The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-19
AS Pegler Sees It
copyright, by King Features Syndicate, Inc
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

i. BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
;Copyrisht, by King Features Syndicate, Incl
:, NEW YORK, Aug. 1s-1n view of the fact
hat most o. his statements were self-serving,
the citizen sitting as juror in the case OF Eli
oft Roosevelt must take a skeptical attitude.
When Elliott tes4 ified that. in a certain period
of five days, he could not have been a guest
of the v~icarious hospitality of Howard
Hughes, through Johnny Meyer, because he
was then overseas Flying combat missions"
counsel for the other side will move to strike
cut this gratuitous tribute to himself as IT.
| reJevant, unsupported, and p%reJudlc al. Inc
true combat missions of the photo-reconnai-
sance men were swift and quick. Some OF
| the little juniors who did fly combat mis-
lsions have explained that pilots in their line
|didn't score any hours of combat time Tor
lrrclonged shaping up for bombing trips OF
by skirting country where the enemy was
technit ally in charge but mlndlng his man.
ners, to fly home a case OF booze Tor a
party. It took a lot of real combat recon-
Inaisance missions to mount up to a very few
hours and the combat time that was reported
as Elliott Roosevelts total has evoked adj
m1ra4;on Of his arithmetic. If he got combat
thine for his flying over Greenland before the
United States was at war, that. OF course,
woul1 be an error.
Now, in view of Elliott's bad record where
his honor was relied on, as. for amp
WI en- he promised to deliver $500 shares of
stock to John Hartford but actually delivered
Only 1000, and in view Of fallibility OF his
memory. as when he couldn't recall whether
the Harwood touch of $25, 900 was a loan or
a sale, the cause of truth deserves the most
IRA ctical treatr,e~+ of the issues. Nothing
Will be conceded. Nothing assumed. The citl-
zen las nothing against Elliott. He Just wants
to know. He must not be expected to listen
to influential remarks about combat missions
inverted by reliable Witnesses.
Now some will say that it were unthinkable
that any person of the proud name Of Roose-
Ivelt would accept a decoration for valor
which had not been honorably earned. But
not ell of us are that innocent, so let us
consider some records.
Recently, Elliott's mother, Eleanor the
lGreat. wrote in one Of her journals that she
wanted to tell US about a "sinple but very
beautiful ceremony at the French embassy
where President Truman, the French ambas-
sador and many others who worked with
NY husband'' gathered to observe the solemn
degradation of one OF the few severely mill
tary medals for valor by a ~posthumous pre-
sentation to the late Franklin D. Roosevelt.
These busy men could have been better en-
ployed. Roosevelt never was a soldier or sail
or under arms in all his life and he ducked
his chance to be one in the first World war.
FIR this presentation the French embassy,
"the Justices of the Supreme Court, the Cab
met members who served with my husband,
and the present Cabinet members, as well
as several heads of agencies and the secre-
taries who had served with my husband in
TIE White House, all were invited" In other
words, a political rally.
The recurrence of the phrase "my hus-
bane'' will be noted, in answer to those VINO
cry out 'he's dead. let him lie He is dead,
but the family and the political ghouls who
roll their eyes and moan his name with deep,
abdominal reverence continue to parade his
Image, wired for sound by selections from
his old speeches, to retain some shadow OF
their power and their counterfeit prestige.
s'T:is medal" Eleanor the Great wrote,
rs given only to soldiers on the field OF
battle. l know my husband would have priced
it highly" and there in that remark, you
have a true measure of the appalling ethics
and the honor OF this breed.
Without a doubt, "my husband would have
prized it highly even though its presentation
to him was a proclamation OF the purity OF a
r.edal for valor which soldiers rate even
above our own precious Congressional Medal
Of Honor. The Medsl of Honor. unfortunately,
has been cheapened by hysterical b~estowals,
but rot the French military medal: And a
man who spoke today Cor the consul general
Of France, explained, rather uncomfortably,
II thought, that the award of this honor to
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, civilians,
by tie confused and shaky postwar govern
rnent of France, was in each case 'eXoep-
tiona?ly exceptional" This is a great medal,
exclusively for men at arms who are not
commissioned officers. except generals. CT
villains never were eligible and it never was
given as a political award before.
Yet Mrs. Roosevelt said her late husband
"vould have been grateful to the people of
France for wanting''-get this part 'for
wanting she says, 'to give him this most
pracious decoration"
Who dares to say that the wretched people
Of France, degraded, polluted, depressed and
demoralized though thew were. were so hope
lessly lost to honor and ethics that they
wanted" to give this civilian this precious
medal o. theirs?
Long ago, another Roosevelt. Theodore,
ccnnived and 1obbied to get a medal of honor
which he had never earned from a republi-
can President, Mckinley, who seems, how
ever, to have had the decency to stand off
this clamoring glory-hunter. In the cor
respcndence between T.. r. and his friend,
Henry Cabot Lodge, at this time, 1898. Roose-
welt claimed this honor as a right for a
cheap skirmieh in Cuba. And Lodge, in a
letter to Mckinley. had the ugly candor to
say that it "would have a very important
meaning and value and put at rest many
politicl stories which are being circulated
by the democrats" in a political fight.
T.. r. didn't get it because he hadn't earn
ed it, but his brave and noble son, Theodore.
Jr.. the finest Of the lot. dir earn his in
the Normandy invasion in 1914. He truly
earned it; but his cousin. Franklin, obstruct-
ed the award until young Ted had laid him
1own and died of total exhaustion far above
and beyond the call of duty in the service
Of his country in the face of the most fromid-
able enemy in all history.
/ nnofof10rc