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And the likelihood of his getting action is enhanced by his team's new morale. For not only does the team know that right from the top the D. o. J. wants no punches pulled, but under Frank Murphy the inferiority complex, almost the stigma, of being "a Government lawyer" has passed away. Not only are their tails up, their brains ready to tackle any brains which the biggest law offices can array, but the D. o. J. men realize that now, for once, all the Government's legal machinery can click together. What should always have been the Government's leading legal department has at last been brought up to the level of the other departments' and the independent agencies' legal talent. And all talents throughout the Government are willing to be pooled under Frank Murphy. This is especially important now that Congress seems bent on restricting the lawmaking function of those departments and agencies, exacting greater care in their rulings, providing appeal to the Federal courts from slipshod or arbitrary performance by their executives high & low. Passage of the Logan Act to accomplish this reform suddenly, and to a degree which Attorney General Murphy deemed too drastic, was averted last session only by a parliamentary trick (TIME, July 31, Aug. 14). Framing the reform with care and moderation is another major assignment for Mr. Murphy before Congress meets again.
Moral Armament. A great deal has been written about Frank Murphy's piety and goodness, about his mother's bringing him up to be a lay priest, about his deep horror of war after fighting in France, his asceticism (no alcohol, tobacco or even coffee), his celibacy, his painful honesty and sincerity. Yet he is still a surprise to men who meet him for the first time. That a man should actually be so good seems incredible, almost unhealthy. It is a fact that the high moment of his life came when Cardinal Mundelein called him a "lay bishop" and said: "Mr. Attorney General, you are one Catholic politician I don't have to worry about."
Tom Corcoran colorfully interprets him as "the modern counterpart of the fighting abbots of the Middle Ages." His private motto is: "Speak softly and hit hard." The self-absorption in which he is wrapped seems to act as a coat of mail when the going is roughest. It is not recorded that Frank Murphy ever discussed Moral Re-Armament with Evangelist Frank Buchman, but the latter might obtain some practical pointers from this saintly son of a smalltown Irish lawyer who has passed through an extraordinary series of positions unchanged and constantly rising higher.