Henderson's Boiling Point

"Mr. Henderson, what makes Congress so mad at you?"

This question, addressed to Price Boss Leon Henderson at a press conference last week, brought forth a belly laugh in the best-natured Henderson manner. (The Price Boss has a great talent for Falstaffian waggery: he looks good on a Victory bicycle, sounds wonderful on Information, Please.) It also brought a frank admission: ". . . my lack of politeness. They say you should never get so busy you can't be polite. But Shakespeare, I believe it was, divided people into four groups.* I belong to the group with a low boiling point.. . . I've had plenty of flame applied to me, too."

Leon Henderson well knew that his streak of sheer cussedness, the broadest in all Washington, had got him into lots of trouble. His bullying and ragging had driven Congress into a rage, yet he still exploded at the sight of a Senator. His OPA had become a red flag to bureaucracy-haters, yet he goaded his critics with the warning of "more red tape" to come. When he took the price control job, he predicted that he would become the most unpopular man in the U.S.--and often it seemed that he had done his best to make his prediction look good.

Rumors flew thick & fast in Washington last week that Leon Henderson was through as Price Boss. The rumors began when he resigned as Director of Civilian Supply and turned the job over to his deputy, Lawyer Joseph L. Weiner. They multiplied when the Truman Committee blasted his administration of fuel-oil rationing. Henderson's press conference was designed to defend his record and spike the rumors--but it did not quite succeed.

Congress is so angry at Henderson now that it may refuse to vote his OPA any more funds so long as he remains director. In that event, neither huffing, puffing nor belly laughter can save Henderson's job.

* Mr. Henderson evidently referred to medieval medicine's four "humours"--sanguine, choleric, melancholy and phlegmatic--of which he is definitely choleric.

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