Living Bond

When the sheriff of Maricopa County laid aside his six-shooters and went to Washington, President Taft's cow Pauline was grazing on the White House lawn, and about the only Roosevelt anyone had ever heard of was Colonel Teddy. Dwight Eisenhower was a cadet at West Point, Lyndon Johnson was barely out of diapers, and John F. Kennedy was not even born. The world has changed almost beyond recognition since 1912, but last week, as Stanford University honored one of its most celebrated alumni with a distinguished service award, Arizona's Senator Carl Hayden, 89, was still in the Congress--a living bond to people and times most Americans know only from books.

By virtue of the congressional seniority system, the hardworking, clear-thinking Arizonan--who recently celebrated his 55th anniversary* on Capitol Hill--occupies three of the most venerable and strategic posts in the Senate: president pro tem, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, dispenser of Democratic patronage. With little more than a nod, he can--and often has--secured federal funds and projects for the arid sections of the West, particularly his own state. Notes one Senate veteran: "He can do more for Arizona in three months than his successor will be able to do in ten years."

No one knows whether the old man will run for re-election next year--he is far too canny to make himself a lame duck at this stage of the game--but if he does, he will face the toughest opponent of his career in Barry Goldwater. Though he has the unquestioned advantages of seniority and more than a little edge in sentiment (he can still recall seeing Geronimo's hostile Apache signal fires glinting from the hills), Hayden would be 97 when the term expired, and might have some difficulty appealing to the thousands of young, newly arrived Arizonans. Last week, however, the view was to the past rather than the future, and few could help but marvel at a man who has been a member of 28 Congresses and watched ten different tenants occupy the large house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

*Longest tenure in U.S. history. The runner-up is Carl Vinson of Georgia, who served 50 years in the House before his retirement in 1965.

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