Evening star., 1942-01-25
Wars Shaped RooseueH:s Destiny
Birthday Finds Him Fit for Exacine Tasks of World War II
Rv Afnrnu. NJ RI

| C1XTY years ago TINS coming friday
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born
into the comfortable squirarchy Of the
Hudson River Valley. No one, unless 1t
was his mother, q woman Of extraordi-
nary character ard prescience. felt the
shadow Of the wing OF destiny over that
| birth.
The man who will be 90 years old this
week is known as few Americans have
| ever been known. He Is known to the
meanest coolie on the Burma Road. His
| is a name that issues famiharly from the
| rare loudspeaker In the Moroccan desert.
| On ships at sea and under the sea, In
the far strange places Of the earth you
hear those Dutch sounding syllables ...
| Roosevelt.
For millions Of men and women In the
prison that is Europe 1t has the quick
connotation Of hope. For other millions
it Is a name of fear and hate. On the
world stage this man Is now front and
center 1t is his destiny. terrifying
and wonderful destiny, to stand there
almost alone, unsmiling, grim, resolute.
The curious thing is that he should
have gone so long before the mark OF
his future was obvious on him. In more
ways than one his illness Of 20 years ago
was turning point. He was close to
death. He was threatened with an
invalid's existence. And something hap
pened within the man, something that
was to alter his life entirely.
Has Stuck to Pledge.
1t is what gives his birthday a special
significance. The day is dedicated to the
crusade that he started against the
scourge of infantile paralysis. Having
suffered from this scourge, he resolved
to do everything in his power to help
other sufferers and he has never, even
in all the press Of world affairs, forgotten
that pledge. On Friday night in every
city and village In, the land Americans
will dance in order that other Americans
may be helped to walk.
Not long after Pearl Harbor the Presi-
dent, as he. shaved, was talking with his
press secretary, Stephen Early, about the
reaction Of the press to that national
tragedy. Early pointed out that edi-
torial writer's, columnists and correspon-
dents almost without exception had COM
President had come through that ordeal.
He doesn't seem to have any nerves was
a frequent comment in the aftermath of
the trying week that began on De-
cember 7.
Well, why not, the President said, re-
minding his friend and adviser that war
was not exactly new experience to him.
Actually he saw probably greater part
of the general war area In 1918 than any
other American. So much has happened
to Mr.. Roosevelt IN the intervening years
that the public has more or less for
gotten that chapter In his life. But not
Mr.. Roosevelt himself! His service as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy from
1918 to 1920 was one OF the great ad-
ventures Of his life and particularly
during the war years.
Moreover, he reminded Mr.. Early that
his speeches in recent years have con-
tanned repeated warnings Of the peril
America was in. Others preferred not to
believe this, but the President was firmly
convinced that the Nazis meant soon or
late to strike directly at this country.
Therefore when it came he was less sur
prised than perhaps any one else.
Renewal Of Career.
To the President 1t meant taking up
again a career that had been broken off
in 1920. Today he is Commander in Chief
and his word is final in all departments
Of the Government. During the World
War he had to make decisions only for
the Navy Department where, incidentally,
his chief, Josephus Daniels, entrusted
him with the lions share of responsibility.
In 1918 when he became Assistant
Secretary Of the Navy Mr.. Roosevelt was
81. He was only 38 when he finished his
tour Of duty in that Office. An active,
energetic young man, he managed during
those seven years to see for himself
virtually all of the American defense
bases. He visited the Canal Zone and
the West Indies. In charge Of procure
ment, supplies and transportation, he in
spected plants and Navy yards through
out the country.
But the real adventure came when he
boarded destroyer in the spring of 1918
for Europe. 1t was rough crossing with
the ship blacked out and the menace of
submarines always present. His was a
rowing commission of inspection and the
first port of call was the Azores. From
there the destroyer took the young As
sistant Secretary to destroyer bases in
Ireland and then to destroyer, subchaser
and air bases in England.
It was more war, in terms of geography
and even in terms of peril, than most
professional sailors or soldiers get out
Of two or three wars. And it is small
wonder that after such an excursion the
young Assistant Secretary should have
contracted double pneumonia on the
homeward voyage on the Leviathan. He
was carried OF the ship at New York on
q stretcher and when he had recovered
after long convalescence he began a
new phase of his life.
Was Stricken in 1921.
The new phase began with the attack
of poliomyelitis which came in 1921, for
no one had taken too seriously the trial
flight into politics in 1920 when he had
been the Democratic vice presidential
candidate. That was the turning point,
that ordeal by suffering and invalidism.
He came out of it in many ways diff
ferent person. more disciplined, more
mature, man with depth of character
that had not been visible before.
No one has ever heard him whine. His
old teacher, the Rev. DR.. Endicott Pea