The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-07
Most annAzanI

Most amazing thing about this Incident is that the principals were kept In coea~ plete ignorance oS the whole protect for several days aS6er it was out, To have informed them Of this proposed cabinet ShA&e~up would have been too simple, too much S&e direct, straightforward dealing, So a more intricate procedure waS followed to prepare them for the blow,
 News that there was @ cabinet shift impending was allowed eo get out in>Waaat has become known sn Washington as an inspired leA&,' The difference between a leak and an inspired leak is that in a simple leak, somebody outside the govern ment gets hold of news that some body inside the government wants to Reep secret. OfncialS can keep mum, as witness the MoaotoV visit and Africa stories, But in en sM~ spired leak, somebody inside the government wants some news to get to the public without resort so an official announcement, so the news is planted.
 WIJSH~HUSM STUFF
 An offacial calls in co~conSpara~ tor and tells him, sGoo&it- You can't attribute this 10 me or to any one in the government, but if Soc let the newspaper boys put out a story saving that Harold Iekes is 10 be made Secretary of Labor with control over nalpower, that Paul v. McNutt is to be made Secretary of the Interior, and that Madame Perkins is to be made Federal Sc curity Administrator, goa won't be far wrong"
 It might not be cone that os> recty, but the story would De planted by subtle hints,
 Now any newspapeTman worth his salt will check back, as was done in this case, Reporters went to the offaces of Tc&es, McNUts and Perkins, and from each rece1reG fat denials that any such shirt was in the wind, Secretary Per kins has been reported as reSaen~ ing or being forced to resign so many times that her otace e'oesn t bother to make formal den1aS, But it was news to both TckeS ana NC Mutt.
 Rumors of this triple play Shstt Inf cahinef ofscerS brcke on We'd nesday, Receiving casegorsca1 cie- nials that there was anything 10 these Thisperings, the press aSsocaA- cations and most of the correspond eats at first wouldn't touch the story. Some reporters wrote news of the rumors negatively, enphaszz- ing the denials.
 COMES THE LIGHT
 AZ OF L. President BSn Green and C. I. O. President Phil Murray, both in New York on the day the leak broke, heard the ruamors and dashed back to Washington 70 see what gave, After their huETied con- ference with the President, however, it became apparent that these re- ports were not all hooey- But lcSes and McNutt still knew nothing ot them.
 Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and Friday the President canoelec his press conference. On Saturday Secretary Ickes was apparently lei in on the secret, and was given the I weekend to think it over. On Mon- day McNutt stil hadn't heard any thing ofhcially.
 This triple plcy, whether or mol 1t is pulled on as planned by the coach, is so devilishly clever that it could only be figured out by c past master of inside politics. That it was thought up by some of the New Dealers and planted without approval or knowledge of the White House, then sold to the President, sE inconceiEable.
 The inspired lead was permitted to try out public opinion and par ticularly Washington opinion 10 there was no bad reaction the deal might go through. If there was 2 hitch - well, the thing could be kissed of as a lot of newspaper 1a1k Either way, the newspapers werk played for suckers by an admlnSs- , tration which has delighted in cEara- cizing the newspapers for mot gel ting the facts.