Evening star., 1946-02-27
By Jones Y. Newton

President Truman's latest selec'
ton for his cabinet, J. A. Krug. i:
as typically American as the foot
ball he used to play in school OF
as the President himself.
He was born and reared in what
then was the small town of Madi.
son, Wis, the member of large
family; played football and Other
sports in high school and college
helping to pay his way by working
in a filling station: married his
schoolday sweetheart. He carries
into the cabinet the nickname
Cap" which has clung to hin
almost from the moment he was
born.
In Mr.. Krug, the President get:
not only his youngest cabinet off.
cer--he's 38-but the biggest Ht
is feet 3 in height and weighs
by his own estimate, 230 pounds
although his friends suspect its
more.
Mr.. Krug has prodigious ca
pacity for work and an equally
prodigious capacity for relaxation
There is nothing staid or stodgy
about him. He is friendly, equally
at ease when in the presence oi
high or not SO high people, and
has been known to cook up a gin
rummy or poker game at something
less than the drop of a hat.
Highly Regarded by -Baruch.
In wartime Washington, when
bureaucrats were thicker than usual
Mr.. Krug was something of an odd
ity. A career Government man and
self-styled bureaucrat, he won the
confidence and great respect of big
industry names turned Federal Off
cials for the duration" uncommon
respecters of the usual run of pub
lie servant.
He was relied ON heavily for advice
and direction by the likes of Will
liam Knudsen, Donald M. Nelson,
Ferdinand Eberstadt and Charles
E. Wilson of General Electric. Mr..
Nelson, after he had been succeed
ed as War Production Board chair
man by Mr.. Krug, referred to him
as one of the three most capable
men associated with him during the
war. Bernard M. Baruch, the per-
ennial adviser of Presidents, holds
Mr.. Krug in equally as high regard.
Mr.. Krug has been referred to
alternately as New Dealer" pink
and arch conservative" by the
journals and political factions of the
country-a strange mixture of ad-
jectives which add up to a compli-
ment to him.
The truth is that he is none OF
those names. His political thinking
probably is best described as middle
of-the-roa spiced with vigorous
freshness and common sense. Mr.
Krug likewise employs common
sense literally in whatever admin
istrative task that confronts him.
Won Praise of Business.
The tag of radical" probably was
put on Mr.. Krug as a result of his
service with the Tennessee Valley
Authority, where he was power di-
rector before transferring to war
production agencies before Pearl
Harbor. AS the last WPB chair
man, he confounded his critics and
was the Governments staunchest
advocate of the early dropping OF
WPB's controls over industry both
before and after VI day. For that
campaign he won the praise of busi-
ness and incurred the enmity OF
a part of labor and others to his
left politically.
Mr.. Krug played the major role
in organizing the Nations utilities
industries for war. He served WPB's
several predecessors in that capac-
ity, and later Mr.. Nelson named
him director of the Office of Wal
Utilities.
Perhaps the best compliment te
his ability is that he pleased both
private and public power people.
He resigned as WPB vice chairman
in the spring of 1914 and was re
laxing" as lieutenant commander
in the Navy when President Roose-
welt called him from a Metropolitan
Club luncheon table to give him his
toughest assignment and biggest
opportunity. He was to pull to.
gether the WPB which had just
been split apart by the explosive
Nelson Wilson battle.
Mr. Krug had just been assigned
to the cruiser Pittsburgh as damage
control officer when the President
called him. The ship lost its bow
in Pacific typhoon last summer