Evening star., 1948-07-25
A-8 THE SUNDAY STAR Washington D. C..
"a
History Of the 'Guru' Letters
Again PIoguing Wallace

Once again Henry A. Wallace and
"Guru" are in the news.
"Guru," meaning spiritual leader,
was the name by which his followers
frequently called Nicholas Konstan-
tinovich Roerich. Mr. Roerich once
headed an expedition to Outer Mon
golia and Tibet for Mr.. Wallace
when the latter was Secretary of
Agriculture back in 1884.
For years, MIR. Wallace has been
accused of writing some mystic let
ters to "Guru" At the Progress
sive Party convention in Phila-
delphia the subject came up again
at a Wallace press conference. Sey-
eral people, including Westbrook
Pegler, frequent and bitter Wal
lace critic, raised the question.
Mr.. Pegler, standing in the
crowded room, sought to question
Mr.. Wallace about the letters, first
printed in the Pegler syndicated
column. The Associated Press re-
ported that Mr.. Wallace flushed,
looked straight at Mr.. Pegler and
said in measured tones:
Il will never engage in any dis
cussion whatsoever with Westbrook
Pegler."
The "Guru" discussion soon came
to an end, temporarily, but the
argument over the letters and Mr.
Wallace's connection with them is
sure to continue through the pres
ent presidential campaign in which
Mr.. Wallace is opposing President
Truman and Gov. Dewey.
Recounted by Newspaper.
The most complete account of the
Guru matter appeared some months
ago in Newsweek magazine, and was
reprinted in The Star In brief
this is the story the magazine re-
counted:
Shortly after he became Secretary
of Agriculture, Mr.. Wallace met
Miss Frances r. Grant, then doing
publicity for Mr.. Roerich. Mr.. Roe
rich was promoting what he called
the Roerich Pact for the Protection
of Cultural Treasures and the Pro-
motion of World Peace Miss Grant
asked Mr. Wallace to back the idea
He did and soon became a friend of
both Mr. Roerich and Louis L.
Horch, who had helped finance a
29-story New York apartment house
and museum in honor of Mr.
Roerich.
Mr.. Wallace plunged intd a study
of the Roerich teachings. One of
the results was a conviction that
somewhere on the mysterious plains
of Outer Mongolia could be found
signs of the Second Coming of
Christ The Roerich expedition to
Outer Mongolia and Tibet was pre-
sumably to look for drought-resist-
ant grasses believed to grow there.
But Mr.. Wallace's assistants freely
admitted" according to NewSweek,
that "he also wanted Roerich to
look for the signs of the Second
Coming"
Later there was falling out be-
tween Mr. Roerich and Mr. Horch
The latter event ended in Horch
law suit to gain control of the New
York building. The Treasury De-
partment moved against Mr.. Roe
rich with income tax evasion charges.
Soon afterwards the "Guru" let
ters began to circulate, reaching
newspaper Offices as well as Repub-
lican leaders when in 1910 Wallace
was nominated as vice president for
Mr.. Roosevelt's third term, the
letters took on new interest and i'm
portance.
Democrats Reported Worried.
Democgats. tine magazine reported,
were worried right up until election
day that the Republicans would use
them in the campaign. But, at the
advice of Speaker Martin, then the
party's national chairman, they were
not made public. Finally, this spring
Mr.. Pegler began publishing them>in
his column.
The letters Newsweek described as
"a tumble of mystic illusions and
political pontifications written in a
jargon in which President Roosevelt
was called at times The Flaming
One and at times The Wavering