Evening star., 1933-06-11
-copyrisht By Harris q Bwins.

stafY call to mobilize there for dinner. An Of
us who had not seen 'the Boss" since his phy-
sical disaster went with trepidation, think, I
know did wondered what change would
find in that gay. happy-hearted man I had
known when the inner assurance Of high poaiti-
cal preferment was before his eyes.
We mobilized. And we found him, Is high
of heart as gay IN hunaor, and more over
whelmingiy interested In politics-national,
State, internationaEthan he had ever been.
It was dumbfomding Men Of courage are no
rarity; but man who could face such . cruel
stroke Of fortune so blitheiy, with 20 utterly
unchanged demeanor, with an outlook on the
world and its affairs so unaffected with such
utter absence Of repinfng-shis was beyond any
thing had ever known think we were all
q bit dazec-and, II possible, more ardently the
friends Of Franklin Roosevelt than we ever
had seen.
We discovered another thing too Not for
q moment had his determination to have Q
share in great party affairs and national politi-
cal life ahated. whether he then foEesaw the
possibility that despite the physical handicap
he himself could again seek high public onace
I do not know That was not discussed. But
the good Of the Democratic party, stid. groggy
from its 1929 defeat, was. And It developed
that out Of that card-index memory Of r. D.
most vast and unusual political mailing list
had ever heard Of.
Mr.. Roosevelt had begun immediately after
election day sounding out by mail all those
people he had met on the campaign trips Of
1870. He was seeking . formula for the re-
generation Of the party; program Of definite,
constructive Affirmative nature upon which the
undismayed Democracy could 60 to the country
again four years later and again every four
years until 1t regafned power. Scores Of thou
sands Of letters have now been sent out and
received. The President today, am confident,
knows more about what more men and women
all over the country are thinking than any other
man IN public or private life.
Year by year. as time went on, that old 1920
group held its annual reunions or about Mr.
Roosevelt's birthday. They were held ct his
New York City home, ut Washington hotel,
sometimes, after he began going South each
Winter to know the benefits of warm waters
first in Florida and then at Warm Springs, Ga.
While he was Governor at Albany they were
staged at the executive mansion there. The
last gathering, after his election to the presi-
dency, was at his cottage near Hyde Park last
January.
A LMOST from the start Of these birthday
reunions It became clear to the rest of us
that Mr.. Roosevelt not only had allowed his
physical misadventure to impair his political
interest IN no respects, but that he was devoting
all Of his time to profound study of economic
and sociological matters His eager, boyish joy
in living day by day and every day was the
same as in 1920; yet we could sense that he
was maturing in Judgment and understanding
remarkably from year to year as we renewed old
associations with him. That smiling firuness
IN course once decided upon was very marked.
There went with It, however q readiness to hear
every differing point of view and an increasing
desire not to be bound to any particular formula
or plan Of action, but only by the ultimate
objective, sought by whatever method Of ap-
proach proved best
Almost before we knew 1t, certainly before he
became Governor of New York and was actually
relaunched as q vital figure in active public Ne,
Continued on Seventh P01e