In Mr. Whalen's Image

Monday, May. 01, 1939

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The management has had its troubles, but has ridden through them all. There was a nasty squabble with Engineer Shadgen. Given a $625-a-month berth at the fair, he was presently fired as incompetent. When he brought suit for $2,000,000 the fair settled with him for $45,000. Then there was the proposed Freedom Pavilion to display the works of pre-Nazi Germans and those exiled by Nazidom. This looked as though it might cause trouble and, according to an article in this week's Nation, was quietly squelched by its professed friends after Grover Whalen had promised it a site—an incident that aroused bitter resentment in many a Manhattan liberal. When the art world frothed because there was no art exhibit at the fair (the original argument was that all art shown would be a functional part of the exhibits), President Whalen gracefully gave in, arranged a substantial gallery. There have been complaints of discrimination against Negroes, Civil Service men and veterans. And there have been the customary charges of graft.

Grover Whalen admits that the fair is being run as a hardheaded business venture and not a philanthropy, that wherever the fair could turn an honest penny, it has done so. Those who bought the most fair bonds got a break. The fair pipes in water free from the city but is metering its tenants. Concessionaires' cash registers are rented from the fair. Many are the sharp but legal practices. The usual forms of building graft were supposedly prevented by strict competitive bidding for contracts. But it is quite possible some insiders stand to profit handsomely from the real-estate boom in Flushing that is sure to come. In any case, there is likely to be little muckraking before the fair is over: the City itself has too big a stake in it.

"Gardenia of the Law." Grover Whalen got his first name because he was born in New York City on June 2, 1886, the marriage day of President Grover Cleveland. In 1917, he hitched his wagon to the rising star of Mayor John F. Hylan, became a figure in politics and a great success as a civic greeter (of the late Queen Marie of Rumania, Colonel Charles Lindbergh, hundreds of other personages). After that Grover Whalen slipped easily into a $100,000-a-year berth at Wanamaker's store, returned to civic affairs in the Mayor Walker regime when he became police commissioner and won his immortal epitaph—"The Gardenia of the Law." Grover Whalen has also held a fat job with Schenley Distillers and once served as New York City NRAdministrator.*

At 52 Grover Whalen has lost his leanness, but remains in top physical trim. He diets, neither drinks nor smokes, rides a lot. He has a country place at Roslyn, L. I., a town house at 48 Washington Mews—an alley off Fifth Avenue near Washington Square where Manhattan rich used to stable their horses and now like to live themselves.