The Pittsburgh Press (October 24, 1944)
A ‘rebel’ Congress would hurt –
‘Chairmanship troubles’ loom for next President
Roosevelt has already warned of handicap; ‘seniority’ policies again reviewed
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Washington –
From a sideline point of view, it looks today as though the winner of next month’s presidential election maty have chairmanship trouble in the ensuing four years regardless of his identity. Presidents usually do.
President Roosevelt raised the question by warning the nation in his weekend foreign affairs broadcast that a GOP victory would make the isolationist Senator Hiram W. Johnson (R-CA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
The isolationist Senator Gerald P. Nye (R-ND) would take over leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee. And the isolationist Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-NY) would become chairman of the House Rules Committee, one of the most powerful bodies on Capitol Hill.
Martin assailed
Mr. Roosevelt made a point of the probability that Rep. Joseph W. Martin Jr. (R-MA) would be Speaker of the House if the Republicans get a Congressional majority, and he assailed Martin’s voting record.
The President, however, probably would concede quickly that he would have chairmanship trouble himself if he were reelected. He unquestionably regards the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as safely led by Chairman Tom Connally (D-TX) and there are other Congressional committee chiefs even more in tune with the Roosevelt administration.
‘Purge’ attempt recalled
But some of the major committee chairmen are anything but New Dealers and a few are open and constant in their opposition to the White House.
Mr. Roosevelt, himself, pointed in 1938 to some of those whose views he challenged. It was in that off-year Congressional campaign that Mr. Roosevelt personally undertook to prevent the renomination of Senators Walter F. George (D-GA), Ellison D. Smith (D-SC), and Millard F. Tydings (D-MD), and Rep. John J. O’Connor (D-NY).
Only O’Connor fell before Mr. Roosevelt’s 1938 attack.
Smith, Tydings and George came through easily and today are, respectively, chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Insular Affairs and Finance Committees. Smith’s tenure, however, is only until the new Congress meets in January. He was licked in the primary this year.
Others also listed
Those are three of a dozen major Senate committees. Of the others: Appropriations is headed by Senator Carter Glass (D-VA), who has been cool from the start to Roosevelt policies and whose newspaper in Lynchburg has not yet taken a stand for or against Mr. Roosevelt in the present campaign.
Banking and Currency is headed by a staunch New Dealer, Senator Robert F. Wagner (D-NY). But the Interstate Commerce Committee is headed by the bitterest anti-Roosevelt Democrat of them all – Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT). Senator Pat McCarran (D-NV), is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is often off the administration reservation.
Chairman Robert R. Reynolds (D-NC) is chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee but not for long. He is not a candidate for reelection. He has been a bitter critic of Roosevelt’s foreign and domestic policies.
Chairman David I. Walsh (D-MA) of the Naval Affairs Committee is of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party and gets his party line in Massachusetts rather than from the White House.
The Senate Rules Committee is not so powerful as its opposite number in the House. But for what it is worth, the chairman is Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA), who was against a fourth term before the Democratic National Convention and who has not yet said anything back home in favor of Mr. Roosevelt’s reelection.