H&S Scene;

              THE SCENE
After 25 years
Few people are privileged to a close-up
view of great men in the act of making
history. E. Keith Stott, H&S partner in
the Los Angeles Office, is one of them.
Secretary and administrative assistant
to the late General George C. Marshall,
U.S. Army Chief of Staff during World
War XI, Keith retains vivid memories of
accompanying his boss to the Cairo and
Teheran conferences at the turning
point of the war, in November 1943.
Present at one or both meetings were
Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin and Chiang
Kai-shek. Keith at the time was a 23-
year-old shorthand expert with the
rank of Chief Warrant Officer.
Asked by H&S Reports on the 25th
anniversary of his Cairo-Teheran days
to recall them for H&S readers, Keith
explained modestly: "I did not sit in on
any of the actual top-level political
meetings. My work generally came be-fore
and after such sessions and in-cluded
serving as secretary for mem-bers
of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
and generally organizing and running
the 'field' office."
Both meetings were arranged in ut-most
secrecy because of the danger of
German air attack. "Our contingent,"
Keith recalls, "left Washington, D.C.,
before dawn on November 1 1 , 1943
aboard a sub chaser and transferred to
the battleship Iowa in the Chesapeake
Bay. With heavy naval escort (Presi-dent
Roosevelt and the Joint Chiefs of
Staff were aboard) we crossed the At-lantic,
passed Gibraltar and landed at
Oran, Algeria. There we caught planes
with fighter escort to Cairo, Egypt,
where meetings were held with the
Western Allies and Chiang Kai-shek
from November 22 to 26.
"The main topic considered here
was the choice of emphasis between
the Mediterranean-Italian campaign
and the Normandy invasion. There was
also discussion of the war against Japan.
We were so busy during this period
I didn't even have a chance to walk a
couple of blocks from the hotel to visit
the pyramids."
Keith's group flew to Teheran, Iran,
where Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin,
Marshall and others discussed the com-ing
summer invasion of Europe that
would close the ring on Nazi Germany.
As Keith recalls: "The last time I saw
President Roosevelt in Teheran he ap-peared
very tired compared with his
appearance aboard the Iowa. Late one
night during the conference I was
called to the U.S. Embassy to assist
Mr. Harry Hopkins prepare a report on
negotiations. As I was waiting in the
anteroom, Stalin walked in with sev-eral
aides. He paused to exchange
pleasantries with me for a few mo-ments
(through an interpreter). Al-though
I knew from history and the
work I was engaged in that he was a
tough negotiator and a ruthless dicta-tor,
this brief personal encounter was
pleasant, and I appreciated it."
Keith retains a strong and affection-ate
memory of General Marshall, whom
he recalls as "a warm and friendly
person," and as "definitely a leader
among military leaders. He seemed al-ways
to approach problems from the
positive side. Even in the most trying
days of the war his decisiveness seemed
infectious. Probably the secret of his
success was the great care he exercised
in selecting field commanders and Gen-eral
Staff personnel. He expected as-sistants
to give their best effort to solv-ing
problems on their own in areas of
their responsibility and to be willing
to act on their conclusions. It is no
coincidence that those closest to him
were enthusiastic men, confident of the
ultimate outcome of the war."
"Just what Is a Certified Public Accountant,
and what kind of work doss he do? What
opportunities are there in the profession
for black people? And for women?"
These were among the questions that
Edwin R. Lang (r.), Executive Office partner
in charge of personnel nationally, answered
during an October interview program on
WETA-TV, Washington. Posing direct
questions were Dick McCormack (t.) and
Petey Greene (center). A frank discussion
followed. Ed stated that accounting
opportunities are wide open to anyone who
can get the necessary training, and that a
number of college scholarships are
available. He mentioned especially our Firm's
association with the Howard University
Business Club (H&S Reports, Summer 1968).
Photograph not
included in the
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