ABSTRACT
Louis McHenry Howe could bounce into the White House cocktail sessions to tell the assorted company his latest Ickes story. When Adolph Berle supported Fiorello La Guardia against the regular Democrats in New York, Louis sealed him off from access to the White House and ordered him to get Jim Farley's stamp of approval first. Franklin D. Roosevelt himself publicly restricted the delegation with a White House statement that it seemed "desirable for the United States to forego immediate discussions of such matters as currency stabilization, uniform import prohibitions, permanent customs duties and the like." Howe insisted that Under Secretary William Phillips send over to the White House all the telegrams exchanged between Hull and his department. When real trouble threatened, Howe was often assigned to it. But whenever he meddled in the unwieldy organization, he was caught in a morass of difficulties no one could master.
