Seattle's loud, husky Lewis Schwellenbach chucked a lifetime job as Federal Judge in May 1945 for a traditionally thankless job as U.S. Secretary of Labor. Almost everybody in Washington wondered why. By last week even Lew Schwellenbach had run out of answers.
As soon as Harry Truman had persuaded his pal of Senate days to make the switch, a succession of baffling snubs began:
¶ To do the work and reap the credit for settling the steel, coal and railroad strikes the President called in professorial White House Adviser John Steelman, let his Labor Secretary languish in the background.
¶ After...