The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-03-02

fOrelSn QlplOlnaLS, as rule, live in houses of gilded glamour. They do not get down and grub with the congressman, cooks and bottle-washers who ride on the merry-go-round of Washington. They know as little about the country to which they are &C., credited as the Los Angeles WPA worker does about diplomacy. Both get their ideas from the movies.
 In such an atmosphere Mi- chael MacWhite has stood out as one who knew the United States almost better than the United States knows itself. He knew, for instance, the police chief of every large city in the country, the mayors of many, and had ap- peared before Irish-A American gatherings in every state north of the Mason n-Dixon line.
 In Chicago he knew almost as much about local politics as Mayor Kelly. In New York the sachems of Tammany called him by his first name. While in Boston,! Well, Boston was tough spot even for Mac White-it has too many Irish factions.
 In Washington, high officials trusted the, Irish minister more probably than any other diplomat. IJo vr,o c oIy,,oct ono of tho fo yoi1,, One day he was in the Presi- dents office when Joseph P. Kennedy, then chairman of the Maritime Commission, came in to explain a report on the mer- chant marine which was marked, "COnfidential-f0r the President. So MacWhite started to withdraw.
 That's all right" said Kennedy, motioning for him to stay, "this is Confidential for the Presi- dent and MacWhite only'." Knew His Hoover
 MacWhite also was on good terms with President Hoover, and is one of the few diplomats who ever witnessed those rare mo- ments when Hoover relaxed. One of these occurred during the annual High Jinks at Bohemian Grove near San Francisco some years ago, where MacWhite was a guest.
 Arriving at the cabin where he was to stay, MacWhite noted several cots around the room and asked his guide:
 "Whose bed is that?"
 'Mr. Hoover's."
 "Whose is that?"
 "That's MT. Wilbur's, the ex- secretary of the interior"
 Well, whose bed is that?"
 That's Will Rogers" (Will was killed few weeks later.)
 This completed the guest list for that particular cabin. Mac- White was hurried off to a cock tail party where the host an- nounced:
 We've been trying to keep this cocktail cool for 20 min utes waiting for you. We've got your favorite kinda daiquiri."
 "Who told you that was my favorite?" asked MacWhite (whO has no favorite).
 We got the recipe from MT. Hoover"
 Later MT. Hoover had a Bene- dictine. Although he did not go in for anything stronger, the ex-President kept his bunk-mates up until late that night regal ing them with stories of his war days in Belgium.
 Soldier of Fortune
 Probably one reason MacWhite has been such a sympathetic student of the American people is that most of his life has been at grips with the star realities of life. He has been a bank clerk, farmer, newspaperman and professional soldier.
 His military career began with the World War. MacWhite en- listed with the French Foreign Legion, was wounded in the first French offensive at Arras, sur- vived the whitening fire of the Turks at Gallipoli, and spent the rest of the war on the Mace donian front, where once again he was wounded.
 Typhoid fever was coupled with the second wound and at one time MacWhite was taken to the death ward - for patients for whom all hope as abandoned. When he came out of the death ward he was named La Revennat" or "The Ghost.
 "I refused to conform even then," says the Irish minister. remembering that day.