After Henry

There was so much hubbub over the Wallace ouster that no one thought much about his possible successor. That could wait. Harry Truman went off to seek weekend sanctuary on the presidential yacht.

One man had serious thoughts about the job. He was Alfred Schindler, a short, bouncy, cheerful conservative who had been Henry Wallace's Under Secretary for 17 months. A onetime feed salesman, he was on a speaking tour of the West Coast when word came from Washington that he was now Acting Secretary. Salesman Schindler bustled into action, sent word to Department heads to "carry on," hopped a plane to Washington. There he stirred no doubts about his ambition: "I'd consider it an opportunity; there's a job to be done."

But Harry Truman sent word from his yacht that he had picked affable W. (for William) Averell Harriman, his Ambassador to London, the wartime Ambassador to Moscow, as his Secretary of Commerce.

After the surprise, there were general cheers. After all, rich Averell Harriman had some acquaintance with business (Union Pacific Railroad, Wall Street, etc.) even if it had been largely in the coupon-clipping area. He had been at most of the major international conferences from the Atlantic Charter meeting to Potsdam and Paris. He had grave doubts about "Russian cooperation," and he strongly backed Jimmy Byrnes's "get tough" policy.

As U.S. Lend-Lease Coordinator in London in the early war years he had won the respect and confidence of the British people. As Ambassador he has been altogether successful with British officialdom and public, has done a first-rate job of restoring embassy staff morale (which went to pot under his predecessor, aloof John G. Winant); has shown an intelligent, sympathetic, effective understanding of Britain's position and policy.

This week he was back at the Paris Peace conference, backstopping Jimmy Byrnes. It would be several weeks before he took over at Commerce.

. . .

One measure of an administrator is the lieutenants he appoints. As of this week, Harry Truman's Cabinet looked no worse than the Cabinet he had inherited from Roosevelt. In some respects it looked better:

State--James F. Byrnes for Edward Stettinius (gain).

Treasury--John Snyder for Fred Vinson, who had succeeded F.D.R.'s Henry Morgenthau (the gain that was Vinson was lost).

War--Robert P. Patterson for Henry Stimson (little change).

Navy--James Forrestal, only F.D.R. holdover left (and a good one).

Attorney General--Tom C. Clark for Francis Biddle (slight gain).

Postmaster General--Robert Hannegan for Frank Walker (no worse).

Interior--Julius Krug for Harold Ickes (gain).

Agriculture--Clinton P. Anderson for Claude Wickard (gain).

Commerce--W. Averell Harriman for Henry Wallace (gain).

Labor--Lewis Schwellenbach for Frances Perkins (loss).

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