Robert H. Ferrell - FDRs Quiet Confidant: The Autobiography of Frank C. Walker

1997 by the University Press of Colorado

Published by the University Press of Colorado

P. O. Box 849

Niwot, Colorado 80544

Tel. (303) 530-5337

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, University of Southern Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Walker, Frank C., 18861959

FDR's quiet confidant: the autobiography of Frank C. Walker / Robert H. Ferrell, editor.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-87081-394-3 (alk. paper)

1. Walker, Frank C., 18861959. 2. PoliticiansUnited StatesBiography. 3. United StatesPolitics and government19331945. 4. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 18821945Friends and associates. I. Ferrell, Robert H. II. Title.

E748. W225A3 1997

973.917'092dc20

96-54006

CIP

This book was set in Adobe Caslon, Caslon Openface, and Omni.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.481948

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

"There goes the best friend I ever had." These words, spoken by former U.S. president Harry S. Truman as the hearse was about to pull away from St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue, reflect in so many ways the true nature of Frank C. Walker. They also could have been spoken by Franklin D. Roosevelt. For he, too, held no one man in his administration in higher esteem.

And what were the qualities that commended Frank Walker to such presidents as Truman and Roosevelt? He was hardworking, even-tempered, intuitive, gregarious, modest, loyal, ethical, andto his family but also to othersloving. To be sure, such a catalog might seem impossible in a single human being; these qualities might seem more like those of a saint. But Walker possessed them in full measure.

He was, to begin with, hardworking. This quality might seem obvious, and yet it is not. It is the cardinal attribute, the necessary quality, of any man or woman who achieves high public officeor who gains recognition in any other walk of life. No one can accomplish great things without it. Yet the origin of the quality is not always discernible. In Walker's case it doubtless derived from his parents, who were hardworkingthey had migrated west to Butte, Montana, when the city was a frontier town full of newcomers trying to make their ways. Labor was the necessary ingredient for achievement in Butte, and the Walkers knew it. The belief in the value of hard work passed easily from parents to son, and thereafter into anything Walker put his energies into.