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Thin Margin. By the time the burning issue reached the floor of the House the pressure was enough to crack the House chamber walls. Grim-faced Charlie Halleck stood by his desk while two assistants tallied the vote. Up his sleeve he had the votes of two Republicans who had secretly agreed to switch in favor of Ike if the situation got too rough. As it turned out, Halleck did not need his switch-hitters. Charlie Halleck & Co. had headed off the two-thirds override by the thin margin of four votes, 146 to 280. Of the 16 Republicans who had voted for the original bill, Halleck had lured nine back into the party fold to uphold the veto. And he lost only one of his five Democratic allies in the original vote—Pennsylvania's Frank M. Clark.
Hurrying to his off-the-floor office after the big save, Charlie Halleck beamingly accepted the telephoned congratulations of President Eisenhower. The narrow victory, both men knew, meant far more than a power shift at REA. It was a sobering damper on Democratic power in Congress and proof that an Eisenhower veto still packs a powerful punch.