Evening star., 1944-12-20

PODlIlOll \ ~ a
should MT. Frank r. Kent.
Roosevelt be reelected, his inability
to lead Congress and the presence
In that body OF an snti-NeW Deal
majority would mean practical
paralysis OF government, disastrous
administrative futility. There was
and still is solid foundation for this
contention.
However, 1t certainly was expected
that the rabid New Dealers among
the Senators, the early sponsors OF
the fourth term who in the past had
supported every Roosevelt policy and
applauded every Roosevelt act, who
had placed him on pinnacle and
laviShed upon him idolatrouS praise
1t was expected that these would
follow him after the election as they
had before.
Didn't Develop That Way.
But that was not the way 1t
turned out. On the contrary, this
fight against the President was led
. by The most ardent. though gen.
orally least esteemed of the pro-
Roosevelt Senators and was sup
ported by the most noisy and radi-
cal OF the left wing daily and week
ly pro-Roosevelt publications.
Though they represent little but
themselves. by sheer persistence
and ballyhoo they have become the
recognized spokeSmen for the So
called Liberal movement and the
so-called liberal" labor leaders.
The type of their campaign re-
yealed the extent to which they
will go. Actually, there seems no
limit to the recklessnesS of their
allegations.
In this case, they went to ridicu-
louS extremes. For example, it was
surely ridiculous violently to assail
Mr.. RooSevelt'S S selections without
assailing Mr.. Roosevelt himself,
who is solely responsible for their
selection-and when at least two
of his selections did not want the
posts and had to be drafted And
certainly 1t was ridiculous to base
opposition largely upon the ground
that five of the six selections are
millionaires and hence untitled for
high Office That, after other
charges had proven too weak to
stand up, is what 1t came down to.
President Undoubtedly Millionaire.
One would think that the fact
that the same charge can be made
against Mr. Roosevelt would mean
something to these breast beating
friends of the common man" who
pretend to believe that wealth is
synonymous with iniquity. He. too,
is an undoubted millionaire. He in
herited more than million and
never earned a dollar of it. But that
they blithely ignore
The threat of a f1libuster to pre-
vent confirmation and the willing
ness to sacrifice Mr.. MacLeish,
whom they ostensibly support, in
order to get at" the millionaires
against whom they rage, well illus
trates the nature of the fight and
the character of the fighters.
Probably the meanest form Of the
attack was that made against James
Clement Dunn. The effort to make
Mr.. Clayton and one or two others
seem sinister characters, lacking In
patriotism and enemies of the com
mon man" fell to the ground be-
cause of the unqualified denials of
the charges made to sustain such
notions. AS soon as these charges
were made they were denounced
as false. Despite the absence of
proof they were, Of course, repeated.
Dunn SinguIarIy Able.
But actually, the attackers fell
back on the millionaire complaint.
1t was not possible to find in Mr..
Dunn's career any material to boil
ster up any such charges as those
against Mr. Clayton. He isn't
businessman. He is a career diplo-
mat of real distinction-and there
was nothing in his career which
could be used for that kind of at
tack. After one or two abortiye
attempts, the liberal organs aban-
doned that field and Joined in an
effort to picture Mr.. Dunn as the
cookie -pusher" type of diplomat
whose talents are exclusively social.
The meanness of this sort of dis
paragement lies in the fact that the
allegations were not the kind a man
can dignity by denial or even notice.
The truth is that Mr.. Dunn is a
slngularly able and clear headed
man Of wide experience who has
held many important posts and has
the esteem and respect of practi-
cauy everybody in the State De-
partment and a great many outside.
Admired by Hull.
1t Is not exaggeration to say that
he is one of the most popular men
IN the service and that in capacity.
as in character, no one stands
higher. Not the least of the tributes
paid Mr.. Dunn is the friendship of
tofmer Secretary Cordell Hull. He