The Nation: Swainson Indicted

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Michigan's John Swainson has in his 49 years made good over and over again. Captain of the high school football team in Port Huron and an Eagle Scout, Swainson went on to serve with distinction in the 95th Infantry Division during World War II, losing both legs just below the knees in a mine explosion. He won election to the Michigan state senate in 1954 and then served two-year terms in succession as the State's Lieutenant Governor and Governor. After his defeat by George Romney, Swainson served as a circuit court judge before being elevated to an eight-year term on the state supreme court in 1970.

Bribery Charge. So distinguished was his record that Swainson seemed a likely candidate for the U.S. Senate seat of Philip Hart when Hart retires next year—until last April, when word came down that Swainson was under investigation on bribery charges. Last week a federal grand jury in Detroit handed up a seven-count indictment of Swainson, charging that in 1972 he accepted $20,000 from a convicted thief in exchange for securing a supreme court review of the man's conviction. Swainson has entered a plea of not guilty.