Speech Recalled

The words that Congressmen speak in debate are duly entered in that chrestomathy of tedium, the Congressional Record, then laid aside to gather dust and oblivion. But a fortnight ago, the words of a former Congressman were remembered, and they helped solve a problem for the Senate committee considering whether to censure Joseph R. McCarthy.

Committee Chairman Arthur Watkins had been unable to persuade any nationally prominent lawyer to serve as committee counsel. South Dakota's Senator Francis Case suggested that Watkins look for a former Congressman who would understand the committee system. Case had no one in mind, but he later recalled a five-minute speech he had heard while serving in the House in 1948. He could not even remember the speaker's name, only that he was a Pennsylvania Republican who had impressed both sides of the aisle during debate on Marshall Plan aid. Case broke out a directory of the 80th Congress and glanced over the Pennsylvania delegation until he came to the name he was looking for: E. Wallace Chadwick, Chester, Pa. corporation lawyer. Case then turned to the Congressional Record and found the speech, in which Chadwick had protested a proposed $1.3 billion cut in foreign aid.

Chadwick had argued that the U.S. must sustain "the responsible people" of Western Europe "so that they, in turn, may carry with us this tremendous burden of democratic civilization which, without the integrity of that kind of people . . . is bound to fail." Said he: "It is the only plan that is offered short of a shooting war. I figure it has about a 50-50 chance to succeed, but that sounds like a sound speculation to me when the safety and security, even the very lives, of the people of the world are at stake." When Chadwick finished his speech, Massachusetts' Democrat John McCormack rose to call it "one of the most powerful speeches I have ever heard during my years as a member of this body."

Case suggested Chadwick to Watkins, who made a long-distance call to Chester. The Senator got nothing more than a reluctant maybe. But last week Chadwick, a quiet, vigorous yo-year-old, went to Washington to talk to Watkins, and the two men liked each other. Chadwick, an enemy of the local G.O.P. machine, served only one term in Congress before being plowed under at the polls. His legal colleagues consider him a formidable opponent who hangs on like a bulldog in crossexamination. He has none of Ray Jenkins' color, flamboyance or diffusiveness. He is scarcely as humorous as Joseph Nye Welch; on the other hand, Chadwick may be better able than Welch to cope with Washington rough-and-tumble. Said one fellow Chester lawyer: "I can't imagine McCarthy getting Chad so riled up that he'd break down and cry." This week Chadwick went to Washington to work for Watkins.

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