The Chemical World This Week
CLENN SEABORG WINS ACS PRESIDENT-ELECT POST Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg is the next president-elect of the American Chemical Society. The 62-year-old university professor of chemistry at the University of California and associate director of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory will serve as president of the society in 1976 and as a member of the board of directors for a three-year term 1975-77. When the ballot counting was finished, Seaborg had received a clear majority, 54.9%, of the firstchoice votes of the voting members of the society. The other two candidates in this year's three-way race, Dr. Anna J. Harrison, professor of chemistry at Mount Holyoke College, and Pittsburgh-based consultant Emerson Venable, received 25.6% and 19.5%, respectively, of the first-choice votes cast. Because
ACS voting breakdown First Second choice choice» Total
PRESIDENT-ELECT Glenn T. Seaborg 17,645 Anna J. Harrison 8,241 Emerson Venable 6,259 Total valid ballots DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE Bryce Crawford Jr. B. R. Stanerson Alan C. Nixon Harry E. Whitmore REGIONAL DIRECTORS Region II Patricia A. M. Figueras 2016 Herbert P. Kagen 1699 Stanley Kirschner 1431 Region IV Mary L. Good Calvin A. Vanderwerf
17,645 8,241 6,259 32,145b 265 247 123 97
866
2882
565
2264
3226 2005
a For president-elect, second-choice ballots weren't counted, because Seaborg received a clear majority of first-choice ballots. For regional directors, the second choices indicated are from the 1431 ballots indicating Kirschner as first choice, b There were also 3223 invalid ballots. Of these, 2557 showed only a first choice (to be valid a ballot had to show a first and a second choice); 1331 were for Seaborg, .745 were for Harrison, and 481 were for Venable. Another 400 ballots showed two choices but did not indicate an order. 18 ballots were blank, and another 248 ballots were invalid for other reasons.
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a majority vote was achieved on first-choice count, it was unnecessary to include second-choice votes in the winning vote tabulation. In the election by voting councilors to choose two directors-atlarge, two serving members of the board were returned for another three-year term. Dr. Bryce Crawford Jr., professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota, won a third term on the board, and Dr. Bradford R. Stanerson, a familiar figure in ACS national offices, was returned for his second term. Losing candidates for these positions were Dr. Alan C. Nixon and Harry E. Whitmore. Dr. Patricia A. M. Figueras, research associate at Eastman Kodak, was elected director for Region II over Dr. Herbert P. Kagen and Dr. Stanley Kirschner, in one of the other two board elections. In the second, the present director for Region IV, Dr. Mary L. Good, won election to a second term over Dr. Calvin A. Vanderwerf. In the presidential election, only 35,368 ballots were cast by the society's 110,080 members. This continues the disturbing decline in recent years—36,147 in 1973 and 38,407 in 1972. The number of invalid ballots cast declined slightly this year (3223 compared to 3413 in 1973). Almost 80% of these were rendered invalid because no second choice was indicated on the ballot. Seaborg already has indicated that he favors further democratization of the society. "Under the last three presidents of the society," Seaborg notes, "we have been moving toward that goal. I don't intend to see any reverse of the gains of the members achieved during that time, since this is the kind of a move toward a more democratic society that is necessary if we are to be responsive to the needs and desires of the membership." Seaborg also has a deep concern for the professional needs of chemists and chemical engineers. "I fully realize there are problems in this area and I intend to work strenuously toward their solution," states Seaborg. "I am also fully aware that although I received a clear majority, there are over 14,000 members who voted for one of the other candidates
Glenn T. Seaborg
and that they, too, have desires and needs that must be recognized." On the federal level, Seaborg is very much in favor of reaffirming and expanding the society's efforts to interact with the federal government and to influence its policies. Seaborg has much experience in governmental operations, including his chairmanship of AEC.
Election changes Congress' complexion Democrats made major gains in both House and Senate in last week's general elections, but the number of chemists in the new Congress will remain at two: Rep. Mike McCormack (D.-Wash.) and Rep. James G. Martin (R.-N.C.) were re-elected. Another chemist, Dr. Lloyd A. Wood, lost an Ohio House seat bid. A former astronaut, John H. Glenn Jr. will go to the Senate as a Democrat from Ohio. The House will have one less physician, as Rep. William R. Roy (D.Kan.) lost a Senate bid, and at least one industrial physicist, Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D.-Calif.) was re-elected. In short, the number of members with science and engineering training in the new Congress won't be significantly different from the number in the old Congress. The Democrats now will have 292 of the 435 House seats—a pickup of 44 and theoretically the "vetoproof" majority President Ford campaigned against. In the Senate, the Democrats will have 61 of the 100 seats—a pickup of three, but not a "vetoproof" majority. "Vetoproof" majorities are sort of a mythical thing anyway, in that members seldom vote solely along party lines, but vote instead on issues. Still, such a changeover will have an impact on the sort of legislation
