New Face, Big District

In California this week, a zealous little businessman set out with his slingshot to puncture a political giant. Young (39), bespectacled, cigar-smoking Rudolph Rex Henderson had a flaming belief that the Congress which failed to prepare for war needs some new faces. He was willing to spend $6,000 of his own money for campaign expenses--and lose $13,000 a year from his lumber business--to supply one of those faces himself.

Henderson well knew that everything, especially geography, favored his opponent, tall, politically wise Harry Lane Englebright, Republican House whip. For nine terms Englebright has represented California's huge, mountainous Second District, which rambles over 51,850 sq. mi. (a third of California, along the eastern border of the State), is bigger than New York State or Pennsylvania. Englebright learned his politics from his father, who was a Congressman before him. He has always won both Republican and Democratic primary nominations, never has had to face an opponent in the election. All he has had to do was write enough letters home to convince his voters that watchful Harry Englebright was looking out for them.

Letter Answered. Harry Englebright's strength in Congress resembles his strength at home. He seeks no publicity, makes few speeches, enters no fights, but handles many a behind-scenes fixing job for Republican Leader Joe Martin. Usually he hangs over a rear rail in the House, calmly puffing cigarets, warily checking to see how many Republicans are on the floor.

Before Pearl Harbor, Englebright's votes were solidly isolationist: against Lend-Lease, against draft extension, against arming merchant ships, against lifting belligerent-port and combat-zone bans. But his campaign letters this year say: "There is one common task confronting our people: to win this war and to win it as quickly as possible. I am dedicated to all these objectives. I have supported and voted for all war measures and appropriations and will continue to do so."

The letter got a quick answer: Rudie Henderson jumped into the campaign to try to win the Republican nomination. Said he: "Nobody flattered me by suggesting that I run for Congress. The only way to get a better Congress is to elect better men. No single Congressman is going to be a Horatio. But I believe the people have a bellyful of the present Congress."

How Are Your Tires? The tires on Rudie Henderson's green Mercury sedan were already worn from-25,000 miles of use. But he started out bravely on a campaign tour, aiming to visit all the little desert and mountain towns he could: Fair Play, Grizzly Flats, Indian Diggins, Angel's Camp. Since the district's 218,000 residents live four to a square mile, he would have to go far to shake hands with all of them. And he had no franking privilege to broadcast his campaign literature.

He got a little encouragement, a little help. Englebright's home-town paper, the Nevada City (pop. 2,445) Nugget, gave him editorial support. The truck drivers and yard men at his Lone Pine Lumber & Supply Co. offered to spend their evenings in his office pecking out campaign letters. They did not worry about the fact that they might be hurting their own pocketbooks: last year half of the company's $400,000 gross (and Henderson's $27,000 profits) came from Government orders. He would lose as a Congressman.

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