Exit Cue

Big Ed Pauley, the onetime oil field mucker who pulled himself into politics "to protect and advance my business operations," knew he was beaten. His good friend Harry Truman also knew that there was no hope ever for Pauley's confirmation as Under Secretary of the Navy.

But Pauley, with the blessing of his good friend, doggedly fought on. The five-week-old hearing of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee had turned into meaningless maneuvering and fiery accusations, but it was still Washington's best show. Last week pink-jowled Harold Ickes, whose earlier performances there had cost him his job as Secretary of the Interior, played a return engagement.

The terrible-tempered star performer was in top form, churlishly contemptuous of questioners and questions. Lean, sarcastic Senator Millard Tydings put oldster Ickes in the witness chair for cross-examination of his testimony about the nub of the Pauley case: the "rawest proposition" which Harold Ickes said Democratic National Treasurer Ed Pauley had made to him about tidelands oil and campaign contributions (TIME, Feb. 11).

For most of a day Ickes and the Senator snarled at each other like a pair of constipated cougars. Ickes called Tydings "counsel for the defense," accused him of using police-court methods, once pulled him up sharply for splitting an infinitive. When Tydings accused him of giving conflicting testimony, the Curmudgeon snapped: "You don't have to shake an admonitory finger at me."

Tydings: "Here is one man you can't bamboozle."

Ickes, with a rapier rasp: "You can't bamboozle me."

The Maryland Democrat thrust at Ickes with the point that he had never mentioned the "rawest proposition" either to Franklin Roosevelt or President Truman. A sample exchange:

Tydings: What did you say to Mr. Pauley when this alleged proposal was made to you in September, 1944? Did you throw him out of your office? Did you say, "I don't want to have anything more to do with you"? What did you say?

Ickes: I said I was going ahead with the suit [for U.S. control of tidelands oil] so far as I could.

Tydings: Very mild, sweet, gentle maid tone of voice.

Ickes: It might be surprising to you, but it was.

Tydings: Did you say to Mr. Pauley, "This is the rawest proposition I have ever heard"?

Ickes: No.

Tydings: You went into the privacy of your own cloister to write that in the secrecy of your own diary, didn't you?

Ickes: Of course, that is a terrible crime, isn't it?

Tydings: Yes, it is. It seems to me that if I had been outraged like you were outraged to your highest sense of honor and honesty, I would have said, "Get the hell out of here," or words to that effect.

"Innuendo and Deceit." Harold Ickes squirmed and dodged as he was questioned about his later cordial dealings with Pauley, notably the luncheon they had had at Ickes' office a few months later. But he stood firm on his main contentions: 1) the proposition had been made to him; 2 ) he was against any oilman having anything to do with the Navy's oil reserves; 3) Pauley had told falsehoods to the Committee. Then he threw a parting bouquet at Pauley: Harold Ickes thought that Ed Pauley had "great ability"--he might "be very well qualified for some other office."

Next day Oilman Pauley ably took up his own defense, whacked at Ickes and his other accusers, cried: "I will not sit idly by and be a victim of vicious character assassination compounded of falsehoods, innuendo and deceit."

But he knew that he had lost to Harold Ickes and to Republican Senator Charles William Tobey, who had built the opposition's case. Pauley was fighting now for his reputation and not for the Under Secretary of the Navy. The stage managers arranged a graceful exit for him: the Committee would certify to his good character; Ed Pauley would withdraw as Harry Truman's nominee; there would be polite letters to & from the White House. The cue was due this week.

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