Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-12-23
Naming of Halifax as Envoy
Highly Welcome Hull Says
New Ambassador Due
To Arrive Shortly
After January I

Secretary of State Hull said today
the appointment of Viscount Halifax
as the new British Ambassador to
the United States is highly welcome
to the American Government, and,
he felt sure, to the American people.
Mr.. Hull commented that the new
Ambassadors record of accomplish
ment commends him to the admin
istration in connection with the serv-
ices he will undertake to perform.
Lord Halifax, moved from the
important post of Foreign Secretary
in the Churchill war cabinet to
succeed the late Lord Lothian, is
expected here shortly after the New
Year, well before President Roose-
velt's third inaugural January 20.
At the White House, inquiries as
to whether the appointment of Lord
Halifax would bring the appoint
ment of new American Ambassa-
dor to London brought no informa-
ton. 1t was indicated that no
announcement was impending on
the name of the successor to Joseph
P Kennedy, who has resigned.
1t was Lord Halifax to whom Lord
Lothian reported from Washington
The new envoy is expected to take
up where Lord Lothian left off in
trying to cement British American
relations with a firmness which
would give England complete conf
dence in American support of the
British war effort under any cir
cumStances.
Lord Halifax Is feet inches tall,
cold-looking, deeply religious and de-
voted to fox-hunting. Between him
and his predecessor there is one
great difference. Lord Lothian, in
an earnest way, appealed with great
success to the American people for
active sympathy with the cause of
his country. He made more public
speeches than any Ambassador since
Lord Bryce
Lord Halifax, it is believed, will
center his attention on the more
traditional aspects of diplomacy,
dealing wholly as government man
with the government to which he is
accredited. In negotiation and in
winning for his country the sympa-
thy not of the people as whole, but
of the proper people he has few
peers in Europe today. He is one
of the few Britishers who have COPIED
successfully with Mohandas Gandhi
in India, but he was taken in by
Adolf Hitler, on whom he looked
with favor until the Germans took
Prague.
Has Never Been to U. S.
He has a long background in pub
lie affairs, but the fact he has never
been in the United States is taken
as evidence that the Churchill cabi-
net is satisfied that Lord Lothian
created a powerful pro-British popu-
lar feeling over here and that an
expert in the conduct of interna-
tional relations is what is needed
now. Lord Lothian was student
of foreign affairs before he became
Ambassador, but Lord Halifax is a
practitioner of international affairs.
Foreign Minister since January,
1888, during all the war to date and
during most of the events which
directly led to the wars beginning,
Viscount Halifax is accounted here
as highly qualified to interpret
British policy to the United States
Government.
His views are conservative and he
carries the mark of Clivedenism-
pre-War o-Hitlerism-but his abil-
ity has been admired for years by
Conservatives, Liberals and Labor
party members alike; by the deepest
anti German British patriots as
well as those who before September
or March, 1899, thought Hitler
should be given a chance to develop
his program.
The primary problem confronting
Lord Halifax here is not a matter
in simple diplomacy or politics, but
in war economics and supplies.
What England needs is ships. What
Lord Halifax is charged with OBJ
tanning is some method for increas-
ing the number of cargo vessels that
this country can make available to
England.
Wrote Ghost Stories.
Lord Halifax when a young man
wrote ghost stories which were
syndicated in American newspapers,
but he has never been closer geo.
graphically to this country than the
British West Indies, which he
visited when he was an undersecre-
tary in the Colonial Office.
Lord Halifax was born E. F. L.
Wood in 1881, of parents who were
devout in their observance of de-
votion to Christianity through the
Anglican Church. Despite the heavy
pressure of duty at the Foreign
Office, he still attends church every
morning in London.
He entered public life when he
was 20 through successful canvass
for seat in Parliament from
Ripon. From 1921 to 1922 he was
parliamentary undersecretary for
foreign affairs; 1924, president of
the Board of Education; 1o24-25,
Minister of Agriculture, and 1926
81, Viceroy of India.
The India post is one of the most
important the English government
offers. Mr.. Wood would not accept
it until he had prayed long for
guidance. Then, having accepted,
he received from the King the title
of Baron Irwin of Kirby Undertake,