Landslide in the Rockies

In the years after World War I, Denver dreamed more of the past than of the future. So did Mayor Ben Stapleton (TIME, March 10). Old Ben was one of the most powerful city bosses in the U.S., but he devoted himself mainly to falling asleep at banquets and opposing change. But when Denver woke to the alarm-clock jangle of World War II, and began to grow and get new industry, its 77-year-old boss suddenly seemed as outmoded as a wooden sidewalk.

Last week, after two decades, Denver threw Old Ben and his creaky machine out of office and replaced him with dark-haired, baby-faced Attorney J. (for James) Quigg Newton, 35.

Lawyer Quigg, the first native son in Denver's line of 32 mayors, was the antithesis of his predecessor. The son of a wealthy Denver Republican, he played football at Phillips Academy at Andover, learned law at Yale, served an exploratory year as a legal secretary with SEC. During the war he flew a Washington desk as a commander in the Naval Air Transport Service, came back to Denver with an itch to give the city a liberal, non-partisan mayoralty administration.

All kinds of people hurried to his support. Palmer ("Ep") Hoyt, the new and energetic publisher of the Denver Post, backed him editorially. So, to Denver's surprise, did the Post's archenemy, the Rocky Mountain News. Most of the city's railway brotherhoods were for him. So were most of its C.I.O. unions, 300 of 412 Republican precinct committeewomen. Quigg Newton's campaign was a model of politeness. Instead of berating Old Ben (Denver wasn't exactly mad at him, it was just tired of him) Newton simply called for change.

He got a landslide total of 79,581 votes, while Old Ben ran a bad third with only 17,581. In voting Newton into office, Denver citizens not only rid themselves of machine government, but unlocked state politics as well--Old Ben had been a dominant influence for years. Denver also showed discrimination in voting for bond issues--it rejected a new art museum, a concert hall, a plan to expand the zoo, but approved improvement and expansion of its airport, its water system, its general hospital. It shrewdly made sure that its city charter, basis of Old Ben's power, would be revised.

Said a Denver vegetable-stand proprietor: "We did some smart voting for once. We voted in that nice young Newton--then we fixed it so Young Quigg can't get to be Old Quigg, like Old Ben done."

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