What Now?

One of the first things Harry Truman did when he took over the reins of government was to sit down with tired, shrewd Jimmy Byrnes. Only two weeks before, Byrnes had stepped out of his job as "Assistant President."

Jimmy Byrnes had gone home to Spartanburg, S.C., but at the call of President Truman he hurried back to Washington. Before he had been back twelve hours, politicos were tagging him as the man Harry Truman would lean on as adviser on foreign affairs (see INTERNATIONAL). Many of them were ready to bet that before long Jimmy Byrnes would replace Ed Stettinius as Secretary of State.

As the new Chief Executive took up his heavy task, he turned to another counselor, a trusted adviser on domestic affairs --big (6 ft., 230 Ibs.) Hugh Alfred Fulton, who had been counsel for the Truman (war investigating) Committee. In Washington there was little doubt that round-faced, high-voiced Hugh Fulton might wind up in the Cabinet, possibly as Attorney General.

A New Setup. Around these two men --one an ex-U.S. Senator, ex-Supreme Court Justice, ex-War Mobilizer, the other a smart, prosecutor-type, young (36) attorney--Harry Truman would build a new official family. Among the true New Dealers there were few whom Truman liked; there would be some Cabinet changes made in the weeks and months ahead. And the "Palace Guard" of Roosevelt days would swiftly disappear.

Besides the expected change in the State Department, Washington politicos expected something like this: 9 Henry Morgenthau Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, would be replaced. Possible successors: California's Edwin W. Pauley. hustling treasurer of the Democratic National Committee; or John Wesley Snyder, rotund, 48-year-old St. Louis banker, close friend of the President, former executive vice president and director of the Defense Plant Corp. in Jesse Jones's RFC. (Snyder, said Washington speculation, might first become Federal Lean Administrator, succeeding Fred Vinson.)

P: Francis Biddle, Attorney General, would probably leave the Cabinet soon. Best possibility: Hugh Fulton. CJ Frank C. Walker. Postmaster General, was also expected to leave; he had held his post during the past year only at the insistence of Franklin Roosevelt. This would be a likely job for big Bob (Robert E.) Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; it is a common resting place for national chairmen.

P: Henry L. Stimson, able, ancient (77) Secretary of War, has planned to retire, may drop out soon after V-E day. His successor: question mark, so far as political gossip went. One gleam in Washington eyes: General George Catlett Marshall, with General Eisenhower the new Chief of Staff.

P: Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, who has wanted to retire for some time, was expected to get her wish. No likely successor was immediately in sight.

The position of Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard was regarded as uncertain. It was thought certain that Navy Secretary Jimmy Forrestal, one of the nation's ablest officers, would stay on the job, as would Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes and Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace, from whom Truman won the Vice Presidential nomination in 1944's fierce intraparty battle.

Right-Hand Men. With Harry Truman in the White House, there would be no room for Franklin Roosevelt's "anonymous" assistants, nor for the advice and influence of Harry Hopkins, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, ex-OPAdministrator Leon Henderson, Playwright Robert E. Sherwood, Judge Sam Rosenman, and others of the inner New Deal circle.

It seemed likely that Elder Statesman Bernard Baruch, frequent adviser to Franklin Roosevelt, would lose none of his influence at the top of the government, particularly in view of his close friendship with Jimmy Byrnes. And white-thatched Jesse Jones would be available for financial advice.

President Truman took with him to the White House Colonel Harry H. Vaughan, close friend since World War I, as military aide and secretary--the post held by the late Major General Edwin M. ("Pa") Watson. As his personal secretary the President took closemouthed Matthew J. Connelly, who had become his confidential secretary after last November's election. For press secretary, the job now held by round-faced, amiable Jonathan Daniels, there was talk of the veteran Charles G. Ross, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or younger (45) Samuel Amos O'Neal, ex-Post-Dispatch reporter who is now public-relations director for the Democratic National Committee.

The Politicians. Politically, the President will have the constant counsel of his longtime colleague in the Democratic organization--National Chairman Hannegan. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last year, it was Hannegan who lined up the big-city machines to snatch the Vice Presidential nomination away from Henry Wallace and his chief sponsor, P.A.C.'s Sidney Hillman.

Some political observers already predicted a struggle for party control between the regular organization group and the C.I.O.-P.A.C. faction led by Sidney Hillman. Others, knowing politically wise Harry Truman, predicted that he and highly professional Bob Hannegan would be able to live in harmony with Hillman's machine.

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