National Affairs: California

William Fife Knowland had been U.S. Senator from California for 13 years, was the Republican leader on Capitol Hill, and almost certainly could have been re-elected for another term. But that was not enough for big. bullheaded Bill Knowland. He wanted to be Governor of California, and he had a longer-range eye on the presidency of the U.S. He went home, crudely shoved aside Governor Goodwin Knight, forcing Knight to run for the Senate. Bitterly split by the Knowland power play, the California G.O.P. organization tore itself to shreds, and Knowland was buried in the ruins by pleasant, popular Democratic Attorney General Edmund (“Pat”) Brown. The Republican Party of California lay wrecked on the shoals of Bill Knowland’s ambition.