LAST fall the Boston Globe backed Kevin White in the mayoralty race against Louise Day Hicks. This was the first time the Globe had supported a political candidate since it backed William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Needless to say, the Globe'sabandonment of its 72-year policy of neutrality created some consternation in the Hicks camp. "I'm told Louise Hicks blames the Globefor her defeat," comments Charlie Whipple, head of the Globe'seditorial staff. He adds gravely, "I find that comforting."

Not until quite recently has the Globehad the luxury of taking pleasure in the enemies it makes. Ten years ago, the Globewas a second-rate home-town paper engaged in a survival struggle with local competitors. "The Globe'sonly aim was to survive," recalls Whipple. Neutrality was maintained partly by choice but predominantly by necessity. Since then, a relaxation of competition has allowed the Globeto emerge as a responsible political force and as one of the major papers in the country.

The Globe'schange has not, of course, occurred spontaneously. The principal engineer has been editor Tom Winship. Whipple, without a trace of simulated loyalty, calls him "the spark--the dynamo--that has really accomplished the change."

Since Winship came to the Globeas managing editor in 1957, he has gradually revamped the staff by appointing a crop of younger editors and by hiring specialists to cover fields like medicine and education. He has brought the Globeto near-saturation in syndicated copy: The Globenow has rights to 7 or 8 wire services and about 22 syndicated columnists.

Truman in Shirt-Sleeves

More than that, Winship has not hesitated to model the Globeafter his own personality. In style, he is the archetypical American rogue, some-what of a Harry Truman in shirtsleeves. He wants to put out a paper with flair, with a slightly flippant attitude. He has what can only be described as a profound appreciation for reckless headlines: he still likes the one run in 1959 when Rockefeller stepped out of the 1960 Republican race--"Rocky Won't Roll." Looking at the old headline a few weeks ago when Rockefeller again withdrew, Winship smacked the desk appreciatively and declared, "Isn't that good?"

Beneath the front-page Winship wearing baby-blue suspenders, however, is the editorial Winship -- the staunch old American idealist. He believes in honesty, simplicity, loyal opposition when necessary. He is not a subtle thinker, but an earnest one. "There is nothing that would improve the image of America more than if we passed a 'Ghetto Tax,'" he suggests. On second thought, he sees the impracticality of his proposal--"but what a wonderful commitment of national purpose." If you bring up America or the Globe in conversation, you are touching his soft spot. He waxes maudlin and concludes, "I know that sounds corny," more to emphasize that he takes his words seriously than to excuse himself.

Winship would like, perhaps most of all, to have a hand in political and social reform. TheGlobeis the instrument for political action he has been given to manage, and he has instnictively worked to make the old home-town paper an effective political organ. "Winship will promote anything aimed at the development of the core city," observes Alexander Haviland, the Globe'sexecutive editor.

"Much Much More Money"

It was Winship the reformist that initiated a 36-page supplement on poverty programs last month (March 19)> The report included the first comprehensive listings of agencies and programs--public and private--involved in the Boston area's War on Poverty. The supplement is unimaginative--but impressively thorough.

Where reform is concerned, Winship's style is anything but flashy. He represents the sound citizen with a stubborn faith in the system and in American ideals. "I'm not shouting from rooftops to tell people to throw bricks," he says. "I'm old-fashioned enough to think that's not the best way of getting political action." Characteristically, he proposes as solutions to the problem of urban unrest "much much more money" from the federal government and greater sacrifice from the business community.

A glance at an issue from the early '50's reveals how politically phlegmatic the Globeused to be. As late as 1956, the front page of the Globecarried almost nothing but local murders, fires, accidents, strikes and suicides, with an emphasis on the bizarre. A typical lead articles tells of a sideshow performer who walked into a Pittsburgh police staion and "told a weird and tearful story of having shot to death her roustabout lover on a lonely Kentucky road."

Now it is rare that non-political news gets lead headlines. Says Ian Menzies, managing editor of the Morning Globe,"Tom (Winship) would fill the whole front page with politics if he could." There remain, to be sure, vestiges of the old home-town paper. Pictures of by-standers comforting the victims of car accidents still get put on page two. Violent headlines are the rule, even for routine items. But the grosser forms of parochialism have been removed.

Ex-Communist Editor

The editorial pages have unedrgone a similar metamorphosis. A decade ago, editorials were still being written in nineteenth-century Bostonian prose. In 1953, the Globe ran a lead editorial on Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat: