The Wilmington morning star., 1943-12-28
Inside
Washington

Inc big closed cars slid ps,.
The motorcycles reared SS'-
like machine gun fire. Keen b..4 4
charged, their exhausts nons, IVA
there!' shouted the traffic nolia1
The secret service men. aS'
studying the faces of the cro, IVY
right hands on revolver hjps '~ ros'
on the running boards of the n ,vue
ldenual automobiles and mi9 p,es'
with the onlookers on thp S;g
| walk. e Sioe
The encourage of the chief .
vanced in triumph. The Nari au'
band wasn't there to strike ' nl's
the martial hymn. But there WI WI
welcoming prayer in the be. ~as
OF the people Thank God w.
president of the United STATE, 0e
home again." NS ~
No matter how much Won o,..
dislike Franklin Roosevelt as '
man, how you may object IN ~
political policies, how YOU NAV ~ ~.
sent his hopes of fourth ter nv
be is the president of the rni ,-
States. At this moment he i wv
sential to his country, 10 yo wv
country and my country
Think fearfully of the chaos tb.4
would have followed if that '' 20,
ported forcing down of his nI, Nc
in the Azores had meant r fa.sI
accident to him, who is the nre,
dent. %
In the event of such traood,
what would have happened ia tbe
course of this war and 10 Nc vh W.,
are its pawns?
Would the vice president of tbo
United States automaticallv en-"
ceeding to the presidency have
known what to Go with this conn.,
try? Certainly not. The reason t,.t
he would not have known is not
because ne is rot an able and
honest man. 1t would have been
because he has not been in Mr.
Roosevelt's confidence.
No one imagines MIR. Roosevelt
has told Wallace his plans for
carrying on the war. Or his plans
for the reconstruction of the tat.
tered postwar country
Undoubtedly Mr.. Roosevelt and
mis- war lords together have dis
cussed the strategy of the conflict
many, many times. Perhaps War
Mobilization Chief James F.
Byrnes knows many of Mr.. Roose.
velt's wishes for the future Surely
here and there in the government
there are men who know what
course Mr.. Roosevelt means their
particular departments to take.
But l doubt if any one individual
knows the presidents complete
plan of action at home and
abroad.
The one person in whom such
trust should be laid is, as every
one knows. the vice president, And
yet almost ali presidents Of the
United States have been alo0f
from their vice presidents.
Generally a vice president is Sc
lected as a candidate because Of
an unlikeness in Temperament 10
the running mate who heads the
ticket. Lincoln and johnson we're
unrelated in thought and tradition,
After Lincoln's assassination his
successor found himself too una
ware of what the great emancl-
pator had planned for his peo-
pie. johnson did the best he could,
If Andrew Johnson had worked
with Abraham Lincoln instead OF
at the other end of Pennsylvania
avenue. the history of the post
civil war era would have been less
unhappy. 49,.
woodrow Wilson as president OF
the United States definite m o.a
not take his Vice President Thorn
as R. Marshall into his confidence
about the conduct Of the 1lfSt
World War. One of the Wilson
Marshall stories now being IeylV-
ed SAYS that Vice President Mar,
shall almost went into nel '1.
breakdown when he was tod the
untrue rumor that Wilson had oeeH
killed abroad.
What can | co 49,.
# is not indelicate 10 say lHd'
Roosevelt should consider the po..
sibilitv of some tragic Happening
ia himself. He should tell the man
who will be his successor In sucn
All eventuality every detail Oh vi.
design he has mapped out LOT '.'
United States, nationally ana HI
! ternationally. ,,,.,,-.on
The sudden illness OF winston
Churchill. stricken with pneull'o.
ia. makes such a course even
more imperative for Mr.. fooSs
Welt. The English speaking ma,
tons, involved as they are III a
struggle to the death, should nav ;n.t
every insurance possible agdl"''
unnecessary confusion, ~
Perhaps those conferences WIZ w.
Stain, Churchill and Chang nsu
to take place. Perhaps wisely cLo'
en- representatives could have cur
Quoted the negotiations and repols
ed to their chiefs by overseas 'els
phone.