John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography by Saul Alinsky

Author:Saul Alinsky [Alinsky, Saul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Papamoa Press
Published: 2017-01-12T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9—Post Mortem

THE spectacular break between Roosevelt and Lewis produced a host of theories and endless speculation. Many reasons and so-called inside stories were advanced to explain both the break and the consequent feud that raged uninterrupted by a world war until the death of the President. It is now possible to examine critically the most popularly told and accepted stories, and to dissect those elements that would be most revealing as to the character of the Roosevelt-Lewis relationship. The part of the story that will probably never be known is locked in the strange, dark, psychological tug of war of affinity and hostility between these two complex, strong-willed personalities.

Leading in common acceptance as the major reason for the violent rupture between Lewis and Roosevelt was Lewis’s personal political ambitions for the vice-presidency of the United States. Many varied stories along this line had appeared in the press—in both news and feature columns, in magazines, and in books on politics and labor; and they were spread also by radio commentators. Most of the tales dealt with Lewis’s telling Secretary of Labor Perkins that she should inform the President that his sole chance for a third-term victory lay in John L. Lewis being his running mate.

In November, 1946, Frances Perkins published her The Roosevelt I Knew, where for the first time she personally recounts the story as follows:

A strange light on this third term came one evening when I went with Daniel Tobin of the Teamsters Union to see the President. I cannot recall now why we went. We finished our business shortly. The President, seated in his second-floor study, was in a relaxed mood.

As we prolonged our visit in pleasant conversation, Dan said, “Mr. President, you just have to run for the third term, you know you do. Don’t talk to me about your fishing trips next winter—you are going to be right here in the White House.”

“No,” said the President, “no, Dan. I just can’t do it. I tell you, I have been here a long time. I am tired. I really am. You don’t know what it’s like. And besides, I have to take care of myself. This sinus trouble I’ve got, the Washington climate makes it dreadful. It’s the Washington disease. I never had it until I came here. How can I get over it? The doctors say I have to go into the hospital for a month of steady treatment. But I can’t do that, you know. When a President does that, the bottom drops out of the stock market, the Japs take advantage of what they think is a serious illness, the Germans starts propaganda that I am dying and that the United States is in a panic. No, I can’t be President again. I have to get over this sinus. I have to rest. I want to go home to Hyde Park. I want to take care of my trees. I have a big planting there, Dan. I want to make the farm pay. I want to finish my little house on the hill.

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