The Congress: New & Nice

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The 87th Congress died bitterly, but the 88th convened in a climate of sweetness and light. The Senate postponed its customary opening filibuster until after the President's State of the Union message this week. The House whisked past its Rules Committee disagreement so fast that nobody really had time to get mad. Of course, all the friendship would not last long—but while it did it was nice.

Families jammed the galleries to watch the swearing in of the new House (258 Democrats, 176 Republicans and one vacancy) and of 40 new and re-elected members of the Senate. Half a dozen Congressmen had their children with them on the floor, and one little boy proudly raised his right hand along with his father. In the Senate, Republicans had at least one consolation for their loss of three places in the last elections: their 33 members could sprawl comfortably in their seats while the 67 desks on the

Democratic side were packed almost beyond breathing. Up in the gallery, Joan Kennedy, seated with Rose Kennedy, dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief while Husband Teddy was sworn in. Later, Teddy announced it as his aim to stay "out of the limelight, out of the headlines and out of the swimming pool."

Waiting for the Strongholds. Some old enmities were forgotten in the spirit of the occasion. Ohio's Democratic Senator Stephen Young, who four years ago refused to be escorted down the aisle by Frank Lausche, gritted his teeth and accompanied his re-elected colleague for the oath taking. The Senate erupted in applause when Arizona's Carl Hayden, 85, walked toward Vice President Lyndon Johnson to take the oath for the seventh time. There was more applause when Hawaii's Republican Hiram Fong draped a lei around the neck of his new colleague, Democrat Daniel Inouye.

The good humor extended to the re-election of House and Senate officers. Republicans routinely put up Leader Charles Halleck to contest Massachusetts' John McCormack for Speaker. McCormack, of course, won on a straight party-line vote, in his acceptance speech jokingly noted that he had been behind in the early returns but emerged victorious when "the Democratic strongholds came in."

Time Off for Families. Similarly, in the Senate, Republicans put up Vermont's George Aiken for president pro tempore. In nominating Aiken, G.O.P. Leader Everett Dirksen noted that the Vermonter's middle name is David. Cried Ev: "I am confident that he will be like his namesake, David of old, who reached into the brook of Elah, and there found smooth stones for his slingshot with which to humble Goliath. In the same spirit, George Aiken will reach into the brook of

Elah, wherever it may be in Vermont, and with smooth stones vanquish all the philistine forces of evil which either threaten or jeopardize this Republic." Whereupon the Senate re-elected Carl Hayden as president pro tempore.