Economic High Command?

The President, like the people, is in trouble. His desk is piled high with unsolved problems. There is the threat of inflation, the lag in production, the lack of unity in his Army & Navy—to say nothing of far-flung problems of democratic unity throughout the world (see P-25).

In such a situation, the President needs able men. He already has working for him many of the ablest men in the country (see p. 20). But still last week the President seemed to be looking for a man—a man whom he could trust and a man whom the public trusts.

To whom could he turn? There was, inevitably, Elder Statesman Bernard M. (“Bernie”) Baruch, production tsar of World War I. The President (said informal sources) was thinking about him. Baruch is 72 years old but carries his 6 ft. 3½ in. height with gusty vigor.

On the count of foreknowledge, Baruch might well be the man. Years ago he saw that all wartime economic problems were so interrelated that no single step should be taken without adjustments in all fields. Understanding the whole, he might help mightily with a part.

Baruch has two other great advantages: it is certain that he would surround himself with aides of unquestioned integrity and ability; and no man is more conscious than Franklin Roosevelt of Bernard Baruch’s loyalty to his President.