Hughes, William Morris, 1864-1952; Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945; World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects
Reducing the Prime Minister to a formula you find that he is fifty per
cent Roosevelt in the virility and forcefulness of his character,
fifteen per cent Bryan in the purely demagogic phase of his makeup,
while the rest is canny Celt opportunism. It makes a dazzling and
well-nigh irresistible composite.
It is with Roosevelt that the best and happiest comparison can be made.
Indeed I know of no more convincing interpretation of the Thing that is
Lloyd George than to point this live parallel. For Lloyd George is the
British Roosevelt--the Imperial Rough Rider. Instead of using the Big
Stick, he employs the Big Voice. No two leaders ever had so much in
common.
Each is more of an institution than a mere man: each dramatises himself
in everything he does: each has the same genius for the benevolent
assimilation of idea and fact. They are both persistent but brilliant
"crammers." Trust Lloyd George to know all about the man who comes to
see him whether he be statesman, author, explorer or plain captain of
industry. It is one of the reasons why he maintains his amazing
political hold.
Lloyd George has Roosevelt's striking gift of phrase-making, although he
does not share the American's love of letter writing. As I have already
intimated, whatever may be his future, Lloyd George will never be
confronted by accusing epistle. None exists.
Like Roosevelt, Lloyd George is past master in the art of effective
publicity. He has a monopoly on the British front page. Each of these
remarkable men projects the fire and magnetism of his dynamic
personality. Curiously enough, each one has been the terror of the
Corporate Evil-doer--the conspicuous target of Big Business in his
respective country. Each one is a dictator in the making, and it is safe
to assume that if Lloyd George lived in a republic, like Roosevelt he
would say: "My Army," "My Navy" and "My Policies."
Roosevelt, however, has one distinct advantage over his British
colleague in that he is a deeper student and has a wider learning.
In one God-given gift Lloyd George not only surpasses Roosevelt but
every other man I have ever met. It is an inspired oratory that is at
once the wonder and the admiration of all who hear it. He is in many
respects the greatest speaker of his day--the one man of his race whose
utterance immediately becomes world property. The stage lost a great
star when the Welsh David went into politics. There are those who say
that he acts all the time, but that is a matter of opinion dictated by
partisan or self-interest.
Lloyd George is what we in America, and especially those of us born in
the South, call the "silver-tongued." His whole style of delivery is
emotional and greatly resembles the technique of the
Breckenridge-Watterson School. In his voice is the soft melodious lilt
of the Welsh that greatly adds to the attractiveness of his speech.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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