The Campaign IV. Herter vs. O'Brien

While the Massachusetts Democratic bosses were off watching ball-games this summer, a shrewd young Progressive named Walter O'Brien moved into the tenth Congressional district and snatched the nomination unopposed, thereby getting the nominal support of two parties and creating a hot battle for the Republican incumbent, Christian A. Herter.

The situation was a natural for someone with Progressive leanings, for the tenth distrct embraces some of the worst slums in the world (as well as the Beacon Hill and Brookline areas) and Herter's voting record has been conservative on such issues as housing and price controls. O'Brien has made no bones about tearing into his record.

One of the main attacks has been on the subject of price controls, which Herter voted to abandon in 1946. Another, of course, flays the Republican's support of the Taft-Hartley Act. Still a third criticises his "reactionary" stand in regard to recent Social Security legislation. (Herter did not recommend extending benefits to 700,000 newspaper venders.) O'Brien also protests his support of the Mundt-Nixon bill, the Reed-Bulwinkle bill exempting railroads from anti-trust suits, the Case anti-strike bill, and similar "anti-labor" bills.

In short, O'Brien, who is a strong Wallace supporter, is following his master's footsteps all the way down the line, and is getting all-out support of the Bay State Progressive machine for his troubles.

He is a logical man for such support. Although he has never before run for office, he has been a leader in local politics since the war, serving as Chairman of Boston's Citizens' and Labor Committee to Save OPA in 1946, and leading the Boston Tenant's Council to keep rent control, prevent evictions, and create new housing. He also served as Port Agent for the American Communications Association (CIO) for three years, gaining considerable labor support from that post.

O'Brien was also a teacher and trustee at the Samuel Adams School for Social Studies, which recently went out of business after being branded "an apparent adjunet to the Communist Party" by the Justice Department. It is probably such connections as this that led the Daily Worker to remark that an O'Brien victory "would be one of the most important Progressive victories in the nation," an accolade which the candidate hopes to balance off by his outspoken Catholicism.

Although O'Brien officially holds the Democratic nomination, his connections with the far left have resulted in his repudiation by many of the Democrats in his district. This has led him, either through choice or through necessity, to emphasize his Progressivism and use the Democratic nomination only for purposes of snaring straight ticket votes. Nevertheless, O'Brien rolled up a primary vote of almost 20,000, which Progressives consider very significant in view of the fact that he was unopposed. They feel that since 90 percent of the voters in the tenth district are in low middle or low income groups their candidate will mop up on election day.

But Herter's record is not as bad as the Progressives try to make it. His domestic stand is along prevailing Republican lines, and this would be a bad enough accusation to alienate many of his constituents were it not for the question of foreign policy. Here again, O'Brien follows the Wallace line in condemning Marshall Plan administration, aid to Greece, Turkey and China, and the peacetime draft, which is almost certainly not the majority viewpoint in any district.

The foreign policy issue is Herter's strongest talking point, for as a leader in bi-partisan legislation his role in the House has been comparable to Vandenberg's in the Senate. Foreign affairs have been his specialty ever since he started in public affairs in 1915, and recently he has risen to prominence as leader of the Congressional Food Committee in 1946 and Director of the Committee on Foreign Aid which laid the groundwork for Marshall Plan aid.

His record in this field led to his winning the Collier's award as the outstanding member of Congress in 1947, a prize based on a pool of Washington correspondents.

Respect for such achievements should be enough to offset domestic conservatism on Election Day. But O'Brien has picked his district and waged his campaign with skill. Whatever the outcome, Herter, who has never lost an election, is getting the scare of his life.