The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-06-10
By RODNEY BUTCHER NEA Service Writer

By RODNEY DUTCHEH
 NEA Service Writer {. Copyright 1892. NEA Service. Inc,
 Washington-Thurlow Weed of New York, whose name is now but a vague memory, made more presi- dents than any one man has made since.
 The men he kept or tried to keep from presidential nomina- tions, however, are today more famous than those who landed in the White House through his ef- forts.
 It was Weed, first whig and then q republican, who enuniciat- ed the principle that the party must nominate not it's best man, but the man with the fewest ene- mics and able to get the most votes. He realized that the slav- cry issue was defeating the best men whenever they were nominat- ed.
 On that doctrine of availability he twice defeated tho presidential ambitions of Henry Clay, although he made possible the election of John Quincy Adams and encom. passed the nominations of General William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor.
 But in the end it was a party's determination to pick a winning candidate at all costs that defeat ed his eliminating ambition--the nomination of Governor William H. Seward of New York, who was turned down by republican con- vention that nominated Abraham Lincoln.
 Weed was journalist whose first important break into national politics came as young man when he accidentally discovered a bribery plot involving members of the New York legislature which, if 1t had been baked, would have re- suited in the election of William H. Crawford instead of the second Adams.
 He grew in influence among New York Whigs, eventually team ing with Senator and Governor Seward and with Horace Greeley. Working through the Albany Eve. ming Journal and behind the scenes, averse to public office, he was the most powerful of the three. He dictated appointments ana nominations which they &C., cepted.
 At the convention at Harris burg in 1840 he plotted with Thad- deus Stevens of Pennsylvania to block Henry Clay, the one big na- tiAnal leader in the Whig party. who was certainly the majority choice of the Whigs.
 He and Stevens simply convinc- ed sufficient delegates that Clay could not possibly carry New York and Pennsylvania, without whose electoral votes the party obviously couldn't win. Clay was Mason and the anti-Masonic feeling of the time was bound to defeat him in those important states, accord ing to Weed.
 Weed had long previously de- cided that Harrison could get the most votes. He joined with oth- CT anti.Ciay men in arranging series of private, informal ballots under the unit rule. Clay won on tho first, but after three days they had jockeyed Harrison into a ma jority.
 It also was necessary to lick General Winfield Scott, the third strong candidate. That was done when Stevens, possessing a letter in which Scott had sought to pla- cate 6 northern anti-slavery poli- tician, dropped 1t on the floor at the Virginia delegation's head quarters and left the room. vir- fiinia switched from Scott to Har- rison. Harrison was elected over Van Buren.
 Weeds political judgment was vindicated again in 1S44. He had no one in the bag that time and the convention nominated Clay, who was beaten by Polk, the ob- scure democratic dark horse"
 About 1848 Weed decided to get behind General Taylor, who was making a hero of himself in the Mexican War. He sent word to Taylor that he could be the next president if he wouldn't open his mouth to politicians and so coni- nit himself. Sure enough, Taylor was nominated over Caly as Har- rlson had been in 1840--and won.
 Weed was in Europe in 1852 while his friends at the Whig con- vention were busy stopping both Daniel Webster and President Fili- more and nominating General Win field Scott on the 53d ballot.
 He joined the new republican party and at It's first national con-