Cary T. Grayson Diary
Title
Cary T. Grayson Diary
Creator
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938
Identifier
WWP17102
Date
1919 March 12
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
The President worked all morning on correspondence. At luncheon he had as his guests Mr. John E. Nevin of the International News Service; Mr. Charles H. Grasty of the New York Times; Mr. Carl D. Groat of the United Press; Mr. L. F. Curtis of the Associated Press; and Ray Stannard Baker, well-known author under the name of David Grayson.
After luncheon the President talked at some length about golf, Grasty asking him whether he had ever played over any of the noted Scottish links. The President said: “No”, and he added that he would be rather loathe to do so in view of the fact that the gray-bearded old caddies there know more about the game than any American professional. Illustrating the Scottish character he told a story of two elderly Scotchmen, who were playing around the St. Andrews links. They said nothing whatever until they reached the sixteenth hole, when one turned to the other and said: “I have you dormied”. The other looked at him in disgust for a second, and then ejaculated: “Chatterbox.”
Another story of the President’s had to do with a graduate of Princeton who went over there to play and started around the course accompanied by an ancient caddie, who watched his game reflectively. Becoming somewhat embarrassed over the critical scrutiny, and realizing that he was not playing according to accepted Sclottish standards, the Princetonian turned to the caddie and said: “I suppose you have seen worse players.” The caddie made no reply, and the player assuming that he had not heard, and having made another very bad stroke, repeated his question. The Scotchman looked him squarely in the eye, and said to him: “Weel, mon, I heard ye the first time; I was just thinking.”
From golf the conversation drifted to the international problems, and the President said he was sorry to see in the wireless despatches a report that the conference would decide to end the German frontier at the Rhine, making the left bank of the Rhine either a buffer state or giving France a mandatory control over it. He dedclared that this could not be. When Germany took over Lorraine in , he said, there was a substantial German population there, and the German Government had hoped that it would become really German in the course of years. This had not happened, the desire for a return to France having dominated the majority of the people. In the Rhine Basin, so-called, the President said there were absolutely no French. The desires of the people were German in character. Taking this territory away from Germany would simply give a cause for hatred and a determination for a renewal of the war throughout Germany that would always be equal to the bitterness felt by France against Germany over the “lost provinces.”
The President was none too well pleased with the statement in the wireless despatches that it was likely that Arthur James Balfour would retire and be succeeded by Earl Curzon as British Foreign Minister. The President felt it would be a mistake to lose Mr. Balfour at this time. Curzon, the President said, had never had a single Liberal thought in his life. Mrs. Wilson suggested that possibly his going to America for his two wives might be construed as liberalism, but the President intimated that money rather than sentiment might have been the compelling nature there - the first wife having been a Miss Leiter, of the Chicago Leiter millionaire family.
There was a discussion of Lloyd-George at the table, Grasty and Baker holding that he was only an opportunist, and that he was a trimmer in that he lived from day to day, caring nothing for yesterday and less for tomorrow. Nevin took exception to this, holding that it was hardly fair; that Lloyd-George was the big outstanding figure in all British politics, and that it was almost certain that there was no man who could take his place. As a matter of fact, he (Nevin) asked the President whether he believed there was any man in England today who was as strong as Lloyd-George. The President said he did not believe so, at least there was none in sight. Nevin then asked the President if he did not believe that if anything happened to Lloyd-George a revolution in England would be certain. The President said that it would be hard to prevent it, in view of the fact that the men now in control of British affairs were Tories entirely, and that there was no liberalism in the government. Lloyd-George, he said, was the Premier of a British Tory Government.
The President said that the Irish problem was quite a very difficult one for England to solve, and he said that if Sir Robert Carson had been hanged for treason at the time he tried to force the division between the north and the south of Ireland, the problem would have been very materially solved.
This turned the conversation to the question of the League of Nations, and the President related how he, a Southern-born President of the United States, found himself the only man in attendance at the conference committee which framed the constitution of the League of Nations who did not believe that when a nation actually participated in this League she reserved in toto the right to withdraw from the League at any time. Although this was the doctrine of the Southern States prior to the war between the states, the President said he hardly thought it a good one in the present circumstances, as the precedent has been established in the case of the United States. He said that he had labored with the other committeemen to define this carefully but had found they were all convinced the right of secession would always exist, and he passed up the matter temporarily at least.
In the afternoon the President took a long walk about the decks with Mrs. Wilson, and later on he and I played shuffle-board on the upper deck. Although it may have bordered on lese majeste I managed to defeat him in the game we played.
Later in the day the President spoke of Rudolph Forster’s life as being a part of the Executive Office; that he had given at least twenty-five years of the best of his life and ability to the welfare and efficiency of the Executive Office; and that he was thoroughly conscientious, painstaking and always dependable; in fact, the Executive Office would not run without him.
While speaking of an office as being part of one’s life, he said that Abraham Lincoln spent much of his life in his office instead of his home. This was partly on account of his wife. She was a Miss Todd and had the airs of an aristocrat. Mr. Lincoln did things that were not very tidy so far as his personal appearance was concerned. He would come into the house, pull off his coat, suspenders showing, remove his shoes, and go about the house in this fashion. This irritated Mrs. Lincoln and she would “nag” at him, which seemed to hurt him. It is believed that if she had approached him in a sweeter manner she could have persuaded him to change his habits as she wished. He would often steal Tad and take him to his office-rooms, where he would talk with him and enjoy his companionship. There were certain chambers deep down in Lincoln, the President said, that no one seemed to be able to penetrate. These chambers were not communicable, even to those who knew him best. As every one knows, Lincoln was intensely human. On the contrary, General Washington was warm inside but externally he gave the impression of being austere. For example, when he came into the presence of little children, they would invariably stop playing in fear of him - which seemed to hurt him because he loved children, loved to see them play and to play with them. He would often peep through the crack of a door and watch them play.
In speaking of men of the present day, the President said that David F. Houston (Secretary of Agriculture), a member of the President’s cabinet, internally is intensely warm, brilliant and humorous, but externally he is as cold as polished marble. If he could only show externally his internal qualities, he would be one of the greatest forces in the world. When he lectures or talks in a convention of men, he speaks under the greatest stress, with an apparent impediment, and only touches his subject in a superficial way, without giving color or life to it. In private conversation he sparkles with life, is logical, has fine, common sense, is a master of details and always has a thorough knowledge of the subject under discussion, has fine vision, and an excellent sense of humor. Deep down internally he is a great man.
While aboard the GEORGE WASHINGTON the President, by way of diversion, amused himself by working out a formula as to the most available place in which to live after his term of President expires. Five factors were involved: Freedom, friendship, literary study, variety and amusement. He named the following places, working out a percentage at the same time: New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore, Richmond, Vrirginia, and the Bermudas. For instance, for literary study he would give Baltimore, say, 60%; New York he would give variety 100%; freedom in Washington 15%. The average put Baltimore first, Boston 2d, New York 3rd.
After luncheon the President talked at some length about golf, Grasty asking him whether he had ever played over any of the noted Scottish links. The President said: “No”, and he added that he would be rather loathe to do so in view of the fact that the gray-bearded old caddies there know more about the game than any American professional. Illustrating the Scottish character he told a story of two elderly Scotchmen, who were playing around the St. Andrews links. They said nothing whatever until they reached the sixteenth hole, when one turned to the other and said: “I have you dormied”. The other looked at him in disgust for a second, and then ejaculated: “Chatterbox.”
Another story of the President’s had to do with a graduate of Princeton who went over there to play and started around the course accompanied by an ancient caddie, who watched his game reflectively. Becoming somewhat embarrassed over the critical scrutiny, and realizing that he was not playing according to accepted Sclottish standards, the Princetonian turned to the caddie and said: “I suppose you have seen worse players.” The caddie made no reply, and the player assuming that he had not heard, and having made another very bad stroke, repeated his question. The Scotchman looked him squarely in the eye, and said to him: “Weel, mon, I heard ye the first time; I was just thinking.”
From golf the conversation drifted to the international problems, and the President said he was sorry to see in the wireless despatches a report that the conference would decide to end the German frontier at the Rhine, making the left bank of the Rhine either a buffer state or giving France a mandatory control over it. He dedclared that this could not be. When Germany took over Lorraine in , he said, there was a substantial German population there, and the German Government had hoped that it would become really German in the course of years. This had not happened, the desire for a return to France having dominated the majority of the people. In the Rhine Basin, so-called, the President said there were absolutely no French. The desires of the people were German in character. Taking this territory away from Germany would simply give a cause for hatred and a determination for a renewal of the war throughout Germany that would always be equal to the bitterness felt by France against Germany over the “lost provinces.”
The President was none too well pleased with the statement in the wireless despatches that it was likely that Arthur James Balfour would retire and be succeeded by Earl Curzon as British Foreign Minister. The President felt it would be a mistake to lose Mr. Balfour at this time. Curzon, the President said, had never had a single Liberal thought in his life. Mrs. Wilson suggested that possibly his going to America for his two wives might be construed as liberalism, but the President intimated that money rather than sentiment might have been the compelling nature there - the first wife having been a Miss Leiter, of the Chicago Leiter millionaire family.
There was a discussion of Lloyd-George at the table, Grasty and Baker holding that he was only an opportunist, and that he was a trimmer in that he lived from day to day, caring nothing for yesterday and less for tomorrow. Nevin took exception to this, holding that it was hardly fair; that Lloyd-George was the big outstanding figure in all British politics, and that it was almost certain that there was no man who could take his place. As a matter of fact, he (Nevin) asked the President whether he believed there was any man in England today who was as strong as Lloyd-George. The President said he did not believe so, at least there was none in sight. Nevin then asked the President if he did not believe that if anything happened to Lloyd-George a revolution in England would be certain. The President said that it would be hard to prevent it, in view of the fact that the men now in control of British affairs were Tories entirely, and that there was no liberalism in the government. Lloyd-George, he said, was the Premier of a British Tory Government.
The President said that the Irish problem was quite a very difficult one for England to solve, and he said that if Sir Robert Carson had been hanged for treason at the time he tried to force the division between the north and the south of Ireland, the problem would have been very materially solved.
This turned the conversation to the question of the League of Nations, and the President related how he, a Southern-born President of the United States, found himself the only man in attendance at the conference committee which framed the constitution of the League of Nations who did not believe that when a nation actually participated in this League she reserved in toto the right to withdraw from the League at any time. Although this was the doctrine of the Southern States prior to the war between the states, the President said he hardly thought it a good one in the present circumstances, as the precedent has been established in the case of the United States. He said that he had labored with the other committeemen to define this carefully but had found they were all convinced the right of secession would always exist, and he passed up the matter temporarily at least.
In the afternoon the President took a long walk about the decks with Mrs. Wilson, and later on he and I played shuffle-board on the upper deck. Although it may have bordered on lese majeste I managed to defeat him in the game we played.
Later in the day the President spoke of Rudolph Forster’s life as being a part of the Executive Office; that he had given at least twenty-five years of the best of his life and ability to the welfare and efficiency of the Executive Office; and that he was thoroughly conscientious, painstaking and always dependable; in fact, the Executive Office would not run without him.
While speaking of an office as being part of one’s life, he said that Abraham Lincoln spent much of his life in his office instead of his home. This was partly on account of his wife. She was a Miss Todd and had the airs of an aristocrat. Mr. Lincoln did things that were not very tidy so far as his personal appearance was concerned. He would come into the house, pull off his coat, suspenders showing, remove his shoes, and go about the house in this fashion. This irritated Mrs. Lincoln and she would “nag” at him, which seemed to hurt him. It is believed that if she had approached him in a sweeter manner she could have persuaded him to change his habits as she wished. He would often steal Tad and take him to his office-rooms, where he would talk with him and enjoy his companionship. There were certain chambers deep down in Lincoln, the President said, that no one seemed to be able to penetrate. These chambers were not communicable, even to those who knew him best. As every one knows, Lincoln was intensely human. On the contrary, General Washington was warm inside but externally he gave the impression of being austere. For example, when he came into the presence of little children, they would invariably stop playing in fear of him - which seemed to hurt him because he loved children, loved to see them play and to play with them. He would often peep through the crack of a door and watch them play.
In speaking of men of the present day, the President said that David F. Houston (Secretary of Agriculture), a member of the President’s cabinet, internally is intensely warm, brilliant and humorous, but externally he is as cold as polished marble. If he could only show externally his internal qualities, he would be one of the greatest forces in the world. When he lectures or talks in a convention of men, he speaks under the greatest stress, with an apparent impediment, and only touches his subject in a superficial way, without giving color or life to it. In private conversation he sparkles with life, is logical, has fine, common sense, is a master of details and always has a thorough knowledge of the subject under discussion, has fine vision, and an excellent sense of humor. Deep down internally he is a great man.
While aboard the GEORGE WASHINGTON the President, by way of diversion, amused himself by working out a formula as to the most available place in which to live after his term of President expires. Five factors were involved: Freedom, friendship, literary study, variety and amusement. He named the following places, working out a percentage at the same time: New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore, Richmond, Vrirginia, and the Bermudas. For instance, for literary study he would give Baltimore, say, 60%; New York he would give variety 100%; freedom in Washington 15%. The average put Baltimore first, Boston 2d, New York 3rd.
Original Format
Diary
Files
Collection
Citation
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938, “Cary T. Grayson Diary,” 1919 March 12, WWP17102, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.