The union times. (New Haven, Conn.) 1941-1948, 1943-09-25
Labor And F.D.R
His Chief Hates
By Virginia Gardner

WashingtOn-"Ihe trouble
with a lot of these Congress
men around here,'' said Rep.
Clare Hoffman (R., Mich.) as
we walked from his office to
the Capitol, els that they're
afraid of being called pro-
Hitler or disloyal.
Not Clare. Five minutes later
| peered down from the gallery
at his stumpy figure as he arose
to make parliamentary move to
delay debate on the mild Full
bright resolution (H.C.R. 25)
which favors creation of appro-
pirate machinery to maintain a
just and lasting peace.
''I'm against it," Hoffman had
told me earlier in his Office. mo
use me sellin' you any brOilers
until they're hatched.'
There is, a hOmespun quality
about Hoffman. He talks in COLO
quiaIisms. His thick thatch of IRON
gray hair is arranged so lock of
it falls over his deeply lined fore
head. He has a country look about
him. l imagine he whites.
But some Of the colleagues on his
side of the aisle who smile broadly
when he arises on the floor don't fail
to seek his support on many issues,
nor do they underestimate his clever
ness, much as he may embarrass them
in public.
1t is dangerously easy to laugh at
this Congressman who has introduced
more anti-labor bills than any other.
Hoffman doesn't mind being laughed
at. He plays the bufoon before the
House-but when he revamps his
speeches for the Congressional Record,
so many of which were sent out by
certain seditionists indicted and now
awaiting trial, particularly his "Roose-
welt is Judas" speech-the buffoon-
cry is absent and all the poison left in.
| had heard the theory expressed
around Washington that Clare
Hoffman was fanatic, pure
crusader. who hated labor and the
President and ali forms of liberal
ism-a righteous man with a
cause, which just happened incl
dentally to be cause which
occasionally aided Hitler.
Trouble with the idea is that |
knew him when. He was an ordi-
nary small town lawyer who hadn't
yet broken into the papers. In fact,
| covered the story which. was his
debut into the headlines of the metro
politan press | guess he liked the ex-
perience.
The Chicago Tribune, which redis
covered him years later when he went
to Congress, has portrayed him to
Chicagoland, or Tribuneland (Which
according to the Tribune includes most
of Michigan and certainly his district)
as a fearless man who will lambast
labor and the President and Britain
and the Soviet Union when no one
else will
| doubt if it has ever recalled,
however, the fearlessness with
which Hoffman defended one Fred
Ring, back i'm 1884. Now there
was a liberal cause, for Fred Ring
was a nudist. Hoffman was his
lawyer. Ring was convicted, but
Hoffman tried hard, and he got
lot of fun out of the case, and lot
of publicity. If the Tribune will
look i'm its files it can find several
page one stories about Rings nudist
cult in the peaceful envirOns
around Allegan, HOffman's home
town, and the spirited defense
made in his behalf by Hoffman.
AS l sat in Hoffman's office star
ing at the inscribed photographs of
E. E. Cox Cd. Al, Howard Smith
Cd. Va.), Fred Hartley Jr. Or. N. j.
and other hating, administration
batting figures, l unused over how a
homespun Hitler may be started on
publicity-loving career by a simple
thing like a nudist trial.
When he came in / felt little
abashed about mentioning it, but l
asked him if he recalled me- l men
toned the name of Fred Ring
s'Oh yes" said Hoffman, without
trace of embarrassment. ''The
state supreme court upheld the con-
viction. | remember" Then, call
ing in his secretary, ''Ring-you
know. that nudist-he served 80
days in Jail, didn't he?" he asked
her. ''And would you come here
and trim my nails?" he added to
her. They're bothering me-
So, as he held out his hand and she
dutifully pared, he and | conversed
about the little dancing teacher nudist,
Ring. | asked him what important
tasks faced Congress.
We'll, the first thing" he said, with
out any more embarrassment than he
had shown in recalling his nudist-
counsel experience, 'is the winning of
the war" Just like that. But unless
the New Deal changes its ways we
can't win that war I don't mean mill
tary strategy, mean the home front
There's an unholly alliance between
the C.IO., the ALL, and the ad-
ministration"
He was off. The rest was routine
H. Hrnan stuIH