ADVICE WITHOUT DISSENT
Wechsler, James A.
Advice without Dissent JAMES A. WECHSLER It was late afternoon in the Senate Office Building and Senator Ar-buthnot had a feeling of weariness. He had just come from a party caucus at which a few...
...Heavens no, Mr...
...Got over that, of course...
...Do they have any idea how many people over sixty-five there are in our state...
...I think the people recognize a leader when they see one...
...You will, Senator, I'm sure...
...No, dammit, you know what I mean...
...Well, it all comes back to a simple question," the Senator said...
...That Advice without Dissent by JAMES A. WECHSLER AMA is after me, just because I said that I believed there were certain aspects of the President's medicare program that were worth serious study, even while I warned that we must proceed extremely cautiously in any direction that had the faintest odor of socialized medicine...
...I believe the Senate is the greatest parliamentary institution in the world...
...Please, Senator Arbuthnot, the doctor urged you not to get excited late in the day—" "Doctors...
...It's almost like a plot...
...asked Miss Dulcet a trifle vaguely...
...And if I can't stand up against these momentary pressures of these liberal pressure groups, I don't deserve to be in it...
...But this fellow Magovan, he's gotta be watched," continued the Senator...
...One had even urged that the party consider sponsoring a Senate resolution calling for negotiations with Communist China in an effort to break the stalemate over the offshore islands...
...Oh, of course not...
...But these extremists don't understand...
...Thank God you do, Miss Dulcet...
...Oh, of course," said Miss Dulcet guiltily...
...Oh, it's in these letters here from some of our Negro constituents—obviously an inspired campaign—all based on the statement I made saying that I would not commit myself to supporting cloture on civil rights legislation...
...The preachers...
...You remember I took pains to point out that I fully respected the motives and aspirations of those backing cloture, but that I also deeply respected the rights of minorities— in this case the minority of Southern Senators—who were upholding the principle of unlimited debate...
...I've been a liberal all my life...
...I thought so too...
...You have always said that most people don't realize how hard it is for a Senator to please all the people," said Miss Dulcet...
...I am not saying that I am indifferent to the gravity of the Far Eastern situation," said Senator Arbuthnot...
...Frankly—I don't know if I ever told you this—I was something of a socialist when I was in college...
...Just tell the old folks to drop dead...
...I still love to hear your fighting spirit," said Miss Dulcet...
...Oh, that one...
...Miss Dulcet entered, and Senator Arbuthnot cast a fleeting glance at her still-trim figure, feeling a momentary devilishness and then hastily congratulating himself on the discretion which had always been, as he observed to himself, the better part of his valor...
...It's just silly," said Miss Dulcet...
...The press...
...Now you take this new fellow in our caucus, that freshman, what's his name, something like Magovan...
...Hell, sometimes, in private I even wonder if we won't have to let those Chinese Reds into the United Nations some day, especially when they get the atom bomb...
...You're damn right," said the Senator, "and most of them have nothing to do except write me letters...
...But does he really believe that a man like myself could seem to be, well, positively disloyal to the Chinese Nationalists, who have stood in the front line of freedom...
...Now wouldn't that be great—me standing up and seeming to criticize our number one law enforcement officer, our best fighter against Communism, just because some of his agents may have goofed in some damn civil rights cases, when everybody knows they have to stay friends with those Southern cops to get the real big criminals, you know, the kidnappers, and so forth...
...And I believe I'll win bigger next year than I did six years ago...
...They just don't recognize," said Senator Arbuthnot, "that politics is the art of the possible...
...Come in, Miss Dulcet," he called to his secretary, "let's try to catch up with some mail...
...I do indeedy...
...Tell me, before we begin, Miss Dulcet, do you think I'm a weak-kneed compromiser...
...Arbuthnot, who could have used such language...
...Why, you know he's said in public that we're too 'obsessed'—yes, that's just the word he used—with Castro, that we shouldn't be spending so much time talking about how to get rid of him, that the United States has been acting 'frightened and undignified.' What kind of talk is that...
...Very many," said Miss Dulcet...
...They ought to know the hell I've gotten from the suburbs for that mild speech I made at that NAACP dinner...
...It's not a matter of patience," said Senator Arbuthnot expansively, "it's a matter of understanding that Rome wasn't built in a day, that we have to make haste gradually, that we must avoid the extremes...
...Why, they'd kill me...
...Of course, he comes from one of those little states where they have hardly any newspapers and probably don't even remember the name of the guy they elected...
...Sometimes I marvel at how patient you are," Miss Dulcet observed, as she had on so many days of so many years...
...I ask you, Miss Dulcet, where would I be if the headlines said: 'Arbuthnot Attacks J. Edgar Hoover...
...I know what can be done, and I know what's way out in left field...
...But don't quote me on that...
...Then what is the point of all these do-gooders trying to push me to the wall, and force me to make statements that can only ruin me, when in the long run I'm the best friend they ever had...
...That reminds me...
...He had just come from a party caucus at which a few rebellious spirits had pressed for all sorts of odd, implausible positions...
...I don't want to be sounding like one of those appeasers...
...I know that," said Miss Dulcet...
...The Chinese Nationalists would kill you...
...What damn good can I do for the people of our state if I don't get reelected...
...Oh, Senator, I understand...
...After all, I have no apologies to make...
...Now, what the hell did they want me to do...
...Short of war," interposed Miss Dulcet...
...Of course, short of war, thank you—I don't want an American boy's life lost on that miserable island—but I can't and won't rest until every Russian is back home...
...But I'm a practical liberal...
...That Committee of One Million...
...I thought it was a very balanced statement, Senator Arbuthnot...
...They want to accomplish everything overnight...
...The whole damn state...
...I take my responsibilities seriously...
...Imagine him getting up today and saying that we ought to propose a new look at the China problem, something about a 'two-China' solution, with Formosa put under the United Nations...
...I'm not for any of this soft stuff...
...Now, mind you, I've said many times that I believe in the Alliance for Progress, and we must combat poverty and disease in Latin America—but I also say that we've got to do everything we can do to bring down this Russian stooge...
...JAMES A. WECHSLER, editor of the editorial page of The New York Post, is the author of five books: "Revolt on the Campus," "War Propaganda and the United States," "Labor Baron," "The Age of Suspicion," and "Reflections of an Angry Middle-Aged Editor...
...Nothing—nothing at all," said Miss Dulcet...
...It's worse than that," said Senator Arbuthnot...
...Who do they think I am...
...And the food was pretty terrible...
...Why, do you remember that petition we got the other day from a bunch of college professors saying I should support some bill to set up a special civil rights squad in the Justice Department and take civil rights investigations out of J. Edgar Hoover's hands...
Vol. 27 • July 1963 • No. 7
