Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him Chapter XVIII - William F. Mccombs byTumulty, Joseph P.
The election being over, the President-elect proceeded with the selection
of his Cabinet and with that end in view immediately began those
conferences with his friends throughout the country in an effort to gather
information upon which to base a final selection. All sorts of suggestions
began to flow into the Executive offices at Trenton. Tentative slates were
prepared for consideration, and the records and antecedents of the men
whose names appeared on them, were subjected to a searching scrutiny.
Every now and then during this period the President-elect would discuss
with me the various candidates and ask me to investigate this or that
phase of the character of certain men under consideration.
One day as we were leaving the Executive offices at Trenton, the Governor
said: "Tumulty, you have read Gideon Wells's 'Diary of the Civil War',
have you not?" I told him that some months before he had generously
presented me with those three interesting volumes that contained a most
accurate and comprehensive inside view of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. "Who," he
said, "in Wells's discussion of the Lincoln Cabinet reminds you of William
F. McCombs?" I replied that, in some respects, William A. Seward, Mr.
Lincoln's Secretary of State. Not, of course, in the bigness of Seward's
mind, for I was not attempting to make any comparison between the
intellects of the two men, but in the effort of Seward to dominate Lincoln
and thus creating jealousies in other members of the Cabinet that were the
cause of continual embarrassment to Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Wilson turned to me
and said: "You are absolutely right, and that is one reason why I have not
seriously considered the claims of Mr. McCombs for a Cabinet post. I am
sure that if I did put him in my Cabinet, I should find him interfering
with the administration of the other departments in the same way that
Seward sought to interfere, for instance, with the Treasury Department
under Salmon P. Chase. McCombs is a man of fine intellect, but he is never
satisfied unless he plays the stellar role, and I am afraid he cannot work
in harness with other men and that I should never get any real team work
from him. There is another serious objection to McCombs for a place in my
Cabinet. A few days ago he boldly informed me that he desired to have the
post of Attorney General. When I asked him why he preferred to be Attorney
General, he informed me that, being a lawyer, the Attorney Generalship
would help him professionally after his term of office expired. What a
surprising statement for any man to make! Why, Tumulty, many of the
scandals of previous administrations have come about in this way, Cabinet
officers using their posts to advance their own personal fortunes. It must
not be done in our administration. It would constitute a grave scandal to
appoint such a man to so high an office."
It has often been charged by Mr. McCombs' friends that Mr. Wilson showed a
lack of appreciation of his services and an utter disregard of the fine
things McCombs did in his behalf. Those of us who were on the inside and
witnessed the patience of Woodrow Wilson in handling this most difficult
person know how untrue such statements are. I personally know that during
the trying days preceding the election most of Mr. Wilson's time was given
over to straightening out McCombs and attempting to satisfy his mind that
neither Mr. McAdoo, Colonel House, nor any other friends of Mr. Wilson
were seeking to unhorse him and to take his place in the candidate's
affections. Never did any man show greater patience than did Woodrow
Wilson in his attitude toward McCombs. The illness of McCombs during the
campaign fed fuel to the fires of his naturally jealous disposition. He
suspected everybody; trusted no one, and suspected that the President's
friends were engaged in a conspiracy to destroy him. Of course, it is true
that Mr. Wilson refused to give him the post of Attorney General which he
greatly coveted, for reasons I have fully stated above; but at the very
time when McCombs' friends were saying that the President had ignored him
and failed to offer him any place in his administration, the President had
already tendered McCombs his choice of two of the most important
diplomatic posts at his disposal--the Ambassadorship to Germany and the
Ambassadorship to France. An interesting incident in connection with the
offer of the French post to McCombs and his acceptance of it is worth
relating.
The President arrived in Washington on the third of March and went to the
Shoreham Hotel. McCombs had already received Mr. Wilson's offer of the
French Ambassadorship, and on the night of the third of March he concluded
he would accept it. He sent a messenger to the Shoreham Hotel with his
letter of acceptance. Before the arrival of McCombs' letter at the
Shoreham the President had retired for the night, and the message was
inserted under the door of his room. However, it seems that shortly after
sending the message of acceptance McCombs changed his mind and sent a
friend to the Shoreham to recover the letter, and at twelve o'clock at
night I found him outside of the President's room on his knees, busily
engaged in digging out McCombs' letter of acceptance from underneath the
door.
From that time on, with every changing wind, McCombs would first accept
and then reject the offer of the French post. By his vacillation he
prevented the appointment of an Ambassador to France for four months. He
had easy access to the President and saw him frequently. As he left the
White House after calling on the President one day, Mr. Wilson showed
sharp irritation and said to me: "If McCombs would only discuss somebody
else for office save himself I would be more interested."
That the offer of the French post was made by the President and rejected
by McCombs is evidenced by the following letter, addressed to the
President by McCombs, under date of April 3, 1913:
WILLIAM F. MCCOMBS
COUNSELLOR AT LAW
96 Broadway & 6 Wall Street
New York
April 3, 1913.
My Dear Mr. President:
Since I saw you on Saturday, I have been making continuous efforts to
dispose of my affairs so that I might accept your very flattering
offer. I have been in touch with Tumulty from day to day to find out
whether my delay was embarrassing you in any way, and he told me it
was not.
Of course, I did not want to inconvenience you. As I have told you
before, my difficulty in accepting the post has lain in the
adjustments of my financial affairs here and in the forming of a
connection which would continue, in some degree, my practice. The
clientèle which any lawyer has is very largely personal to himself,
and it is almost impossible to arrange that the affairs of such a
clientèle be handled by others. This is the difficulty under which I
have labored.
After intimations to my clients, I find my absence would, in their
view, be prejudicial to their interests and that they would each seek
separate counsel. This would mean my return to New York without any
clientèle whatsoever and a new start. After the statement which you so
kindly issued, it occurred to me that I might make an arrangement
under which my affairs could be handled. I am convinced now that it is
impossible, and that I must remain here to maintain myself. During the
past two years I have been compelled to neglect my business to a very
large extent, and I feel that it is absolutely essential for me to
recoup. In view of the very great honor of the French post, I was
quite willing to sacrifice almost anything. I now know that the
sacrifice would be complete.
I was sorry to see in the New York papers of yesterday, under
Washington date line, that I had accepted the embassy. It has placed
me in a most embarrassing position, and has caused general comment of
vacillation. I cannot imagine how the fact that I was re-considering
became public. The press clippings I get in the matter are most
annoying to me, and must be to you. I suppose the only thing to say in
the matter is that my position is the same as it was when my statement
was given out in Washington.
Let me again thank you very deeply for the great honor you have
conferred upon me. I sincerely wish it were within my power to accept.
It is such a thing as rarely comes in a man's lifetime.
Believe me as ever,
Always yours to command,
WM. F. MCCOMBS.
HON. WOODROW WILSON,
The White House,
Washington, D. C.
[Illustration: A letter from the man who could not make up his mind
[Transcriber's note: the illustration contains a reproduction of the
above-quoted letter.]]
Even after McCombs had declined the French post, as recited in the above
letter to the President, he continued to vacillate, and addressed the
following telegrams and cables to me in regard to the French
Ambassadorship:
New York, April 4, 1913.
HON. JOS. P. TUMULTY,
Washington, D. C.
Confidentially, expect to come tomorrow. Please suspend on matter
until I see you.
W. F. M.
* * * * *
New York April 25, 1913.
JOS. P. TUMULTY,
Washington, D. C.
Confirm understanding that nothing be done for the present and nothing
sent in.
W. F. M
* * * * *
Sagaponac, N. Y., May 3, 1913.
Radio S. S. Olympic.
JOS. P. TUMULTY,
White House,
Washington, D. C.
Will cable about time sending name in when I reach Paris in
acceptance our understanding.
W. F. M.
* * * * *
Paris, Via French, May 13, 1913.
JOS. P. TUMULTY,
White House,
Washington.
Have been ill, improving. Cable you Thursday in matter.
W. F. M.
* * * * *
Paris, June 1, 1913.
J. P. TUMULTY,
Washington.
Some better. Operation doubtful. Question delayed a few days.
W. F. M.
Then came the following cable to the President from Col. E. M. House:
Paris, June 12, 1913.
THE PRESIDENT
Washington.
Damon [code name for McCombs] requests me to say that after he sees
present incumbent tomorrow he will cable you. He is much improved.
E. M. HOUSE.
* * * * *
Paris, June 18, 1913.
JOS. P. TUMULTY,
Washington.
Am sending conclusive message through usual channel so you get it
tomorrow morning. This confirms message today which was incomplete.
Hope everything will be o. k.
Mc.
* * * * *
Paris, July 6, 1913.
J. P. TUMULTY,
Washington.
Accept if no previous arrangement cable at once care Monroe Banquier
Paris.
W.
* * * * *
Paris, July 7, 1913.
TUMULTY,
Washington.
Better wait a little or leave out for another strictly confidential.
W.
By this last message McCombs meant that the President had better wait a
little for him to make up his mind, or to select another for the French
post, which the President refused to do.
The kindest explanation of Mr. McCombs' distorted and entirely untruthful
story is that his sensitive mind had brooded so long on fancied injuries
that he had come to believe that what he deposed was true. He was
sensitive to a pathological degree, jealous, suspicious of everybody, and
consumed with ambition to appear as the sole maker of President Wilson
politically. He is dead, and it would have been pleasanter to keep silent
about him. I should have remained silent had he not left his embittered
manuscript in the hands of friends, with directions to publish it after
his death, when those whom he attacks in its various chapters would feel a
hesitancy about challenging his statements and attempting in any way to
asperse his memory. That he was abnormal was known to all who came into
intimate contact with him during the campaign and after. His suspicions
and spites manifested themselves in ways so small that he would have been
laughable had he not been pitiable. The simple fact is that both the
nomination and the election of Governor Wilson were in spite of Mr.
McCombs, not because of him. Mr. McCombs was ill during most of the
campaign, which had to be directed by the assistant chairman, Mr. McAdoo,
with all possible embarrassing interference from the chairman's sick room.
The full force of McCombs' petty spite, malice, and jealousy was expended
upon Mr. William G. McAdoo of New York, who at the time had established a
high reputation for his courage and intrepidity in building the famous
Manhattan and Hudson tunnels. Mr. McAdoo, in the early days of Woodrow
Wilson's candidacy, took his place at the fore-front of the Wilson forces.
At the time of his espousal of the Wilson cause he was the only leader in
the New York financial world ready and courageous enough to take up the
cudgels for Mr. Wilson. His influence thrown to the Wilson side
strengthened the Wilson cause in every part of the country. Every
intimation that reached McCombs during the campaign that Mr. McAdoo, as
vice-chairman of the National Committee, was engaged in doing this or that
thing in connection with his duties as vice-chairman, was always
calculated to stir anew the fires of envy and jealousy which seemed always
burning in the breast of McCombs.
I was in close touch with Mr. Wilson and all the phases of his campaign at
the time, and on several occasions was asked to act as mediator in the
differences between Mr. McAdoo and Mr. McCombs, and I am, therefore, in a
position calmly to analyze and assess the reasons for McCombs' implacable
hatred of Mr. McAdoo. I found that the motives which actuated McCombs were
of the pettiest and meanest sort. At their base lay the realization that
Mr. McAdoo had, by his gallant and helpful support of Mr. Wilson, won his
admiration and deep respect, and now everything must be done by McCombs
and his friends to destroy Mr. McAdoo in the estimation of the Democratic
candidate for the Presidency. In the efforts put forth by McCombs and his
friends to destroy Mr. Wilson's high opinion of Mr. McAdoo every
contemptible and underhanded method was resorted to. Mr. McAdoo reacted to
these unfair attacks in the most kindly and magnanimous way. Never for a
single moment did he allow the McCombs campaign against him to stand in
the way of Woodrow Wilson's advancement to the Presidency.
During the whole time that Mr. McCombs was engaged in his vendetta, Mr.
McAdoo was generous, gallant, big, and forgiving, even suggesting to the
Democratic candidate, in my presence, that it might be wiser for him
(McAdoo) to withdraw from the campaign, so that "things at headquarters
might run easier and more smoothly." Mr. Wilson would not by any act of
his permit the sniping methods of McCombs to be rewarded in the withdrawal
of McAdoo from his campaign.
After the election and when it was certain that McAdoo was being seriously
considered for the post of Secretary of the Treasury, McCombs' jealousy
began to exert itself in the most venomous way. He tried to persuade Mr.
Wilson that the selection of Mr. McAdoo for the post of Secretary of the
Treasury would be too much a recognition of the Wall Street point of view,
and would be considered a repudiation of McCombs' leadership in the
National Committee.
The campaign of McCombs to prevent the nomination of Mr. McAdoo for a post
in the Cabinet failed utterly. His poison brigade then gathered at the
Shoreham Hotel in Washington on the day of the Inauguration and,
attempting to reform their broken lines, now sought to prevent his
confirmation at the hands of the Senate. Every agency of opposition that
McCombs could invoke to accomplish this purpose was put into action, but
like all his efforts against Mr. McAdoo they met with failure. Mr. McAdoo
was confirmed and took his place as Secretary of the Treasury, where his
constructive genius in matters of finance was soon brought into play, and
under his magnificent leadership the foundation stones of the Federal
Reserve system were laid, the fruitage of which is now being realized in
every business throughout the country.
Frequent conferences were held at Princeton with reference to the
selection of the President's Cabinet, and in these conferences Colonel
House and I participated. At a luncheon at the Sterling Hotel at Trenton
Mr. Bryan was offered the post of Secretary of State.
On the first of March the post of Secretary of War was still open. It had
been offered to Mr. A. Mitchell Palmer of Pennsylvania and had been
declined by him for an unusual reason. The President requested Mr. Palmer
to meet him at Colonel House's apartment in New York. When the President
tendered him the position of Secretary of War, Mr. Palmer frankly told the
President that he was a Quaker and that the tenets of his religion
prevented his acceptance of any position having to do with the conduct of
war. The President tried to overcome these scruples, but his efforts were
unavailing. The President then telephoned me and informed me of Palmer's
declination and asked if I had any suggestion regarding the vacancy in his
Cabinet. I told him that I was anxious to see a New Jersey man occupy a
place at his Cabinet table, and we discussed the various possibilities
over the 'phone, but without reaching any definite conclusion. I informed
the President that I would suggest the name of someone within a few hours.
I then went to the library in my home in New Jersey and in looking over
the Lawyers' Diary I ran across the name of Lindley Garrison, who at the
time was vice-chancellor of the state of New Jersey. Mr. Garrison was a
resident of my home town and although I had only met him casually and had
tried a few cases before him, he had made a deep impression upon me as a
high type of equity judge.
I telephoned the President-elect that night and suggested the name of
Lindley Garrison, whose reputation as a distinguished judge of the
Chancery Court was known to the President-elect. He was invited to Trenton
the next day and without having the slightest knowledge of the purpose of
this summons, he arrived and was offered the post of Secretary of War in
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet, which he accepted.
