Roosevelt & Olsen

Because he has a rude majesty of statement that rivets the attention, a man named George W. Olsen has all Nebraska by the ear. George, say Nebraskans, is "a character"; and they look at their newspapers every day to see if George has cut loose again.

George Olsen is a 62-year-old bus boy in an Omaha war-plant cafeteria. He became the Democratic candidate for Governor (TIME, April 24) by the magic virtue of his Scandinavian name, as Nebraskans traditionally put their political trust in Scandinavians.

Nebraska is almost as Republican as Mississippi is Democratic. To win, Democrats want a rootin'-tootin' campaign. But Candidate Olsen will neither root nor toot. He has asked Democratic leaders to quit bothering him with "well-meant but unnecessary advice."

The Democrats planned their state convention for Grand Island, 140 miles from Omaha. Candidate Olsen flatly announced that he would not be there. His reason: "Neither President Roosevelt nor myself is going to lose any time in prosecuting our part in winning the war to seek personal gain. The fact that each of us has important work to attend to may have something to do with [this] stand. . . ."

The convention was switched to Omaha. Shy Candidate Olsen showed up at a night session, coatless, tieless, wearing his bomber-plant badge. He was finally persuaded to talk. Thumbs stuck in his broad suspenders, he made a one-minute speech:

"Fellow Democrats, I feel just like I did when I was 16 and took a load of apples to Nebraska City and got stuck in the mud. I decided I'd have to unload, but the endgate was gone. There I was, stuck in the mud and with nothing to unload. I feel the same way here tonight."

The Republican press chuckled. Candidate Olsen asked his fellow Democrats not to ridicule the G.O.P.: "If you throw mud you'll wake up and find only Roosevelt and Olsen have carried the state."

Last week Candidate Olsen gave his own simple explanation of why Tom Dewey made no speech in Nebraska: "I scared him out." Then he told newsmen of a letter from National Chairman Bob Hannegan. The letter: "Keep up the good work."

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