National Affairs: Old Joe’s Revenge

Old Joe Martin’s world was the U.S. House of Representatives. A genial, teetotaling bachelor and newspaper publisher from North Attleboro, Mass., he was re-elected to the House consistently from 1924, served for 20 years as the Republican leader, for two terms as Speaker. Then, as last year’s session began, Joe Martin’s world exploded around him; in a coup by the G.O.P. young guard that shocked him to tears, he was cast out of the minority leadership in favor of Indiana’s tough, driving Charlie Halleck. This week, from the obscurity of his back-row seat, Old Joe, 75, evens the score in a brooding, bitter memoir, My First Fifty Years in Politics (McGraw-Hill; $4.50), as told to Robert J. Donovan, Washington chief of the New York Herald Tribune. Martin’s book gives little aid and comfort to the G.O.P. during election year. Excerpts:

Franklin Roosevelt: An inspirational leader. The New Deal did some lasting good. Notwithstanding, Roosevelt’s philosophy weakened our ideals of self-reliance, and we are poorer for it.

Harry Truman: A surprising man, smarter than most people realized. Truman and I long have been friends.

Charlie Halleclc: An ambitious rival, Halleck had come to Congress in the first place hell-bent on running for President, Vice President, Speaker, or whatever else opportunity might put in his way. Charlie is always available. I regarded him as neither a popular choice nor a man who could provide the kind of leadership the party needed. I overlooked the diligent activity of lobbyists of the automobile industry, the business organizations and the beef trust, who were scurrying all over town trying to line up votes for Halleck.

Richard Nixon: I had given Nixon many a lift over the years when he was a rising young politician. But the Vice President was careful to do nothing to discourage his own followers in the House from supporting Halleck.

Dwight Eisenhower: Republican was a word that was not on the tip of his tongue. Although his political instincts have been very sure, Eisenhower was not a professional politician experienced in the operation of party machinery. He found many of the day-to-day troubles of the party tedious, and. in particular, he loathed the problem of patronage. The President never surrounded himself with assistants who could solve political problems with professional skill. Except in the case of certain members who happened to be proficient golfers, there has not been any true comradeship between the White House and the Republicans in Congress.

Joe Martin: My defeat was part of the price I had to pay for remaining in public life so long. Everyone who stays in it loses sooner or later.