On the sunny winter day (Feb. 7, 1937) that President Roosevelt delightedly stunned the country with his Supreme Court Plan, one Senator withdrew from the ranks of his huffing & puffing colleagues, sought out a secluded leather chair, thoughtfully drank a Scotch-&-soda which he later described as "a foot high."
Charles Linza McNary of Salem, Ore., the Republican minority's Senate leader, was the one legislator who refused to treat the Court Bill as an earthquake. His eyes narrowing with the twinkle that always precedes the dehorsing of an adversary, pink-cheeked Senator McNary brooded long and carefully.
A scheme that then seemed grandiose and...
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