Evening star., 1945-07-01
Byrnes
Continued From First Page)

Mr. ByTneS quickly occupied
prominent place In the upper
chamber. With the coming of the
Roosevelt Administration his stat
ure grew, and while the Senate
leadership never rested on his shoul-
ders, it always was recognized that
the junior Senator from South Car
olina was the principal reliance of
the Roosevelt Administration when
there wa sa job to be done.
there was a job to be done.
1t occasioned no surprise there
fore when the then Senator Byrnes
was nominated for the Supreme
Court in June, 1941. He took his
seat when the court convened in
October for the 194l-42 term after
spending the summer acquainting
himself with court work.
Mr.. Byrnes had but one term on
the court, and there he was more
apt to be found with "conservs-
tive" grouping than with the ultra
liberals represented by the Black
Douglas-Murphy bloc. He wrote two
noteworthy opinions. In one, the
court invalidated the so-called
"Okie" law, under which California
sought to bar indigents from its
borders.
In the other his majority opinion
held that the government could not
prosecute members of the American
Federation of Labor Teamsters'
Union under the anti-racketeering
act, for extortionate practices ex-
erted against incoming freight-car-
rying trucks in New York City. This
opinion drew a blistering dissent
from Chief Justice Stone, and vir-
tually ended the efforts Of the
Justice Department to deal with
coercive practices by labor unions.
Named Economic Chief.
In october, 1912, when the Gov
ernnent established a war econ
omy, Mr.. Byrnes was taken from
the bench by President Roosevelt
and appointed director of econom-
ic stabilization. The following day,
when the administration decided
that too many of its principal fig-
ures were not working in harmony,
the ONCE Of War Mobilization
Director was created and Mr..
Byrnes was elevated to the place,
which gave him virtual direction
of the war effort on the home front,
with the veto power resting solely
in the President.
Often referred to as the Assist
ant President Mr. Byrnes, who
had labored energetically to win a
third term for President Roosevelt,
cherished presidential aspirations in
1914 but withdrew from the race
when he found the Roosevelt bless
ing had gone to Senator Truman
of Missouri, who had gone to the
convention prepared to back Mr..
Byrnes for the post.
Mr.. Byrnes fashioned withdrawal
in the form of a letter to Senator
Maybank, Democrat, of South Caro-
lima, in which he said:
"In Difference to the wishes of the
President, I ask that my name not
be placed before the convention as
a candidate for the Democratic
nomination for Vice President.
THE action of the (South Caro-
lina delegation in declaring its
support of me for this honor and in
insisting that my name go before
the convention is deeply appreciated
by me-"
With Roosevelt at Yalta.
With the end of the convention,
rumors began to circulate that Mr.
ByrneS would be leaving the Gov
ernment, because of his failure to
win the vice presidency
This did not happen Immediately
however. In January, Mr.. Byrnes
went to Yalta with President Roose-
welt, and he was invited some time
ago by President Truman to accom-
pany him to the meeting with Prime
Minister Churchill and Marshal
Stain, this month. He left the Gov
ernment when the war in Europe
ended.
The announcement Of the ap-
pointment came on the eve of Presi-
dent Truman's return to Washing
ton, after trip that has taken him
into Olympia, Wash, for a rest: to
San Francisco to address the closing
session of the United Nations Con-
ference and finally, back here for a
four-day stay which was led off with
two homecoming celebrations by old
friends and associates in jackson
County.
The President viii leave here by
plane tomorrow morning and is due
back at the White House in the
afternoon.