Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; Morgenthau, Henry, 1856-1946; United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century
The principal reason I was able to make good my promise to the Governor
was that I instituted, for the first time in American political history,
a budget system both for collecting the funds and expending them. I
called to my assistance Mr. Raymond B. Fosdick, a budget expert; and in
consultation with the members of the Democratic National Committee, we
worked out an allotment of the amounts we expected from the various
states. We then worked out the kinds of legitimate expenditures which we
would encounter, weighed their relative values, and allotted to each its
corresponding proportion of the money we expected to raise. With minor
exceptions, we adhered to this budget throughout the campaign; and we
had the great pleasure of paying every bill in full before the first of
the following January, and of having $25,000 cash balance to the credit
of the National Committee in bank.
My financial work in the National Committee was novel to me only in the
sense that it was managing the use of money in a new field. But my work
with the Committee on its human and political sides was an entirely new
experience, and a very fascinating one.
On the human side, I found the same play of personal ambitions--of
jealousy and other evil passions--aroused by the prospect of advantage
in politics, that I had seen aroused by the prospect of material reward
in business. But, on the whole, the human picture in politics was as
pleasant as it was interesting. Our headquarters was, to be sure, the
scene of the ill-humoured rivalries of McCombs and McAdoo and their
adherents; but, on the other hand, it was the scene also of the touching
fraternal devotion of “Joe” Wilson, whom the Governor affectionately
called “my kid brother,” who gladly did all the tasks that came to hand
out of sheer regard for the Governor. The delightful friendships that I
formed with Rollo Wells, Josephus Daniels, Joseph E. Davies, Senator
O’Gorman, Hugh C. Wallace, Homer S. Cummings, and others, were a source
of enduring pleasure. We all soon fell into the genial habit of calling
one another by our first names--this is indeed a custom of the National
Committee. McCombs, who felt somewhat my greater age, began calling me
“Uncle Henry,” a name which has since stuck to me in the familiar
conversation of most of my close political friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account