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Kennedy and McClellan have a close but strictly professional relationship. Kennedy is in direct charge of the investigation, assigns the staffers (about 60 lawyers, accountants and legmen, plus clerical help), keeps detailed track of the probes already under way in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. McClellan makes the broader policy decisions (and his policies have won the full cooperation of A.F.L.-C.I.O. leaders). At hearings he calls on his legal talents to get at the nub of complex situations so that both the press and the public can understand what has happened.
McClellan gives his committee colleagues almost free rein (although he sometimes buries his face wearily in his hands when another Senator wanders in questioning a witness), keeps them fully informed of all developments. Exception: only McClellan and Kennedy knew that Midwestern Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa was about to be arrested for trying to bribe a committee staffer (TIME, March 25). Recalls Norma McClellan: "John was extremely preoccupied that night. I kept asking, 'John, what is troubling you?' He kept saying, 'Nothing, nothing.' About 11 o'clock, John Edgar Hoover called up with a two-word message: 'Mission accomplished.' Then John told me what it was all about. Jimmy Hoffa had been arrested."
"I Have No Problems." Despite his imposing work load, John McClellan, once driven to a man-killing pace by his personal problems, now operates well within himself. He often takes a half-hour nap after lunch, generally gets away from Capitol Hill by 7. Norma is waiting in the apartment with dinner ("He eats anything I put before him") on TV trays. Together they watch the news or Kinescopes of the day's hearings on a 27-in. set, and John relaxes with his favorite programs, e.g., Dragnet, Highway Patrol, before reaching for his work folder. With John busy in his committee work, many constituents have begun to take up their problems with Norma, who deals with them tactfully, efficiently and with charm ("She has all the graces that I lack," says McClellan). The McClellans are in bed by midnight, and John drops right off to sleep. "I have no problems," says he. "I don't brood over things, or worry, or lose sleep—that doesn't happen any more."
Thus mellowed, John McClellan has bought a 150-by-600-ft. plot of land back in Little Rock, dreams fondly of retiring from politics in 1960 and becoming son Jimmy's law partner. One thing that could keep him in politics is Enemy Sid McMath. Says McMath: "McClellan swears he'll run again in 1960 just to oppose me, and by God, I'll be there to oppose."