The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-02-13
0LDCABINET OFFICIAL IS
 OUT AT LAST
Trum an Beats Old Cur mudgeon to Punch Mdk-
 ing Announcement


 WASHINGTON. Feb. 13--Secre- tary of Interior Harold L.. Ickes has resigned and President Tru- man has accepted the resignation effective February IS. next Fri day
 President Truman immediately designated Oscar l.. Chapman Assistant Secretary for the past 13 years, to be the Acting Secretary until Ickes' successor has been ap- pointed.
 White nouse Press Secretary Charles G. Ross told news con- ference that Ickes resignation was received by MT. Truman at 800 D. m. yesterday and that letter of acceptance was going forwasd to Ickes.
 Ross declined to make public the text of the letters at this time.
 Beats Ickes To Punch
 Ross announcement was made just an hour before special press conference at which Ickes was ex- pected to discuss the resignation.
 Ross would not comment or questions whether Ickes resigned as the outgrowth of his testimony con corning Edwin w. Pauley, MT Tru- mans nominee for Undersecretary of the Navy.
 Asked whether Pauley's nomina- ton would be withdrawn as a re- suit of opposition in the Senate. Ross said Not to my Knowledge"
 He gave the same reply to ques- tions whether Pauley had asked the withdrawal Of his nomination
 Out on February l5
 As everybody in Washington pre- dicted, Ickes has resigned.
 The old curmudgeon, as he calls himself. will leave government ser vice on February IS after being in the cabinet since the first Roosevelt administration in ie33
 Ickes had scheduled special news conference for 11.30 a. n. Eastern Time. but President Tru- man heat him to the punch by an nouncing acceptance of the resig- nation an hour before Ickes' ap- pointment with the press corps. Leaues With Record Ickes will leave his office as Secretary of the Interior on Friday after setting a record for tenure and performance. And, characteris- tically. the irascible Ickes will go out with a chip on his shoulder his usual l4-carat variety. But his friends say that it isn't such bad chip. for he carries it as much to defend his friends as to lambast his foes--and he admits ,his enemies are plentiful. Ickes, who labeled himself "the old curmudgeon,r once said: I've known for long time that I'm not loved with the fervor to which I'm entitled. If man worked hard at it, he couldn't get a bigger list of enemies than T.
 Stinging Repartee Ickes, a former newspaper man and lawyer, reached the big time when he became Secretary of the Interior under the late President Roosevelt. Ickes was in charge of the Public Works Administration one of the big programs designed to prime business pumps. In this job, where he was in charge of all lotments of billions of dollars, he gained the name of Honest Harold.
 But most of all he was known for his stinging repartee and epithets in the many fight he courted - battles which made him five-star show in national politics.
 Who Is Chapman The newly designated Acting Sec retary of the Interior Department, Oscar Chapman, held the post of Assistant Secretary for 13 years a record for tenure in the so-called little cabinet. When Chapman was appointed in 1883, he was 36 years old and was called the baby of the Little Cabinet.
 Chapman has long been identi- fled with Colorado politics and has been identified with the liberal faction of the Democratic party. Tn the last Roosevelt presidential can- paign.' he served as campaign manager in the western states.
 Chapman is a native of Halifax county. Virginia. and is veteran of World War One.