Twenty minutes before the bell signaled the convening of the Senate, ailing Bob Taft, supporting himself on crutches, entered the Senate chamber and swung heavily down the center aisle to his front-row seat. Acting Majority Leader William Knowland was there, briefing a cluster of reporters on the day's schedule, so Taft seated himself in Bill Langer's chair, beside Knowland, and propped his crutches against the desk. He looked pale and drawn, and his collar seemed too big. As an attendant shooed the press off the floor, Taft leaned over and began to whisper in Knowland's ear.
In the Press Gallery, a...