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SEPTEMBER 1955     19

when they arrived in this country aboard the Italian liner Cristoforo Colombo on January 31, 1955 was the Ambassador's sister, Signorina Emma Brosio. They also brought with them their two-year-old Scotch terrier, Bud.

Brosio told ship news reporters that he was giving up his favorite sport, tennis. He had found it too strenuous, he explained, for a man of fifty-eight. He indicated, however, that he still found enjoyment in swimming and mountaineering. And he added that he had every intention of keeping up his custom of reading, wherever he was stationed, to get to know the country and its people. He has been described as a "tall man with the rough-hewn face of a Roman emperor." Brosio has a reputation for perseverance, will power, and scholarliness.

Ambassador Brosio wrote a letter to the editor and publisher of Theatre Arts, published in the May 1955 issue, in which he stated his conviction that the Italian theatre, "which remains glorious in the field of opera, and preserves, in certain places, the traditions of the classic theatre, is now renewing itself in the dramatic field." He stated that he had had many opportunities to frequent the French, Russian and British theatres, and is an enthusiastic spectator of theatrical performances. "I have seen how the theatre alone can touch the heart of the public and arouse its interest in art, in history, and in the daily social activities by an immediate participation in the creative work of the actors. From this comes its social value and the importance of an exchange of such experiences among the different peoples of the world."

References

N Y Herald Tribune p3 N 19 '54 por; p3 F 4 '55; II p3 F 6 '55 por
N Y Times p2 O 30 '54 por; p18 Ja 31 '55; p12 F 1 '55; p9 F 16 '55
Washington (D.C.) Post p22 N 20 '54 por; p26 F 2 '55 por; p7 My 7 '55
Chi è? (1948)
Who's Who, 1955
World Biography (1948)

BRUCKER, WILBER M(ARION) (brúk' er) June 23, 1894- Secretary of the Army; lawyer

Address: b. c/o Department of the Army, Washington 25, D.C.; h. 4,000 Cathedral Ave., N.W., Washington 16, D.C.; 56 Vendome Rd., Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

The new head of the 1,100,000-man United States Army is Wilber M. Brucker, who was appointed on June 22, 1955 as Secretary of the Army by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to succeed Robert T. Stevens, who resigned. Brucker, a successful trial lawyer, had been general counsel and security chief of the Department of Defense since 1954. Brucker's nomination as Secretary was confirmed by the Senate on July 11, 1955 and he took office later that month. He was Governor of Michigan from 1931 to 1933 and has been active in Republican politics in his home state.

Wilber Marion Brucker was born in Saginaw, Michigan on June 23, 1894, the son of Ferdinand and Roberta (Hawn) Brucker. His father was a Michigan lawyer and a politician, who was Democratic Representative Michigan to the Fifty-fifth Congress (from 1897-1899). He died when Wilber was nine years old. Wilber helped his family by selling newspapers and weeding sugar beets, and was graduated from the Saginaw high school in 1912. While there, according to Time (July 4, 1955), he "resolved to become an orator when [defeated] by a girl in a school debate." As a student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he was made a member of the varsity debating team. He waited on table to earn part of his expenses at the university and in 1916 he was awarded the LL.B. degree.

In that year he joined the 33d Infantry of the Michigan National Guard and went to Mexico in General John J. Pershing's expedition against Pancho Francisco Villa. After the United States joined World War I, Brucker entered the U.S. Army and rose from corporal to the rank of first lieutenant. He served in France with the 166th Infantry, 42d (Rainbow) Division, and took part in the battles of Aisne-Marne, Château-Thierry, Champagne, Saint-Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne. He was cited by General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force and was awarded the Silver Star.

After his return from the war, Brucker was admitted to the Michigan bar, began a private practice in Saginaw, and became assistant prosecuting attorney in Saginaw county. In 1923 he was made prosecuting attorney of the county and four years later, assistant attorney general of Michigan. He became attorney general in 1928 and served for three years. Elected Governor of Michigan during the Depression for the 1931-1933 term, he cut his own salary by 10 per cent (to $4,500 a year). When asked how it seemed to be Governor, Brucker answered: "I feel like a Vagabond King. I handle millions (theoretically) at the office all day and then go home at night and question my wife about how she spent that last $5 I gave her" (Washington Post and Times Herald, June 24, 1955). He opposed state aid for jobless industrial workers and in the Democratic landslide of 1932, he lost his campaign for re-election.

He went to Detroit, where he became a member in the law firm of Clark, Klein, Brucker, & Waples. He also served as director of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Detroit. In 1936 he was named delegate at large to the Republican National Convention from Michigan and, having won the Republican Senatorial nomination from Senator James Couzens, ran for election, but was defeated by Prentiss M. Brown. He became chairman of the Fourteenth Republican Congressional District Committee in 1944, and reported Time, "dutifully rang doorbells in GOP campaigns." He was chairman of the Michigan State Convention in 1948 and was a Michigan delegate and member of the platform committee at the Republican National Convention that year.

On the recommendation of Charles E. Wilson, U.S. Secretary of Defense, President Eisenhower nominated Wilber M. Brucker as general counsel of the Department of Defense