The Make-Up of the 83rd

The great Eisenhower landslide apparently carried with it a Republican majority into the House of Representatives.

Most of the steady, old hands of both parties (e.g., the Massachusetts duo, Republican Leader Joseph Martin and Democratic Leader John McCormack) will be back. One old face that will be missing: the pudgy countenance of New York's Democratic Representative Donald L. O'Toole a Yiddish-speaking Irishman, whose Brooklyn district was carved into a new shape last year by the Republican state legislature. In the new district, which gerrymanders through Brooklyn taking in some safe G.O.P. territory, the veteran O'Toole (eight terms) lost to Republican Lawyer Francis E. Dorn.

The Eisenhower uprising dropped Republicans into some seats which have long been warmed by Democrats. Harry Truman's home district in Missouri (the Fourth) elected a Republican Representative for the first time in 22 years. Virginia, which had not elected a Republican Congressman since 1930, gave three of its ten House seats to the G.O.P. Arizona, which had never sent a Republican to the House, elected Republican John Rhodes over Democratic Incumbent John Murdock.

In the Senate, the division is so close that numerical control—important because it means control of Senate committees and committee chairmanships—was still in doubt long after control of the House was decided. But in the light of Eisenhower's decisive victory, many a Democrat will probably be eager to cooperate with the new Administration. Several Southern Senators, e.g., Texas Ikeman Price Daniel, who takes over Tom Connally's seat, are certain to vote like Republicans although they wear the Democratic label. .

The Republicans' nine "safe" seats were held as expected: Maine's Governor Frederick G. Payne had been promoted to the Senate in the State's September election. California's Senator William F. Knowland was the nominee of both parties. Nebraska's Senator Hugh Butler and ex-Governor Dwight Griswold were easy winners. Vermont's Ralph Flanders, North Dakota's William Langer, Minnesota's Edward Thye and New York's Irving Ives had no trouble. In Ohio, mellifluous John Bricker easily defeated wisecracking Mike DiSalle, former U.S. price boss.

In addition to Texan Daniel, five Democrats claimed their sure seats: the five: Mississippi's John. C., Stennis, Florida's Spessard L. Holland, Virginia's Harry Byrd, Rhode Island's John O. Pastore, all incumbents, and Representative Albert Gore.

Among the Republican victors were two Senators the Democrats held up as objects for national scorn. In Wisconsin, red-hunting Senator Joe McCarthy, denounced by Democratic campaigners from coast to coast, ran far behind Eisenhower in defeating Democrat Thomas E. Fairchild. McCarthyites had predicted that McCarthy would help Ike carry the state.

In Indiana, Senator William E. Jenner, a blatant isolationist, barely managed to turn back Democratic Governor Henry Schricker's strong bid for the Senate seat.