ATTORNEY GENERAL-DESIGNATE

Nominated by President Truman last week to succeed Howard McGrath as Attorney General of the U.S.: James Patrick McGranery (rhymes with cannery).

Born: July 8, 1895, in Philadelphia, of Irish immigrant parents.

Education: parochial grade and high schools; interrupted his schooling to work as an electrotyper for the Curtis Publishing Co.; served as a World War I observation balloon pilot; after the war returned to school and graduated from Temple University Law School.

Early Career: an insurgent Democrat, he entered South Philadelphia ward politics while still a student, ran the local Al Smith presidential campaign in 1928. As a young lawyer, he represented cops and the city's firemen's union, ran unsuccessfully for court clerk (1928), district attorney (1931) and Congress (1934).

Congressman: in 1936, he finally won an election--to the U.S. House of Representatives from Philadelphia's second district; served in four successive Congresses; a staunch New Dealer, but refused to follow Franklin Roosevelt when it came to Irish politics--i.e., in 1939, he boycotted the congressional reception for Britain's King George and Queen Elizabeth because U.S. immigration authorities had detained Irish Revolutionary Sean Russell in Detroit.

Justice Department: in 1943, at Franklin Roosevelt's request, he resigned from Congress to become Assistant to the Attorney General; his chores included supervision of the FBI, federal attorneys, marshals and prisons; in 1945, the FBI broke the notorious Amerasia case, which involved the discovery of 1,700 Government documents (some were top secret) in the New York office of the left-wing magazine; though McGranery was not involved in the controversial prosecution of the case, he subsequently belittled the importance of the documents, said the bungling of Government raiders led to a weak prosecution (of six persons arrested, none imprisoned, only two mildly fined).

District Judge: promised a federal judgeship by Franklin Roosevelt, he finally got the plum from Harry Truman in 1946; as district judge in Philadelphia, he earned the reputation of being a highhanded pro-Government man; most notable case before him was that of Atomic Spy Harry Gold, on whom he passed sentence of 30 years.

Traits & Interests: height, 5 ft. 11 in.; weight, 165 Ibs.; blue-grey eyes, ruddy complexion, black hair turning grey; affable, self-assured, vigorous speaker with an infectious smile; used to ride horses and play golf (after a hole in one in 1934, decided to rest on his achievement, quit the game). His wife is the former Regina Clark, a former special deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania. They have two boys (11 and 9) and a girl (6). A Roman Catholic, McGranery has been honored by the Pope: he is a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great and a private Chamberlain of the Cape and Sword.

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