President Hadley

Herbert S. Hadley, former Governor of Missouri, accepted the Chancellorship of Washington University, St. Louis. Stepping into the ranks of college presidents, he finds himself the only one who has held high political office in this country and the only one who was ever almost-President of the United States.

Who is Governor Hadley? Ten years ago every politically-minded schoolboy knew his name. Why? Because:

1) He was the first Republican to be elected Governor of Missouri since the Civil War.

2) He led the fight for Roosevelt on the floor of the 1912 Convention, from which the Bull Moose bolted.

3) He--although a young man-- would have become the Republican candidate for the Presidency if Roosevelt had consented to retire in his favor.

On the second day of the 1912 Convention " he had such an ovation as the Republican Convention gives only to its greatest leaders and never bestowed before upon one so young. (He was 40.) The Taft men offered Hadley the nomination if Roosevelt would consent. But Roosevelt would not. And Hadley in turn, although Roosevelt's floor-leader in the regular Convention, would not join the third party, and remained a "regular" Republican. He told Roosevelt he was a progressive but not an insurgent. "What's the difference?" asked the Colonel. "An insurgent," said Hadley, "is a progressive who is exceeding the speed-limit."

Herbert S. Hadley was born 51 years ago in Olathe, Kansas. Both grandfathers were ministers. Northwestern University (near Chicago) educated him. He began the practice of law in Kansas City, Mo., where, later, as prosecuting attorney, he sent 220 people to felon's row in two years (a record). In his early thirties he became a national figure by reason of his assaults on oil, railroad, lumber and harvester trusts, and on St. Louis gamblers. Then, Governor of Missouri.

Ill-health having retired him from the moil of politics, he has been teaching law at the University of Colorado since 1917. It is said that his political career has been hampered, not only by frail health, but also by " being too handsome and too much of a gentleman."

The world of education recognizes no educational pope, but Hadley becomes at once a cardinal.