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(Harold) Ickes Named U.S. Oil "Dictator"
(PDF Direct Download) Idaho Times ^ | May 31st, 1941 | T. F. REYNOLDS

Posted on 07/11/2012 1:16:09 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica

HYDE PARK, N. Y., May 31 (U.R) - President Roosevelt today began implementing his proclamation of an unlimited national emergency today by naming Secretary of Interior Harold. L. Ickes virtual dictator of the $10,000,000,000 American oil industry.

Designating Ickes as petroleum coordinator for national defense, Mr. Roosevelt ordered him to formulate a program to insure "that the supply of petroleum and its products will be accommodated to the needs of the nation and the national defense program."

The move followed Mr. Roosvelt's warnbig in a letter to Speak­er Sam Rayborn that oil rationing in the east is a "distinct possilbility" in the next tew months and Ickes’own prediction that gasoline-less Sundays in eastern states may shortly become an actuality.

Mr. Roosevelt, in a letter to Ickes, gave him power only to "make specific recommendations" to federal or state governmental authorities and, to the petroleum industry. But under the state of unlimited emergency proclaimed by Mr. Roosevelt last Tuesday night, there was little doubt that the "recommendations" of the new coordinator or matters of petroleum dispersion and use would amount to a virtual ukase.

(Excerpt) Read more at newspaper.twinfallspubliclibrary.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: czars; dictators; dictatorship; fdr; franklinroosevelt; haroldickes; history; ickes; oil; oildictator; oilrationing; progressingamerica; progressives; progressivism
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It's interesting to note that this article has two headlines, the headline for the article's continuation on page 2 column 3 is: ICKES NAMED TO OIL DICTATORSHIP

This is history that needs to be remembered. I'm glad to dig it out and put it on display.

FDR's 11 Dictators are as follows:

(1) Censorship Dictator (Dictator of Censorship)

(2) Information Dictator (Dictator of Information)

(3) Economic Dictator

(4) Food Dictator

(5) Manpower Dictator

(6) Oil Dictator

(7) Price Dictator

(8) Production Dictator

(9) Rubber Dictator

(10) Shipping Dictator

(11) Transportation Dictator

The Wikipedia page for Executive Branch Czars unsurprisingly omits this fact.

1 posted on 07/11/2012 1:16:24 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
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To: Silentgypsy; skinkinthegrass; RichardMoore; Little Ray; Madame Dufarge; Eye of Newt; AdvisorB; ...
If anybody wants on/off the revolutionary progressivism ping list, send me a message

Progressives do not want to discuss their own history. I want to discuss their history.

Summary: I was asked the other day about executive level Czars, and I tried explaining that they weren't originally called that. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first to do this, and he called his appointments dictators.

2 posted on 07/11/2012 1:17:24 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (What's the best way to reach a you tube generation? Put it on you tube!)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

You post a lot about WW2 related items, are you interested in this?


3 posted on 07/11/2012 1:19:40 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (What's the best way to reach a you tube generation? Put it on you tube!)
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To: ProgressingAmerica
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first to do this, and he called his appointments dictators.

He was pretty honest about it, at least.

And yes, that Harold Ickes is the father of the Harold Ickes we all know and love from the Clinton years.

4 posted on 07/11/2012 1:26:41 PM PDT by iceskater (The clock is ticking....November's coming.)
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To: ProgressingAmerica
(9) Rubber Dictator

Not going there....nope, not me............

5 posted on 07/11/2012 1:26:55 PM PDT by Red Badger (Think logically. Act normally.................)
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To: Red Badger

Ahh, come on, why not????


6 posted on 07/11/2012 1:31:27 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter ( A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over...)
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To: Red Badger; gov_bean_ counter

Thank you for not going there. I appreciate that.


7 posted on 07/11/2012 1:36:20 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (What's the best way to reach a you tube generation? Put it on you tube!)
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To: Red Badger

(9) Rubber Dictator

I think that is a rubber potato that is worn at a “come as you are” costume party.


8 posted on 07/11/2012 1:36:51 PM PDT by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: Red Badger

Actually the WW2 “Rubber Czar” was a man named Jeffers, head of the Northern Pacific Railroad who took on Ickes and others regarding the problems with the Synthetic Rubber/Natural Rubber conflicting programs.

Jeffers was “old school”. He demanded from FDR that if he took over as “Rubber Czar” he could do the following.

1. Make the final decisions about priorities. He got it.
2. Run his railroad at night from his hotel room. He got it.
3. Get paid breakfasts, etc. He did not get this.

America got both a successful rubber program and synthetic rubber program so vital to the war effort (tires for planes, trucks, etc).

One of America’s great unsung heroes (A Dollar A Year Man) of WW2.

Ickes was sometimes right on setting priorities but he was a bastard to work with and alienated many hardworking subordinates.


9 posted on 07/11/2012 1:44:35 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Actually, the article says Ickes would be a virtual dictator, not that this was his title.

If you have any reference that shows these guys actually carried the title Dictator, I’d like to see it.

BTW, this was entirely justified at such a time, and necessary to win the war. The problem is that liberals are enthralled with the power (properly) given such guys during wartime and want to extend it into peace and make it permanent. With them in charge, of course.


10 posted on 07/11/2012 1:49:52 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: ProgressingAmerica
a great cartoon from 1934 Ickes is on the wagon. read more here: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/06/14/trib-reruns-1934-cartoon-planned-economy-or-planned-destruction
11 posted on 07/11/2012 1:57:50 PM PDT by THE_RAIDER
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

In times of war extreme measures are often called for and in times of peace they should evaporate. Unfortunately we’ve become a nation perpetually at war with an ever expanding definition of someone or something and the dictators/czars have become permanent unelected bureaucratic fixtures that perpetuate themselves.

We now have redundant czars not doing the job the original czar wasn’t doing. We have a great lakes czar who is supposed to have jurisdiction over invasive species in the great lakes AND a carp czar who has the same jurisdiction.

BTW Great lakes czar Cameron Davis is another radical environmentalist who has spent his life “freeing” the rivers from man’s stewardship. (removing dams and restricting access to water.)


12 posted on 07/11/2012 2:03:01 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: THE_RAIDER

This cartoon is the blueprint of the democratic party.


13 posted on 07/11/2012 2:03:37 PM PDT by THE_RAIDER
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To: ProgressingAmerica
These 'dictators' had a mixed record and in the end Roosevelt had to turn to business tychoons to get the USA on a productive footing. An excellent book on this subject is "FREEDOM'S FORGE", portraying GM's William Knudsen and steel magnate Henry J. Kaiser in their "dollar-a-year" roles as production czars!
14 posted on 07/11/2012 2:07:54 PM PDT by SES1066 (Government is NOT the reason for my existence!)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

Looks like the Clinton people are being put into place.


15 posted on 07/11/2012 2:12:13 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Sherman Logan
http://tinyurl.com/7bc4awl
All Plants Ready Soon

Jeffers leaves the rubber dictatorship with two-thirds of the synthetic rubber plants planned for this year completed and ready for operation..............

http://tinyurl.com/6p623da

In appointing Chester C. Davis as food dictator, President Roosevelt picked a man who..........

Manpower Dictator Shelved Temporarily, Says FDR

ROOSEVELT NAMES ICKES OIL 'DICTATOR'

16 posted on 07/11/2012 2:29:08 PM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (What's the best way to reach a you tube generation? Put it on you tube!)
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To: SES1066

America’s corporate leaders were a different breed in the 40s. In fact, the whole population of America was a different breed.


17 posted on 07/11/2012 2:32:29 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: ProgressingAmerica

I said “title” of dictator. Not what the press calls them.

They call Obama’s “special advisors” czars, but that ain’t their title.


18 posted on 07/11/2012 3:56:22 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

“...this was entirely justified at such a time, and necessary to win the war” I agree with much of what you stated; with all due respect, this story is dated six months before The U.S. entered the war. Thank you for considering another viewpoint.


19 posted on 07/11/2012 6:59:53 PM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: jttpwalsh

I was well aware this was prior to the US entry into the war.

However, I assume the reason he was given these powers by Congress was their (accurate) awareness that the world had become a very dangerous place and the US needed to get its military act together as a precautionary measure if nothing else. Less than a year before, the US had reintroduced the draft, a much bigger imposition on personal freedom.

I’m as big a fan of freedom and free markets as anybody, but while they are wonderful things, they are no way to fight and win a war.


20 posted on 07/11/2012 7:20:08 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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