The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-13


 &@A around Washing
 Ranom ton for 2s of his
 64 years. Tn the last Ave years, the war years, he has been given more thankless jobs, and in the same breath he has been given many honors and some of the worst breaks ever handed any man in public life,
 Byrnes was first elected to Con. gress from South Carolina in 1910 He was in the House for IA years. then out of 1t for six before going Go the Senate. He had been Sen- ator for 10 years when the war broke out, In the National Defense Era before Pearl Harbor he had tho tough job of pushing through the big appropriation bills for Army and Navy, against the isolationist, let'S-keep- -out-of thlS one Senti. mcnt, Later he was called on to use all his ability aS a great rational i2cr, a great compromiSer, a great Senate getter- of- -things-done, to win Congressional acceptance for lend-leaSe, price control and other highly controversial emergency leg. islation.
 SACRIFICED VICE
 PRESIDENTIAL CHANGES
 When President Roosevelt came out for the third term in i040, it was Senator Byrnes who was his floor manager at the Chicago con- Ventlon, though Harry Hopkins pulled the wires backstage. Byrnes might have had second place on the ticket, He withdrew his name so as not to weaken Roosevelt's chances for reelection when some of the Democratic bosses revived an old story that had been used against ByrneS in South Carolina. Jimmy Byrncs' father had been an Irish Catholic. He died before Jimmy Byrnes was born, and the boy was brought up an Episcopalian.
 The fact thta Byrnes had been born Catholic was used by the Ku Klux Klan element in South Carolina to defeat him when he first ran for the Senate In 1924. But now, in national politics, the fact that he had been brought up as an EpiScopalian was used with reverse twist by the political bosses who were afraid his selection as vice presidential candidate would alienate the Catholic vote and spoil the Presidents chances for 6 third term.
 Byrnes got his reward for his ad- mittedly great personal sacrifice and for his recognized political ability in June, l04l, when he was named to the Supreme court. But he was allowed to keep this secure and honored position for only 10 months. In October, l942, the President asked him to resign from the Court and accept appoint ment as Director of Economic Sta- bilization a thankless job of com promising the differences between labor, management and government war agencies pickering over policies on those highly controversial sub- Jects of cost of living and wages. Anyone in the middle on those fights was bound to catch hell and Byrnes did. That he was not more in the limelight was due to his abil- ity to work behind the scenes in the old cloakroom technique used in Congress.
 HE'S ROOSEVELT'S NO. 1
 TROUBLE SHOOTER
 It followed, however. that if tougher jobs were made, Byrnes would get them. After seven months in OES he was picked by the Pres ident to be head of the Office of War Mobilization, responsible to the President for the entire civilian economy as well as taking on all the controversies of all the war agencies and not confining his compromising abilities to issues dealing with sta- bilization alone.
 Byrnes was again considered for second place on the Democratic ticket in l044. Religious prejudioes had Subsided somewhat, but two other prejudices raised their ugly heads. As Director of both OES and OWM, Byrnes had conscientiously worked to stabilize wage levels. La- bor - in this case meaning Sidney Hillman and the c. I. O., P. A. O., who had a candidate of their own own in Henry Wallace - turned thumbs down on Byrnes. And Boss Ed Flynn of New York. because he had the Harlem Negro vote to de- liver in the doubtful home state of Governor Dewey, turned thumbs down on Byrnes because he came from the south. That disappoint- ment should have been enough to drive any man from public life. Sev- eral times Byrnes has expressed the desire to return to his home in Spartanburg. s. C., but he has stuck Loyalty on and he has given the President his word that he will stay until the end of the war in Europe. Beyond that he has not committed