PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1939, Page 9

PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER

MR PAUL V. McNUTT A FORCEFUL CANDIDATE. The net outcome of the session of Congress, for the time at least, is to weaken President Roosevelt’s position in all fields, writes a Washington correspondent. The majority coalition against, him shows how difficult would bq his path to a third-term nomination and election. In this connection, Mr Roosevelt’s appointment as administrator of the new Federal Security Agency of Mr Paul V. McNutt, late High Commissioner to the Philippines, aroused intense speculation. Mr McNutt is an avowed candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, but pledged to withdraw if the President wants to run. He was a very strong Governor of Indiana, and has made a record as an aggressive and capable administrator and diplomat in the Philippines. Mr McNutt is a striking figure, standing 6ft. tall, with a smooth shock of prematurely silver hair, a bronze complexion, and vitality to go with his good looks. He is a powerful political speaker, a man of some legal eminence, has an iron constitution and a wide acquaintance politically. He is truly a formidable candidate for the presidential nomination —or has become so with President Roosevelt’s adoption of him into the family. As head of the Federal Security Agency he will administer the Social Security Board, which distributes old age pensions and unemployment insurance benefits; he will run the Civilian Conservation Corps and N.Y.A., which care for the nation's youth. Between these two big groups—youth and age—he has a powerful hold on the war veterans, the American Legion, of which he was once National Commander. For the first time, therefore, a forceful heir-apparent comes into sight.