Sublime

Howe was more than a secretary. Later he joked that when he arrived in Washington he knew so little that for the first several days he was reduced “to blotting Franklin’s signature.”61 Within weeks he was on top of the job. Howe became the junior member of a two-man firm dedicated to furthering FDR’s career.

Every bone in Jim Hill’s body drew him toward an impassioned stand on the war between Britain, France, and Russia, on the one side, and Germany and Austria-Hungary, on the other. After all, he had been born in the British Empire, had been reared on English culture, and remained fondly attached to his native Canada.

For eight years under Woodrow Wilson he had been the number two man in the Navy Department.

For the second time MacArthur felt he had been double-crossed by the War Department, FDR, and anyone else in Washington who might have had a hand in it.

“I mean this guy’s a general. He’s like Patton,” Ackman said. “And running a railroad is like running an army, right?” Harrison had made the same reference about Bill Thompson, his mentor.

Ostensibly, Howe’s duties involved labor relations, special investigations, and speechwriting. He also took charge of patronage, handled Roosevelt’s correspondence, made appointments for his boss, wheedled postmasterships for deserving upstate Democrats, and kept his finger on the pulse of New York politics, building an organization to challenge Ta

McKinley, meanwhile, called for 125,000 volunteers to carry the war to the Caribbean. The army was swamped with applicants. And bouncing up and down enthusiastically at the head of the line was one Theodore Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy. Roosevelt’s eagerness to leave his post and join the army baffled his friends. “Is his wife dead? H

Believing that Conner was “exceptionally well qualified” to carry out the critical planning functions required of the Operations Section, Palmer resolved to “pry him loose” from the Inspector General. Palmer took his request to Chief of Staff Harbord, who warned Palmer of a potential problem with Conner’s transfer to the Operations Section: Conner