Sport of Presidents

No President since Roosevelt I had the huge capacity of Roosevelt II to enjoy what he enjoyed last week. Far at sea east of the West Indies, his exact position unknown to the entire world, he played defending the Western Hemisphere with the bulk of the U. S. Navy. Submitting himself to strict wartime naval censorship, Commander-in-Chief Roosevelt dropped out of sight with Admiral Leahy on the cruiser Houston after steaming in for a close look at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, receiving Governor Lawrence Cramer of the Virgin Islands on board in St. Thomas Harbor, and paying a courtesy call on the Dutch island of St. Eustatius ("Statia"). The President let it be known that he was following every minutest move of the opposing forces on a big chart in Admiral Leahy's quarters. "Results" of naval war games are not usually made public but this time nation and world looked forward to a Roosevelt's-eye account of what happened, in laymen's language, upon his return this week.

Basic set-up of the Navy's Problem XX was for a "White" attacking force under Admiral Edward C. Kalbfus to try from mid-Atlantic to penetrate a "Black" defense under Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews. The attackers might seek to gain a military foothold anywhere in the Americas from Venezuela's eastern boundary to Norfolk, Va. Or they might seek to break through one of the many entrances to the Caribbean and attack the Panama Canal. Belief that the attackers' air forces, at least, had broken through the defense cordon grew when 150 to 175 planes swarmed over Puerto Rico. One plane crashed mysteriously into the sea off St. Kitts (British).

> To back up Harry Hopkins, spearhead of a big new Administration push to stimulate Business (see p. 451), Franklin Roosevelt caused identic letters to be released at week's end to "My Dear John" Lewis and "Dear Bill" Green, asking them to appoint committees to achieve "peace with honor" between C. I. 0. and A. F. of L. "within the early months of the new year." Bill named a committee forthwith, but John at week's end was still thinking it over.

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