Evening star., 1941-02-01

nomination direct to the people as
a means of raising the needed
money. Again leading financiers
said 1t could not be done, but this
opposition did not alter the deter
mination of Mr. McAdoo to try it.
An issue of $4,000 900 900 of Liberty
Bonds was offered to the people at
the start. 1t was oversubscribed by
more than s1,00000O,000 Three
other issues were received as well.
The huge task of mobilization
found the railroads unprepared to
bear the burden placed on them
and the Government took them
over. Mr.. McAdoo was selected to
administer the railroads. Enemies
he made during this period formed
the bulwark of his opposition later
when he sought his party's nomina-
ton for the presidency. After the
war the railroads were returned to
private ownership. 1t was claimed
that their condition was far worse
than when the Government took
them over.
Born October 81, 1863. near
Marietta. Ga. in the third year
of the Civil War, Mr.. McAdoo was
the fourth of seven children Of
Judge william Gibbs McAdoo and
his wife. Mary Faith Floyd.
His early life was a struggle
against poverty. and like many an
other successful American he spent
part of his boyhood selling news
papers. He received some formal
education in law at the University
of Tennessee, and through his work
in law Office was admitted to the
bar at 81. He married Sarah Hous-
toun Fleming, November 8. 1885. To
them were born six children. She
died in 1912.
During the first year he served
in the Wilson Cabinet, Mr.. McAdoo
courted Eleanor Randolph Wilson,
Youngest daughter of the President.
They were married in the White
House on May 7. 1914. Twenty years
later, Mrs. Eleanor Wilson McAdoo
won an uncontested divorce in Los
Angeles. She said her health would
not permit her to live in WASH
ington where, as Senator, her hus-
hand found 1t necessary to spend
much of his time. Their two daugh-
ters subsequently divided their time
between the homes of their parents.
Married Again In 1885.
Mr.. McAdoo married for the third
time September IA, 1885. His bride
was Miss Doris Cross, 26-year-old
nurse with the Public Health Serv-
ice.
From 1912 on. with the exception
of the year 1923 when Alfred E.
Smith won the Democratic nomina-
ton for President, Mr.. McAdoo was
a figure at the national conventions.
He resigned as Secretary of the
Treasury shortly after the Armistice
was signed in 1918, saying he found
it necessary to re-enter private life
and recoup his fortune. But in 1920,
when the presidential campaign
arrived, Mr.. McAdoo's friends organ
lied a drive designed to make him
the Democratic nominee. He dis
avowed any willingness to make the
campaign, and despite the genera
ton of considerable support for him.
was curiously inactive in his own
behalf at the convention in San
Francisco that year. When the by
elections in 1922 showed a gain in
Democratic strength, Mr.. McAdoo
launched a campaign to carry the
Democratic banner in the 1924 elec-
tions.
His name was drawn into the Tea
pot Dome oil scandal investigation
IN the midst of the campaign pre-
ceding the convention in New York.
Edward L. Doheny testified that Mr..
McAdoo was one of several former
cabinet officers of the Wilson ad-
ministration who had been retained
as counsel. Mr.. McAdoo hastened
to Washington, denied all know
ledge of Doheny's dealings for leases
on the naval oil reserves and pub
llcly withdrew as counsel
He then went to Chicago to confer
with his supporters. but it was de-
cloed that he should continue to be
candidate for the Democratic
nomination. After the heart-break-
ing contest at Madison Square Gar
den was lost. he went abroad to rest,
returning to the practice of law in
California.
AS Senator, Mr.. McAdoo's chief
interests were in banking and finan-
cial legislation. A serious illness in
the spring of 1884 kept him away
from the greater part of the sessions
Of the Seventy-third Congress when
the Roosevelt administration was
presenting its long series of momen-
tous recovery bills.
Aviation was Mr.. McAdoo's hobby.
He owned his own plane, although
he did not pilot it himself.