Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-18
BY PAUL II. LEACH.

Nearly three years of the most severe
criticism and personal abuse that any
President of the United States has ever
had heaped upon him, plus flood OF
the toughest breaks possible in any nat
ural course of events, have done things
to Herbert Clark Hoover.
That could be assumed by any one
able to listen or read, but the odd part
of it is that the result on Hoover him
self is not what you would expect. He
has changed, changed greatly, in the
three years following his Inauguration,
but is not embittered. Though he used
to vince under abusive criticism, he
now takes it with a philosophy that
has come to him only in these recent
very eventful months of drought, de-
preston, graSShoppers and Democratic
landslides, philosophy almost Oriental
in its calm.
Believes Course Is Right.
The President believes his course is
the right one despite the caviling
against him and his policies, believes
that sitting tight" will see things
through.
"One learns" he said laconically as
his own explanation of that philosophy,
and he smiled as he said it.
Now I fully realize that it is unpop-
ular in Washington for any one to
speak or write diSpassionately about the
President. The thing to do is to be
disrespectful, to be able to quote from
one or more of the half-doZen books
that have been published in the last
year, all directed at tearing him down.
But Washington is cruel with Presi-
dents. 1t has been disrespectful of
civ he n ant
began. Washington folk, the most in
durable gossips in the world, will tell
YOU that George Washington was an
immoderate drinker and really had feet
of clay-aS though that would not
make him much more Of human
being than the cherry tree story ever
did.
Washington people will tell you of
secret escapades, petty meannesses,
chicanery, political skullduggery, or
whatever else might have been gos-
slipped at the time, of all the Presidents.
Nothing Unusual
So it Is nothing unusual that Presi-
dent Hoover has been leaped upon JOY
ously by Washington. Wherefore, being
Just a country boy from the provinces
where the six books have been best
sellers, tool present some dispas-
sionate personal observations growing
out Of half-hour visit with the Presi-
dent, my first since the 1928 campaign
What was said is immaterial. One
Of the unWritten rules Of Washington l.
that the President is never quoted. How
it was said, Mr.. HooverS manneriSms
the changes that have occurred in hin
in three years, which are striking, are
material. Besides, there are no unwrit.
ten inhihjtiOns against putting then
down on paper.
At the beginning Of the interview hi
sat back Of his desk, SPRAYED at ease
instead Of sitting uncomfortably up
right, as he used to do. Washington
folk will tell you, among other things
that the President does not know what
is going on.
That is a mistake. He does know
what is going on-better perhaps thar
anybody else in the country. He knows
what people are saying and thinking o.
him; he knows what the political situa-
ton is; he has friends who tell hin
straight from the shoulder instead Of
yesSing him with only what he want:
to hear
But that is unimportant The i'm.
portant thing for this article Is the dis
covery that Mr.. Hoover has changed.
Looks Visitor in Eyes
Gone is the old habit so distract.
ing to his callers, of his looking at the
floor, at the callers shoes, at little geo.
metric figures he would draw so metic-
ulously on a desk pad-looking any
where but at the callers eyes.
He sat looking squarely into his
visitors eyes as he talked, nor did he
draw figures.
Gone is the diffidence of speech that
used to make his callers wonder whether
he really was paying attention to them
or thinking Of something he regarded
as more important. He speaks quietly
directly, with an easy flow of words.
Gone is the old habit Of keeping a
poker face. He smiles easily and
readily, actually chuckles. And that
to my mind, is the most unusual Of al
the things that have happened tc
Herbert Clark Hoover. for If anybody In
these parlous times in the United States
has reason for forgetting how to laugh
that man is Hoover.
Physically he has changed. He Is q
bit thinner. His hair is a little grayer
He seems, in his bodily thinness, to have
gained stature. There are lines around
his eyes, deep lines, that were not there
| in the round, smooth face of the Re-
! publican candidate of 1928, but 1t Is
evident that his health is better than II
was then. This opinion has been verified
by White Hosue physicians. Creyasses