FDR - Jean Edward Smith [227]
* The issue was not unlike the claim for the restitution of Tory property asserted by Great Britain after the American Revolution and dealt with in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and the Jay Treaty of 1794.
† The “taking clause” of the Constitution, contained in the Fifth Amendment, provides: “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”
* Justice Robert H. Jackson, then general counsel of the Treasury’s revenue arm, was in the Oval Office with FDR when he received a phone call from Donald Richberg of the NRA telling him of the Schechter decision. According to Jackson, “The conversation at the President’s end of the line ran something like this: ‘You mean it was unanimous against us? Where was old Isaiah?’ This was a favorite characterization of Justice Brandeis. He then asked, ‘What about Ben Cardozo?’ He then told us that the decision had gone against the government by all members of the Court. It was this feature that shocked him most.… We suggested to him that perhaps he had been relieved by the Court of a serious problem. He seemed inclined to agree with that view of it and I was somewhat surprised to read some days later of his [May 31, 1935] press conference remarks.” Robert H. Jackson, That Man: An Insider’s Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt 66, John Q. Barrett, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
* In World War II, General Lee performed with distinction as Eisenhower’s supply chief in Europe, although his high-handed style, combined with his religious ardor, led him to be dubbed (based on his JCH initials) “Jesus Christ Himself” Lee. The moniker was used freely by both Lee’s admirers and detractors, which makes his 1934 comments about Hopkins’s style all the more pertinent. For Lee, see Jean Edward Smith, Lucius D. Clay: An American Life 181 (New York: Henry Holt, 1990).
† To head the Securities and Exchange Commission, FDR named Joseph P. Kennedy, an early supporter who had been disappointed he was passed over for the Treasury. When the press slammed the appointment because of Kennedy’s long record as a stock manipulator, Roosevelt beamed his delight. “Set a thief to catch a thief,” he grinned, effectively ending the discussion. Kenneth S. Davis, Invincible Summer: An Intimate Portrait of the Roosevelts Based on the Recollections of Marion Dickerman 128–129 (New York: Atheneum, 1974).
* Former Republican congressman Fiorello La Guardia had crossed party lines and was running for mayor of New York City as a Fusion candidate representing a coalition of disaffected Democrats, Republicans, reformers, and socialists.
* James Farley believed that Long might poll 6 million votes. “I always laughed Huey off,” he told Harold Ickes after Long’s assassination in 1935. “But I did not feel that way about him.” And then Farley reeled off the states FDR would have lost had Long run against him. 1 The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes 462.
* The only time prior to 1934 the party in power gained seats in the House during an off-year election was in 1902, when the Republicans, under TR, gained eleven seats. Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections 928–929 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1975).
* The cabinet Committee on Economic Security was composed of Frances Perkins, chairman, Henry Wallace (Agriculture), Henry Morgenthau (Treasury), Attorney General Homer Cummings, and Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins.
* FDR’s initial proposal, as recommended by his cabinet committee, included all categories. But in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Secretary Morgenthau broke ranks. Because of the difficulties the Treasury would encounter collecting payments, Morgenthau recommended that farm laborers, domestics, and firms with fewer than ten employees be excluded from coverage. “This was a blow,” Frances Perkins reported. “The matter had been discussed in the [Cabinet]