Ambition in Reverse

Indiana's bounding 39-year-old Senator William Ezra Jenner has made hardly any splash at all in the U.S. Senate. Some weeks ago he decided that he would much rather be a big frog again along the banks of the Wabash. Last week he almost, but not quite, made his backward jump.

Indiana's Republicans, accustomed to fast moves by their bosses, could hardly believe that Bill Jenner would put his hard-driving ambition into reverse. But he came back to the state, politicked at the fish frys, backslapped the hill boys, and swore that the limit of his ambition was to be governor, not senator.

Indiana's chubby Governor Ralph Fesler Gates, who had helped send Jenner to the Senate two years ago, could easily see through Jenner's strategy. If Jenner were elected governor, he could resign from the Senate, name his successor, and thus get control (along with Senator Homer Capehart) of most of Indiana's state and federal patronage. He let it be known that House Majority Leader Charles Halleck would get first crack at his Senate seat.

Last week, at Indiana's Republican convention in Indianapolis, Bill Jenner had his showdown. To head him off, Governor Gates (who could not legally succeed himself), had lined up three candidates. On the first ballot, Jenner ran far ahead. On the second, Governor Gates ordered the other three to pool their strength. Jenner wound up well behind Nominee Hobart Creighton, hefty Speaker of Indiana's House, famed among farmers as the biggest chicken & egg breeder in the U.S. (TIME, May 3, 1943).

Candidate Creighton looked just like what Indiana Republicans like: a native Hoosier, American Legionnaire, father of four, solid churchgoer (Evangelical United Brethren), a self-made rich man.

Bill Jenner took his beating jauntily. Said he to Governor Gates: "Ralph, I still operate on the principle that to the victor belong the spoils. I salute you." On that note, he returned to the U.S. Senate.

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