National Affairs: Friends, Romans . . .

Having concluded one of the year's daffiest pieces of genealogical research, the Taft publicity committee, headed .by L. Richard Guy lay, last week presented the U.S. voters with the dope on its candidate's blood lines. After noting that one of his ancestors (Francis Cooke) arrived on the Mayflower, and touching lightly on the political successes of the last three generations of Tafts, the committee's press release—entitled "Bob Taft's Heritage of Public Service"—delves confidently into the more distant past:

"Among the ancestors of Senator Taft beyond the generations . . . above, we find...