Rolling a 75-mm. howitzer over the Statehouse lawn, Rhode Island National Guard artillerymen positioned it for a 19-round inaugural salute to their new governor. Then, gun poised, the guardsmen waited, joining in the speculation that gripped the tiny state on New Year's Day: whether the salute when fired would honor Republican Christopher Del Sesto, 49, declared the winner by the board of elections (TIME, Dec. 31), or Democratic Governor Dennis J. Roberts, 53, who had suddenly challenged Del Sesto's narrow triumph in the State Supreme Court.
In the marbled corridors of the...
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