Advise & Consent

Franklin Roosevelt Jr. moved to the witness table of the Senate Commerce Committee and sat down smiling. Committee Chairman Warren Magnuson, a Democrat, chuckled that it happened to be the 30th anniversary of the first fireside chat by Junior's father--but that, unfortunately, there was no fire at hand. Rhode Island's John Pastore, another Democrat, cracked: "It will be hot anyway." Republican committee members, it was rumored, planned to hold F.D.R. Jr.'s feet to the fire in hearings on his appointment as Under Secretary of Commerce.

But the fireworks fizzled. After two days of committee camaraderie, Roosevelt was getting his coffee in a cup with his name on it. On the third day. Vermont's Winston Prouty, generally considered to be the Republican who was really out after Junior, got a chance to ask some questions. What did Roosevelt do with the $30.000 retainer he received when he was an attorney for Tyrant Trujillo's Dominican Republic regime seven years ago? The money went to Roosevelt's New York law firm, and F.D.R. Jr. got his share as a partner. Anyway, Junior now felt that "I would have been just as well off without that client." What about Junior's five traffic violations and $125 fine for driving after a suspended license? Didn't they indicate a "public be damned'' attitude? Roosevelt thought not, explained one of the violations was for a blown headlight fuse--and anyway, he got his license back after he became the "proud graduate" of a school for frequent traffic offenders. What. Prouty asked, about some $26,000 in taxes that the Internal Revenue Service claimed Junior owed in 1958? A misunderstanding, insisted Roosevelt, but he would happily pay the assessments.

At week's end. Roosevelt's appointment --a token of President Kennedy's warm thanks for work during West Virginia's 1960 presidential primary--seemed assured. Only Winston Prouty had doubts. He thought it might yet be interesting to hear from an ex-partner in Roosevelt's Washington foreign-car dealership who sued F.D.R. Jr. and the Fiat Motor Co. for $9,000,000 a few years ago. The rest of the committee, both Republicans and Democrats, seemed mighty pleased when Junior vowed: "I will try to be purer than Caesar's wife." There were Rotarian guffaws when Senator Magnuson quipped: "Well, that's asking a little too much."

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