Gentleman from Genesee

For generations, the Wadsworths of New York's green Genesee Valley have lived in an ancient brick mansion near the town of Geneseo and farmed the broad acres around it. Ever since the American Revolution, they have also helped to fight the nation's wars and make the nation's laws. One James S. Wadsworth left the Genesee Valley in 1861 to serve as a Union general. His son, and namesake, served in Congress for 20 years. His grandson, the third James Wadsworth, did just what his ancestors would have expected of him.

He served as a private in the Spanish-American War after he left Yale in '98, then became a gentleman farmer and got into Republican politics. He was a tall, polite, conservative man who was equally suspicious of reformers, liberals and loud neckties. He maintained a fanatical interest in the art of playing first base, and--through decades of complacency and isolationism--he dedicated himself to the proposition that the U.S. could not survive unless its civilians were trained to spring to arms.

Prohibition & Suffrage. New York first sent him to the U.S. Senate in 1914. He backed the principle of selective service before the U.S. entered World War I. In 1920, almost singlehanded, he attempted to secure universal military training. He failed, but his national defense act helped lay the groundwork for the prosecution of World War II. He was defeated for the Senate in 1926. The U.S. was bored with talk of war, and he had also stubbornly opposed both prohibition and woman suffrage.

Six years later, he ran for Congress. From 1932 on, as Representative of the 39th New York District, he toiled silently behind the scenes for national defense. He backed Franklin Roosevelt's foreign policies, was largely responsible for the Selective Service Act of 1940. After World War II he served as the conscience of the House in matters pertaining to the armed forces.

Cattle & History. He was an odd politician--he made few speeches in the

House, courted no publicity. He was almost unknown outside Washington and western New York. But when he announced his retirement from politics last week, many of his colleagues in Congress bade him farewell with a one word eulogy: statesman. President Truman, ex-President Herbert Hoover, General Eisenhower, and many another national figure sent letters and telegrams of congratulation. General George Marshall flew to Rochester to pay tribute to him at a testimonial dinner.

After that--with the air of a man who has paid his debts to the Republic--73-year-old James Wadsworth went on home to raise cattle, read history and enjoy the sharp autumn air.

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