Evening star., 1941-11-09

When President Roosevelt makes up
his mind. thousands OF persons have
worked on the idea first.
In shirt sleeves, cutaways, business
suits or uniforms they probe and an
aEze in Washington, in the 48 States
and throughout the world. What thev
learn is assembled. co-ordinated and
evaluated, and finally the essence of
their knowledge pours into the White
House by cable, telegraph, mail. tele-
phone and in crisp little memoranda
which are handed to the President across
his desk.
In this critical era, special group of
informants are at his elbow, delivering
much of this information, serving pur-
pose apart from that of his cabinet and
the heads of the various agencies, who
In ordinary times are the Presidents
principal informants.
The names of Donovan, Hopkins,
lubin Currie, Coy Mellett and Winant
someday probably will intrigue The mis-
torians, who will search their secret
files to learn why President Roosevelt
acted thus and so.
From morning until late at night, he
reaches repeatedly into "the basket" re-
pository of nearly all the papers that
await his attention. In normal times
1t Is formidable enough, but nowadays
It piles up in bales. 1t is taken with him
on trains, on the yacht Potomac, to his
Office at Hyde Park, to his stateroOm
during voyages at sea. But it never gets
beyond him. When pressed, he always
can clear it up in q burst of concen-
trated, solitary labor.
The rapidity and thoroughness with
which he masters the material astounds
those who work with him. One of his
tntimates said that he has a photo
graphic mind-the kind of intellect
which can absorb a page of reading
matter in the time it takes an ordinary
man to read a couple of lines. Yet he
doesn't miss a detail of what he reads.
And he can recall it years afterwards.
At press conferences-dramati per-
formances which the President obviously
enjoys immenselyEhe amazes his staff by
being able to answer questions on minor
details of governmental affairs on which
they had no information whatever.
Two years ago group of economists
working on prices prepared for him
highly complicated chart-the sort of
thing even scientists study for hours
before they can fully understand it. One
of the men explained the chart to him,
and the President nodded and said little;
the economist wondered If he really COM
pretended all that was being said. An
hour later there was press conference,
and the President explained the chart
to the reporters more clearly and accu-
rately than the economist had explained
It to him.
Donovan Watched
When he is listening to reports, he
takes no notes, except memoranda which
he intends to pass on to some member
of his staff. When written reports are
prepared for him, he prefers them to be
no more than a page or two long. He
must economic his time to the utmost,
and when he desires more detail he asks
for it.
In talks with his advisers he asks
frequent questions; and when the ques-
tions stop coming, the man speaking with
him knows that the time has come to
end the interview.
The presidential adviser that Capital
observers are watching with closest at
tention today is Col. William j. Dono-
van, co-ordinator of information. His
job is to assemble for the President ma
terial of strategic value, primarily of
military nature and dealing largely with
foreign affairs. In setting up the Office,
the President simply made the announce
unent rs commander in chief of the armed
forces-not issuing an executive order, as
IN the case Of the creation of other ex-
scutive agencies.
Donovan's headquarters is the old
Naval Hospital, few blocks from the
Lincoln Memorial. One must have pass
TO enter, and it is surrounded by armed
guards. On the staff is Capt. James
Roosevelt, the Presidents eldest son.
lQtO U1c ~. ". l. dlC UlOuSllO SoPASo VI
the secret files of the Army and Navy,
the F. B. l., the defense agencies under
o. E. NJ, of the State and Treasury
Departments, the reports of the Federal
Communications Commissions monitor
ing stations, which check up on Axis
propaganda via the short wave.
The most impressive unit of Donovan's
agency is group of eminent scholars
known as the division of special infor-
nation who do research at the Library
of Congress. They are remarkable
aggregation of academic brains, borrowed
from universities to serve the Nation
during the emergency. Planning and
controlling their work are board OF
analysts of five men, headed by Prof.