The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

3 | The Change Agents
wAs A BRAnd-new guy in our town,” Joel Pritchard recalled
40 years later, and two things were immediately clear: “Slade
“He
Gorton was super smart and he loved politics.” He couldn’t have
fallen in with better companions. The Pritchard brothers seemed to know
everyone who was anyone. 1
Organizational wizards, Joel and Frank had matching jaunty grins.
They’d been Seattle’s leading young Republicans for several years when
Gorton put on his civvies, joined a small law firm and went doorbelling
or debating most every night. When Slade and Joel discovered they’d both
been inspired as teenagers by hearing Walter Judd talk about public service
they figured their friendship was foreordained. 2
The Pritchard brothers grew up in an intellectually feisty family. Father
was a GOP precinct committeeman but pro-Roosevelt in 1940 as the U.S.
edged ever closer to joining the war. Mother voted for Willkie, a former
Democrat. In any case, by 1952 they all liked Ike—and Governor Arthur
Langlie. A paragon of rectitude, Langlie was on Eisenhower’s short list of
possible running mates. 3
The 1956 primary election campaign was in full swing when Slade
joined the party. The Republicans had their work cut out. Langlie was
challenging U.S. Senator Warren Magnuson. Don Eastvold was running
for governor. After a controversial term as attorney general, Eastvold now
found himself in a surprisingly tight primary battle with Emmett Anderson,
the lieutenant governor. A decent fellow, Anderson unfortunately
had all the charisma of an Elks Club exalted ruler, which he was. Eastvold,
however, was a heavy drinker and womanizer, which offended Langlie,
the Pritchards and their new friend, Gorton.
Denounced by Langlie, Eastvold lost in the primary to Anderson, who
went down to defeat in November at the hands of State Senator Al
Rosellini, the first Italian Catholic governor west of the Mississippi. Magnuson,
meantime, crushed Langlie in a no-holds-barred contest one
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