The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-23
AS Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1947, by King Features
Syndicate, lnc.)

| WASHINGTON, Dec. I'm the Deeei1
ber number of The Ladies Home Journai' %
Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt Punlsneiab as1snsibly by a
"discussion group Of young marrlea peg
nleo concerning her intercesslon with the
State Department in January, l939, on pe-
half of Hams Eisler, an Austrian muse
teacher. who was a fugitive from HltleI
Sumner Welles, then under secretary Oh OF
state. forwarding documents received py
her from "a perfectly honest persons VINO
was "perfectly sure" Eisler was not colh-
munist and had no political affiliations. -.
Welles, busy with big affairs, passed tne
buck The inevitable result was 5hat ~ Eisie. I.
and his wife sneaked in under the tent at
Mexicali as immigrants notwithstanding
his connection with the world communist
conspiracy Having passed the DUCK, now
ever, Welles wrote back to Mrs: n. that
s.our file indicates that Mr.. Elsler mas
been connected in some measure Win COLI
muniStic organizations.
Eleanor the Great assumes her conve-
nient occasional pose of mock-modest un-
Importance in her reply to the questlon put
to herself in her own space IN the maya
zine. She says she asked only that Elsler
case be reviewed and ventured that re-
quest because 20 number OF papers haq
heen brought to me by man whom l
knew slightly"
Her present statement that she knew
this man only slightly" is an obvious at
tempt to hedge. 1t stands in contrast to
her assurance to Welles, initiating the out
rage, that the man who engaged her inter-
est was 'a perfectly honest person who
was perfectly sure that Eisler was not
a communist. She could not have vouched
for the absolute honesty OF man whom
I she knew only slightly" And no person
dealing above-board with our State Depart
ment would have ventured to vouch tor
| absolute COnfl-
dence that third person, and ne total
stranger was not communist. The same
disparity is observed here that was pres
ent in two statements by Mrs. Roosevelt
on the subject of automobile accidents:
Last winter she said the serious accident
was her first mishap as driver. But her
own book, '"This Is My Story published
early in the Roosevelt reign, relates that
many years before she had had two
dangerous accidents. In one she crashed
In the other she backed a car carrying
'the entire family down steep panK
until it hit tree.
By luck there were no casualties.
| Mrs. Roosevelt's role in the Eisler case
before the State Department was that OF
an officious meddler and the subject of
her solicitude turns out to have been a
niable sense and, during his long asylum
here, diligent propaganda. That he is
also liar on oath or ad lib hardly needs
| to be said.
On Mrs. Roosevelt's intervention he re-
ceived affectionate consideration from the
State Department and was officially
smuggled in as quota alien, eligible for
citizenship.
Returning to Eleanor's answer to her
own question in The Ladies Home Journal,
we find her trying to justify her conduct
on the ground that Dorothy Thompson and
| 49, :,-k1 %@l ~, i~11
Dorothy Thompson was a newspaper re-
porter and columnist with no more official
standing than George Spelvin, American
and she seems merely to have telephoned
to George Messersmith, who was the as
sistant secretary OF state in charge of the
administration of the department. He had
previously been consul general in Berlin
where Miss Thompson was a journalist.
| Thereafter he was minister in Vienna and
Ambassador in Havana and Mexico City.
Called to testify before the Thomas Com
mittee on un-American Activities, Messer-
confusing and incoherent flow of jabber
| that Congressman Parnell Thomas, the
chairman, said sharply to the clerk: re
| peat the question so Mr.. Messersmith will
understand and won't get off on the subject
of Dorothy Thompson"
He SUSPECTED Mr.. Messersmith of eva
sive action.
Alvin Johnson was the boss bleeding
heart of thing called the New School of
social Research in New York which ar
ranged brazen subterfuge to procure Els
ler's admission to the United States in the
guise of a professor of music. Johnson has
now retired from the so-called school
! Donald T. Appel, brilliant young alum
nus of the Army's finance corps, and OF the
bureau of the budget testified for the COM
mittee on Eisler's relationship to the new
school.
Robert E. Stripping, the committees
chief investigator, led Mr.. Appel along
and it is not of record that Mr.. Stripping
flinched his duty of exposing Mrs. Roose-
pelt's meddling, although he was pre-
Pearl Harbor parent and the Army plainly
didn't want him, Stripping was bounded
radio broadcasts by one civilian and one
de-commissioned new deal Navy beach
comber. Previously, Stripping had twice re-
| fused invitation to lunch with Eleanor the
Great at the White House and compromise
draft questions concerning her political pro-
| tege Joe Lash Stripping was not a con-
gresham and he felt that in his position
of investigator he had no right to negotiate
| a compromise on committee business. His
persecution began soon afterward and for
or casual soldier without even the COM
panionship of a squad. Lash lived the life
of Reilly in the Army and Eleanor flew to
the South Pacific to kiss the dear boy.
Repeat: To kiss him. After the death of
Mrs Roosevelts partner in absentia, Pri-
vate Stripping was quickly recognized as an
expert in subversive activities and ordered
to give lecture course on his speciality
in the Army. He carried on thus until his
Returned to the House Committee on un-
American Activities as chief investigator.
he found himself in duty bound to expose
certain activities of Eleanor the Great and.
as I have said, Mr.. STRIPPING has not SHE'D
| away.
question Mr.. Appel about the new school