Roosevelt ends his vacation in Southland
Ready to defend seizure of Ward’s
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
Washington –
President Roosevelt, rested and eager for government tasks after four weeks in South Carolina, waded into his White House deskwork today ready to defend his seizure of Montgomery Ward & Co.
He returned to Washington by train yesterday from Hobcaw Barony, Bernard M. Baruch’s 23,000-acre seacoast plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina.
His vacation was one of sunbathing, much sleep and poor fishing. White House physician VAdm. Ross T. McIntire was enthusiastic over his patient’s recuperation.
Confers with leaders
The first major White House business today was a conference with Democratic Congressional leaders – the Big Four.
Speaker Sam Rayburn, House Majority Leader John W. McCormack (D-MA), Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), and Vice President Henry A. Wallace attended the conference and Mr. Barkley later said that the President “recommended no new legislation.”
Adm. McIntire said Mr. Roosevelt was in “perfectly fine” health and, in his opinion, had thrown off all traces of the bronchial and sinus irritations which plagued him through the winter and early spring.
Hull meets him
Hardly had the special presidential train stopped rolling yesterday morning than Secretary of State Cordell Hull went abroad Mr. Roosevelt’s car to welcome him home. Mr. Hull rode with the President to the White House. They had an opportunity to canvass some of the more pressing international problems.
The President came home to a turbulent labor situation and before the week is out, he will probably have something to say on the complicated situation arising from government seizure of Montgomery Ward, an action already under Congressional investigation.
In the field of foreign affairs, he scheduled early conferences with Under Secretary of State E. R. Stettinius Jr., just back from London, and Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, who was a surprise arrival last week from his post in Moscow.
Health ‘perfectly fine’
Adm. McIntire declined to answer when asked whether, should the President decide to run for reelection, he is physically ready for a political campaign.
The doctor did say Mr. Roosevelt’s health was “perfectly fine” and that he was going to check his personal observations against medical science by giving the President a thorough physical examination within a few days. That probably will be at the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland.
This was the longest actual vacation the President has taken since entering the White House. Mr. Roosevelt left Washington April 8.