A Cast of Characters for the 93rd Congress

OVER the next two years, the leaders of the 93rd Congress face not only the usual legislative tasks but also the enormous job of revitalizing the Congress itself. The effort will enlist a wide variety of newcomers and veterans. Among those who will play the principal roles in that effort:

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MIKE MANSFIELD, 69, has bossed the Senate since Lyndon Johnson shifted to the Executive Branch in 1961 but his style is far less forceful and flamboyant. A quiet studious Montanan, he has a deep and abiding respect for the individual rights and prerogatives of each Senator that is both his main strength and his mam weakness. Says one colleague: "Mansfield tries to lead within the confines and strictures of this goddam institution, but we need stronger leadership." His Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, has been similarly criticized. A pipe-puffing moderate, Scott can grandstand if necessary but prefers low-key methods. He and Mansfield are good friends and work well together, despite certain differences on the Administration and the Viet Nam War. Mansfield, a harsh critic of the Nixon Administration and an outspoken foe of the Viet Nam War, now seems intent on restoring Congress's position vis-a-vis the Executive. He insists that reform is inescapable. Criticized for his methods, Mansfield once replied: "I am what I am, and no title, political face lifter or image maker can alter it."

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE CARL ALBERT, 64, more than any other single Congressman will bear blame or credit for the 93rd Congress's record. Great things were expected of the Oklahoma Democrat when he was first elected Speaker two years ago. He proved to be something of a disappointment. Serious, short a graduate of both the elementary school of Bug Tussle Okla and Oxford, he is one of the brainiest men in Congress but seemed to shrink from the head knocking a strong House leader must perform. Now he promises new toughness; he intends to demand total loyalty from Democrats on the Rules Committee, and he is showing signs of stiffening on the Viet Nam War issue. If Congress is to change, Albert must lead.

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD FORD, 59, a Nixon loyalist, faces the difficult task of pushing the President's legislative programs through the House in the face of Democratic voting superiority. A major clash will come early over Viet Nam; Ford's task is to hold Republicans in line behind Nixon's policy and to woo Democratic support as well. A Congressman who has represented Michigan since 1948, ex-Football Star Ford is known for his willingness to seek consensus rather than discord as well as for his feelings that Republicans must offer solutions of their own rather than simply blind opposition to Democratic initiatives.

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER THOMAS ("TIP") O'NEILL, 60, is a quick witted, pragmatic Massachusetts liberal who has bridged gap between the old politics and the new--and made no enemies in the process. Perhaps the best-liked man in the House, the successor to the late Hale Boggs has served in Congress since 1953 (when he succeeded John F. Kennedy as the Congressman from Cambridge). He is an acknowledged expert on parliamentary procedures. His popularity and skills will be put to the test in this session: he will hold a key position in the fight to create an effective party alternative to proposals from the White House. Once a hawk, O'Neill turned dove in 1967 and is expected to lead the House against the war if the peace talks fail.

SENATOR GEORGE AIKEN, 80, is a plain-talking, sharp-thinking Vermont Republican who has served in the Senate since 1941 and has definite views on the predicament of Congress. During the Pentagon papers affair, he noted caustically that a long time the Executive Branch has tended to regard Congress as a foreign enemy--to be told as little as possible.

Aiken is the senior Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee; he is in the vortex of the struggle between Administration and congressional critics on Viet Nam. Old Friend Mike Mansfield says that Aiken is neither a hawk nor a dove but a "wise old owl," and there are indications that Aiken may well take the field against his party's President if the war does not end soon.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN ANDERSON of Illinois, 49, the senior Republican on the Rules Committee, has a solid reputation as one of the most eloquent and outspoken members of the House. A firm advocate of civil rights who is chairman ot the party caucus, he looks with distaste on the present state of Congress: "I feel I am a creature and a child of Congress," he said last week, "and when I see what has happened to this body, it pains me beyond words."

REPRESENTATIVE LESLIE ARENDS, 77, has been Republican Whip for 30 years and is one of Gerald Ford's key aides in pushing Nixon legislation through the House. Popular and gregarious, an unsung parliamentary tactician of confounding skill he blocked a 1971 House vote on the Mansfield Amendment, which called for withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Viet Nam within six months. For all his enthusiasm, however the Illinoisan is frank about G.O.P. problems when they occur. "The way things are going," he said during a low point, "we couldn't put the Ten Commandments into the bill."

SENATOR HOWARD BAKER, 47, is a brash and bright Republican from Tennessee who waited only three years after his first election in 1966 to challenge Hugh Scott for the party's Senate minority leadership. He lost, but gained stature in defeat.

A good friend of Richard Nixon, Baker seconded his nomination in 1968 and was mentioned as a possible 1972 running mate. A son-in-law of the late Everett Dirksen, Baker is loudly antibusing--"a grievous piece of mischief"--but is a strong backer of open housing, a member of the Commerce and Public Works committees.

REPRESENTATIVE BARBER CONABLE, 50, is one of those Congressmen little known to the public but highly regarded by colleagues in the House. A moderate from upstate New York, he is one of the ablest Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee and has fought hard for legislation requiring complete campaign-funding disclosures. He was the leading Republican backing the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.

His ties to the White House are strong; Conable is an important Nixonian voice in the ranks of Ways and Means.

SENATOR SAM ERVIN, 76, a master of constitutional law who heads the powerful Government Operations Committee, is a Democratic battler for individual rights with a blind spot for blacks. The contradiction is in part explained by his North Carolina origins. He is the most adept Senate story spinner since Alben Barkley. Ervin is deeply concerned over the invasion of privacy involved in federal wiretapping. He is a major figure in the fight against Administration attempts to diminish freedom of the press. He is also a leader in the crusade to restore the power of the purse to Congress, an important part of the search for congressional reform.

REPRESENTATIVE MARTHA GRIFFITHS, 60, is hardly to be typecast as a Women's Libber, but she was far more effective than better-known lawmakers such as Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug in getting the women's equal rights amendment passed in 1970. Mrs. Griffiths, a ten-term Democrat from Michigan, is a tough-minded, independent legislator who has displayed little interest in congressional reform. The first woman ever to sit on Ways and Means, she is one of the most influential members in the fight to strengthen Congress's powers to control and direct Government spending.

SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY, 40, the heir apparent to national Democratic leadership, will be in the forefront of congressional confrontation with the President over the next several years. Considerably sobered by Chappaquiddick in 1969 and his loss of the Senate Whip's job to West Virginia's Robert Byrd in 1971, he is proving a highly adept Senate strategist.

Last week Kennedy helped engineer an enlargement of the Democratic Steering Committee, clearing the way for more liberals to move into important committee jobs. Possessor of a flawless liberal voting record, his colleagues say he is a far abler Senator than is generally known.

SENATOR CHARLES MATHIAS of Maryland, 50, is a leading figure in a group of a dozen or so Republican moderates generally referred to by White House aides as "those bastards." The so-called Wednesday Club over the past four years has often carried enough weight to offset the uneasy coalition of conservative Republicans and equally conservative Democrats that generally supports the President. A veteran of four House terms, Mathias is deeply concerned with the role of Congress. As co-chairman (with Senator Adlai Stevenson III) of a series of bipartisan hearings on the problem, Mathias said:

"Congress has become a third-or fourth-class power, a separate and thoroughly unequal branch of our national Government."

REPRESENTATIVE WILBUR MILLS, 63, chairman of Ways and Means, is a quiet Arkansas Democrat who holds immense power.

Normally intensely jealous of the constitutional powers of the House against the incursions of the Senate or the President, Mills last year pushed through a bill (later defeated in the Senate) to transfer much of Congress's remaining powers of the purse to the Executive. Mills acted out of deep concern over what he felt was a runaway budget, but his col leagues were chagrined. His vagueness is legendary. "Wilbur is the greatest advocate in the House," said a colleague, "once he decides what to advocate."

SENATOR WALTER MONDALE, 44, is a quiet, impeccably liberal Minnesotan who in the eight years since he was appointed to Hubert Humphrey's old seat has won a reputation as one of the Senate's soundest, solidest younger members. He has been important in educational legislation, and this session won a place on the Finance Committee. Energetic and ambitious, Mondale is already being touted as a rival to Edward Kennedy in 1976.

SENATOR BOB PACKWOOD, 40, a hardworking, first-term Oregon Republican, is one of his party's most liberal figures.

Among his primary concerns are family planning, legalized abortion, ecological programs, and congressional reform. His proposals for overhauling Republican seniority procedure will be discussed this week. If reform comes to be an area of significant action during this session, Packwood will probably emerge as one of its most articulate spokesmen.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN RHODES, 56, is a staunchly conservative Arizonan virtually unknown outside the House. Inside, he stands as one of its most important power brokers. Soft-spoken and unostentatious, Rhodes has chaired the House Republican Policy Committee for eight years, is Gerald Ford's link to the G.O.P.'s right wing and a firm supporter of Administration policy.

SENATOR ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, 62, makes no secret of his anger with the President's attempts to demean the authority of the Congress: "The President and those who serve under him use Congress as a tool, and Congress is a willing tool, massaged and often seduced by the Executive Branch." A Connecticut Democrat who has served as judge, Cabinet officer, Governor and Congressman, Ribicoff is an activist member of the powerful Finance Committee, has worked hard on behalf of highway safety, urban development and conservation, and was one of the staunchest proponents of Nixon's welfare reform legislation--until a year ago, when he said that he was giving up the fight because the Administration did not seem interested in its own program. Pressed to re-enlist in the fight with promises of full support, he rejoined the campaign--only to be torpedoed at election time when the Administration once again lost interest.

SENATOR WILLIAM SAXBE, 56, is an irreverent Ohio Republican who, after generally supporting Nixon during most of his first term, castigated the President ("he has left his senses") over the resumption of the bombing last month. In his first term, Saxbe and Senator Alan Cranston shepherded a major reform through the Senate. They devised the "two-track" system--a technique that sidetracks any legislation that promises to provoke difficulties while allowing less controversial bills to move briskly through the Senate's mills. His outspokenness is rare in the Senate: after several months in Washington, he called the Senate "ridiculous" and later mused that "the trouble with Nixon is those two Nazis [Haldeman and Ehrlichman] he keeps around him." He displayed little respect for Nixonian legislation: "The program this Administration is pushing is appropriate for Herbert Hoover's day."

REPRESENTATIVE MORRIS ("MO") UDALL, 50, has represented Arizona since 1961, when his brother Stewart left Congress to become Secretary of the Interior. An energetic outdoorsman and one of the House's leading conservationists, Udall broke with Lyndon Johnson over Viet Nam in 1967, hurt his chances to rise to formal party leadership when he made an abortive run for the Speakership against John McCormack in 1969. Another Democratic reformer, Udall has focused on the seniority system, which he believes is largely responsible for making the House unresponsive and ineffective.

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