Show Main Street USA I Oy By BERT MILLS l Distributed by National Edi tonal Only a year from now now your President and mine could be bea a man who could stroll down Main Street In your town tor to day and not be recognized by byone byone one person in His name William W Scranton OF COURSE there are arc a good many ifs in the pie pic lure ture In the first place the theP P Pennsylvania Governor would have to agree to run for the I Republican nomination Then he would have to win it And th biggest hurdle of all would be to beat President Lyndon n. n Johnson at the polls next November But it could happen happen hap pen and its it's worth some la lation tion Bill Scranton Is a man that practically nobody knows This Is both a major handicap and an asset It Is a handicap because be be- cause voters have to feel they know a man before they will support him It Is an asset because be be- cause of the need for new faces particularly in Republican lican Hcan ranks SCRANTON has run for of flee only twice He was elected elect elect- ed cd to the House of Representatives tives in 1960 and to the Pennsylvania Penn Penn- sylvania governorship In 1962 If he should make it to the White House m in 1964 a new record for a fast political rise would be established Scranton Is both the surname sur name and the home town of the Quaker state governor The city was named for an ancestor ancestor of Bill Scranton It has an area population of about a quarter million and andis' andis andis' andis is' is located in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania near near the New York state line GOVERNOR Scranton S ranton is a youthful 48 46 lIe Ile holds two der de grees from Yale including one onela one la in law Ills llis background Is in business however especially m in revitalizing ailing compa- compa nies lie served as a b bank vice president and as a director of several companies a college col col- lege and a hospital lIe He Is a world war war II veteran with overseas service as an anair anair air force pilot lie is also als an exp experienced diplomat having been special assistant to Sec of State Christian A. A Herter during the Eisenhower Administration participating in international conferences in Europe Latin America and at the United Nations SCRANTON Is a Presbyterian Presbyter Presbyter- ian Ills wife Is a distinct political political po po- asset and they have a daughter and three sons Ills lIis sister is the wife of James A. A Linen President of Time Inc the magazine empire Scranton's mother the late Mrs Worthington Scranton was the grand dame of Penn sylvania politics for years serving as Republican Nation al Committeewoman Politically Scranton Is reo re as a middle af the the- His backers consider him the ideal man to unite all factions of the GOP YOU AND I may know the Scranton name as just one of the remote possibilIties for tor the GOP nomination But he has important friends not the least of whom Ls is another Pennsyl Pennsyl- vanla vania resident Dwight D Ets- Ets I Ilke Ike Ls is given credit for persuading per per- Scranton to run for governor of i a. a That state has been in the habit of voting Democratic inthe in inthe the recent past and Scranton was supposed to lose to Mayor Richardson Dilworth of Philadelphia Phila- Phila delphia Instead Scranton won by a whopping half a million votes EVEN earlier Scranton had shown unusual vote vote n g ability When he first ran for Congress he was was supposed to tobe tobe be a sacrificial lamb iamb In a Democratic district lie won won by votes while John F F. Kennedy was Vas carrying the thes s same me district by votes It is this winning record that has GOP politicians casting cast Ing their eyes toward Harris burg Pa Rule one in politics is to win and It Is almost literally lit lit- true that the other rules dont don't matter GENERAL Eisenhower is by byno byno no means Governor Scranton's only The York Herald Tribune and the Washington Star have sounded sound sound- ed cd a call for Scranton who has shown signs of warming up to the Idea of b coming becoming a candidate Scranton has a history as a reluctant dragon His arm had to be twisted to get him to run for the House in In Inthe the first place More persuasion was required to get him in the race for governor Now he is under pressure to try for the jack pot TilE Republican nom mating convention only about six months ahead the Scranton ton boom will either make headway in a hurry hurlY or collapse just as fast The Pennsylvanian Ian Is too little known to hope that he can remain passive and still be nominated U H he heIs heis Is to be the Republican candidate candi candi- date he must start pitching hard right away Television now allows a ana na national political candidate to become known in a hurry Even so there is barely time for Scranton Those of uon us on Main Street have got got gotto to get acquainted right away We already ale al- ready know Lyndon rather well |