A New and Hungry Chairman

It was a job no one else seemed to want, and so, as has become his habit, Kansas Senator Robert Dole reached for it. Easily the Senate's most ambitious and aggressive freshman, Dole, 47, emerged last week as President Nixon's latest choice for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee; he is expected to be confirmed this week. At least two other men, Bryce Harlow and Donald Rumsfeld, had declined the position since late November, when Nixon announced that he would appoint the present chairman, Maryland Congressman Rogers Morton, as Secretary of the Interior.

The party chairmanship has lost some of its allure for professional politicians because election strategy and party power are so completely closeted in Nixon's White House. The President re-emphasized that last week on television by declaring: "When I'm the candidate, I run the campaign." Nixon is expected to select an intimate, such as John Mitchell or Robert Finch, as his 1972 campaign director instead of relying on the G.O.P. chairman.

Dole's role thus will be that of a party spokesman rather than an organizer. Articulate and sometimes abrasive (TIME, July 6, 1970), Dole is expected to be rougher and sharper than the amiable and widely admired Morton. The difference, observed one White House aide, is that "Rog is a big old St. Bernard, while Dole is a hungry Doberman pinscher." One leading Republican offers an intriguing rationale for the switch: Morton was never as partisan as Nixon wanted, so Vice President Spiro Agnew took up the hatchet duties. Now Dole will eagerly perform them, while an attempt is made to soften the Agnew image and give him broader appeal; if this fails, Agnew will be dropped from the 1972 ticket.

Stealing Furniture. Dole's appetite for combat was obvious in the 91st Congress, where he was appalled to see how few Republicans seemed willing to challenge the Democratic majority. Sometimes none were even on the floor. "My God," he recalls, "the Democrats could steal the furniture." So Dole, whose committee duties occupied little of his time, made it a point to be on hand to defend the Administration. That loyalty did not go unnoticed at the White House. A conservative on most issues, Dole vigorously assailed critics of Nixon's Viet Nam policies, defended the ABM and, although he styles himself a liberal on civil rights, supported Nixon in the losing fights to confirm Haynsworth and Carswell to the Supreme Court.

When conservative Republican Senators talked about challenging Pennsylvania's highly independent Hugh Scott as minority leader, Dole was one of the few who were eager to run against him--a brash notion for a newcomer. He has promised to vote for Tennessee's Howard Baker, 45, if Baker tries to push Scott aside when the new Senate convenes this month. Scott, of course, resents Dole. In spite of four hours of talks between them last week, Scott still sharply opposed Dole's selection as chairman.

No Upstaging. With typical candor, Dole nonetheless openly campaigned for the chairmanship. He pleaded his case with White House Aides H.R. Haldeman and Harlow, talked to Mitchell and finally discussed the matter with Nixon--and proved persuasive. Although he could not dissuade Scott, who argued that the Senate and the chairmanship both ought to be full-time jobs, Dole insists that the two men can work together. "We both have one object: to re-elect Richard Nixon," he says. "I hope Scott looks upon me as an ambitious Senator. I look upon him as the leader. I'll make no effort to upstage him." The conciliatory approach is a good start, although Scott cannot be faulted if he remains skeptical about Dole's pledge to accept a back seat in the Senate while out front speaking for the Republican party nationwide.

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