Mutual Security Director

HAROLD EDWARD STASSEN, 45, president of the University of Pennsylvania.

Family & Early Years: His father, William Andrew Stassen, was the son of Norwegian and Czech immigrants; his mother came to the U.S. from Germany when she was six years old. Harold, one of five children, was born April 13, 1907, at West St. Paul, Minn., where his father ran a 40-acre truck farm. He grew up on the farm, worked as a grocery clerk, bakery pan greaser and Pullman conductor to pay his way through the University of Minnesota, graduated from the law school with above-average marks in 1929 at the age of 22. The same year he married his school-day sweetheart, Esther Glewwe. They have two children, Glen, 16, and Kathleen, 10.

Career: Just out of law school, he ran for Dakota (Minn.) county attorney in 1929, was laid low by tuberculosis, campaigned from a sanatorium, won the election. He was fully recovered by the time he took office in 1930, served two four-year terms. In 1938, at 31, he was elected governor of Minnesota, was re-elected twice. In four years he turned a $39 million deficit into a $3,000,000 surplus, cut yearly expenses from $105 million to $92 million, slashed the payroll from 17,000 to 10,000, cut the property tax almost 50%, created the job of state "business manager." He resigned in 1943 to enter the Navy as a lieutenant commander, became flag secretary to Admiral William Halsey (who called him "a great naval officer"), and rose to captain. Franklin Roosevelt called him from the Pacific in 1945 to serve as a U.S. delegate to the San Francisco Conference that wrote the United Nations charter.

National Politics: In 1940, at 33, he was keynoter of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, then became Wendell Willkie's floor manager. After he came out of the Navy in 1945, he spent the next 30 months seeking the Republican nomination for President. To balance his Navy-won knowledge of the Pacific, he made a nine-week, 16-country trip to Europe, interviewed several heads of state, including Stalin, then came home to conduct a vigorous nationwide campaign. He attracted considerable liberal Republican support and had 157 votes on the first ballot at the Philadelphia convention in 1948. He tried again this year, took a pre-convention leave of absence from his university presidency to campaign. But most of his 1948 support had shifted to Eisenhower, and Stassen failed to cut an impressive figure at Chicago. The shift of his Minnesota delegation to Ike at the end of the first roll call was the climax of the convention. Stassen, however, got little or no political credit for this move, and his stock was at a low point when the convention ended. He offered his services to the Eisenhower campaign and soon proved exceedingly valuable as a political strategist. As the campaign progressed, Eisenhower's opinion of Stassen's judgment and ability rose rapidly.

Foreign Aid Views: A pioneer internationalist in the Middle West, he came out for U.S. aid to Europe before the Marshall Plan was proposed. One of the main points of his foreign policy stand during his pre-convention campaign this year: "Put American economic aid on a more businesslike basis to help other free countries help themselves and do not permit them to waste our aid on socialistic schemes." Said he: "I feel that carrying on a strong aid program is important to security and peace, but I also feel it is important to balance the American budget . . . I believe we can make a 10% cut in foreign aid . . . In short, my view is that Uncle Sam cannot be a Santa Claus and cannot be tightfisted. He must be an intelligent brother to his fellow nations."

Personality: A big (6 ft. 3 in., 215 Ibs.), easy-smiling, friendly man with a rim of reddish-blond hair around his huge (hat size: 7 7/8), nearly bald head. A devout Baptist, a hard worker, a suave, quick-thinking speaker and debater.

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