STATE POLITICS
Revell, Alfred
State Politics Shotgun Wedding Henry Boom Fizzled Self-deluded Julius [By ALDRIC BEVELLI GOV. Heil was formally married to the Republican party at the state convention in Green Bay in a shotgun...
...They can now go to the people on the issues...
...FUTURE OUT THE WINDOW When the move to strike Heil's name from the resolution commending the administration was shouted down...
...forced '.heir hand...
...This would have left Republicans with both flanks exposed to the Progressives...
...Had Henry been endorsed, Progressives would have been in a spot, since they couldn't have opposed Henry on any record As far as Progressives are concerned, the Green Bay wedding calls for a celebration...
...Henry's downfall was caused by his utter sincerity...
...Henry believed that enough Republicans were for him to get him the convention endorsement...
...This writer failed to meet a single person who was willing to defend Heil' personally...
...This aggravated the older heads In the partv...
...Heil was formally married to the Republican party at the state convention in Green Bay in a shotgun ceremo:-.- Heil held the shotgun...
...As far as Progressives are concerned the "Republican state convention was a vli.-r.ory...
...None dared arise and challenge Heil...
...HENRY BOOM FIZZLED The Henry boom was just a fizzle because his supporters were political cowards...
...Progressives are interested In nehting Heil and no one else...
...They all took the attitude that he was a handicap but that in, the interest of a Republican victory-it would be best not to repudiate him openly...
...It was learned around hotel rooms that about two months ago Henry was approached to discover whether he would be willing to rah for governor with Heil running for the U. S. senate...
...They compromised on an open primary hoping that Henry would oppose the governor...
...The Heil forces introduced a resolution "commending" the administration early in the proceedings and the cheering frightened those who were pledged to put up a fight for Henry...
...H? asked the people to pray for him, for home and fireside, father and mother and the stars and stripes...
...Republicans are now stuck with Julius...
...Many times during the coming --ini;cifii ihey will wish that shotgun .. not they had said no to Julius...
...To get up on the convention floor and attack Heil would have branded them as a Henry man...
...HEII, BEAMED When it became obvious that the, convention would favor an open primary, Heil beamed...
...Henry's immediate political future went out the window with the echoes...
...H?nry supporters did not have the courage enough to stand up and make a fight...
...If they lost, they would be marked men and as such subject to discrimination by Heil and his cohorts...
...Henry explained his stand about convention endorsement by saying that his duties at the Jefferson bank kept him tied down and he couldn't afford to make the race unless he had the endorsement of the party...
...He Is the type of person that is unable to trim his sail...
...ran in an open primary and take' a chance on not being elected Henry' felt, would have been unfair to his, banking associates...
...So, with misgivings, the party "commended" the Heil administration, dropped Bob Henry out the window, and took Julius for better or for worse...
...Henry is reported to have declared he would not run on the same ticket with Heil...
...They maintained that Henry joined the party a few months ago and was seeking to dominate it by taking an arrogant attitude...
...Realizing that Heil had the convention in his grip...
...The bridegroom was in fine fettle...
...While most of ttuve present didn't want Heil...
...what some of the men who congratulated him said about him in the privacy of their hotel rooms he would not have beamed so brightly...
...He has been governor for two years and he ha* made a record...
...He failed to reckon with the fact that Republicans, like all political camp followers, are primarily selfish...
...Henry blasted all their hopes, and his statement that he would not run unless endorsed...
...Had he heard...
...He oromised to be a good husband to the party, but it was evident that his greatest fault, talking, would keep the bride in the jitters until after the election...
...They could do no-, thing else but yell half-heartedly for He...
...to the wind...
...they had no choice, because to have repudiated the governor would have been to repudiate the Republican legislature and the accomplishm e n t s of the party...
...who became angry with Henry...
...They had a chance to dump him ind lacked the political courage to do...
...Thus It was indeed a shotgun wed-, ding only in this case the bride was' being forced to say "I do...
Vol. 10 • June 1940 • No. 24
