Old Faces

When the 83rd Congress gets through organizing next January, some old, familiar faces will appear at the heads of the tables. Many of the key officers and committee chairmen will be returning to posts they held in the 80th Congress.

In the Senate, the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee will be the man who has held the post since 1947: Robert A. Taft. For majority leader, the leading prospect is California's Senator William Knowland, a middle-of-the-road man who is quick on his feet in parliamentary clinches. For the key Senate committee chairmanships (assigned by seniority), this is the prospective lineup:

Agriculture. Vermont's gentle, able George D. Aiken, one of the best G.O.P. farm legislators, a friend of the farmer but no foe of the consumer.

Appropriations. New Hampshire's Styles Bridges, who is expected to pass over the Republican leadership which he held last session to take the important Appropriations chairmanship.

Armed Services. Massachusetts' Leverett Saltonstall, a careful internationalist.

Banking & Currency. Homer Capehart, the wealthy radio-TV manufacturer from Indiana, a strong conservative.

Finance. Eugene Millikin of Colorado, one of the Senate's ablest legislators and a tax expert.

Foreign Relations. Wisconsin's back-slapping Alexander Wiley, a self-described humorist, who was an ardent isolationist before Pearl Harbor, has now moved, thanks partly to his British-born bride, all the way to internationalism. He sees himself as a new Vandenberg; others see him merely as a new Wiley.

Government Operations (the chief investigating committee). Wisconsin's Joe McCarthy, who has announced that he will concentrate on exposing and preventing corruption.

Interstate & Foreign Commerce. New Hampshire's Charles Tobey, known to millions for his literary (but not always relevant) asides during the Kefauver committee's crime investigation broadcasts.

Judiciary. North Dakota's William Langer, who gets elected as a Republican, almost always votes like a Democrat.

Labor & Public Welfare. Robert A. Taft.

Post Office & Civil Service. Frank Carlson, the homespun Senator from Kansas, one of Ike Eisenhower's closest campaign advisers.

Rules & Administration. One of the Senate's most unruly, Indiana's loud William Jenner.

In the House, the Speaker will be one who has been there before: Massachusetts' durable Joe Martin, Speaker in the 80th Congress. The majority leadership probably will go to the man who held it in the 80th: Charles Halleck of Indiana.

For the most important committee chairmanships in the House, seniority dictates this prospective lineup:

Agriculture. Clifford Hope of Kansas, Ike Eisenhower's chief adviser on farm policy, who endorses most of the present farm program but criticizes the way the Administration has been handling it. If Hope should become Secretary of Agriculture, the committee chairman would be Minnesota's August Andresen, who has long been a sharp thorn in the side of the Department of Agriculture.

Appropriations. New York's John Taber, an old and confirmed apostle of economy in Government, who has been a member of the committee since 1924.

Armed Services. Missouri's Dewey Short, a widely educated hillbilly (Harvard, Heidelberg, Oxford) who has a fund of good stories, a long record of eccentric voting, especially on military affairs, and hardly a friend in the Defense Department.

Education & Labor. Pennsylvania's Samuel K. McConnell, a Philadelphia investment banker whose record is unpleasing to the C.I.O., which judged him wrong on 14 out of 16 issues in the 82nd Congress.

Expenditures. A bitter lone wolf, Clare Hoffman of Michigan, perhaps the most reactionary man in Congress.

Foreign Affairs. Robert Chiperfield of Illinois, who voted against early foreign-aid proposals, later voted for aid to Europe because he felt he must do so to support U.S. troops there.

Public Works. Michigan's George A. Dondero, a longtime friend of the St. Lawrence Seaway plan.

Rules. Leo Allen of Illinois, a close friend of Speaker-to-be Joe Martin, and a straight party line man who can be depended upon to route legislation the way the party leaders want it routed.

Un-American Activities. Another IIlinoisan (Congressmen from that state may hold five chairmanships), H. H. Velde, a zealous lawyer and ex-FBI man who is expected to pitch into the job with enthusiasm and intelligence. Said he: "We'll just begin when we are no longer hamstrung by an administration of red herrings."

Veterans' Affairs. Massachusetts' Edith Nourse Rogers, a member of Congress since 1925, who will be the only woman to head a committee. A tireless friend of the veteran, she was the President's special representative for care of disabled veterans under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover.

Ways & Means. Daniel Reed of New York, a member of Congress since 1919, and an undeviating conservative.

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (Senate & House). New York's W. Sterling ("Stub") Cole, who in 1950 opposed the decision to go ahead with the hydrogen bomb, felt the country's defense program leaned too heavily on mass aerial bombardment. One of the hardest workers in Congress and an expert in the committee room, Cole is widely respected for his industry, fair-mindedness and good judgment. An internationalist, he was one of the early Eisenhower supporters.

The Republican majorities in House and Senate are not required by law to stick to seniority assignment--but they usually do.

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