SOCIAL REFORMER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1941, Page 2

SOCIAL REFORMER

UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR IN BRITAIN STRONGHOLDS OF FREEDOM. JOHN G. WINANT'S CAREER. The new American Ambassador comes here at a crisis in our history, a crisis which deeply affects the United States as well as ourselves, wrote Harold Butler, formerly Director of the International Labour Office, in "The Times;.” The feeling of fellowship between the two countries has never been so strong as now. Most of the doubts and misunderstandings which clouded it in pre-war years have been swept away by the unmistakable evidence of facts and deeds. The United States and the British Commonwealth now stand out as the great twin strongholds of freedom, upon which its whole future in the world depends. As the nature and method of their co-operation are now of such vital importance to the two nations, the roles of their ambassadors in each other's capitals have assumed a greater significance than at any previous time. Mr Churchill has recognised this by sending Lord Halifax, a member of the War Cabinet, to Washington. Mr Roosevelt has recognised it by sending Mr John G. Winant to London.

It is perhaps difficult for a close friend to paint a faithful picture, and yet for anyone who did not know Winant well the task would be impossible. By temperament he is rather shy and incurably modest. In a large company he may seem distrait and aloof, but fie misses very little of what is going on round him, and reads character with an eagle eye. He does not court the i limelight. He is not a glib talker or . speaker, but when he is moved, sup- ’ pressed passion arms him with real : eloquence. At first sight one might think that he shrank from social intercourse, yet few men in the United States command a larger circle of de- ■ voted friends and admirers. This is not merely a question of his peculiar charm of manner or of his thoughtfulness for others, or of his strong human sympathies, which rise quickly to the surface on the least provocation. It is rather a question of character. ” Contact with him at once suggests a man of strength and straightness. His tall, spare frame, his clean-cut features and intense exl pression have frequently suggested a I likeness to Abraham Lincoln, which is not altogether fanciful either as regards his appearance or his inner being. He is not only a man of principle, but there is something of the knight errant about him. He believes in his principles with almost romantic passion, and throughout his career he has followed their call unhesitatingly wherever they might lead him. A VARIED CAREER. They have led him in turn to the command of one of the first American air squadrons in France in the last war, to the Governorship of New Hampshire, the chairmanship of the Social Security Board, the directorship of the International Labour Office at Geneva, and now to the American Embassy in London, a remarkable and variegated career. In the course of it he has shown qualities and acquired an experience of men and affairs which, in the President’s judgment, fit him pre-eminently for the post of Ambassador to Great i Britain at this critical time —and Mr Roosevelt is seldom wrong in his judg- i ment of men.

’ Mr Winant's first qualification is undoubtedly his passionate faith in de;l mocracy. and all that the Allies are fighting for. It was that faith rather than any love of adventure for its own sake which took him into the front line y in the last war, and no one who knows him will doubt that the whole of his 0 subsequent experience has deepened s and confirmed it. He is an example of ■ the best- product of American demon cracy, a man who believes unreservedly e in government by the people and for e the people. The electors of New Hamps shire realised that though a graduate of i Princeton he was one of themselves, s and they made him Governor three o times, which is. I believe, a record in 1 American State politics. Though New - Hampshire is known as “the Granite t State," one of the “rock-ribbed” fors tresses of Republican conservatism, j they chose him because he was a res former. He stood not for far-fetched 3 Utopian experiments, but for practical human measures—and for rigid honesty j in administration. From that time onwards he was a marked man in America with the prospect of a great political career. But he was a Republican. President Roosevelt and his new works should have been anathema to him as they were to the leaders of his party. I But the New Deal embodied Winant’s own principles. He believed that social and industrial reforms were right and inevitable, and that the new industrialised America could no longer afford to 1 run on the old laissez-faire lines, which had stood it in good stead in its more ; ? agricultural days. He supported the : "President’s programme regardless of • the consequences for his own political i ’ future. And then, following the same i 1 line, he went to the International Lab- • i, our Office at Geneva. 3 THE 1.L.0. When the United States became a , " member in 1934, I went there to find , 5 an American Assistant Director. Every- < body told me that, if I could get him, ‘ ! Winant was the ideal man for the job. ' ' but I had little hope of persuading him 1 ’ to throw up all his American interests •' > and come to Europe. For some weeks I f chased him in vain, but we finally met ' ! at a New York hotel four hours before ‘ my boat sailed. We talked until the ’ last minute, and the next time I saw , him was in Geneva a few months later. 1 He had been convinced that there was ? real work for him to do there, another * quest which appealed to his heart. He ? was, of course, a great acquisition. His .’ political acumen his wide experience, I 1 and his burning sincerity, made him a . tower of strength. Rut' the President j 1 could not do without him for long. He '! soon called Winant back to take charge , of the new Social Security Beard. v ’ which he had set up to organise unom- ? ployment insurance of 27.000,000 people. ~ It was a job of tremendous difficulty S and complexity in a country with no s ! previous tradition of nation-wide social c measures, but. he carried it through , with conspicuous success—and he then a returned to Geneva. When I was oblig- 11 ed to resign the Directorship of the a 1.L.0. in 1938, he was appointed as my U successor, and no consolation could have been greater than the thought c . that tile work of 18 years would be car- _ ried on by him. At a time when the disintegration of Europe was beginning, an Amercian was better fitted than any : j ; European to steer the ship. When the I i war began Winant was able to save it I « 'from shipwreck, and to ensure the con-1 | tinuance of lite 1.L.0. in Montreal. i De,ring his time as director. Winant| j obtained an insight into international I a affairs wnich comparatively few Amer- g, leans have an opportunity of acquiring.

He visited many countries in Europe and most parts of South America. As for this country, he has known and liked it since youth, and is very much at homo in London. He had many friends m very various circles, including the trade union world, with which he was in close contact, not only for the problems of the stormy present, but also of those which will have to be solved when the time comes to build a better and peaceful world. To all of them he brings a lofty sense of duty, an earnestness which springs from a true passion for what is just and decent, mid a characteristic touch of romance. As a close friend of the President he will be a faithful interpreter of his policies, and as an ardent American he will be a very genuine representative of his country. As he becomes better known here, the wisdom of the President's choice of an Ambassador will be generally realised.