ROOSEVELT NO DICTATOR
Emil Ludwig, German-born author, is going to tell Europe in his forthcoming biography of Franklin D. Boosevelt tliat the Pr«!sident is not a dictator. , Herr Ludwig sailed from New York to his houie in Svvitzerland recently after three interviews with ihe President and long conversatlons with his friends and associates. To a Europe "m.ore Interpsted in President Hoosevelt than in any American President since Woodrow Wilson," he will take word that the present Chief Executive is not a dictator: first, because "he laughs, and dictators must always be gloomy"; second, because "he likes people, whereas a dictator mistrusts everyone"; and, third, becanse he 4 'likes life and will go to a baseball game; dictators must stay at home and act like this." Here Herr Ludwig assumed a Napoleonie pose. Asked if Europeans looked upon Mrf lioosevelt as a dictator, Herr Ludwig explained, "Tbe diciators write in tlieir papers he is; the democratic Govcrnmeiits say he is a democrat; and the Russians call him a Bolshevik." By rovealing that the Eoosevelt char-
acter ia "a guarantee against dictatorship5" Herr Ludwig said he hopes to encourage the feAv remaining democracies in Europe. "You will not have a dictatorship during tho next four years," he assured his Americaa interrogators. Tha thing that impressed Herr Ludwig the most during his visit to the United States was tho informality of the Fourth of July picnic at Hyde Park at which the President and his wife entertained the Press. "There were no soldiers, no policemen, no uniforms, " he said. "In Europe it would be impossible for the head of any State to celebrate a national holiday without great formality and a mass display of military force." President Eoosevelt is the fiiet living figure whose biography Herr Ludwig has tackled. He will have no memoirs or letters to draw upon, but for the first time one of his subjects hed given him a luncheon party, the writer commented. Mrs. Eoosevelt he found ^'too wodest" to admit she had any influence on the President 's character. '
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Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 196, 4 September 1937, Page 15
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341ROOSEVELT NO DICTATOR Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 196, 4 September 1937, Page 15
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