Hot Seat

Senator Pat McCarran is not noted for a serene disposition. Last week in Las Vegas, Pat treated President Celal Bayar of Turkey and 100 local notables to a stirring demonstration of temperament. The occasion was a Chamber of Commerce banquet in honor of President Bayar, who is on a good will tour of the U.S. (TIME, Feb. 8). McCarran was a picture of purring amiability until he entered the dining room and took a quick look at the seating arrangements. Then he discovered that he had been seated some distance from Bayar. To make matters worse, Las Vegas' Mayor C. D. Baker, a fellow Democrat but no friend of Boss

McCarran, had been given a ranking place to the left of Bayar. Pat purpled, and refused, in a modulated roar, to sit anywhere except next to the guest of honor. "Since when," sputtered McCarran, "does the mayor of a city come before a U.S. Senator?"

State Department protocol officers whispered that Baker was the host, after all, and pointed out that McCarran would have the honor of introducing Bayar. "I will not!" raged Pat. "I'll walk out first." The day was saved by Orhan Eralp, director general of Turkey's Foreign Ministry, who has been acting as President Bayar's interpreter. Eralp offered McCarran his seat, at Bayar's side, and perched on a stool behind the President. Pat agreed to stay. After the dinner President Bayar offered Mayor Baker his thanks and sympathies. Through the displaced interpreter, he said: "We overlook such little things."

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