Word: martines
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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These were the arguments of the anti-Martin voters, men who believed that the need for fresh, vigorous leadership outweighed their personal regard for genial old Joe Martin. The question then became, who should take Martin's place. This was a thorny issue, for the ranks of the insurgents were widely split. The young liberal Republicans favored a man like Gerald R. Ford Jr. of Michigan or the more experienced Richard M. Simpson of Pennsylvania. The arch-conservatives tended toward John W. Byrnes of Wisconsin (who later came out for Halleck and was made chairman of the Republican Policy Committee...
Halleck was the only man with a chance to oust Martin. He had the argument of experience (majority leader while Martin was Speaker in the 80th and 83rd Congresses). And his voting record oscillated enough to please both conservatives and liberals (isolationist until Pearl Harbor, strong backing for the war effort afterwards; firm opposition to Administration-backed social welfare measures until 1953, warm support of very similar measures afterwards...
...most of all, Halleck is a fighter--a shrewd parliamentary tactician with little love of compromise. In his efforts to bring party members into line, he is more apt to use cold steamroller techniques than the genial coddling with which Martin was successful. This has already earned him the dislike of some Republicans, it is reported; and now that he is top man this feeling may become more widespread...
...Some Martin supporters also advance the argument that in a year when House Republicans are in so great a minority, the only tactics that will earn the Party any sort of national respect are those of compromise, which Martin had so perfected. As Martin said Tuesday, "You don't give the other fellow a crack on the jaw... when he has more votes." Halleck was elected as the jaw-cracking type...
These and other Republicans may soon regret the haste with which they deposed Joe Martin. He might well have been willing to work closely with a younger man for a year and then step down in his favor, had not such a course seemed to involve an ignominious surrender to Halleck, who has been bucking uppishly for Martin's job for the last two terms. This would have avoided Tuesday's outbreak of intra-party bitterness, which will be remembered if only by the pathos of Joe Martin's defeated smile...