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University Daily Kansan Friday. April 22.1953
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
Know Your Senators
The Power Behind Sen. Bricker
His wrath had been aroused. His profound bass voice made the grown men who were his colleagues fear his displeasure as they listened. Appearing as though he had been intolerably and endlessly imposed upon while listening to the debate, he finally had spoken in order to rid himself of the travail he had been forced to endure.
He had emerged as the key man in the debates over limiting the President's treaty-making powers. The original plan of Sen. John W. Bricker of Ohio to amend the Constitution was shunted aside. Now Sen. George's substitute plan became a fresh start toward a congressional decision.
Such is the power of Walter Franklin George of Georgia, dean, of the United States Senate. Such is his gift—now unique in the Senate—to be senatorial in the grandest manner. For the senator is an institution. Stocky, white-haired, and with eyes sunken behind thick glasses, he behaves like a monitor in a school for boys.
Now the senator is completing another term of office and will be up for election in the 1956 race. His chances for victory have not been questioned. The primary concern is whether he will run again. For if he does, the grand old man undoubtedly will be swept back into office as he was in 1926, 1932, 1938, 1944, and again in 1950.
Perhaps one of the principal reasons for his assurance is that he was one of the triumphant survivors of 1938, when President Franklin Roosevelt "purged" Congress of the right-wing Democrats who were getting in the way of the New Deal.
The President had even sat on the same campaign platform with Sen. George and boldly announced at the end of his speech that the senator was a gentleman and a scholar, but just not the right man for the job.
The purge failed when the senator was voted back into office in a landslide. But Sen. George said he held no grudge against the President for trying.
Sen. George entered the Senate Nov. 7, 1922, after being elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas E. Watson. He took his seat Nov. 22 for the term ending March 3, 1927, and has held it since.
Famous for his high degree of bipartisanship, he is nonetheless regarded by his Democratic fellow workers as a "good party man." At the same
time he is proving to be both a rock and an adornment for the rocky times of President Eisenhower's administration. When the recent tax cut, having been approved in the Senate, was before the Senate, the senator's decision to oppose it probably saved the day for the President.
Such is the power of Walter F. George. As chairman of one of the key committees—that of foreign relations—he plays a vital role in determining which bills reach the floor of the Congress, and in what form. As the third most powerful man in United States foreign policy, his influence is a principal molder of the most important legislation.
Termed as a hand-in-glove relationship which the senator holds with Secretary of State Dulles and President Eisenhower, observers have noted that his is often the hand and theirs the glove.
When the President and the secretary of state requested him to leave the chairmanship of the Finance committee and return to the chair of the Foreign Relations committee, Mr. George had reservations about the deal.
The senator's power is not limited to the field of foreign relations. As the voluntary ex-chairman of the Committee on Finance, he still attends the sessions and makes his opinions known and felt. He is also the president pro tem of the Senate.
"I agreed to go along," he said, "but I told them that I could not undertake the social part of the job. I do not much care to go out in the evening. I said I might feel obliged to come once a year to some official entertainment at the White House, but nothing beyond that."
One of the top experts on finance and taxes, Sen. George has helped to open the treasury many times for foreign enterprises; yet few men worry so seriously about the public debt. One of his many foreign service bills which he has introduced was to authorize the President to proclaim a special period for intensified voluntary contributions of clothing and supplies to Korea.
Born in Preston, Ga., on Jan. 20, 1878, the senator is now 77. He rarely speaks, but whenever he does, he is listened to with utter respect. He walks slowly about the Senate as if he were the eldest among elders. And when the Senate is considering matters on which he is an expert, it usually adjourns at 5:30 p.m.-because that's when the senator likes to go home.
Such is the power of Walter Franklin George. Irene Cooper
"He's actually a big help—Prof. Snarf lets him grade all his papers."
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Looks like Santee will get to fulfill his boast. At least if he runs the four-minute mile, it might have to be in the rain. As our infant cousin said, "Darn that weatherman."
No hip flasks allowed at the Engineering Exposition. Every guest to be personally frisked by X-ray.
Millions of screaming juveniles on the campus this weekend. We're sure glad the instructors have let up on assignments.
No Cobalt bomb. And we had so set our heart on the Big One.
WELCOME
to the 30th Annual KANSAS RELAYS
RUSTY'S
Food Center
23rd & LOUISIANA
Low Prices Everyday
Open Evenings and Sundays
IGA
Lots of Free Parking Space
COLE'S
Food Center
2nd and LINCOLN
Everyday Low Prices