Part 39 (1/2)
And when I say this of Woodrow Wilson I enerous tendencies of reat heart when I see its actions I could not have been associated with hireat heart in action, without having full faith in what I now say No man of all my acquaintance, hoedies, at least those tragedies that stalked in and out of the White House, was more responsive, more sympathetic, and more inclined to pity and help than Woodrow Wilson His eyes would fill with tears at the tale of some unfortunate man or woman in distress It was not a cheap kind of sympathy It was quiet, sincere, but always fro to me--and now he spoke as the canny Scot--”I ae and my own son should be convicted of ment upon the case, I would dohi to do but it would be e to do it, but I would do it, because the state cannot be rity preserved unless the law is strictly enforced and without favour It is the business of the judge to uphold it and he must do it to the point of every sacrifice If he fails, justice fails, the state falls That looks cold- blooded, doesn't it? But I would do it” Then his voice lowered and he said, ”Then, after sentencing o out and die of a broken heart, for it would surely kill me”
That is one key to the character of the man that was revealed before my own eyes in the years of our intimacy
It showed itself on many other occasions It was his idea of the duty of the trustee, the judge, the guardian
I remember a visit that two very warm friends froht and day for his cause in the great state of the Golden West
Their son had been convicted and was incarcerated in the Federal Prison
They had every personal reason for feeling that a mere appeal on their part on behalf of this son would be a winning one, for their friendshi+p with the President was one of long standing andin the centre of the roo his head and saying, ”I wish I could do it, but I must not allow personal consideration to influence me in the least I know it is hard for you to believe that I will turn away from your request, but the only basis upon which youan injustice to many a boy like yours who has similarly offended and for whom no one is able to speak or approach e Please do not think me cold- hearted, but I cannot do it”
I remember one of the last pardon cases we handled in the White House was that of an oldlaws and sentenced to imprisonment I pleaded with the President to pardon the old man; the Attorney General had recommended it, and soone to hiht to exert their influence in behalf of the oldsht be pardoned, until the faht to bear It was the last pardon case I brought to his attention before the fall of the curtain on March fourth I went to him, and said, ”My dear Governor, I hope you will close your official career here by doing an act of ates open for the old man, but when I mentioned the na, and looking at me in the coldest way, said, ”I will not pardon this man Certain members of ht to influence ht to do it I should be unworthy of my trust as President were I to permit family interference of any kind to affect my public actions, because very few people in the country can exert that kind of influence and it must not be tolerated” The case was closed; the pardon refused
He often spoke to me in the frankest way of his personal appearance; how he looked and appeared and of the ”old Scotch face,” as he called it, which gave hiry look” Speaking at the annual banquet of the Motion Picture Board of Trade, he discussed his personal appearance in this way:
”I have so myself in a motion picture I have wondered if I really was that kind of a 'guy' The extraordinary rapidity hich I walked, for example, the instantaneous and apparently automatic nature of riether the extraordinary exhibition I made of myself sends me to bed very unhappy And I often think to e and men and women but actors upon it, after all, the external appearance of things are very superficial indeed”
He knew that his facial expression gave one the impression that he was a cold and canny Scot In repose one would get that i s One of his favourite limericks was:
For beauty I am not a star, There are others more handsome by far
But my face I don't mind it, For I am behind it, It's the people in front that I jar
Behind the cold exterior and beneath the ”gleaenerous heart I have often thought of the character discussed by Israel Zangwill in his book ”The Mantle of Elijah” These lines, in my opinion, draw a perfect picture of Woodrow Wilson as I knew hiwill said:
”With hi rhetoric, blowing her own trumpet, but Free Trade, Free Speech, Free Education He did not rail against the Church as the enemy, but he did not count on it as a friend His Millennium was earthly, human; his philosophy sunny, untroubled by Dantesque depths or shadows; his ca of the new forces erowth of a modern world Towards such a man the House of Co and Tory, yellow and blue, the i of Cabinet cards, the tricks and honours--he seemed to live outside theland' He did not debate for argument's sake or to upset Ministers He was not bounded by the walls of the Chamber nor ruler from the Speaker's chair; the House was resentfully conscious it had no final word over his reputation or his influence He stood for soe, vague, turbulent, untried, unplumbed, unknown--the People”
A little incident illustrating the warmth of the heart of Woodrow Wilson and the sy came to me in a letter received at the White House in 1920 from a Red Cross nurse, as stationed at the Red Cross Base Hospital at Neuilly, France An excerpt froht interest you to recite an incident within e that proves the depths of his sympathy--his sincerity I was one of the unit of Red Cross Workers ent to France to help our soldiers blinded in battle I was at the time of this incident stationed at the Red Cross Base Hospital No I at Neuilly After a visit of the President and Mrs Wilson to the hospital, one of es, a totally blind private to whouess the President must be very tired” I said, ”Why do you think that, Walter?” ”Well, because,” replied the soldier, ”he laughed and joked with all the other fellows but was so quiet when he talked with me and just said, 'Honourable wound, my boy,' so low I could hardly hear him But say,” continued Walter, ”look at my hand please and see if it is all there, will you? The President sure has some hand and he used it when he shook hands I'll say”
The fact was, Walter was the first blind soldier the President hadfrom experience the appeal the blind make to our emotions, I knew the President was so touched that he was overcoe the one remark and could not trust himself to venture another, 'Tith tears in his eyes and a choking voice that he ed the one Both he and Mrs
Wilson wept in that blind ward
As a political fighter, he was gallant and square No one ever heard him call an opponent a nae of an opponent
Illustrative of the nanimous attitude of the President toward his political ene incident that occurred a feeeks before the close of the last Presidential can, 1920 Early one afternoon two Democratic friends called upon me at the Executive offices and informed o a long way toward discrediting the Republican can and that they could be procured for a money consideration They explained the character of the documents to me and left it to me to say what I considered a fair price for them They explained the serious nature of these documents, and it was certainly a delicate situation for reatly I was reluctant to offend these gentlemen, and yet I was certain from what they said that the docuht discredit the Republican can, were not of a character that any party of decent entlemen toldpapers in his possession, I at once recalled that we had in the files of the White House certain letters that could be used to discredit this verydocuht it wise, therefore, to listen politely to these gentleet a chance to confer with the President I did this at once
At this ti ill in his sick room at the White House The nurse raised him up in the bed and I explained the whole situation to hi to hiht not to have anything to do with such a ht we should at once apprise the Republican ers of the plan that was afoot to discredit by these unfair n When I told the President of the character of these docunation and said, ”If we can't win this fight by fair means, ill not attempt to win it by unfair ainst this party ould seek unfairly to attack the Republican noers of the plan proposed and explain the whole situation to them Say to the Attorney General that heand his friends every officer he has, if necessary, to disclose and overcoree withto do”
Acting upon the President's suggestion, I at once called upon a certain Republican senator fro's Cabinet, and told him of the proposed plot that was afoot to discredit the Republican ca upon the express authority of the President He expressed his high appreciation of the inforht him and informed me that he would place the matter in our hands with the utht to be said here that upon investigation, personallyin this whole ree reflected upon the honour or the integrity or high standing of President Harding
One of the things for which President Wilson was unduly censured shortly after he took office was the recognition he gave to his political enemies in the Democratic party The old-line politicians who had supported him in 1912 could not understand why the loaves and fishes were dealt out to these unworthy ones Protests were made to the President by some of his close personal friends, but he took the position that as the leader of the party he was not going to cause resent to classify Denize all factions, and there quickly followed appointments of Clark men, Underwood men, Harmon men, all over the country A case in point illustrates the bigness of the President in these e Fred Willian of 1912 Mr Williams had travelled up and down the state of Massachusettsthe bitterest sort of attacks upon Woodrow Wilson I reainst this appointe Fred Williams was an eccentric fellow, but that he believed he was thoroughly honest ”I have no fault to find, Tuht not to penalize theive expression to what they believe are honest opinions”
I have never seen him manifest any bitterness or resentment toward even his bitterest, most implacable enehout the country have been his ave expression to any ill feeling or chagrin at the unfair attacks that were made upon him I res in this regard, that occurred ere discussing the critical Mexican situation At this tianda in behalf of intervention in Mexico The President said to htful remark that that fine old lady, Mrs Phoebe Hearst,boy Willie' You know,” he continued, ”Mrs Hearst does not favour intervention in Mexico and it was reported tointervention, and told him that unless he behaved better she would have to take hireat failing, inherent in the very character of the man hiness to drareat events of the war, so that the plain people of the country could see hi to-day who has a greater power of personal appeal or who is a greater uments than Woodrow Wilson As his secretary for nearly eleven years, I was often vexed because he did not, to use a newspaper phrase, ”play up” better, but he was always averse to doing anything that seemed artificially contrived to win applause Under my own eyes, seated in the White House offices, I have witnessed reat story walk in and out but the President always ads must not be pictured or capitalized in any way for political purposes; and thus every attempt we made to dramatize him, as Colonel Roosevelt's friends had played hio