Call Me Judge

Silver-haired Governor Luther Youngdahl was the Republican Party's shiniest star in Minnesota. He had been twinkling brightly ever since former Governor Harold E. Stassen picked him off the state supreme court bench in 1946, persuaded him to run for governor. He was sometimes too radical for conservatives in his party, but when they opposed him he went to the people and won. Minnesota political pundits thought he could beat anybody for any office in the state, expected him to be re-elected for a fourth term in 1952 and to beat Democrat Senator Hubert Humphrey in 1954. Back in 1948, when Truman and Humphrey swept Minnesota, Republican Youngdahl also swept in, by 100,000 votes.

Last week Republican Youngdahl and Fair Dealer Humphrey, smiling side by side, stepped out of President Truman's office and made an announcement that shook their state from border to border: the President had appointed Youngdahl a federal judge in the District of Columbia, to succeed the late T. Alan Goldsborough.* With one round from his gun, Harry Truman had just about blown off the head of the Minnesota Republican Party. Slick Senator Humphrey, who had laid the gun on the target, could chuckle.

The man who will inherit the governor's chair is C. Elmer Anderson, 39, the lieutenant governor, a moonfaced, mediocre politician from Brainerd (pop. 12,558). The Stassen forces thought so little of Elmer that back in 1942, when Governor Stassen was about to go in the Navy, they put up Ed Thye against Anderson, so that Thye would be governor when Stassen left. Now Thye is a U.S. Senator and up for re-election next year. He and Anderson would be embarrassing teammates on a ticket.

When word of Youngdahl's appointment got out, Stassen cried foul: "A typical Truman trick." The advantages to Truman, Humphrey & Co. were clear, but why had Youngdahl accepted? He tried to explain to reporters: "The emotional and physical strain of holding the position as chief executive of a great state . . ." but he said it more plainly when a newsman wondered whether to address him as governor or judge. Said 55-year-old Luther Youngdahl: "I've had both titles. Judge sounds pretty good to me--and it lasts longer."

Whatever his other troubles, Harry Truman is still batting .400 in politics. And Hubert Humphrey now had professional standing in the big leagues.

*He would be the fourth Republican in a 16-judge district. President Truman has appointed only one Republican to the Supreme Court, his senatorial friend, Harold Burton of Ohio. Of 330 persons appointed to lifetime federal judgeships since Franklin Roosevelt became President more than 18 years ago, only 19 have been Republicans.

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