1945 Court Appointment
On January 19, 1945, Chadwick was the choice of state Senate Majority Leader Weldon B. Heyburn of Concordville to fill the remaining year of a vacancy for president judge of the county Orphans Court. He was then nominated by Governor Edward Martin, and due to his indisputable qualifications, was swiftly approved by the state senate 48 to 0.
Judge Chadwick then announced his intention to run that year for the full ten year term. But, since Heyburn and Martin had deliberately acted independently of John McClure, chairman of the Delaware County Board of Republican Supervisors (War Board), Chadwick would face an uphill fight in the primary election. Even though until then, it was the War Board's policy to endorse a sitting judge for reelection, McClure evidently would not even allow a small breath of political independence in the county.
Congressman Wolfenden, who was by then, considered to be one of the three most powerful leaders in the county party, with McClure and Haverford leader Tom Weidemann being the other two, debated whether to support the endorsed slate or not. On April 5, after weeks of deliberating, Wolfenden agreed to support the entire ticket, with a payback from the party in the candidacy of his close friend, Clarence Pepper of Upper Darby, for county controller.
After a strenuous campaign, in which McClure gave orders to party workers to "get out the vote or else", had each polling place covered by six workers, and spent a whopping $75,000, Chadwick was narrowly defeated by War Board-endorsed candidate E. Leroy van Roden and would serve only until the end of the year. The tally was 29,808 for Chadwick to 31,428 for the winner. However, in losing, Chadwick polled some impressive results, carrying Swarthmore by 732 to 57, but much more importantly, in a slap to Wolfenden, lost Upper Darby by only 1,105 votes. But, Chadwick would not be finished with politics by any stretch of the imagination.
Read more about this topic: E. Wallace Chadwick
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