Post Time in Washington
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
Veteran politicians, insisting that Democratic Presidential race is wide open, give edge to dark-horse liberal at convention finish Post Time in Washington By William E. Bohn WASHINGTON IN...
...But here in Washington Democratic Senators and Congressmen say nothing of the sort...
...He may be the next President of the United States...
...But these Congressmen and their assistants, who spend their days opening mail which comes in from far places, will have little of this...
...At that time, the gates were shutting down on the hope of progressive legislation by the great Democratic majority...
...It is said that Johnson was ready to accept these resolutions...
...I was told that from the liberal point of view he is a better man than I have given him credit for being...
...But the men who said these things to me know a lot more about practical politics than I do...
...As a leader and organizer he beats anyone we have had for a generation...
...Leave him on the vine...
...The Catholic angle didn't cut much of a figure with these men...
...Then they go on to explain that from now on we are living in a new world...
...Then they elucidate: "Stevenson drew 25 million votes and Eisenhower gathered approximately 35 million...
...Nobody who really knows him or has seen him in action believes that Jack Kennedy would take the dictation of his church if it went contrary to his conviction with regard to his country's welfare...
...Oh, yes...
...Perhaps a lot of Americans think being a little tongue-tied is a proof of honesty...
...They want one whom they can boss—and they don't think they can boss him...
...I wanted to get their opinions rather than express my own...
...So these austere and tough-minded autocrats drove away potential supporters of the attractive young man from Massachusetts...
...He could add the popular touch and break through to the common people with the Adlaian Democratic doctrine...
...I wouldn't guarantee a word of it...
...The Democrats suffer under the great disadvantage of having five men who are smart enough to be President...
...When they come to the showdown in that convention, Johnson will turn over his delegates to Symington and that will be that...
...As for that blunderbuss blast of the Catholic bishops about birth control, I came upon two opposite opinions—which do not include the attitudes of the Catholics themselves...
...Serious politicians will say quite seriously: "Bowles is not by any means to be ruled out...
...And when we got down to bare facts it always turned out that these men who have seen friend Hubert in action for years agreed that there is really nothing to be said against him...
...For example, a surprising number of persons foresee that when the much talked-of tie occurs in that historic convention the delegates will just naturally turn to Chester Bowles...
...But Washington...
...When I said this, even the most devoted followers of the twice-defeated candidate would sigh and say: "Yes, of course you're right...
...but he has been defeated twice, he simply cannot be elected...
...The adding and subtracting that will go on can easily dispose of Eisenhower's 10 million majority...
...They want another McKinley, Coolidge, Harding or Eisenhower...
...I found that among the members of Congress and, in general, among the people in the capital, good-looking young Kennedy does not stand as high as he does back home...
...The important feature of it is that Eisenhower will be eliminated...
...They don't think he would socialize industry, but they believe that he would see that we got some fairly good liberal legislation...
...Even in the field of civil rights we would get a lot more than we are getting now...
...Take, for example, what happened at that historic party caucus...
...It is only about this aspect of the Republican campaign that there is difference and argument...
...You," they would say, "must learn to think how things will look without the benign father smiling down and rolling up the votes...
...He is too fluent...
...They want a Catholic president, but they don't want this one...
...Perhaps top-executive Johnson had had time to think things over...
...The only part of my Delawarean picture which stands up is the Republican half...
...On the whole, I found our national capital more lively and hopeful than it was a year ago...
...What happens...
...They say: "How do you know so much...
...Deep in their hearts, even the toughest Democratic professionals really want him...
...And when I entered the long hallways of the House Office Building, the young assistants to the Congressional statesmen pulled me this way and that until my poor preconceptions were all reduced to a milky mess...
...How can they lose...
...When you begin to talk about the other Democratic candidates—Stevenson, Stuart Symington (D.-Mo...
...Think of the millions of young people who have come of voting age...
...For example, the great columnar experts are counting heavily on Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson of Texas...
...You can't depend on him...
...I wouldn't call it a plot," said one Senator, "it's just a friendly understanding...
...But when my young friends waved goodbye to me, most of them were hoping deep down in their hearts that Adlai Stevenson would be the top nominee for the Democrats and that one of the bright and popular Senators, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts or Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, would be glad to round out the ticket as candidate for the Vice Presidency...
...Often, after a man had finished what he wanted to say about Stevenson or Symington or Johnson or Kennedy he would blurt out something like this: "Of course, if you want a real liberal and a man who can really be elected, there is Humphrey...
...They don't like Jack...
...They will carry on from where Eisenhower leaves off—peace, prosperity, and the nothing-to-be-afraid-of world without end...
...They think that almost anything may happen...
...But when it comes to the Presidential election, hopes are flying high and the most interesting and amusing notions are in the air...
...Humphrey and Kennedy—these Washingtonians, who, after all, are professional politicians, have much more flexible notions than the folks back home...
...But they say, simply, that he will not be nominated...
...In addition, he has earned a reputation as a bully...
...Anyway, when the vote was taken the resolutions were defeated...
...A few chaps said: "He talks too much...
...51-11 and 51-12...
...One group of commentators thinks that the bishops did this unintentionally, out of political awkwardness...
...I talked with a number of men who have worked with him on the Senate Labor Committee...
...The Republican candidates are, of course, all set...
...Veteran politicians, insisting that Democratic Presidential race is wide open, give edge to dark-horse liberal at convention finish Post Time in Washington By William E. Bohn WASHINGTON IN DELAWARE, where I live among Young Democrats, I thought I knew all about the campaign...
...Another group thinks they did it consciously and purposely...
...They say that though young Richard may look smart and quick and smooth and successful, there are a lot of people—many of them Republicans—who really have a deep-based hatred of him...
...I must confess that the hope of liberal action by Congress is still slight...
...He likes his present position where he can quietly exercise a lot of real power...
...He is such a slick manager that he is quite capable of establishing a father image on the Democratic side...
...That is, he was suggesting democracy for the Democrats...
...They all acknowledged that he always talks well, and that he shows adequate, practically expert knowledge of everything he discusses...
...Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee introduced two resolutions which would have shifted the choice of the Democratic Policy Committee to the whole body of Democratic Senators...
...They are men who have gone through many a hot campaign and have been elected over and over...
...As I approached the great Capitol dome I could fairly hear arguments popping...
...But in the end these interlocutors would always acknowledge that Hubert is like Stevenson in being really well-informed, yet unlike him in being able to speak enthusiastically and informatively to crowds of common people...
...He is "too young, too green...
...He is too flexible...
...On the other side, instead of the Eisenhower whom people adored, will be the Nixon whom so many people actively hate...
...They are probably right...
...Next year or the year after he might do most anything...
...For, make no mistake, Symington can be elected...
...A good many, even among the most idealistic liberals, think that the Democrat who has the best chance is Senator Symington...
...So, though Johnson looks big to the columnists, he doesn't look so big to some of the men who have been working with him for the last couple of years...
...Maybe later on...
...He understands labor problems and is in sympathy with all efforts to pass good legislation...
...There is the notion abroad that there is a pretty close understanding between Symington and Johnson...
...The fact that the benevolent father has registered a thumping 71 per cent in the latest Gallup poll seems to reinforce this opinion...
...They know that he will be nominated and they acknowledge that he will make a whale of a campaign, but they say that so many people will vote against him or simply not vote at all that even Stevenson can beat him...
...But, they say, "He is a boy...
...It is things like this which have established the picture of Johnson as a bully and a boss...
...It will be a fine arrangement for the South...
...But when you enter the Democratic camp you instantly realize that everything is at sixes and sevens...
...No one would want such men to be influential in the White House...
...They are not to be pooh-poohed...
...By the following morning something had happened in the Senatorial world...
...The fact that Stevenson was defeated in 1952 and 1956 does not at all mean that he will be defeated in 1960...
...And, no matter what you think, he will be elected...
...Nevertheless, a lot of chaps who know say he cannot be nominated or elected...
...If there is a tie in the convention, the delegates will turn to him...
...In the first place, he has played along too closely with Eisenhower...
...For example, at home I said over and over again: "Stevenson is far and away the best man we have...
...Yes," the practical politicians would answer, "but the people want a real man and when the pros get tired or confused, or if they think that is the only way to win, they may surrender to the millions...
...The theory, of course, is that young Dick will smoothly slip into General Eisenhower's father picture and carry on from there as if there had been no change...
...Stevenson will keep all of his former voles and gather some new ones...
...They will be Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell...
...They say that he is a fine boy...
...The citizens are expected to continue to vote more or less automatically—just as they have for the past eight years...
...he is the only one who can be classified as a statesman...
...They don't want Stevenson or Humphrey or Bowles...
...Then—of all persons!—Hubert Humphrey rose and suggested that these were important proposals, that statesmen should not act rashly—and why not postpone the whole business until tomorrow...
...In talking to these various men—and I did not limit myself to Democrats or to liberals—I tried to restrain my enthusiasm for Hubert Humphrey...
...Now this may not be a reliable prophecy...
...So don't give up hope...
...Perhaps he had whispered an order or two...
...Now take Eisenhower out and substitute Nixon...
...even the very best candidate still has a chance...
...Now, the busybodies along the capitol's marble halls all acknowledge that Johnson is quite a boy...
...Most of the men I consulted agreed with me that the bishops talked like dictators and so had done Senator Kennedy great harm...
...it will have at least a fractional Southerner in the White House...
...It would take an earthquake to displace Nixon and Mitchell...
...He has failed to give the Democrats a record on which they can go to the country...
...People have faith in him...
...Johnson doesn't really want to be President...
...The man who is practically the top liberal in the entire Senate said to me: "He doesn't make so many radical speeches, use so many fine words, but when it comes to voting his record is as good as mine...
...Up there, practically any bright young man or woman can tell you exactly how the Presidential race is shaping up...
...He talks too well...
...I would say: "But most of the delegates will be the tough old pros...
...There are, however, differing ideas as to how this perfect combination will stand up...
...don't waste your time and energy pulling for him...
Vol. 43 • February 1960 • No. 5
