Lew Douglas
By SIR ARTHUR SALTER IFEW Ambassadors have left this country amid such general and sincere expressions of regret and admiration as Mr. Lewis Douglas, and no Ambassador's wife and daughter have acquired such popularity and affection. The main features of his record both before and during his tenure of office here are sufficiently known from the tributes already paid. The purpose of the present article is only to give a personal appreciation, based upon an intimate and revealing association with him during a crucial period of the war. I had known him before the war ; and I was familiar too with his record as a Member of Congress, as Principal for a short time of McGill University in Canada, as head of one of the two greatest insurance companies in America, and as Director of the Budget in President Roosevelt's Administration. He had left this last post after a characteristically decisive protest against some features of the New Deal policy, and for. a time his relations with the President were strained. He was, however, in complete sympathy with the President's policy about the war, and he wrote to offer his help.
When America became a bellivrent, after Pearl Harbour, he was invited to go to London as Averell Harriman's deputy in control of the American supply organisation in England. I was at that time head of the British Shipping Mission in Washington, and before leaving for London he came to see me about the shipping aspects of the new work awaiting him. There was at that time an urgent need to adapt the Anglo-American shipping organisation to the completely new situation created by America's entry into the war as a belligerent Ally. Admiral Land was head of the War Shipping Administration, whiCh covered both shipbuilding and ship operation. He was assisted in the first of these tasks by his deputy, Captain (later Admiral) Vickery, whose great contribution in organising the stupendous ship-building achievement in America (which reached 8,000,000 tons d.w, in 1942, a figure which was more than doubled the next year) has never been adequately recognised.
There was, before 1942, no comparable deputy to assist Admiral Land in the other task of ship-operation and programming. With the establishment early in 1942 of the new Combined Shipping Adjustment Board, of which I was the British member in Washington, this task was of supreme and urgent importance. After Lewis Douglas and myself had talked over ths shipping problem for a day or two it became-Flear to both of us that his place was in Washington, not in London. The President and Admiral Land agreed, and he soon became a second deputy, covering Ship-operation as Vickery covered shipbuilding. He at once threw himself into his new work with an industry and demonic energy which I have rarely seen equalled. The working out of the new American policy of allotting the new American ships as part of an Allied pool, wherever the need was greatest, which was approved by the Presi- dent, was due more to Lewis Douglas than to anyone else in the public service of America. In implementing this policy he struggled as courageously against excessive demands from the U.S. fighting services as he criticised vigilantly the requests made by the British Government ; and in a month or two he had acquired a mastery of the factors involved which equalled that of anyone in either London or Washington.
For the next year and a half, after which the shipping crisis had passed, I was in intimate daily contact with him. He was then a little under fifty years of age, a slim, alert and athletic figure, looking younger than he was. He had an irresistible southern charm of manner, which at first disguised the deep convictions and exception- ally strong will which soon became evident to those who matched swords with him. Once he had formed his judgement, after an exhaustive and exhausting examination of all the relevant facts avail- able to him, he was extremely difficult to persuade to any different course. But he was single-purposed, and essentially fair ; and when convinced of a policy he would not spare himself in contending with colleagues in his own or other departments to secure its adoption. By the winter of 1942-1943, though U.S. and British ships were still managed separately by the respective administrations, the total shipping resources were distributed as fairly as was humanly possible between the two countries and the different Services. Douglas's contribution to. this achievement was of inestimable value.
His unsparing work during this period was carried through in the face of a physical handicap from sinus trouble, which threatened serious consequences in the latter part of the war and has dogged him since. When he became Ambassador, however, a little less than four years ago, he threw himself into his new work with the same energy as he had shown before. I remember that, when we discussed the British economic situation, he showed a detailed knowledge of the relevant statistics which only a few could have equalled even in Whitehall. He again formed strong personal convictions, and it is not the least of the debts we owe him that he expressed these, as is well known, in his conversations with Ministers, with as much candour as courtesy. Then came a tragic accident, bringing severe and at times almost continuous pain as well as a menace to his sight. For many months he has borne a load of daily and anxious responsi- bility equal to any that has ever fallen on an Ambassador, with gallant courage and without sparing himself. All who know t.im will sincerely hope that the inevitable impairment of his health which has now compelled his resignation will prove only temporary, and that he will later return to a public service which can ill afford his loss.
It is perhaps not inappropriate to conclude with a comment on another aspect of his appointment. British opinion has in the past criticised U.S. ambassadorial appointments as being used as a reward for party services ; and sometimes such criticism has been well founded. It is well to note the character and quality of the President's 'recent appointments both to embassies and to other posts of international importance. Mr. Douglas is, it is true, a Democrat, but he was obviously chosen on merit—he is not the kind of person for whom a party machine asks favours. Mr. Marshall, at first Secretary of State and now Secretary of Defence, Mr. Hoff- man, the first head of E.C.A. (the American organisation which administers Marshall Aid), and Mr. Douglas's successor, Mr. Walter Gifford, are all either Republicans or without known and definite party affiliations. Actual quality in these and other appointments of international importance is as notable as freedom from any sug- gestion of party bias. Few organisations, national or international, have had the benefit of leaders of such calibre as is fo be found, for example, in the principal officers of E.C.A. At least in the appointments both of Ministers and of high officials the bipartisan character of American foreign policy is maintained. Their quality corresponds with America's responsibility, as her responsibility now corresponds with her power and resources. We may well take as symbol of the remarkable and rapid transformation of her attitude to the rest of the world the personality and achievement of the, great Ambassador who has just left us.
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