HEROES: Kingmakers

The men who run the American Legion are called The Kingmakers. They include such anti-New Dealers as Chicago’s Phil Collins, Michigan’s Mark McKee, Boston’s William Doyle. Long before the greying, balding boys of the Legion assemble for their yearly carnival, The Kingmakers settle policy, pick a National Commander to explain and defend their policy. Last week in Los Angeles, where 130,000 Legionnaires went to drink and frolic this year, The Kingmakers worked with extraordinary dispatch, got their work done before the convention convened, averted the floor fights which usually attend their nominating maneuvers.

Their man for National Commander was a locally distinguished Seattle attorney, Stephen F. Chadwick, 44, son of a late Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court, veteran of the brave but futile U. S. Siberian Expeditionary Force of 1918. Legionnaire Chadwick was chosen because: 1) in calibre he was considered several cuts above some of his recent predecessors; 2) The Kingmakers thought his selection would finally squelch the Legion’s No. 1 Pretender and rebel, Detroit’s Corporation Counsel Raymond J. Kelley. Last week Pretender Kelley and every other rival candidate withdrew without firing a word. With King Chadwick safely made, the serious minority at the convention then got down to their No. 2 problem: neutrality and national defense.