favorably mentioned, together with his
part in preventing John j. RaSkob,
Democratic national chairman. from
obtaining from the National Commit
tee a commitment to a definite party
platform, including particular plan
for modification of the eighteenth
amendment and planKs en- various eco
nomic issues at variance. with those
of Mr.. Roosevelt and the ProgreSsives,
started a definite movement to nomi-
IL