When considering the absolutely crucial juncture of history during which this deterioration was occurring, it is an eternal mark against that circle of intimates, as against Roosevelt himself, that they steadfastly did nothing to prepare for the eventuality of his passing. Instead, all the burdens and responsibilities of the most powerful elected position in the world abruptly descended on a man who, up until then, had been so peripheral to the running of the nation that the sum total of his private meetings with President Roosevelt consisted of two chats of less than fifteen minutes each.
