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names like that. In that original Rosenthal murder case, which was the first time that the organized underworld crime and gangsters came at least into my orbit, there were four of five man with very strange names. One of them was “Lefty Louis.” Another was “Something the Something.” Apparently these gangsters were semi-dramatic creatures. They had a flare for acting and they gave each other these names and appellations.

So when Henry Morgenthau called Tommy Corcoran “Tommy the Cork,” it was partly affection, partly raillery, and probably borrowed out of the language that you saw in the newspapers. Then other people began making up these terms. Roosevelt's thought that “Tommy the Cork” was very funny. Roosevelt's sense of humor was thoroughly uncomplicated. There were no subtleties to it at all. Anything just open and obvious was good for a good, big roar, but he might not even see the point of a subtle joke. Long after it had been explained to him it was usually some time before he got the point sometimes. But he was a very hearty laugher and easily amused by the obvious. “Tommy the Cork” amused him tremendously and it served to tease Tom a little, I suppose.

Between them, he and Henry Morgenthau began inventing these things. I don't remember just what these were. I don't remember whether they invented “Raymie the Mole,” or