Evening Star Newspaper, March 5, 1933, Page 78

SUNDAY STAR, - WASHINGTON, D. @, MARCH 5, 19%. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S RIGHT-HAND MEN Theirs Is a Difficult Job—These Three Secretaries, Who Must Act as the Presi- dent’s Intermediaries in His Relations With Politiciags, Public and Press. Underwood & Underwood. The men President Roosevelt chose for his three W hite House secretaries (left to right): Louis McHenry Howe, Harris & Ewing. his old crony and confidant since the days when the new President served in the State Senate at Albany; Marvin H. Mclntyre, protege of Secretary Josephus Daniels and a friend of Mr. Roosevelt for the past 20 years, and Stephen T. Early, Washington newspaper man who cante to know “F. D. R.” when he was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. BY WILLIAM A. MILLEN. HE Fourth Estate will be supreme in the White House secretariat this ad- mini:tration. The erstwhile editor of the Harvard Crimson, who has just become President of the United States, has choren a trio from the writing craft to share the burdens of White House detail with him. A different set-up from that prevailing under the Hoover administration is in prospect. Herbert Hoover introduced these latter years the plan of having three secretaries in the Executive Mansion, but he was but following the policy laid down by Grant years before. While three recretaries will be the rule in this administration, another arrangement for deal- ing with the public, politicians and the press has been worksd out, and the Democrats say it will function far better. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s chcice for his three secretaries has long been Louis Mc- Henry Howe, his old crony and confidante wince the days when the new President served in the State Senate at Albany, N. Y., and won his admiration; Marvin H. MclIntyre, protege of Secretary Josephus Daniels during his regime at the Navy Department, who first contacted with the Nation's newest Chief Magistrate 20 years back, and Stephen T. Early, another Washington, D. C., newspaper man, who came to know the worth of “F. D. R.” when he sat at the desk of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Today these four men stand upon the threshold of eventful times. The yesterdays can tell that the secrtariat of the White House leads to high places in business, in politics, in public life. Such is the lesson of history. Cabinet office has come to some of the former secretaries of Presidents. Some have become magnates in industry. Others have piloted one of the major political parties. When the quartet delves into the White Hcuse archives it will find that a number of newspaper men have held the post of secretary to the Nation's leader, Like the procession of figures in Macbeth, the march of former secre- taries emerges—in the vanguard the venerable Tobias Lear, factotum of Gen. George Wash- ington. Men who have sat through the years at the elbows of Chief Executives in the White House, patterned after the residence of the Duke of Leinster in Dublin, plotting the daily course, caring for the tedious details, conferring with the Secret Service men, keeping the job hunters and the grafters off the President’s back, arranging the speeches, preparing the conferences—doing the real work of drudgery, but stripped of the glory that is born of it. The years are long since Louis McHenry Howe, as a reporter “covering” the Albany, N. Y., Legislature for the New York Herald, struck up an acquaintance with & promising young State Senator named Franklin D. Roosevelt from Dutchess County—Hyde Park, N. Y. That must have been around 1010. For 23 years now Mr. Howe has been “devoted utterly and com- pletely to Mr. Roosevelt's welfare,” to use the words of a mutual friend. The “sere, the yellow leaf,” has come om ®apace. The quondam State Senator is President of the United States now. The New York Herald reporter of yore is his right-hand man— shrewd, small, but & Warwick, & President- maker. And Howe does not hesitate to talk out his mind to the Chief Executive. He is no truckling “yes man.” With a political sagacity, ~ the outcropping of years of clote observation of events and men that is marvelous, Mr. Howe hails from that great farm belt that is travail- ing in depression. He is a Hocsier. Old clothes, old friends—these are his forte; but he is an amateur photographer of no mean strain. Titles he spurns, although he is a colonel now, thanks fo the beneficence of Gov. Laffoon of Kentucky. Homespun philosophy is his—something akin to that of his fellow Hoosier who came to high place, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall Althcugh he has been ear-deep in politics for nigh a generation, Mr. Howe has no hankerings for a pedestal in that hall. Crime prevention is a particular hobby of his and he s an avid reader of worthwhile detective yarns. This administration will have a Navy com- plexion to it—given from the very cutset, when at the Chicago convention Mr. Roosevelt was hailed with “Anchors Aweigh.” 8o it is not surprising to find that when Mr. Howe wants a real rest he goes to the ceashore. Near New Bedford, Mass.,, famed of whaling ships in the romantic days of old, he has a retreat. He has written poetry, wanted to be an artist—and still does sketching and drawing. President Roosevelt's right-hand man is 62 years old, but he wears his years well. He was born in Indianapelis, Ind., January 14, 1871. ‘When but a smal]l boy he was taken to Sara- toga, N. Y, where his father had acquired the Saratoga Sun. The father was postmaster there, as well as being correspondent of the New York Herald. In this atmosphere he im- bibed politics. He was a keen lad, for at 17 he took over his father’s job as local corre- spondent for the Herald. Wider horizons dawned when he got a job in Albany as the Herald’s reporter at the State Legislature. There Mr. Roosevelt made an impression on him for the independence displayed. Mr. Howe managed the Roosevelt campaign for the Legislature, when boti Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt were stricken with typhoid. How well he worked is registered by the victory achieved. Then came the days in Washington. Mr. Roosevelt was picked by Josephus Daniels to be his associate at the Navy Department. Along came Mr. Howe, as secretary. During the tiring days of the World War and the stirring events that led up to it, Mr. Howe worked night and day with a flood of confidential matters. He became technical assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. He was rated an expert on reduction in prices and securing competition and came in the Navy in its expansion program. And then, when Mr. Roosevelt was chosen by his party to be its nominee for the vice presi- dency in 1920, Mr. Howe was at his side. To- , they tourned the Nation on a lengthy speaking engagements. But victory was delayed a dozen years. Suddenly, Mr. Roosevelt was stricken with the dread infantile paralysis, Mr. Howe nursed him back to healith, encouraging that dauntless spirit. During those trying days, Mr. Howeé was a member of the Roosevelt household. But he through the dark hours that vision was to bring “F. D. R” to the White House. Loyalty is the keynote of him, He has delightful sense of humor, but those keen can be serious, giving sage advice. Howe have a daughter and & President. who stands at the right-hand man who has just taken over the piloting te RINTER'S ink is on the hands of Marvin H. McIntyre, too. This Kentuckian, now a real “colonel” of the Blue Grass State, is no stranger to the White House or to Washington. For a number of years, now, he has made his hon.e in the National Capital, at 3106 Thirty- fourth street. There, he has lived with Mrs. McIntyre and their two children—Marie, 20 years old, and Logan Kennedy, 18. His biggest job, before joining the White House force, was in “covering” the World War for the Navy. He was with the Committee on Information, headed by George Creel, and just after the Armistice was signed he was in the Navy News Bureau at the Navy Department. John Wilbur Jenkins was in charge until April, 1919, when he went to another section of the department to lay the groundwork for the World War historical group. Then Mr. McIntyre be- came director of the Navy News Bureau. In this capacity he came into contact with many of the corps of Washington correspond- ents—among them Mr. Early. Many big “stories” “broke” when Mr. McIntyre headed the Navy press room. There was the demobili- gation of the service from 500,000 officefs and men down to peacetime strength again; there were the famous N€ flights across the Atlantic, the return of the mine-sweeping fleet from the North Sea, the review of the returning war fleet, the German U-boats and their bombing off the Virginia capes, the Prince of Wales’ visit to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md, and the visit of King Albert of Belgium and other notables, as well as the run-of-the-mine news to be handled. His assistant in the news room was Miss Helene Philibert. This activity in the Navy press room brought Mr. McIntyre into real association with Mr. Roosevelt—often acting Secretary of the Navy, in the absence of Mr. Daniels. A mutual re- gard developed. In 1920, when Mr. Roosevelt toured the Nation as a vice presidential candi- date, Mr. McIntyre handled publicity for him— on leave from his naval duties. Then, when the Republicans came in, in 1921, Mr. McIntyre left the Navy. He gave edi- torial representation to newspapers and the newsreel interests, then in their infancy. At the outset. he represented all the agencies in moviedom here. He it was that placed this phase of the business on its feet in the National Capital. Arranging “shots” of men in high places brought him a wider circle of friends in public life. Later, he became associated with Pathe News in the National Capital. Intimate knowledge of service affairs took Mr. McIntyre to a position on the Army and Navy Journal. Regularly he wrote a signed article on the trend of national defense and the men who make it possible. Last June he was summoned to Albany by his old friend, then Gov. Roosevelt, to handle pub- leity for the forthcoming presidential cam- paign. From the Ten Eyck Hotel there, Mr, McIntyre directed this phase of the Nation-wide battle for ballots, co-operating with the corre- spondents in the Empire State Capital. For he had been a newspaper man himself and knew the problems, not only of the writing men, but of those who carried cameras on their backs. He was born November 27, 1878 at La Grange, Ky. One of his first major jobs in newspaper work was on the Louisville Courier- Journal. Soon he was on the Asheville, N. C,, Citizen. From the Tarheel State, he came to Washington, D. C. Working as a correspondent at first, he was elevated, in time, to the news editorship of the Washington Times, then a Munsey publication. From there he went to the Between the Chicago convention, the Nation- wide general election and the Washington inauguration Mr. McIntyre has spent but little @ time in the National Capital. Hasty trips over week ends frcm Albany or a dash up from Warm Springs, Ga., was about all the time he could spare away from his chief, for there were a thousand and one details to be worked out in collaboration with the then President- elect and Mr. Howe. Of cheery manner, coupled with political sagacity, “Mac,” as he is known to his associates, has a reputation of being a card player extraordinary. He could summon witne:ses from the National Press Club to testify on this point, for his prowess in bridge is proverbial among members of the Fourth Estate. Clcse friends affirm that he can keep a mighty straight face in poker playing. Admirals, generals and high and low in public life in Washington are his friends. He has a particulariy good knowledge of the interior working of the Navy Department, for the civil- ians he rubbed shoulders with during and after the war have advanced to more responsible posts and officers he knew as commanders in those pressing days are now captains and rear admirals. His knowledge of this phase of na- tional defense is not confined to the shore establishments, for many times Mr. McIntyre has been on the high seas on various types of ships of the service. He shares with “F. D. R.” a keen love of the sea and the men who operate on it. HE call to public service has again come to Stephen T. Early. Time was, when the war drums were rolling, he was one of the very first in the National Capital to join the colors. To that task, as to this, he brought a wide knowledge of public men and aflfairs, for news- paper work and close contact with current events fitted him eminently for the career tha was to follow. y “Steve” Early, as he is popularly known to his colleagues of the Fourth Estate, was already an’ Army Reserve officer when the World War broke. In that fateful April, 1917, he was ready for service. He attended the first officers’ training camp at Fort Myer, Va, and is num- bered amcng the first dozen men from the National Capital to get into olive drab. He graduated from the Fort Myer course and then went on to the School of Automatic Arms at Fort Sill, Okla. There, tco, he graduated from the grueling course that was to shape men for France. His rext assignment was as instructor at Camp Lee, Va. He taught the “rookies” how to handle automatic arms, machine guns and the implements of war generally,. He later was assigned to the 317th Machine Gun Company. With the 80th Division—socime 40,000 men gathe ered into the Army from Virginia, West Vire ginia and Western Pennsylvania—Second Lieut. Early drilled the raw mountaineers, whipping ‘ them into trained troops. So with his outfit he went overseas. In the Argonne Forest his valor won for him promo- tion to first lieutenant and .soon thereafter he was dispatched for duty with Gen. Pershing’s staff at general headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force at Chaumont, France. He was assigned to the Military Intelligence section, under Maj. Gen, Dennis E. Nolan. Subse- quently he went to Paris to help in the re- organization of the Stars and Stripes, official Continued on Forty-ffth Page