Evening star., 1951-04-08
Tvs Indignant 7hunderer' Is Round|y AppIouded
Followed Same Style
He's Been Using
For Years in Senate

three anonymous threats came
Senator Tobey's way at the height
of the crime hearings. He was
placed under constant guard by
the FBI. But threats and in
timidation efforts have never
stopped Tobey. Damn the tor
pedoes-full speed ahead!" is one
of his favorite slogans when the
going is rough, in an abbreviated
Iparaphrase of Admiral David G.
Farragut's cry at Mobile Bay.
The going was terribly choppy,
for example. when Senator Tobey
was leading the Senate battle
against confirmation of Gilman
Edwin w. Pauley as Navy Under
secretary in 1916. The odds
against Senator Tobey were
mighty. Tremendous pressure was
brought to bear on him to clay
of" Pauley. some of it by high
ranking leaders of his own Re-
publican Party. Senator Tobey's
physician advised him to avoid the
fight because of heart condition.
But he bucked all the odds and
administered to Harry Truman
his first major defeat as President.
It was a tribute to Senator Tobey's
sense of fair play that President
Truman, five years later, remained
Tobey's friend-as we'll as Pauley's.
Certainly in spirit If not in age,
Senator Tobey is regarded by his
colleagues as a Young Turk" or
maverick" in his tendency to de-
part frequently from party lines to
vote as his conscience dictates. Be-
cause he is irrepreSsibly indepen-
dent, he has never been the cap
tive of any political organization
or machine, a fact that made his
reelection last year all the more
difficult. His Republican oppo-
nents sought to pillory him as a
New Dealer" and a progressive, -
odious words to rock-ribbed New
Englanders. But the Senator is
neither a New Dealer nor a hide
bound Republican. Tobey is Tobey.
Unlike many other politicians,
he is not disposed to play up to
current trends and momentarily
popular beliefs-momentary in
terms Of history. Along with a
handful of other hardy souls, he
signed the Declaration of Con-
science" attacking McCarthyism,
an act which earned him Senator
MeCarthy's enmity.
Likes Quotations
He also defied his own party
lime when he supported the ap-
pointment of Henry A. Wallace
for Secretary of Commerce and
Archibald MacLeish as librarian
lof Congress. Again, when the
question of extending the Recip-
Irocal Trades Agreement Act was
before the Senate. he not only
rose above strict party considera-
Itions. but did more. Rising on
the Senate floor, he denounced
I"fat and sleek lobbyists. with
round heads and round behinds, y
who, he said, were seeking to line
|up Republican Senators against
the measure.
Obviously it is Tobey's colorful
language, as well as his facility
for going to the heart of matter,
that catches ones attention. His
speech, on the Senate floor, at
committee hearings and in
private conversations. is punctu-
ated with classical illusions,
scriptural references, Latin
phrases, Bible quotations and
passages from poems. Not having
been able to afford a college edu-
cation. he is acutely conscious of
this lack and has striven all his
life to make up for it.
The Senator's study of the
classic tongues ended with his
years at the Roxbury Latin
School. but his mind is quite well
stocked with handy Latin express
sions such as "quid pro quo, !"
(See TOREv Page C.5)