Evening star., 1937-06-21
BY JOHN J. DAILY,

r. MIL LUDWIG, biographer OF
X Lincoln, Bismarck and Ma.
poleon, came to town last
night to do portrait OF
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Early this morning Ludwig started
on his task described by him as the
most ambitious he has ever under.
taken-'becauSe," as he eplains, ii
is much more difficult to write the
life story of living man, as against
the dead, and Roosevelt throbs with
life"
Though loath to talk about his
work, and what he hopes to accom-.
plish, Ludwig permitted his interviewer
to accompany him on the first leg OF
the journey, in which he hopes tc
gather all the available material hav-
ing to do with the life of President
Roosevelt.
First, after leaving his quarters in
Wardman Park Hotel. Ludwig called
at the White House-to have a brief
chat with Miss Margaret LIE Hand and
deliver to her one of his books.
When the author heard that Pat
McKenna, the major domo at the
White House executive Office, had oc-
cupied his post for "a years, come
July, he made note of that-and
decided Pat will be put under the
searching eye.
Impressed With U. S.
Then to the Office of Secretary of
the Treasury Morgenthau to make
an appointment for a future inter-
view. Discovering that Tommy At
kins of the Treasury staff had covered
the Navy Department years ago when
President Roosevelt was Assistant
Secretary OF the Navy, booked him for
a hours interview later.
Modest about his past work, Ludwig
dismisses his books with a shrug.
AS he walked out of the Treasury
Department, however. he said, One
of those pillars was built by royalties
from my books" Those books, Incl
dentally, are published in 3o-odd
countries.
Though he has been in America
many times before, Ludwig-an exile
from Germany who makes his home
in Switzerland-cannot get over the
fact that this is "wide-open
democracy.
Look at the open DOORS" he said,
as he went into the State Department
for an hours interview with Secre-
tary Of State Hull. You'd never see
anything like that in Europe-except
in Switzerland"
Met by Harry Mcbride, assistant to
the Secretary of State, Ludwig was
impressed by the democracy of all the
officials: I'm Berlin, in London, any,
where you go in Europe the secretaries
are so pompous," he said. They make
you feel as if they are carrying the
weight OF the world in their palms"
Run From the Nazis."
An elevator in the State Depart
ment was equipped with an electric
fan: There again is democracy. That
electric fan was put there to make
the operator comfortabl ;" You'd
never see that in Europe either"
In walk through the White House
grounds, Ludwig stopped to watch the
antics Of a squirrel:
Last time was here" he remi-
nisced, "the best man saw in Wash
ington was squirrel. Your squirrels
are so tame they eat out of your
hands. In the days of the republic,
in Germany, the squirrels were like
that, too, Now they run from the
Nazis."
Ludwig was thrilled over the flight
OF the Russian flyers from Moscow to
Vancouver, and depressed over the
defeat of his old friend, Premier
Blum in France.
Those two events" he said, will
make Hitler cockeyed. He looks out
OF one eye at the tremendous triumph
OF the Russians, and is sad. Out
OF the other eye he sees the fall Of
Blum, and is glad-to an extent, for
even there he sees the Russian
menace