The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-02-21
By RICHARD LAKE


with it or to repudiate it. So, also
our estimate of man may depen
on what we want to believe abou
him: the degree in which in which w
need symbol of hatred or OF admira
ton. To that extent we create GU
own world and the people who figur
in it. This applies especially to pei
sons in public service. Such person
tend to become expressions of tn,
peoples will and desire in fairl,
exact proportion to the clarity and in
telligence with which that will is ex
pressed.
In talking with friends about Ray
mond Moley's after Seven Years
(Harpers 1880, l have encountered
some highly instructive comments
That's the fellow that spills the dir
about Roosevelt" one says. Damn
a guy that runs and blabs."
Another comments gloatingly, "Ir
certainly is sign that the New Deal
is rotten all the way through wher
4 Roosevelt's former closest adviser will
expose him like that
81 saw that stuff in the Saturday
Evening Post 1t turned my stomach y
Don't tell me you're taken in by
Moley Every has-been has howl. >
eff you say it's good it must be
good, but can't read it. had enough
of Moley in Newsweek."
| After I'd heard a number of com
ments like these | concluded that
Moley was a man after my own heart.
| The first and almost too obvious les
son to be drawn from the reception
given Moley's book is the old one
that men search always and unceas-
ingly for blacks and whites. They
want everything to be for them or
against them If | had written it my
self, l couldn't have found better
example than after Seven Years" to
| illustrate my theory of the need for
non-partisanship and self-understand-
| ing.
First, the book is not an expose.
| 1t is not the cry of an inflexible mind
| that has lost it's position of favor and
is now out for revenge. On every
page is evidence of Moleys sincere
belief in the essential philosophy of
the New Deal and of his high regard
and admiration for Franklin Roose-
velt
Second, it is not the lowdown on the
inner workings of the New Deal. Any
thing that Moley has to tell is neces
sarily told from the intimate point OF
view of one who discussed daily with
the president all important matters.
On points that are important to him
he tells the facts as he sees them.
But Of state secrets there are precious
few Nothing is told in the sense of
revealing a secret The inward work
ings that Moley observed would doubt
less fill several volumes the size of
this one But telling all is not his
purpose.
1t is not even, primarily, the warn
ing cry of man who has swung with
the pendulum after seeing his cher
ished ideals neglected and ignored.
1t is true that many of Moley's earnest
convictions were cheerily passed over
by the president: the picture of Moley
writing for FDR speech after speech
that violated those convictions COM
pletely makes one wonder how the
man ever learned such detachment.
1t is reasonable to assume that
Moley felt disillusioned and heavy of
heart as he saw Roosevelt and the
New Deal leaving behind the prin-
ciples that had first enlisted his en-
thusiasm and loyalty. Yet there is
no bitterness in his account, and, in
the immediate sense, no judgment
passed on the actions Roosevelt took
or on the events that came of them.
In it's deepest motivation Moley's book
is simply the effort of man of in
tegrity to tell exactly why he could
not continue in venture he helped
launch and passionately supported.
1t is a professors book-the record
of an annotating man whose notebook
was always open before him no mat
ter how heavy the press of affairs or
how hot the controversial discussion
1t is the work of a man who is a
slave to scruple and detail. 1t is
detailed; it is elaborate
ly documented. Yet it is the memoir
of a man relatively free of dogma as
men go, one who worked always with |
the knowledge of the unreliabiiity and |
caprice of human material in his mind. |
Moley was an idealist, believer |
in liberal government. He saw in his |
fortunate working relationship with |
Franklin D. Roosevelt chance to as |
sits in making some of his Ideals into |
reality; chance to lend his weight |
anonymously to what he believed was
a great movement. How he wrote
Roosevelt's speeches during the first |
how he organized the !
brains trust; how he became assist
ant secretary of state in Roosevelt's
cabinet; and his part in the World
Economic Conference of May 1888
these are all fairly well known. 1t
was assumed however, that Moley
had failed at the economic conference,
that his efforts had been repudiated
by the president; that he had broken
with the New Deal and resigned by
request. These, among other false i'm
Moley undertakes to set
light.
He reviews, for instance, the tangled
history of the economic conference.
Roosevelt sent his delegation to the
conference with definite instructions
IN world monetary sterilization and
he resumption of the gold standard
n various countries. He wanted to
void arbitrary commitments on Joint