A New Mr. Atom

In their soundproof hearing room, members of Congress' Joint Committee on Atomic Energy broke a three-month deadlock (TIME, March 23). By unanimous vote last week, they elected New York's Representative W. Sterling Cole as their chairman and Iowa's Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper as vice chairman.

The deadlock had lasted through six meetings of the committee. Six times the members had divided right down the middle: eight Senators for Hickenlooper, eight Representatives for Cole. Then House Speaker Joe Martin and Senate Majority Leader Bob Taft stepped in. Martin convinced Taft that the Represenatives were right in their contention that the chairmanship should alternate between Senate and House. Taft persuaded the Senate members to retreat from their stand that a Senator should always head the committee.

"Stubby" Cole, the new Mr. Atom of Congress, was born at Painted Post, N.Y. (pop. 2,405) 49 years ago this month. He made Phi Beta Kappa at Colgate (class of '25), taught school for a year, graduated from the Albany Law School of Union University in 1929, began practicing in Bath, N.Y. He was elected to Congress in 1934 at 30.

The short, grey and handsome Cole is married, has three sons, is an elder of the Bath Presbyterian Church. His most active interest beyond work and family: good food. He imports Cheddar cheese from his district (New York's new 37th--the Binghamton area) and passes it around on the Hill. California's Representative Leroy Johnson keeps him supplied with Bing cherries, which Cole soaks for a year in bourbon to produce his own excellent cherry liqueur.

Although a member of the Armed Services Committee since 1946, Cole talks as much about disarmament as armament. In 1950, he expressed doubts about the morality of the hydrogen bomb, pointing out that it is a weapon for mass destruction. He also doubted whether it was practical, asked: "Is it worth the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to produce it?" The same year, he introduced a resolution for world disarmament to be directed by the United Nations.

Cole thinks the U.S. Government should tell its people more about atomic energy, and feels it could do so without violating security. On the other hand, he vigorously opposes giving any secret atomic information to the allies, even Great Britain, because "they are too lenient with traitors." Confident that the U.S. is far ahead in atomic development, Cole nevertheless sees a great, new field to conquer. Said he: "We have advanced so far in stockpiling and capacity to produce A-bombs and weapons that we can afford to turn some of our attention to the development of atomic energy for industrial power."

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