The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Liberals Unite Behind Kennedy WHILE I WAS in Washington I found my liberal friends more hopeful than they have been in 20 years. It seems to me we have more...
...They lost the crucial civil rights fight over Rule 22 by a small majority in the Senate and won by a small majority in the House...
...But it is hard to draft legislation which will actually serve its purpose...
...The very best technicians must work for months, and then whatever passes Congress must stand the scrutiny of the courts and the tough experiences of the business and labor world...
...To achieve their goals, they will be forced, therefore, to maneuver with utmost skill, and the President will have to employ every bit of influence at his command...
...Under these circumstances, it takes constant effort by party leaders to keep any group in line and ready to vote consistently...
...they are tough realists who will stick together and fight to the last, for their faith in each another is an important source of their optimism...
...I suppose that all progressive citizens would agree that giving all properly qualified Negroes the right to vote in all of our states is the most important matter on our political agenda...
...But if we begin with some practical and obviously necessary anti-depression measures, they will support us—and we shall have the advantage of a successful start...
...This is not the whole Kennedy program, but it would be a rich harvest for one session of Congress...
...If we were to start The New Frontier by introducing the sort of civil rights bill which many of us want, we should surely run into a tough filibuster in the Senate and our whole program might be sent spraddling...
...Last summer, when the liberal proposals went over like a row of nine-pins, most of the experts blamed Eisenhower...
...The makeup of Congress has not improved since last year, but the general situation has changed enormously...
...In both the House and Senate we have large and well organized groups of practical politicians ready to do whatever is necessary to push through the Kennedy program...
...On the other hand, one of the most distinguished men in the Senate said to me: "A lot can still be done —nobody knows how much—by the courts and the executive department...
...The liberal Democrats do not have any dependable majority...
...This is no place for slipshod and hurried action...
...Any member's vote may be dictated by his economic interest, his political connections or some immediate political pressure...
...He predicted that five proposals will have the first call, and he listed them in what may well be their order of their precedence: (1) minimum wage, (2) depressed areas, (3) Federal aid to housing, (4) Federal aid to education and (5) medical care for the aged under Social Security...
...Santangelo did not discuss civil rights, immigration, migratory labor, unemployment insurance and the vast field of foreign policy...
...The close vote by which the President won his office is extremely significant...
...It seems best to try out our possibilities in these directions, and thereby discover what sort of new legislation we need...
...The subtle—and not so subtle—influences which go into the making of legislation will now be exerted on the side of intelligence, progress and humanity...
...It is this sort of proposal that makes the hidebound Southerners see red...
...He and all of the other liberals in Congress are acutely conscious of the fact that any progressive legislation must be put through by a combination of Northern Democrats and liberal Republicans...
...We really have four parties in the houses of our Congress, and because the organization is complicated the members are pushed and pulled in every direction...
...But it looks right now as if this supreme moral issue will be postponed until next year—or even later...
...Under these circumstances we must proceed with caution...
...Legislators felt it would be silly to pass laws only to have them vetoed...
...It seems to me we have more reliable progressive groups in the 87th Congress than we have had on the Hill for a long time...
...Liberal bills will be opposed, on the other hand, by conservative Republicans and an assemblage of stubborn Southern Democrats...
...But there is one area in which the policy of liberal members of the House and Senate will cause disappointment across the country: civil rights...
...As I sat in the galleries of the House and Senate I had the feeling our liberal forces were being held in check with a good deal of difficulty...
...This year we have a President and a Vice President who are positive rather than negative— and the stout old Speaker of the House seems younger and more effective than ever...
...But despite all of the complexity and uncertainty, the Democratic liberals expect this session of Congress to be tremendously fruitful...
...Congressman Alfred E. Santangelo of New York recently summed up the legislative situation in a speech before a trade union audience...
...There are no fancy Dans among them...
Vol. 44 • February 1961 • No. 9
