Geniuses All

John F. (for Francis) Kennedy came out of a Gillette Safety Razor stockroom last fall to be elected Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by nearly 200,000 votes. He did not have much education (seventh grade plus some night courses) or experience (he had graduated from the WPA to stockroom clerk), but his name on the ballot looked just like that of popular and able U.S. Senator John F. (for Fitzgerald) Kennedy.

No believer in the inevitable superiority of college graduates, Treasurer Kennedy forthwith appointed his brother, James A. (for Austin) Kennedy, to the $5,780-a-year post of third deputy treasurer. But the Governor's Council unanimously refused to approve brother Jim, a steel heat treater at the Boston Navy Yard who left school at 14.

Treasurer Kennedy exploded; his brother could whip the whole council at an intelligence test. Said John F. (for Francis) Kennedy: "James is more intelligent than any member of the council. If he doesn't get a higher mark than any of them I will withdraw his name."

Most councilors looked the other way, but Councilor George A. Wells accepted the challenge. The match was arranged. At 11 a.m. one day last week the two men showed up at Boston University. For good measure, State Treasurer Kennedy sent along his brother-in-law, Joseph Williams, whom he had planned to appoint as his police aide.

The three were graded in relation to all others who had taken the test. By this system, the average person would get a score of 50. When the scores were made known, Jim Kennedy had 99; Joe Williams 99; and George Wells 98.

At week's end it was not clear whether Treasurer Kennedy would resubmit his brother's name, or whether the Governor's Council would reconsider it if he did, or ; whether Councilor Wells would remember his boast: "I would get out of the council if I couldn't pass an intelligence test with a higher mark than James.''

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