Evening star., 1945-04-14
Truman All His Life
Man of the People
Faces Almost Frightening Task
as Successor to Roosevelt
Bv David Laurence

as Successor to Roosevelt
BY David Laurence
So accustomed is everybody in the
National Capital to thinking of Frank
lin Roosevelt as presiding in the White
House that it is hard to believe that
only his remains in flag -draped cofi1n
are there today.
Somehow most folks who have lived
through ofhcialdoms complexities these
last IL years had the feeling that elec-
tions might come or go, but Franklin
Roosevelt either would stay on in Of
flee or be the man behind any success
sor who might be chosen. He was con-
ceded to be really the most powerful
man in public life and, while he has
been in poor health recently, most OBJ
servers liked to think that somehow
he would survive the most exacting
cares-but they thought it only because
he had done SO again and again.
1t is almost incredible to be writing
that IF. D. r." is no longer here, that
his engaging smile and his repartee
with the press. his fireside chats and
his terse. epigrammatic phrases of cam
paign debate have ended for all time.
Name Known Over World.
Why was this so? Perhaps it was
because of the remarkable personality
which Franklin Roosevelt possessed and
his rare capacity for making friends
and melting away the opposition of
many who differed with him. Perhaps
it was because the global war had fixed
his name in everybody's mind as the
Commander in Chief and the leader of
the democracies. His name is known
all over the world-no other American
President has been as widely known.
For while Woodrow Wilson was a war
President, his career was relatively
short-lived Year in and year out since
1889 the acts and utterances of Frank
lin Roosevelt have been broadcast to
the four corners of the earth. The
name Roosevelt has become synonymous
with that of America in many lands.
This makes the task of any successor
one of almost frightening responsibility.
President Truman has keen awareness
of the place he must try to fill. He will
not, of course, be the same kind OF
President. There was only one Frank
lin Roosevelt and no one in our times
probably will resemble him.
Yet the new President, though he
is different and has another approach,
can make successful Chief Executive
just the same. AS matter of fact
Harry Truman is in a peculiar sense
the average American much more than
was Franklin Roosevelt. For Mr.. Tru-
man never went to college. He never
had the advantages that come from
being born well-to-do. Mr.. Roosevelt.
to be sure. brushed aside any feeling
of class superiority and succeeded in
achieving a quality of democracy that
few men have attained.
Man of the People.
But Harry Truman has been all his
life a man of the people. He got an
appointment to West Point and was
rejected because of weak eyes He
wanted to go to college but his father
had suffered financial reverses. He
worked, therefore. first in the mailroom
of a newspaper then on a railroad
construction gang, and later as a bank
clerk. He then became a farmer and
ploughed the fields of Missouri for 10
years. In World War I he served in
the artillery and saw plenty of action
in France. He came out of the war a
ma jor.
Back home, Maj Truman married a
childhood sweetheart and went into the
Iok 10 I,,e; 3,,&
1920s his store failed. He entered poll
tics and served as a member of the
Board of County Commissioners, then
county Judge, then United States Sena-
tor and last summer won the nomi-
nation for the Vice Presidency after a
| spectacular contest.
What a series of experiences to fit
a man for the Presidency! Certainly
Harry Truman learned his America
from the ground up. He learned human
nature and he learned the ways and
thoughts of the average American
freeman.
A President can be successful If he
| has the power of understanding. Harry
| Truman has that and he starts his ad-
ministration with an invaluable asset
the confidence of both houses of Con-
gress and especially Of the Senate. He
knows representative government Co.
operation between the executive and
legislative branches of our Government,
essential in time of war but even more
so in the transition period after the
peace, may prove to be the outstanding
characteristic of the administration of
President Truman
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