WHO'S WHO IN THE GOP: STASSEN

Before the Philadelphia convention next June, a major job of the nation's voters will be to absorb, weigh, and compare the records in the Republican Who's Who of presidential candidates. Herewith, in the fourth-of a series, TIME publishes the condensed biography and political record of Minnesota's Harold Edward Stassen.

Vital Statistics. Age: 41 (born April 13, 1907, on a 40-acre truck farm in West St. Paul, Minn.). Ancestry: his father, William Andrew Stassen, was the son of Norwegian and Czech immigrants; his mother, Elsie Emma Mueller, was born in Germany, came to the U.S. with her parents when she was six years old. Harold was the third of four sons. He has one younger sister. His father, now 71, still runs the farm, drives into St. Paul frequently with vegetables. Educated: St. Paul's Humboldt High School (1922); the University of Minnesota (1927); U. of M.'s law school (1929). Married: in 1929 to Esther Glewwe, his childhood sweetheart. Children: Glen, 12; Kathleen, 6. Church: Baptist. Nickname: "Red" (to his old college mates), "Skipper" (to his close political friends).

Personal Traits. A big (6 ft. 3 in., 215 lbs.), trim hulk of a man with a huge head (size 7 7/8 hat) and thinning red-blond hair, he swears rarely, smokes not at all, limits his drinking to two Scotches (neat). He wears conservative ties and double-breasted suits, which he buys off the rack at St. Paul's Maurice L. Rothschild & Co. He is equally at home with bankers and ditchdiggers. He is formal in his professional relationships, always keeps his coat on whatever the temperature, looks disapprovingly on those of his associates who wear flashy sports jackets. While talking, even in private, he organizes his replies into Point One, Point Two, Point Three, etc. He views himself dispassionately, once called a conference of his "team" to consider what he should do about his "coldness" (he decided to go on being himself). He has moments of intense concentration (members of his staff are trained to back out softly if they come in during such periods). He drinks nine to twelve cups of coffee a day, can (and does) take a cat nap any time.

Career. A lawyer by profession, he has been appointed to one public office (delegate to the San Francisco conference), elected to two (Dakota County attorney in 1929, re-elected in 1933; governor of Minnesota in 1938, re-elected in 1940 and 1942); never defeated in any election. In 1940, at 33, he was keynoter of the G.O.P. convention in Philadelphia, became Wendell Willkie's floor manager. In 1942 he was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the Navy, was discharged as a captain in 1946.

Private Life. For the last 17 months he has had almost no private life at all as he crisscrossed the U.S., touching every state at least once, in his unprecedentedly vigorous campaign for the presidency. He lives in South St. Paul in a red brick, Tudor style, eight-room house which he built for $12,500 in 1938. A horseshoe is embedded in the cement doorstep, framing a footprint of Glen as a four-year-old. He does much of his work at home, has a Dictaphone in the library where he wrote his book, Where I Stand. For recreation he likes to hunt (pheasant, quail, deer), play chess, take Glen fishing, go for long walks alone. He has few close friends outside his family, sees his father and brothers often (brother William is a sheet-metal worker, brother Elmer a grocer, brother Arthur a state employee). He has supported himself with articles and lectures (fee: $600 to $1,000), earned more than $42,000 in 1947.

Early Years. He grew up on his father's farm. At the university he rapidly became the biggest man on campus, earned money as a grocery clerk, bakery pan-greaser, sleeping-car conductor. He was an above-average student, president of the student body, senior orator, member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, captain of the rifle team (he once shot tassels off a fellow R.O.T.C. student's uniform in an exhibition).

After graduating from law school he filed for county attorney, then discovered that he had tuberculosis in one lung. He spent four months in a sanitarium, but did not quit the race. By the time he took office in 1930, he was fully recovered.

Public Record. As county attorney he closed up his share of gambling houses, took a hand in labor disputes. He broke up a Communist group in a meatpackers' union. During the milk strikes of the early 1930s, he walked into a meeting of angry farmers, warned that he would prosecute any violence, but offered to represent them without a fee. He got milk prices raised 30-c- a hundredweight.

As governor of Minnesota at 31, he was the youngest state governor in U.S. history. He inherited a $39 million deficit, turned it into a $3 million surplus. He cut yearly expenditures from $105 million in 1938 to $92 million in 1943, slashed the payroll from 17,000 to 10,000, cut the property tax almost in half, established a civil service system, created the job of state "business manager" to watch every nickel. His "Count Ten" labor act, passed in 1939, was the first post-Wagner Act law which forced labor to show at least partial responsibility. It required a 10-to-30-day cooling-off period, cut strikes 70%.

As a naval officer he requested combat duty, got it as flag secretary to Admiral William Halsey, who called him "a great naval officer." He saw plenty of action, went without sleep for 70 hours evacuating U.S. prisoners from Japan after V-J day.

As a campaigner he is indefatigable, impresses audiences with his friendliness and his erect bearing. No phrasemaker, his speeches are short, well-organized and delivered in a loud clear voice. He always asks for questions, repeats each question word for word before answering it. As soon as he finishes, he jumps for the door, shakes every hand he can reach. To prepare himself for the 1948 campaign, he made a nine-week, 16-country trip to Europe, interviewed Stalin, Attlee, Rama-dier, Benes, De Gasperi and the Pope.

He is for: the Marshall Plan (China subordinated to Europe) ; a strong U.N. (he opposed the veto at San Francisco); the Taft-Hartley Act (except for the closed-shop, union political activity, and anti-Communist provisions); strong labor unions; tax reduction and debt retirement (any surplus split 50-50 between them); tax concessions for small business; Government controls on inventories, consumer credit, commodity speculation; a $1 billion-a-year Government housing program; rent control; FEPC; a modified U.M.T.; parity price support; admission of D.P.s.

He is against: shipment of potential war material to Russia; price-control and rationing; the proposed Missouri Valley Authority.

Pro & Con. His critics feel that he is both immature and calculating--a man who has taken a stand on so many issues that he not only appears to be all things to all men but is confused in his own mind. (He began an article for PM last fall with the sentence: "Joseph V. Stalin has, I think, an open mind," now calls for outlawing the Communist Party in the U.S.) They feel that his habit of proposing a five-or ten-point panacea for every problem shows glibness and cockiness rather than sureness and knowledge. They point out that since 1946 he has done nothing but talk.

His admirers say that he is a political prodigy who has grown up, a seasoned administrator (he was elected governor four years before Dewey), a pre-Pearl Harbor internationalist who has seen postwar Europe and Asia with his own eyes, a man unafraid to speak his mind. They feel that he is a natural leader who understands the problems and has drawn the support of labor, business, and agriculture; a proved vote-getter who was elected as a Republican three times in a state which Roosevelt carried four times; a man who stands the best chance of luring the independent vote into the G.O.P. camp.

* Previous "Who's Whos": Dewey (April 5), Warren (April 12), Taft (April 19).

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