Trusted Man

After the funeral of Senate Minority Leader Kenneth Wherry in Pawnee City, Neb., eleven top Republican Senators drove back to Omaha to discuss Wherry's successor. Ten of the Senators* were quickly in agreement: the new leader should be the eleventh man present--New Hampshire's solid Republican, Styles Bridges.

It took some persuasion to get Bridges to agree to accept the post. The Floor Leader's duties would not permit him to retain all his posts on Senate committees (he is ranking Republican on several, including Appropriations and Armed Services). But the others reminded him that he is the one senior Republican Senator who gets along with both the Taft and the Eisenhower wings of the party. He is counted on favoring Eisenhower as the candidate who has the best chance of putting the G.O.P. back in power.

* Ohio's Taft, Colorado's Millikin, Indiana's Capehart, California's Nixon, South Dakota's Case, Utah's Bennet, Nebraska's Butler, Idaho's Welker, Kansas' Schoeppel, Missouri's Kem.

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