Man in Charge

After the last gavel fell, Tom Dewey slipped back to his Bellevue-Stratford suite for an afternoon nap. In half an hour he was up again. Dressed in a fresh blue suit, he briskly took charge of all that remained to be done in Philadelphia. First, there was a group picture with the Warrens. Outside Room 808 were dozens of cameramen. Tom Dewey gave his orders: let the still-picture men come in first, then the moviemen, then the color cameramen.

Grey-suited Earl Warren, his wife Nina and their three daughters arrived. Tom Dewey pointed to chairs, said: "Earl, sit there . . . Nina, sit there . . . Frances, sit there." As he sat down himself, he told photographers: "I hope I never look this awful again. I have dark circles under my eyes, and it is the first time in my life I have had them."

"Use Your Judgment." The picture-taking went off like clockwork. Each photographer got his one shot in turn; there was no scrambling for position, no request for "just one more." Between the still pictures and movies, Dewey remembered that it was time to order dinner. He asked Paul Lockwood, his burly secretary, to do it. "Use your own judgment, Paul," he called. "Get three lamb chops and three steaks, six double V-8 cocktails, salad, corn, string beans, and chocolate ice cream."

Next day Tom Dewey took charge of the Republican National Committee. In as chairman, succeeding B. Carroll Reece, went 47-year-old Hugh Scott Jr., a three-term Congressman from a suburban Philadelphia "silk-stocking" district.* Scott, a follower of old Joe Grundy, was recommended by Pennsylvania's Senator Ed Martin, to whom Dewey owed much. But that did not mean that Grundymen were going to run Tom Dewey's campaign. That would remain in the hands of precise, able Herbert Brownell Jr.

Affable & Neighborly. That afternoon the Dewey family left on a special train for their farm near Pawling, N.Y. En route, Tom Dewey chatted with newsmen ; they had never seen him so affable. At Pawling (pop. 1,400), to a crowd of 3,000, he said: "This village is my home . . . Here we have the charity and open-mindedness . . . that I earnestly hope to bring to our Government . . . You are the most wonderful neighbors."

On Sunday morning the Deweys attended services at interdenominational Christ Church, located in an old Victorian meeting hall. They heard the Rev. Dr. Ralph C. Lankier, a Presbyterian, preach: "We do not have the right to be smug. We cannot cure evil by ourselves, but we can by ... working with God."

This week Dewey awaited a visit from Earl Warren to plan campaign strategy. He also hoped to get some rest and look over his herd of 51 Guernseys (he knows each by number). He might also get some milking done. Said he: "You know, I'm just a hired man around here."

* Virginia-born Hugh Scott, a Navy commander during the war, saw service in Iceland, Europe and the Pacific, also did a wartime stint as an ordinary seaman on a merchant marine tanker. He was defeated for re-election in 1944, after rousing Democrats to cries of "snobbery" and angering many of his own party with his definition of Republicans: "We are the best stock. We are the people who represent the real grit, brains and backbone of America."

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