Evening star., 1944-08-14

date Mr.. Roosevelt's record and Mr..
Roosevelt himself are legitimate OBJ
jects of attack There are things
Mr.. Roosevelt has done and things
he is doing which should be ex-
posed and for which he should be
held personally responsible. Yet,
when he wraps his Commander in
Chief cloak about him and departs
on some mysterious journey, in
pursuance, as he declares, of my
constitutional duties" there Is nat
ural reluctance upon the part Of
the opposition to assail him.
This is not only because he might
be doing something Of great i'm
portance (though that by no means
has always been the case) but also
because of the ease with (which his
assailants could be put on the de-
fensive and the cleverness with
which 1t could be maintained that
small minded politicians attack
him at home while he, as the Com
mander in Chief, with no thought
in mind save winning the war, op-
crates on plane high above poll
tics.
There are things that should be
understood about these Commander
In Chief campaign trips in pursu-
ance Of my constitutional duties" ="
One is that they permit Mr.. Roose-
welt to move around under a veil
of secrecy so thick that the full story
of where he has been and what he
has done never is revealed. Even
tually, upon his return. the Amer
lean people get what information he
thinks they should get.
Picked Newsmen.
Only the picked representatives of
the three press services accompany
him and by the time they are free
to write what really happened, 1t
is no longer news. and, in any event
would not be written in a way the
President would greatly dislike.
This is in contrast with Mr.. Roose-
velt's opponent, whose every move
now is exposed to the white light of
publicity and who is constantly at
tended by 40-odd newspapermen,
quite q few of them hostile.
Another thing that should be un-
derstood is that Mr.. Roosevelt, trav-
cling as Commander in Chief, also
travels as a presidential candidate
For example. on his most recent
trip he took time out on his way to
the Pacific Coast to divert his train
to Chicago, where as candidate
he conferred with Democratic
Chairman Robert Hannegan and
others, on purely political matters
Two days later at a West Coast
naval base" he made his speech
accepting the nomination - but
made 1t as Commander in Chief in
pursuance OF my constitutional
duties"
A third thing that should be
understood is that on these trips
Mr.. Roosevelt, whether on land or
on sea, whether in this country or
some other, is never out OF COM
munication with his aides, political
or executive, is always kept in
formed Of political developments,
Is always able to advise or decide.
Frequently, orders and messages
from him emanate from the White
House when he is many miles away.
A fourth thing that should be
understood is that this dual role of
Commander in Chief and candidate
is piece of coldly calculated politi-
cal strategy 1t is upon it that re-
lance is placed by the elements
behind Mr. Roosevelt to keep him
in the White House for four more
years. Certainly, it gives him a
great advantage.
Same Strategy.
Although there was no war on
in 1896 and in 1910 it will be recalled
that Mr.. Roosevelt pursued almost
the same strategy in both those
campaigns and it is the way In
which it worked in those years that
gives the men around him now
confidence it will, work this time.
In 1886, for example, Mr.. Roose-
velt assumed the attitude that he
was too busy handling the affairs OF
his great Office to participate in an
ordinary campaign. Instead of a
political tour, he made inspection
trips" to the dust bowl of the Mid
die and Far West, which had all
the effect of political tour. In
addition, those trips permitted him
to pose as being aloof from politics
In that campaign he also held a
nonpartisan conference of Cover
nors in Iowa, at which his opponent,
Gov. Landon, was present but at
which Mr.. Roosevelt, naturally. got
all the publicity.
In 1910, the war was clearly ap-