Widow's Might

A new face appeared in Congress last week--and a pretty one. Katharine Edgar Byron was the fifth Congressional widow to take her seat in the 77th Congress. (Altogether, nine Congressmen wear skirts.) Unlike her distinguished widowed colleagues, Senator Hattie Caraway, Representatives Margaret Smith, Frances Bolton, Mrs. Byron did not slide easily into her late husband's place. She won it the hard way--by licking a veteran, C.I.0.-backed opponent.*

A few days after Maryland's Representative William Devereux Byron died in a plane crash last March, Mrs. Byron gave Maryland party bosses a hearty laugh by announcing her candidacy "to carry on Bill's work." But Katharine Byron lined up Democratic delegates, ran away with the convention, went to work on her Republican opponent, A. Charles Stewart. Her campaign was simple and personal. She would stop people on the street and say: "I'm Katharine Byron, and I'd appreciate your vote." When the ballots were in, she had a slim 1,200-vote margin, out of some 50,000 cast.

Dark-haired, dark-eyed, vivacious Representative Byron has borne five sturdy sons, but at 37 is the youngest and by far the prettiest Congresswoman. She is also rich, ambitious, and a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. First to congratulate her after she was sworn in last week was her colleague from Maryland, Senator Millard E. Tydings. Senator Tydings closed his eyes, saluted Representative Byron with a hearty buss, then repeated four times for photographers (see cut).

* Massachusetts' Edith Nourse Rogers is the only other Congressional relict who won her seat after a hard fight.

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