Sinesco Discens

The year: 1867, in the dark aftermath of the Civil War. In that year New York's ruthless Roscoe Conkling and Ohio's tough, slovenly Ben Wade ruled the U.S. Senate, waving the vengeful flag of Reconstruction. In that year, too, in Providence, R.I., was born Theodore Francis Green, a kind and gentle person who--a full 70 years later--entered the Senate. Last week, closing out his fourth term, "Teddy" Green announced that he would not stand for re-election in 1960. At 92, he was already the oldest man ever to serve in Congress.

Heir to a family textiles fortune in Providence, Green went to Brown University, Harvard Law School, the Universities of Berlin and Bonn. He taught Roman law at Brown, also began working at Rhode Island Democratic politics. Elected Governor in 1933, he swept clean with a stiff broom: in a single day, he ousted five Supreme Court justices, abolished the office of finance commissioner, consolidated 80 administrative offices.

After he was elected to the Senate in 1937, tiny (5 ft. 2 in.) Bachelor Green moved into Washington's University Club, soon plunged into work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, quickly made a reputation for his thoroughness as well as his erudition, tramped energetically around the world on Senate business, won his heart's desire when he became chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He was then 90 (last year he gracefully relinquished his chairmanship because of his age).

Green never learned to drive a car, still walks more than a mile to and from work when the weather is good. One of Washington's busiest partygoers, he keeps meticulous track of his engagements in a black notebook. Once, a hostess saw him leafing through the book, asked fondly: "Are you checking to find out where you go next?" Replied Green: "I'm checking to see where I am now."

After his announcement last week, many of his Senate colleagues rose to praise him. Then Teddy Green took the floor. "After listening for some time," he said, "I began to wonder whether or not a great mistake had been made. I found my mind wandering, and I thought of myself as lying in a coffin in front of the dais, with my colleagues going by and dropping a flower or two as they passed." Notwithstanding his retirement, few Washingtonians thought Teddy Green was ready for flowers. Rather, they saw in him the embodiment of his favorite Latin phrase: Sinesco discens--I grow old learning.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.