Evening star., 1946-04-03

ceived their first
stimulating dose. &&#
Some aStute fell
low of the White Frank R. Kent.
House Inner circle" conceived the
idea of organizing for Roosevelt the
literary and artistic headliners. The
plan was to cash in on their fame
and following.
Both Mr.. and Mrs. Roosevelt were
enthusiastic over the notion, and
almost at once it was put into skill
full operation. Key men and women
in every field were invited to Wash
ington, entertained at the White
House, patted on the back and made
much of. They garnered some
pleasing publicity, quickly got the
big idea, returned home and went to
work.
Idea Bore Fruit Quickly.
In short time the big idea bore
fruit. Committees and associations
were formed. Lists of names were
publicized, chairmen and boards Of
directors chosen, and vast amount
of noise made. They were not
these people-very numerous nor
very influential.
But they were exceedingly articu-
late and with undoubted talents for
publicity. They made it fashionable
in their particular circles to be for
Roosevelt. The Hollywood and
Broadway contingents took to the
work like the well-known duck to
the well-known water.
Such lovely time was had in
1910 that there was no difficulty in
repeating the performance on an
expanded scale in 1914. BY that
time many of them had become ex-
tremely passionate liberals of the
Wallace type, able to enunciate
vague and noble platitudes almost
as easily as Mrs. Roosevelt her
self.
When the 1914 campaign was over,
the prime movers in these various
fields were genuinely convinced that
they were largely responsible for
the Roosevelt victory; that almost
single-handedly they had averted a
great national disaster. When peo-
pie get into that frame of mind
there is not much can be done about
it. 1t is too much to expect them
willingly to step quietly back into
private life.
Have Gone Global in Grand Way.
The wine of politics is an intoxi-
eating drink. After imbibing freely
in two presidential campaigns, their
continued activity was practically
inevitable. Apparently, however,
these ladies and gentlemen could
not wait for the next presidential
campaign. There is relatively little
going on now in domestic politics.
So they have gone global in a grand
way.
Several associations for handling
various of the atomic bomb prob
lens have been organized An or
ganization has been formed to re-
make the United Nations from the
bottom up, Transforming it into a
world congress, with members elected
by the people of the constituent
nations, empowered to make laws
governing the world Another
organization, contending that hun
dreds of thousands of "pan-Ger-
mans" are now undermining our
institutions and working here for
another war, is out to expose and
confound them.
All these organizations appear to
have paid secretaries and plenty of
money. They run in the newspapers
exciting and costly full-page adver-
tisements-always with an accom-
panying list of names.
One cannot help noting the ex-
traordinary duplication in these
lists. The organizations have sepa-
rate headquarters, separate secre-
taries and different objectives. Each,
too, has it's own "fat CATS and its
own popular appeal and window
dressing" But so many of the
names are the same as to give rise
to considerable speculation.
Many Members Are Identical.
Last week two of these newly
formed bodies had full-page spreads
on consecutive days. The president
of the first was on the Board of
Directors of the second The chair
man Of the board of the second was
vice president of the first. Five
members of the two boards were
identical.
So it goes. All of these associa-
tions have a labor leader on the
board. Sometimes it is Mr.. Murray
sometimes Mr.. Thomas, sometimes
Mr.. Carey. But always it is a CIO
man. And always it is an extreme
left-wing outfit with strong pro-
Soviet flavor. Reading these an
nouncements and studying the du-
plication of names one wonders
what it is all about.
Not one of these crusades is prac-
tical. Not one will get anywhere.
The most they can do is increase
the general confusion. The ques-
ton is-are these artistic and
literary ladies and gentlemen still
drunk on the heady wine of those
two Roosevelt campaigns? Or is all
this business just good publicity for
them? Or is there some hidden and
less harmless purpose?