TURNING POINT
Little Things—Like a Muddy
Road, an Oratorical Contest and
a $10 Job—Were Stepping-Stones to
High Government Posts
When they offered him the chairman-ship of
the money-losing Pawnee County Fair, the young
country lawyer thought he was on the right road
to success. He charged into his duties like a lion,
determined to give Pawnee County the biggest
fair Nebraska had ever seen.
He got the U. S. Cavalry to put on a show,
hired animal acts, even lady aerialists. He was all
set—and then it rained.
It rained so hard the roads were a quagmire.
When he got out of his jalopy to tack the posters
to the poles he was ankle deep in mud. The roads
became impassable, and the farmers couldn’t come
to the fair.
That dripping fiasco was what put the young
lawyer, Kenneth Wherry, in politics. On the plat
form of better roads he ran for the state legis
lature and was elected. He went on from there
to become United States Senator,
"I guess,” the Senator told The American
Weekly recently, "that if it hadn’t rained and if I
had gotten over the roads, I wouldn’t be here to
day. Odd how little things shape your career.”
In a small community in Utah, Reva Beck, tall,
stately, with flaming red hair, was asked by a
desperate theatrical troupe to fill in for an ill
player. The high school girl played the role with
artistry. The town was pleased and Reva’s future
seemed assured. She majored in dramatics at col
lege and, with a successful professional appear
ance to her credit, Reva thought nothing of en
tering the college oratorical contest.
Suddenly then Reva realized that this time she
had to write her own lines, not just memorize
somebody else’s. She prepared her talk, choosing
temperance as her subject and won. Strangely she
found more thrill in having created the subject
matter than in delivering the speech so well.
Reva Beck changed her direction from dra
matics to public service. She went to law school,
graduated, married, and eventually became judge
of traffic court in Salt Lake City. She was especial
ly praised for her work with juvenile delinquents
and alcoholics.
From there Mrs. Reva Beck Bosone went on to
become a member of Congress from Utah.
Twenty years ago Mrs. Margaret Chase Smith
was treasurer of a woolen mill in Skowhegan, Me.,
and rather proud of her success.
Her employer asked her to do him a favor. He
was backing Wallace White for Senator—would
she help him put White over? Mrs. Smith agreed
just to be accommodating. From that start in
politics she went on to succeed Senator White and
is now the only woman U. S. Senator.
The turning point in the life of Joseph W.
Martin, Jr., minority leader of the House of Rep
resentatives, came at the age of 16, he recounted
recently. At that time he had the choice of being
sent to college with all expenses paid by a group
of townspeople or of going to work as a cub re
porter at $10 a week. He thought of his hard
working father, his seven brothers and sisters,
and he chose work. In five years, he owned the
paper and went into politics. He has been a Con
gressman since 1924.
Over 50 years ago a 12-year old boy in Texas
lieard that a nationally-famous orator was to speak
at the nearest town. The boy had no chance of
going. One of 11 children of a poor farmer, he
had to work on the farm.
When the day came, however, so did a down
pour. Work on the farm was impossible and his
parents permitted him to ride 12 miles through
the rain to hear the politician.
Young Sam Rayburn, spellbound, decided that
one day he would enter politics. Today he is
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In contrast to Rayburn, Richard W. Hoffman
was a wealthy and established Chicago business
man when his turning point came. A group of
neighbors asked him to help in the job of clean
ing up the local school system. He was elected to
the school board, became its chairman and then
found out the deep satisfaction of public service.
He, too, became a member of the House of
Representatives.
When J. Howard McGrath was five years old
he heard someone say that a good lawyer could be
anything he wanted to be. He doesn’t remember
who said those words, but he never forgot their
import. He became an attorney, then Governor of
Rhode Island and eventually Attorney-General of
the United States.
One of his employes, when a small boy, want
ed to be a minister. The boy had to go to work to
aid in the support of his mother. The job he found
just happened to be in the Library of Congress
and the boy became interested in law. He worked
his way through law school and got a job with
the Department of Justice. Today J. Edgar Hoover
is head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Another man who had to change his mind be
cause of finances is John W. Snyder, Secretary of
the Treasury. Young Snyder wanted to be an
elect:: :al engineer, but had to go to work in his
uncle s bank. He found he liked banking and stuck
with it.
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