Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/487

 464 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS He neither shuns nor seeks publicity. A hard student and a tireless worker, he is at the capitol early, and never leaves until his desk is clean. Nothing rufBes him. Arthur B. Krock, writing in Harper's Weekly^ aptly says of him : * ^^ Should a doctor place his fingers on the wrist of Oscar Underwood and proceed to feel the pulse of that interesting young man, let the time be midnight or dawn, during a Con- gressional recess or in the heat of a political struggle, he would find it thumping seventy-two. Should a doctor force a pocket thermometer down Underwood's throat, it would regis- ter 98.4 degrees. For Underwood is that most abnormal of creations, a normal man. ' ' His attitude before, during, and after the history-making convention of the Democratic Party in Baltimore in 1912 gives us insight into his character. Repeatedly before and during that convention he said that, while his friends were good enough to present his name to Democracy, if they be- came convinced that there was any other Democrat who could give greater assurance of Democratic victory, he would de- sire that they support such a Democrat in preference to him- self. The success of his party, not his own advancement, was his chief concern. If he was disappointed in the action of the convention no trace of it appeared on his countenance. He remained the picture of imperturbability ; he showed the same sweet smile he had worn in the hour of his greatest triumph. Mr. Underwood is a man of simple tastes. His home life is ideal. His wife (wee Miss Bertha Woodward, of Birming- ham) is his help-meet in all his affairs. He is a good golfer and is very fond of chess, but with him the time-honored rule of business before pleasure is especially applicable. His fidel- ity to trust was emphasized when, in the presidential pri- maries, he refused to leave his work in Washington, even when his opponent, the present president, invaded Georgia on his campaign tour ; and again, in his recent race for the United States Senate, he remained in Washington while his oppon- ent, Captain Eichmond P. Hobson, campaigned in Alabama. ^Harper's Weekly 56:9, June 1, 1912.