National Affairs: Old Grey Mayor

The abdication was tastefully austere. Frank Hague, for 30 years Mayor of Jersey City and brass-knuckled overlord of Hudson County politics, simply summoned newsmen to City Hall and announced: "I am retiring."

Then he handed them a mimeographed statement. The Mayor, it explained, was retiring because of his age—he claims to be 71, is suspected of being closer to 75. "In justice to my city and my family," he said, "I must pass on the heavy burden of administrative duties to younger men." The younger man he had in mind was his nephew, Frank Hague...