The Senate: Der Alte Retires

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There are few Americans who remember it, but Carl Hayden once lost an election. Four votes cost him the presidency of Stanford University's student body at the turn of the century. "After that," Hayden observes, "I always ran scared." This sound approach got him elected treasurer and sheriff of Mancopa County in Arizona's territorial days, then carried him to eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and seven more in the Senate. Now 90 and the nation's alltime congressional tenure champion with 56 years of service, Senator Carl Hayden has decided that he will not seek re-election this year.

"Contemporary events need contemporary men," says Arizona's Der Alte. "Time makes specialists of us all. In building a house, there is a moment for the foundation, a moment for the walls, a moment for the roof." He reasons that he has supervised the construction of Arizona's basic road, water and power facilities through federal projects. Thus the state can do without the seniority that made him president pro tempore of the Senate, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and one of the upper chamber's most influential men.

The sheriff's decision to hang up his legislative guns is also based on political realism. Democrat Hayden faced the toughest fight of his career—and perhaps his first defeat since turning professional—because Barry Goldwater will be the Republican candidate. Still, Hayden is not withdrawing entirely. He is promoting the candidacy of his administrative assistant, Roy Elson, 37, for the Democratic nomination. In a statement drafted for distribution this week, Hayden says: "If you still care about how I think, join me in urging Roy Elson to run in my place."