THE CONGRESS: Dog Days

Washington was hot enough to drive a man crazy. The nerves of Representative Frank Whelchel of Gainesville, Ga. were on edge. Just to make things worse, from the room below his office in the Old House Office Building came the incessant bump and whir of mimeograph machines. Mr. Whelchel had complained about the noise more than once. In his soft Georgia accent he had told Truman Ward, who has a concession to duplicate speeches for Democrats, that one day he would "smash the machines to pieces."

The day had come. Up leaped tortured Congressman Whelchel, grabbed a club—a length of...

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