Turnabout

Among Marine airmen in the Solomons in 1944 a bluff, genial Irishman came closer than most non-flying officers to achieving a legend. They laughed at his incredible yarns, gobbled up his extra rations, deferentially addressed him as Judge. Some almost believed the sign which sagged incongruously over his tent on mucky, jungle-thick Bougainville: "McCarthy for U.S. Senator."

Last week in tidy Wisconsin, the same Joseph R. McCarthy, discharged as a captain, unexpectedly made good on his ambition; he won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator. He also ended a formidable tradition and a dynasty. He beat veteran (21 years) Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., the last member of his famous family to serve in an important public office.

Brash. Joe McCarthy proved his nerve overseas by voluntarily riding the rear seat of his squadron's dive bombers in action. His political nerve was equally great. The convention which nominated him gave him the vote with misgiving. He was almost an unknown and he was up against one of Washington's most respected legislators. McCarthy grinned and set out determined to shake every hand in Wisconsin.

While overconfident La Follette committeemen relaxed, energetic Joe stumped the state wearing his old khaki shirts. He shrewdly wooed conservative farmers with attacks on Washington bureaucrats, skirted the touchy foreign-policy issue, chided his opponent for a long absence from home. Backed by the regular G.O.P. organization he accused errant Progressives of trying to steal the Republican party.

But even optimistic Joe McCarthy had not counted on victory until late returns on election day showed that labor had deserted La Follette. Milwaukee county, which Young Bob had carried by 55,000 in his 1940 campaign as a Progressive, went for McCarthy by 10,000 in the G.O.P. primary.

The turnabout was partly the result of onetime La Follette supporters flocking into the Democratic primary to vote for former Representative Howard McMurray, an ardent New Dealer. They had shied away from La Follette's isolationist record, his return to Republicanism and subsequent indorsement by Ohio's conservative Taft.

Blunder. In rural districts Young Bob lost more votes by coming out on election eve against feeble, aged (82), but popular Governor Walter S. Goodland, who won renomination without a campaign. German-Americans, once solid for the La Follettes, no longer balloted in a bloc. This time many voted a preference for McCarthy's conservative stand on domestic issues.

Defeat for La Follette was a sad finish to an imposing family history. First Fighting Bob, then Young Bob had sat continuously in the U.S. Senate since 1906. Young Bob's departure would mean the loss to Congress of a Senator with great technical excellence, whose last fine job had been the pushing through of the Reorganization Bill despite Congressional indifference.

For Joe McCarthy victory turned one more page of a storybook career. The grandson of an Irish immigrant, he started out as a grocery clerk, worked his way through law school and was elected at 29 the youngest circuit judge in Wisconsin history.

Against labor-backed McMurray the ex-Marine faced a sharp fight in November. But old Solomons buddies no longer doubted that good-natured Joe's intentions were serious.

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