"In 1912, the Democratic Party Headquarters in New York City was located on lower Fifth Avenue. A good friend of mine, then a young man, spent considerable time at the headquarters working as a sort of messenger boy. He was the son of a well-known New York family of Judaic background, and he related to me the following intriguing story which occurred there right before his eyes.
Occasionally, on a Saturday morning in the summer of 1912, Bernard Baruch would walk into the Democratic Headquarters with Woodrow Wilson in tow, "leading him like one would a poodle on a string."
Wilson would be quite solemn-faced in appearance, dressed in dark, formal clothes, having just arrived in New York from Trenton.
According to my friend, Wilson would be given his special "indoctrination course" in politics, by several of the top Advisers assembled there. The course consisted chiefly of outlining to him and his agreeing in principle to:
1. Aiding and pushing the projected Federal Reserve Bank Legislation through Congress when Paul Warburg approved the final draft of the proposed Act, then being worked on.
2. Aiding in changing the method of electing U.S. Senators, by establishing a direct vote of the people, which provided more control over the Senate by the professional politicians.
3. Agreeing to aid and introduce the graduated, personal income tax, which was brought over here from England to drain off the results of our individual initiative.
4. If called upon, to lend a sympathetic ear and aid indicated "policy" if war should break out in Europe.
5. To lend a thoughtful ear to recommendations made by "policy", in respect to filling key Cabinet posts.
Wilson dutifully received and absorbed his indoctrination, shook hands all around, and then departed.
Whereupon the leaders and Advisers went into "the back room" of headquarters, shut the door, and "had a big belly laugh!". Someone would then ask, "How is our other candidate doing?"
The other candidate was Theodore Roosevelt, the Bull-Moose leader. Hence, the strong support of that "steering committee" in the 1912 election went out to both Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt who had lined up against President Taft. It appeared that President Taft had not been very receptive and disapproved of the political desires expressed by certain pro-Zionist political leaders here in respect to U.S. relations with Russia.
Thus, the Republican vote was neatly split by the insurgent "Bull Moosers", and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, won!
I was interested t read on page 54 of Felix Frankfurter Reminisces his comments about the 1912 election, saying, "I ... candidly supported Mr. Roosevelt." (T.R.) In due course, Mr. Frankfurter's uncle, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, was soon to become important in Washington in the new Wilson Administration.
I need hardly to say that Woodrow Wilson reversed his role of classroom idealist to become a well-behaved, political pupil, mindful of his careful indoctrination. In due course, he really delivered for his Advisers."
from pages 97-98 of:
"F.D.R., My Exploited Father-In-Law", by Curtis B. Dall (1896-1991)
https://archive.org/details/DallCurtisB....p?q=poodle
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