Secretaries & Sons

The flood of Rooseveltiana, already building the F.D.R. legend (TIME, Aug. 19), hit the nation's magazines.

In Collier's, ex-Labor Secretary Fanny Perkins gave a glimpse into the Roosevelt political mind: "I have often been asked what Roosevelt thought of his presidential rivals. ... He thought Hoover a solemn defeatist with no consciousness of people as human beings. Alfred Landon, Roosevelt thought, was a nice fellow who didn't know much. He took an immediate liking to Willkie, and he hadn't expected to. ... For Dewey, Roosevelt had little respect. He expected him to make a bad campaign, and was surprised when he made an excellent one."

In Look, son Elliott took readers on a tour of the U.S.S. Augusta, at anchor in Argentia Bay, where F.D.R. and Churchill met to frame the Atlantic Charter. Excerpt: "Churchill's neck reddened, he crouched forward. 'Mr. President, England does not propose for a moment to lose its favored position among the dominions.'

" 'You see,' Father said slowly, 'it is along in here somewhere that there is likely to be some disagreement between you, Winston, and me. I believe that if we are to arrive at a stable peace it must involve the development of backward countries. . . .'

" 'There can be no tampering with the Empire's economic agreements,' the P.M. growled. 'They're the foundation of our greatness.'

" 'The peace,' Father said firmly, 'cannot include any continued despotism.. . .'

"The deadlock lasted until 2 a.m., and sadly wore the nerves of all the British present. When it was over, I helped Father to his cabin.

"'A real old Tory, isn't he,' Father grinned. 'Oh . . . we'll get along.' "

With this as a springboard, Elliott--who admitted that he was at the conference solely as "errand boy and drink mixer"--used the rest of his article to damn the British on general principles, Churchill "for his anti-Russian stand," "Washington cocktail-party gossipers" for predicting war in 1948.

Large sections of the article (which was an excerpt from Elliott's forthcoming book As He Saw It) were printed in the London press. Snorted the Daily Mirror: "The book proves nothing except that great men often have silly sons."

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