Evening star., 1950-10-14
John |. Lewis Could
Advance u. ). Aims
As Envoy 10 Russia
Called Super Patriot;
Workers All Over World
Would Believe in Him
By Dorothy Thompson

By Dorothy Thompson
In this dreary age where most Of
us private citizens are invited to
live on the vftaminless fare of
Cover nm ent-launched slogans,
John L. Lewis's comment on the
rejected suggestion that he be ap-
pointed Ambassador to Moscow
furnishes, at least, one good big
laugh.
A year or so ago, State Senator
Neal Bishop of Colorado had a
brain wave and communicated it to
President Harry S. Truman. The
brain wave was that the man to
send as American Ambassador to
Moscow was John L. Lewis.
Now. on sober thought, this
seems eminently reasonable. The
Russkis, then as now, were calling
us capitalist imperialist war
mongers ruled by Wall Street" !"
The U.S.SR. claims to be the state
which is "the vanguard of the
world proletariat." So it would
seem to be smart to send as the
representative of the United States
to Moscow someone whom no Rus
sian could conceivably associate
with Wall Street or with Warmon-
gering, and who is undoubtedly
American proletarian leader No. l..
Provided, of course, that this pro-
letarian leader was also an Ameri-
can patriot and man OF brains
and character.
An American Patriot.
Now, John L. Lewis worst enc
mics cannot deny that he is all
three. He is an American patriot.
No one could conceive of him as
fellow traveller for anything. Only
a man of character could be as
obstinate in behalf of his aims as
he is. And only a man of brains
could have been so often backed
to the wall and always, without
exception, emerged with victory.
Mr.. Lewis, in fact. and on the rec
ord, has a higher batting average
of bringing victory out of defeat
than any other living American
except Gen. Douglas Macarthur,
to whom-believe it or not, and
apart from a similar old-fashioned
grandiloquence-he has certain
resemblances, calling forth similar
responses. Whatever Mr.. Lewis
does Is dignified. I recall no pho
tograph of him leaning costly on
anybody's arm, or grinning fool
ishly into the eyes of friends or
adversaries.
He wears the proper expression
for an American Ambassador to
Russia: Sober, and self-composed.
His reports on the condition of
the Moscow proletariat would GER
tainly be comprehensive, and
every worker in the world would
believe him. Yet it would be diff
cult for Moscow to declare him
PERSONA non grata.
There is no doubt of his capa-
cities as a negotiator. He knows
exactly how much his adversary
can afford to give, may be forced
to give and will, in a showdown,
give. He knows all the weak and
strong points of an adversary, and
hits him in the weak points. He
demands more than he knows he
will get, and settles for what he
intended to get in the first place.
Needs No Ghost Writer.
John L. Lewis is brilliant
arguer, who doesn't need a ghost
writer. I have twice heard him
make entirely spontaneous talks.
They were not only eloquent.
They had a hard, organized. con-
sistent logic that would be a credit
to any member of the supreme
bench. Il am not discussing
whether I agreed with him. l
was compelled, in all honesty, to
respect him.
Mr.. Truman says he wouldn't
appoint him dog catcher" That
is another of Mr.. Truman's "qulps
and ouirks and wanton wiles." "
And Mr.. Lewis replied with just
what the President has not got
"a mordant wit; of course the
President wouldn't appoint him
to ANYTHING. Who does he ap-
point? He has just appointed
the former Mayor of New YORK,
who left his Office under a cloud
of suspected relations with the
New York underworld, as Am
bassador to Mexico. Mexico
whose underworld of smugglers,
eangsters, and gamblers is notorl-
GUS! My spies tell me there Is
great satisfaction in certain Mexl-
can low places.
But the President would not
appoint as dog catcher a man VINO
knows how to read contract
and plug the holes in it. Imagine
John L. Lewis walling himself into
Berlin without providing a door
for ingress or egress! Ask the
coal operators if he would be
! likely to leave such matter open
to good will! Or imagine him
signing the PotSdam agreement!
(Released by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.)