The Key West Citizen Newspaper, September 21, 1954, Page 7

Republican National Chairman Is ‘A Man Who Is Remembered For A Heart-Warming Smile By ROGER D. GREENE AP Newsfeatures Writer WASHINGTON, Sept, 21 — Everybody on Capitol Hill knew big, jovial Len Hall during his 14 years in Congress. Hall didn’t exactly set the place on fire. He introduced few: bills, made few speeches. When he spoke on the House floor, the lawmakers applauded because they liked him —not because they listened to what he said. Scarcely the man you’d expect see as Republican national chairman today, the man who will eal) the signals in the GOP’s strug- gle to retain control of Congress in November. But Halt had some- thing that people remembered: a big, heart-warming smile for every- body, which in politics is a precious negotiable commodity. It took the President of the United States to remind Hall that his smile is a priceless asset. That was last November after Demo- cratic upset victories in New Jersey. “Nobody was smiling at Repubii- can headquarters,” Hall recounts, “and I didn’t feel like it, either. I guess I was looking pretty glum when I went over to the White House to report to the President.” When Hall returned to his office, he slumped in a chair and stared gloomily at the array of miniature hand-carved elephants on his desk, The telephone rang. It was the President. ‘ With a soft chuckle, Ike spoke four words: “Get that grin back!” Hall did. His good humor and booming laugh were bywords on Capitol Hill during the seven terms he served in the House from 1938 to 1952. And they played a significant Part, in the shaping of his own destiny, during the tense political drama of the 1952 Republican Na- tional Convention in Chicago, Tempers jiggled on hair triggers during that torrid July battle be- tween supporters of Sen. Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio) and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower for the GOP presi- dential nomination. As hot-collared delegates shouted howled and booed, Len Hall kept cool—and cheerful. On his lapel, instead of the usual “I Like Ike” of “I’m for Taft” button, he wore a huge emblem proclaiming; “I like everybody!” 2 Because he liked everybody, when nearly everybody else was either violently pro-Taft or pro- Eisenhower, Leonard Wood Hall nf Oyster Bay, N. Y., emerged as an obvious choice for the job of re- storing party harmony after one of the worst rifts in GOP history, As chairman of the Republican Na- tional Committee he succeeded Wesley Roberts who resigned early last year. travel f take a lao at these (ad House Speaker Joe Martin (R- Mass), who has known Hall for years, reca-ls: “Late in March, 1953, I was rid- ing out on Long Island to make a speech at & banquet honoring Len Hall for 25 years of public service in Nassau County. We were casting about, thinking of people all over the country who might fill the hill as ne ra Republican chairman, “What we needed was somebody who liked everybody and could get along with all factions within party. Suddenly I remembered that button Hall wore at the '32 eon- vention.” In his speech that night, Martin suggested Hall for the job. “It went over with a bang,” he says. A onetime gun-totin’ sheriff of Nassau County, the six-foot-twe, 228-pound Hall radiates confidence as he charts campaign strategy in his office at GOP headquarters, a few blocks from the White House. Only too well he knows that off- year elections are_ traditionally rough on the party in powér. This year the gain or loss of a few seats could swing control of Sen- ate and House to either party. Here is the present tight squeeze: _ Senate: 46 Democrats, 48 Repub- licans, 1 Indpendent and 1 Demo- cratic vacancy, left by the reeent death of South Carolina’s Sen. May- bank. House: 219 Republicans, 23 Democrats, 1 Independent, 2 Dem: ocratic vacancies, “I think we'll swing it,” says Hall. “Our scoreboard, on the rée- ord of the Eisenhower administta- tion, is going to be very, very good. “I'd say we should pick up 15 to 25 seats in the Howse and 3 or 4 in the Senate. Enough to give us a working majority in houses.” Although little known on a na- tional scale, Hall beeame recog- nized as a “politician's politieian” during his years on Capitol Hill. “He really knows the machinery and mechanics of politics,” 's Rep. Henry J. Latham (R-NY), a close friend. ‘Len always talked common sense. He knew what would work and .what wouldn’t work. “There’s no doubt he’s the one an jvho can bind up the splinters ie GOP. Without him, they'd be a lot farther apart.” Long-time acquaintances of Hall On Capitol Hill have difficulty re- membering any flaws in him. Off the record, about the harshest thing they say about him is that he plays his hand.'too wide open. “Len has no secrets,” one of them said. “If he’s writing a check and your eye: happens to stray over his check -stub, he'll show you his bank balance and then laugh, ‘Thought I had more, didn’t you?’ recast New Buses Daily Schedules Thru Buses Routes fuse a jem examples of Big Savtage NEW YORK, N. Y. CHICAGO, ILL. GREYHOUND BUS STATION 511 Southard St, PHONE 2.5211 GREYHOUND ‘ “He trusts the other guy im- Plicitly, all the way. But if he’s doubl |, he goes into a fury —out loud and of the spot.” Hall was born Oct. 2, 1900, in Oyster Bay, on Long Island Sound, near what later became President White House on Sagamore Hill. His father, Franklyn W. Hall, was TR's coaehman and later served as White House librarian. At Mrs. Roosevelt's suggestion, Hall was named after ’s old friend, Gen. Leonard Wood of Spanish-American War fame. The youngest of eight children, with four brothers and three sis- ters, Len Hall played with the Roosevelt youngsters in grammar school and in the cool woods and coves ground Oyster Bay. His boy- hood chum was Quentin, youngest of the Roosevelt sons, who was killed in World War I. The last of eight children, Len Hall had to work his way through Georgetown University in Wash-. ington. For $50 a month, he worked days ag & power eompany clerk, and studied law at night. He won his law degree in 1920 at the age of 19 ahd was admitted to the New York bar a year later. Mall broke into politics in 1927, When he ran for the New York State Assembly and won. Today, if you ask Hall whether he is an “Old Guard” Republican or an Eisenhower “Young Repub- liean;” he will tell you: “I got into politics in Oyster Bay by beating an old guard. Then I lost my hair and waistline and- became a young Republican.” Hall reluctantly setved as sheriff of Nassau County from 1929 to 1931 —"the only job I ever held that I didn’t like,” he says—and in 1934 returhed 18 the State Assembly for four more yéars. Then, in 1938, he was electéd to Congress. Hall gave up his seat in Congress to become surrogate judge of wills and estates in Nassau County. He left Washington largely beeause his petite, hazel-eyed wife, Gladys, wanted him to settle down to a quieter life in Oyster Bay. “I promised her I'd stay home for a while,” Hall said. He did—for exactly three months atid nine days. Hall gave up his $28,000-a..year lifetime job as surrogate and ac- cepted the GOP national chairman post. He draws $32,500 a yéar éx- penses, but no salary, Now, preparing for the big elec- tien campaign, Hall puts in a 16- hour day at the job he likes best: talking with people. Spahn Says He'll Keep On Going By CHRIS EDMONDS MILWAUKEE (#—The first left- handed piteher in National League history ever to win 20 games in six different seasons figures to keep right on going. Warren Spahn, only the fourth National League hurler in modern annéls to hit the 20 mark that many times, Said yesterday after posting a 6-2 win over Cincinnati for thé Milwaukee Braves that he thought he'd do even better next season. The triumph over the Red- legs gave Spahn a 1954 mark of 20- 12. “TI feel I can win maybe 25 next year if everything goes right,” he said. “I think any good pitcher ought to win 20 games a year if he’s with a good ball club.” Spahn, 33 years old last April and an old man as major league pitchers go, pooh-poohed any idea that he is nearing the end of the line. “No, I don’t think I’m getting old,” he said. “Why should I? I’m still throwing as good as T ever did and I’m a lot smarter than when I was a kid, too. My arm is just as good as it ever was and I still throw only standard stuff. When I gét so I have to use such stuff as a knuckler and a palm ball and those things, then I'll know I’ve had it.” z Yesterday’s triumph, on his third try for his 20th victory this year, was Spahn’s 165th in his 10 years of major league pitehing all for the Braves. Citizen Ads Bring Results For A Quick Loan $25 TO 9800 Puerto Rico Fishermen Challenge US. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — A team of fifteen sports fishermen | from Puerto Rico has issued a} challenge to the Tropical Fishing | Club of New York for a competi- tion scheduled for mid-October in the waters adjacent to San Juan harbor. This initial international Puerto Rican fishing tournament presently plans to limit catches to white and blue marlin, sailfish, and allison tuna, although final rules and regulations await the formal acceptance of the challenge of the New York group. W. J. (Jim) Hausman, president of the Tropical Fishing Club, whose members come from New York, Florida, Canada, Cuba, and the British West Indies, said that the challenge would be acknowledged shortly, Puerto Rico’s game fish- ermen will be selected by San Juan’s Club Nautico, according to Mrs. Jane Nicole de Mariani, di- rector of the Puerto Rico Visitors Bureau which is to direct the tour- nament. Team competition will be for a mammoth Schaefer Cup to be pre- sented annually to the winning team by R. J. Schaefer, well known sportsman and president of the F. and M. Schaefer Brewing Com- pany. Additional individual tro- Phies are to be presented for daily prize catches. CoP 1S EASY oN SNOOZING DRIVER RALEIGH, N. C. —A Police- | man, with a soft-heart, started to write an overtime parking ticket here yesterday, then took another | look at the driver, obviously | fagged out and asleep at the wheel. | He put his pencil in his pocket, | took out a nickel, inserted in the | meter and walked away. The driver snoozed on. Woman Rescued After Harrowing Ordeal On Lake TOLEDO, Ohio ®—For 40 hours; went fishing Saturday. The boat’s after her husband died, Mrs. Iva| motor stalled and Soncrant col- B. Soncrant was. alone with his|lapsed while trying to start it. body on rough Lake Erie in their| She said she did not realize Son- disabled outboard motor boat. |crant was dead for two hours. For “I prayed and I cried....only the|40 hours she tried unsuccessfully thought of my three sons kept me |to attract passing boats with bene ane the odds against me| screams and a piece of her skirt | seemed so large,” she said 900s ssedcan flag. terday after fishermen found her on Y i | She had to keep bailing water hee malt) otthore and rescued | trom waves out of her boat to keep Mrs. Soncrant said she and her |‘t from foundering. husband, Joseph, 57, of Toledo,! ‘One of my sons is only 20, and I | Tuesday, September 21, 1954 Page 7) THE KEY WEST CITIZEN How to get the most for your mutual fund dollars Wise investors know that experience counts in selecting the best Mutual Funds for their needs. 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