Evening star., 1937-09-26

10 tHe TWO Mr.. Roosevelt already had
All three angers could be satisfied by
appointing Mr.. Black TO the Supreme
| Court. BY appointing Mr.. Black he
could say, "I1l show you" to three
| groups at once, three groups whom
he regarded as enemies, the Supreme
Court, the Senate and the Southern
| conservative members Of the House.
I imagine 1t will be found that Mr..
Roosevelt's final decision to make the
| appointment came within few hours
Of the time he heard that the Black
wage-and-h bill was held up In
| Congress.
Did Mr.. Roosevelt know that Mr..
Black had been or is-or both-a
member of the Ku Klux Klan? Let
us say at once that Mr.. Roosevelt,
from the beginning of his career to
the present moment, has never shown
any faintest trace of racial or religious
| intolerance. But still the question
remains-did Mr. Roosevelt know that
Mr.. Black had been or is member
of the Klan?
To answer this question we must
consider another Of Mr.. Roosevelt's
traits. He likes to do what he wants
to do. He wanted now, more than any
thing else in the world, to vent his
anger by appointing Mr.. Black. In
stinct undoubtedly told him that if he
took advice. much of the advice would
be against it. And-as it seems from
all We can learn or surmise-he took
pains not to take advice from anybody
who might give him advice contrary
to his own headlong willfulness. The
accounts 1 have seen and the gossip
have heard are to the effect that
Mr.. Roosevelt kept his intention from
any Of those who were closest to him,
many who, if he had consulted them.
would have advised against appointing
Mr.. Black. The wish to avoid inter-
ference, even friendly interference, has
become strong in Mr.. Roosevelt. AS it
is put by Mr.. Joseph Alsop and Mr..
Turner Catledge in an article in a re-
cent Saturday Evening Post: He is
insistent on having his own way with
out interference and, after so much
success, interference infuriates him"
1t seems the safest of assumptions
that, If Mr.. Roosevelt had revealed his
intention to his publicity fidus achatesi
Mr.. Charles Nicholson, Mr.. Nicholson
would have recalled to him Mr. Blacks
| association with the Klan. For Mr.
Nicholson some years ago. when he
was a newspaper man, wrote a series
of articles about the Klsn in the
South, which, as recall, included de.
tails of the association between the
Klan and Mr.. Black.
If Mr.. Roosevelt, in advance Of
sending the appointment to the SEN
ate. did not know of Mr.. Blacks as
sociation with the Klan because he
had avoided consulting those who
might inform him), nevertheless, he
must certainly have learned of the as
sociation during the week or so during
which Mr.. Blacks name was before
the Senate.
If Mr.. Roosevelt learned, after he
sent Mr.. Blacks name to the Senate
but before the Senate had confirmed
it, that Mr.. Black, was or had been
member of the Klan, why did he not
give that information to the Senate?
BY that time, of course, Mr.. Roosevelt
did not want to suffer the rebuke OF
| having the Senate refuse to confirm
his appointment.
There is another possible reason. If
Mr.. Roosevelt learned. after he sent
Mr.. Blacks name to the Senate. that
Mr.. Black was or had been a member
| OF the Klan, it is possible Mr.. Roose-
velt may have been pleased, rather
than otherwise Not that he himself
approved the Klan-there is no faint
est suggestion of that. But Mr.. Roose-
velts driving. impetuous, imperative
wish at that time (and before and
slnce) was to reduce public esteem for
the Supreme Court, reduce its moral
authority, reduce its reputation for ju-
dicial attitude. And how better re-
duce the esteem for the Supreme Court
as an institution by having upon it
for many years to come, man who
had been member of the Ku Klux
Klan! Reflection upon that may
have given Mr.. Roosevelt pleasure: it
would have satisfied the trait in him
which Messrs. Alsop and Catledge de-
scribe, rather mildly, as his slightly
| puckerish, slightly malicious delight
in turning the tables on his enemies"
| If Mr.. Roosevelt learned, as he must
have learned. from the newspapers if
| from no other source, that Mr.. Black
had been associated in some way with
the Klan-in that event, even after he
had sent Mr.. Blacks name to the
Senate, why did he not query Mr..
Black, and, after he found out the
facts, withdraw the name?
Why did Mr.. Roosevelt not anticipate
the uproar that would arise when the
| public learned of Mr.. Blacks asso-
citation with the Klan? 1t seems clear
that after the uproar actually arose
Mr.. Roosevelt was disturbed and
would have withdrawn the appoint
ment if he could. Why, then, did he
not avoid the uproar?
The answer lies in yet another trait
of Mr.. Roosevelt, his we'll known free
dom from worry. This trait is praised
in Mr.. Roosevelt, as it is in others. But
worry is a maligned word and ma
| ligned condition; it ought to be more
| esteemed than it is. Seen truly,
worry is in large part merely another
name for foresight. for envisaging the
| future results of present actions. Mr.,
Roosevelt's immunity from worry goes
80 far that it amounts. in his case,
almost to complete lack of any sense
of future consequences whatever.
He exists and functions wholly in. the
present. Recall his oratorically effec-
4.... ..z. 4l.. .x.,..I 4.