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Summary of opinions in the news. 8 pgs. [Report], 8/31/1960
Summary of opinions in the news. 11 pgs. [Report], 8/26/1960
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Summary of opinions in the news. 8 pgs. [Report], 8/31/1960
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
White House Special Files Collection
Folder List
Box Number Folder Number Document Date Document Type
Document Description
48
5
08/31/1960
Report
Summary of opinions in the news. 8 pgs.
48
5
08/26/1960
Report
Summary of opinions in the news. 11 pgs.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Page 1 of 1
R.Haldeman
R.
NIXON-LODGE CAMPAIGN HEADOUARTERS
SUMMARY OF OPINIONS IN THE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1960
RN (1)
Hospitalization
Most of the morning papers carried a story on RN's progress on their front
pages along with a picture. Headlines were as follows: Chicago Sun-Times - "Report
Nixon Is Doing OK;" NYHT - "Lodge Will Campaign Harder With Nixon Out; President
"Isubivibai only no abasque stipp bilodis Isubivibroi Y115 blood
Sees Vice-President In Hospital, Says 'He Looks Fine';" Chicago Tribune - "Nixon's
Knee Responds to Treatment." A number of the papers commented editorially. New
York Daily News: "We wish the Vice President early and complete recovery; hope he'll
he
take things easy as long as the doctors want him to; and think/and his press secretary
are wise in making public all the facts concerning Mr. Nixon's ailment.
Since
Nixon can't make speeches for a while, the newspapers can be a very convenient med-
ium for relaying his views to the public any time he feels like calling in the reporters."
Phila. Inquirer: "As the Presidential campaign is just beginning to steam up
this is a tough break for Mr. Nixon
It is encouraging to learn that the doctors
say the injury
is not of an extremely serious nature. Public sympathy and concern
for the Vice President is earnest and widespread, with the hope that he will have a
speedy and safe recovery
We think his Democratic opponent
expressed general
feelings in his telegram to Mr. Nixon.
Wash. Post: "Vice President Nixon has been wise to follow his doctor's orders
respecting hospitalization for a knee infection
At this stage of the campaign a two-
week withdrawal will not be crippling despite the cancellation of some of the Republi-
can nominee's scheduled appearances
It will afford him an enforced rest that his
opponent will not enjoy. Mr. Nixon's general good health has been amply attested. We
hope that he will back in action soon, for the issues of the campaign deserve the full
vigor and attention of both candidates."
Balt. Sun: "Mr. Nixon's disability is bad luck. If the disability proves but
brief, as the country trusts it will and as from present medical reports seems likely,
it may have little effect on the Vice President's political strength; but it still prevents
one of the candidates from plunging ahead in the kind of contest both had planned. If
Mr. Nixon's bad luck should persist, his opponent also faces a problem
Ought Mr.
Kennedy, in a spirit of sportsmanship, slow down his own physical activity? Or would
a show of that kind of playing-field sportsmanship belittle the seriousness of a fight
-2-
for the country's highest office? Anyway, is a Mr. Nixon thinking in his hospital
suite so much less effective politically than a Mr. Nixon moving around? The Demo-
cratic strategists may doubt it
The illness serves as a fresh reminder of how
swiftly a picture may be changed, by chance or circumstance.
Though this campaign
may not be altered substantially by Mr. Nixon's bad luck, something else now unfore-
seen, and no less fortuitous, could still alter it."
David Lawrence comments on this sportsmanship aspect and recalls that Woodrow
Wilson, when he was campaigning against Teddy Roosevelt who was wounded by a
would-be assassin's bullet, announced that he would cancel his speaking engagements.
Lawrence says "Maybe Vice President Nixon
will benefit by a two-week recess in the
stumping excursion. Maybe Sen. Kennedy would also benefit if he took a rest for the
next fortnight
Campaign speeches may clarify the basic issues for many citizens,
but a decisive influence one way or the other doubtless has already affected a majority
of the voters. The speeches of the next two months may not materially affect the
result at all."
Chicago Tribune: "The illness of Richard Nixon should not distract attention
from the remarkable reception given him in Atlanta
The enthusiastic reception
suggests that the Republican Presidential candidate may find even better hunting in the
south than did Mr. Eisenhower
Apparently the attempt to hold the restive south in
check by offering the consolation prize on the ticket to Lyndon Johnson has not proved
efficacious. 11
Religious Issue
Joe Alsop continues his discussion of the anti-Catholic agitation in the South.
"It is an equally painful problem for Vice President Richard M. Nixon. It goes with-
out saying that if Nixon benefits in the South by this increasingly sharp outburst of
anti-Catholicism, he will be an entirely involuntary beneficiary. He has had nothing
whatever to do with it. He has even directed all of his campaign workers never to
mention the so-called religious issue in privaté talk." Alsop recalls that "Eisenhower
secured a commanding lead among all New York State's Catholics from the lower
middle-income level upward. Today, moreover, when Northern Catholics are still
unaware of the anti-Catholic outburst in the South, Sen. John F. Kennedy has by no
means won back all the Republican-voting Catholics
Kennedy's chance of winning
back any individual Republican-voting Catholic quite largely depends on the individual's
-3-
date of migration into the Republican Party. If the first Republican vote was cast in
1956, a return to the Democratic fold is highly probable
Kennedy now seems likely
to get about 60 per cent of the Catholic votes in New York. This transfer of Catho-
lics to Kennedy is a sore handicap for Nixon, but it is not an insurmountable handicap.
The degree of Catholic transfer that now seems likely is very far from certain to
defeat Nixon in the crucial big states of the North. Nixon has a good chance, too, of
reducing the transfer. The truth is that Nixon appeals very strongly to the naturally
conservative Catholics. But let the anti-Catholic agitation in the South gain volume
and produce the inevitable effects in the North, then Kennedy may well take 80 per
cent of the New York Catholics
In the long run, Nixon will hardly be able to solve
this problem by refusing to discuss the religious issue, and by ordering his campaign
workers to do likewise. At a guess, he will be unable to solve the problem without
the strongest sort of affirmative action to halt the Southern anti-Catholic agitation.
If the agitation continues, nothing less than strong affirmative action can really be
counted on to prevent a northern reaction to what is happening in the South. 11
New York Post: "In the South, the whispering stage has been passed and bigotry
has come out in hard-shell Baptist and other quarters with almost roaring intensity.
This has more than a slight connection with the new Southern boom for Nixon we have
been hearing about, and although Nixon himself decries it, his local supporters are
far from reluctant to employ the advantage freely supplied by local anti-Catholics. 11
Lyle Wilson in the New York World Telegram Sun: "Any lingering hope that
Sen. John F. Kennedy's Roman Catholicism would not be a real issue in this Presi-
dential campaign must by now have vanished. That may prove to be the most signifi-
cant fact of this campaign year. 11
An editorial in the World Telegram Sun comments upon the remark made by
Don E. Ahrens, Michigan Republican leader, to the state GOP convention. "We
imagine he offended a great many people--of all faiths and political persuasions. The
religious issue is not necessarily a matter of degree. A little joke can be as bad as,
or worse than, a vitriolic broadside."
Marquis Childs, commenting on the Congressional session, concludes that "It
requires little imagination to see how the situation (White House relations with the
Congress) would be altered if Nixon were in the White House and particularly if it
were suspected that he owed his victory to religious prejudice in a close election.
-4-
The Senate is certain to be Democratic
In order to capture the House, Republicans
would have to win 65 seats, and that is a landslide which certainly at this writing is
not in the cards. Here is a prescription for fratricidal stalemate at a moment in
history when we can least afford stalemate."
Miscellaneous
Chicago Daily News: "Vice President Nixon, who has something of a reputation
as a campaign slugger, has declared that he will avoid name-calling
At Alexandria,
Va., Sen. Kennedy remarked that Mr. Nixon was experienced, all right, 'in policies
of retreat, defeat and weakness.
1
This will cause many to wonder just how much of
this Mr. Nixon will stand still for."
Kennedy (2)
The Balt. Sun carried a number of stories today on its front page which were
hardly mentioned by the other papers. It gave extensive coverage to Sen. Kefauver's
remarks concerning anti-Catholic material. It also carried an interview with Chester
Bowles. Among other things the story on Bowles said "He belittles the Republican
party's argument that Vice President Nixon's experience in foreign affairs gives him
an important edge over Senator Kennedy. 'We have lost ground
So what good is
experience? Let's get some new people. 111 Mr. Bowles also said on the religious
issue: ""I would like to suggest as a starter that Mr. Nixon stop introducing each
speech by saying, "We must keep religion out of this campaign." I can think of no
neater way to put it into it. 111 There is also a rather extended report of Mr. Khrush-
chev's remarks in Moscow, which were barely mentioned by the New York Times and
other papers. Mr. Khrushchev is quoted as saying "Mr. Nixon wants to be President
of the United States. O.K., let him be President. Let him live until the time comes
when he will have to show his shame to his children and his grandchildren for his
lies about communism. His children and surely his grandchildren will live under
Communism--and this will be done not by us but by the workers, the toiling peasantry
and the toiling intelligentsia of the United States
For myself I would like to see as
the next American President the most progressive man a Communist. '''
New Press Conference Technique
The Chicago Tribune points out in its story on Sen. Kennedy's announcement of
the appointments of Paul Nitze, et al, that the Senator has adopted a new procedure in
-5-
his press conferences, "one in which all questions were barred except on one stated
subject. More than 200 reporters, assembled to quiz Kennedy at his invitation, were
baffled. They had ready scores of questions on a broad variety of issues. This was
to be the first opportunity to get answers on the record since the Senate reconvened
more than three weeks ago
The Massachusetts senator opened the conference by
announcing that he would confine it to discussion of his appointment of a four man
group to advise him on national defense matters. He added that he would submit to
general questioning at another meeting before he departed for a campaign tour of
Maine later this week
Reports spread that the senator had planned to deliver a
strong political attack and had hastily substituted, at the last moment, a routine
announcement which would normally have been issued by his press spokesman. The
sudden confinement of his Republican rival
to a hospital for two weeks, was advanced
as one possible reason for this action. Refusal to answer questions about other sub-
jects
saved Kennedy from embarrassment, it was noted
Kennedy's 18-minute
tardiness to today's news conference that had first been called for last Friday went
unexplained. The technical ground rules of a Presidential press conference were put
into effect on orders of his press secretary
No reporters could leave the room
until the 'thank you' signal, when all could go. But even a President normally lays
down no such boundaries on questions as Kennedy did. 11
Tennessee
Morris Cunningham, writing in the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports "An
analysis of the Kefauver vote shows that two basic components of his support cannot be
counted for the Democratic ticket in November. The first of these is the untold
thousands of Republicans who went into the Democratic primary and voted for Senator
Kefauver.
The other is the lopsided support Tennessee's Negro voters gave Senator
Kefauver
Kefauver received a majority of more than 75,000 in the First and Second
Congressional Districts alone. Both of these districts are Republican. Both are rep-
resented in Congress by Republicans. Both have voted Republican
since the Grand
Old Party came into existence
The Third District, which includes Republican coun-
ties, gave Senator Kefauver a majority of nearly 20,000. Yet the Democrats will be
extremely lucky to carry it in November
Kefauver also got Republican support else-
where in the state, in Carroll and Shelby Counties
that cannot be counted for the
Democratic presidential ticket in November. Likewise, Senator Kefauver's great Negro
-6-
wing is not readily transferable to the Kennedy-Johnson.
ticket. Senator Kefauve
almost all of the estimated 35,000 votes cast by Negroes in the Democratic pri-
y in Shelby County. Yet Shelby County's Negro precincts went Republican in 1956,
George Lee, the Memphis Negro leader, has predicted they will do so again in
ember
The high-level conferences here this week between Gov. Buford Ellingtor
ators Kefauver and.
Gore, Tennessee's House Democrats, the Governor's political
visers, and Senators Kennedy and Johnson are a measure of the Democratic concert
breign Policy (3)
OAS Resolution
The Richmond Times-Dispatch questions whether the resolution against Cuba wa
clear-cut victory as described by the Associated Press. "It may turn out to be one
of this country's worst defeats
The OAS has merely slapped violently pro-Commun-
ist Castro on the wrist, without so much as naming him. On the other hand, we hav
taken part in a concerted move to wreck Trujillo--although, until very recently, he
had been both friendly to us and hostile to Communism. We hold no brief for Trujill
Yet it can at least be said that Trujillo had been friendly toward us, in contrast
to Castro, who had been anything but. There is a group of 'liberals' in this and othe
countries who almost foam at the mouth at the mention of Dictator Trujillo or Dictato
Franco, but who can 'take' Communist or crypto-Communist dictators with hardly a
murmur
Now the United States has permitted itself to be drawn into a scheme to
overthrow rightist Trujillo, who had done nothing offensively hostile toward it, while
joining in a weak resolution against Castro which probably will have no effect, other
than to cause this leftist dictator to redouble his furious verbal assaults on us
It
now seems entirely possible that Trujillo will fall and that his regime will be succ
by one of Red coloration, dominated either from Havana or from Moscow and Peipi
All of which doesn't add up to exactly brilliant diplomacy on our part."
The Congo
Chicago Sun-Times: "There
is
irony in the fact that a week after the Uni
States gave the Republic of the Congo $5,000,000 in urgently needed aid, Congole:
police brutally attacked eight U.S. airmen
It was, to be sure, a case of mista
identity
but even if (the Congolese) had known they were Americans the same t
might have happened. For America's stock is not high in the Congo, or elsewh
-7-
among the peoples of Africa
Why is the Soviet propaganda so readily accepted, and
our own ignored? For two principal reasons: First, because the United States is in
league with those nations historically linked with imperialism. Second, because little
or no effective human relations work has been done on America's part to compare
with the vast, spectacularly successful work being carried out by the Russians
Unless that picture is changed, all the dollars in the U.S. Treasury will not win the
struggle for the minds of those so-called uncommitted peoples.
But the easy conclu-
sion that dollars alone will win the struggle for the free world is false and fantastically
dangerous. The other factor that is needed, from the United States in particular, is
respect. The Congo at this point is a symbol of a surging drive for status
Even
apart from the sorry spectacle of the U.S. struggle over integration, America's human
relations policies abroad are wholly inadequate."
Connally Reservation
WSJ: "Abandoning the Connally Reservation could not possibly bring a just peace
or a world rule of law one whit closer
The issues of peace and war
lie far
deeper than anything like this. The world's peace is threatened by the militant Com-
munist conspiracy which never hesitates to violate any treaty or precept of international
conduct when it suits its purposes
Because of these realities in the world situation,
the United Nations has never been able to live up the reason for its existence. De-
claring unity among the nations could not bring actual unity when one powerful nation
seeks only the tragic unity of Communist dictatorship,
How can anyone talk seriously
of a functioning World Court that could embrace such nations along with Cuba, the
Congo and the Kremlin? The trouble with all this
is that people sometime S let their
desire for real peace lead them into wishful thinking. Thanks to Communist imperial-
ism, the 'world rule of law' that we have today is the law of the jungle
To the
extent that the U.S. involves itself in a World Court that is but a facade for the law
of the jungle, it puts itself at the mercy of the jungle. That is why we think it nec-
essary to keep the Connally Reservation. And why we think it a peculiar sort of folly
to encourage the delusion that an international fiction can alter the world's stark
actualities.
11
Polls (4)
The Wash. Post carried on its front page today the latest Gallup poll, reporting
- 8 -
a trial heat between the two tickets. The results today: Nixon-Lodge - 47%; Kennedy-
Johnson - 47%; Undecided - 6%. Gallup says "It should be emphasized that voters
were asked which ticket they would vote for if the election were being held today, and
not how they would vote in November
Since a sizeable group of those elegible to
vote do not. the Gallup Poll bases election survey results on the voting population."
The WSJ today has a book review of John M. Fenton's book on the Gallup Poll.
One of the interesting things brought out in Mr. Fenton's book is that "the polls show
that the popularity of our post-war leaders has tended to rise or fall in accordance
with their willingness to 'do something' about Russia. Eisenhower gained far more
kudos for going into Lebanon than for his attitude on inflation." On the Catholic issue,
"Mr. Fenton notes that Kennedy did best in a Gallup poll at a time when more than
half of those interviewed did not know that he was a Roman Catholic. 11
- 0 -
NIXON FOR PRESIDENT HEADQUARTERS
R.Haldeman
SUMMARY OF OPINIONS IN THE NEWS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1960
RN (1)
Appearance on Jack Paar Program
RN's remarks on the Jack Paar program in response to the question with re-
gard to who decides policy received front page play in the New York Times, Phila.
Inquirer and Balt. Sun. The headlines were as follows: New York Times - "Nixon
Denies Role in Deciding Policy;" Phila. Inquirer - "Nixon Calls President the Boss;"
Balt. Sun - "Nixon Tells Nature of Experience; Says It Primarily Was Presence at
Administration Meetings." The Wash. Post carried the story on page 2 and the head-
line read "Nixon Admits President Made Vital Administration Decisions."
David Lawrence commented on this question as brought out in the President's
press conference. Lawrence quotes from the article which appeared in the U.S. News
& World Report as to the Vice President's role in the decision making process and
says, "What the President said is in line with what Vice-President Nixon himself had
previously revealed in describing his own role.
The big issue in the campaign is not
the extent to which Mr. Nixon is responsible for Mr. Eisenhower's 'decisions,' but the
knowledge of national and international problems that Mr. Nixon has gained during the
last seven-and-a-half years
In the Senate debates since yesterday quite a point has
been made by the Democrats of the fact that Mr. Eisenhower was asked to give an
instance in which Vice-President Nixon had influenced a particular 'decisiona' The
President parried the question by quipping that he might think of one 'if you give me a
week'
It would have been considered indelicate for the President to have initiated a
discussion of this kind, but now that the Democrats have opened the way, it gives him
a full opportunity in the campaign to discuss Mr. Nixon's experience in government--
which, after all, is one of the main questions in the minds of the voters."
In this connection, the sixth article in the Wash. Post series on RN's advisors
(today concerned with national defense) quotes Robert C. Sprague as saying, "It will
take Kennedy or Johnson two years to get up to date' on secret data to make proper
decisions, said Sprague, for 'briefing' alone is inadequate. 'The difference between
"briefing" and blood, sweat and tears,' said Sprague, 'is the difference between day
and night. 111
Sylvia Porter is also conducting a series of articles on advisors to both Mr.
-2-
Kennedy and RN. Today's discussion is concerned with the role of Dr. Arthur Burns.
Southern Trip
Tom O'Neill in the Balt. Sun discusses the Southern situation. "Vice President
Nixon's quickening interest in the South was born of a. discovery that political unrest
below the Potomac has become more pronounced since the nominating conventions
Notably, he picked for first attention three states which even President Eisenhower was
unable to crack in two successful raids upon the old Democratic base
A phenomenon
that has grasped the attention of the strategists in both parties is the extraordinary
number of voters who tell inquiring pollsters and the like that they remain undecided
between the candidates. Justifiably, this heartens the GOP and alarms Democrats
because it is assumed that there would be no hesitancy among these normally Demo-
cratic voters unless they were at least contemplating a departure from custom
Texas is described as in political turmoil, and there is considerable resentment against
Senator Lynd in Johnson, apparently on the thesis that Texans never take second place
to anybody
In the selection of Alabama and Goorgia for his second sally into the
South, Mr. Nixon chose to test two states which rank among the least receptive to
Republicans
In these areas and others the Republican campaign tasks will be en-
trusted to the Volunteers for Nixon, avoiding the party identification of the local GOP
organizations. 11
Endorsement
Paul Miller in the Rochester Times Union endorses the Nixon-Lodge ticket in
a thoughtful analysis of the candidates. "I am for Richard M. Nixon for president.
He probably is the best trained man ever nominated for the office
It would be folly
to reject him. I am for Henry Cabot Lodge for vice president. World conditions
being what they are
The No. 1 issue of 1960 is maintaining and expanding peace
with justice. In that light, Nixon and Lodge are clearly the superior team
We are
fortunate that the convention system, with all its faults, could turn up a ticket like
Nixon-Lodge. 11
RN & Anti-Semitism (2)
George Sokolsky says "A whispering campaign is being paid for in large cities
with Jewish populations that Richard Nixon is an anti-Semite. Those who spread this
story are liars. No Quaker is an anti-Semite. Furthermore, Nixon's entire career
-3-
is evidence of his breadth of view on questions of race and religion. This story goes
back to the days when Nixon was a member of Congress, fighting the Communists
When he ran against Helen Gahagan Douglas
and trounced her, he brought down on
his head the maledictions of the Liberals. Helen Gahagan Douglas was one of their
queens and she was believed to be a sure-in when Nixon destroyed her political career.
Thus, he had against him the combined strength of the Communists and the Liberals
who have never forgiven him
It was the Communist-Liberal attack on Nixon in the
1952 campaign that made him an unusual figure in American politics. Now these same
forces are at work, particularly in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Their lies
are not so easily handled, because they deal not with facts but with emotions
Those
who spread tales that Richard Nixon or, for that matter, John Kennedy, is an anti-
Semite are not friends of Jews. They are liars."
Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias also comments on this matter in a lengthy letter
to the editor of the New York Herald Tribune. His particular reason for writing the
letter was in reference to comments that Joe Alsop quoted in his column on the Jewish
vote. Admiral Zacharias says "As an 'independent' and one who has devoted almost
fifty years of his life working for or promoting our national security, I am interested
in facts. I, too, admire the capabilities of Adlai Stevenson and the splendid work of
Chester Bowles in India
But I also know that 'Distrust of Nixon' stems from false
smear propaganda subsequent to and resulting from Nixon's successful campaign against
Helen Gahagan Douglas
As your district intelligence officer in California during
1938-'39-'40, I attended or was represented at meetings of the Communist party, the
German-American Bund, the Silver Shirts, etc. Helen Gahagan Douglas and her hus-
band, Melvin Douglas, were not members of the Communist party. But at a meeting
in San Diego, called and directed by the Communist party leader of Los Angeles
both Mr. and Mrs. Douglas spoke and sat on the stage with this individual
Like so
many 'do-gooders,' misguided people become involved in the aspirations of those who
do not have the interests of our country at heart
When Mr. Nixon, in his effective
efforts against Communist advances, spoke out against the ill-advised associations of
his opponent, he was interested in the future security of his country as well as his
own election. His handling of Mr. Khrushchev surpasses that of anyone to date and
well testifies to his ability. Our future depends upon the elimination of the threat of
nuclear war. Our future welfare can be assured only by experience and maturity.
-4-
There is no question of Mr. Nixon's growth under the vast responsibilities of the past
seven years. Therefore, if the voting public, through inspired propaganda, allow
themselves to be deprived of these qualities in the White House, when the crash comes
they will recall that the cemetery of history is filled with the graves of nations who
made their decision too late. 11
Kennedy (3)
Congress - Medical Care Plan
Both the Chicago Daily News and Tribune took Walter Lippmann to task this
morning in connection with his statements on the medical care bill.
Chicago Daily News: "(Lippmann) adopts the basic misrepresentation
that the
Social Security system is 'insurance.' It is not. Social Security taxes are hardly
different from any other. The money is spent as it comes in. Social Security bene-
fits are paid out of current government revenue; they are subject to no contract but
are constantly being jiggled by Congress. This is not 'insurance' by any rational
definition
The label, however, makes the benefits more palatable. They become a
'right' distributed to everybody, rather than merely to those who can prove they need
help
The federal dollars, however, meet the desire of liberals that more and more
activities be financed by the graduated federal income tax. It is somewhat ironic that
these people in general favored placing medical care under the Social Security system,
where half the payroll tax falls on the worker. The difference is that once the prin-
ciple is established, it becomes easy to press each year for increased benefits
as
is done with the retirement annuity, without fighting the entire battle over again. Many
of the applications for medical care which Illinois welfare officials now reject come
from elderly persons who are being cared for by relatives. The children or other kin
generally prompt the aid application, fearing a protracted expense that would tax their
own resources. To the extent that the new legislation in its final form would enable
the state to accept more such people, it should be entitled Aid to the Peace of Mind
of Relatives of the Medically Indigent. 11
Chicago Tribune: "Senator Kennedy has an explanation to offer for the sad show-
ing he has made in the rump session of Congress
Walter Lippmann
who supports
Kennedy, has taken the same tack. Mr. Lippmann concludes that the inability of the
Democrats to put over what he calls a 'positive' type of federal medicine stems from
I
-5-
the fact 'that ours is a Presidential system of government.' That is, Mr. Eisenhower,
by putting on a false face, can scare down 66 Senate Democrats
This, of course,
is nonsense, and President Eisenhower recited the facts in first grade terms at his
news conference
How would Mr. Kennedy in the White House be any more success-
ful than Mr. Kennedy in the Senate
If Kennedy cannot carry 19 Conservative Demo-
cratic senators with him now, what further power could he exercise over them if he
were President? If he is balked now by
Rep. Howard Smith
what impels Kennedy
or Lippmann to believe that Smith and his associates would be any softer touches if
Kennedy gained the White House?"
New York Post: "We question whether the threat of a Presidential veto was the
real reason for the debacle. For one thing, it reminds us of the lame excuse that
(Senator Johnson)
frequently offered for his non-support of crucial legislation in the
civil rights area. And that brings up the Democratic leadership's excuse for rejecting
civil rights action in this special session
Thus Sen. Kennedy, assisted by Mr.
Johnson, has struck out two out of three times in the session. He did get his mini-
mum wage bill passed
but the measure has yet to get by the Dixiecrat chairman of
the House Rules Committee
It may not look as good in its final form as it did when
it was hailed, properly, as a Kennedy victory. President Eisenhower
said that
Kennedy had only the Democrats to blame. This is an over-simplification that exoner-
ates the Republicans from responsibility
But Ike may not be entirely off base. The
question of who is running the Democratic ball game and why more Southern Democratic
votes weren't rounded up for the party's program provides interesting food for gloomy
thought. 11
Comment on the Session to Date
Wash. Post: "The sooner that Congress finishes the necessary conferences and
adjourns, the sooner members can get down to the serious matter of political cam-
paigning that has preoccupied everyone's attention anyhow
The session has scarcely
added to anyone's political luster. It may have impaired Senator Kennedy's efforts
more than Vice President Nixon's
A short session before the elections does not
afford a fair test of the sincerity of either party with respect to its platform pledges.
Nor does it give an accurate measure of the ability of a new Administration to enlist
the cooperation of Congress."
WSJ: "Unfortunately for Messrs. Johnson and Kennedy, the best laid plans of
-6-
politicians sometimes go awry.
Now Senator Kennedy has declared that he's for
cutting the session short and going home just as fast as possible. And perhaps, as
if it were needed, this is the final evidence that all those 'pressing' bills are not
really very pressing after all. 11
William S. White: "The Democratic Presidential ticket has been injured, at least
theoretically, by the comparative failure of the bob-tailed session of Congress now
drawing angrily toward its close. It would be a great mistake, however, to bet very
much that this injury is necessarily real or enduring
The Kennedy-Johnson slate
can be reckoned to have been badly damaged only if one assumes the Democratic con-
vention platform was politically a poor one in the first place. For the impression
left by this session is not solely one of the inability of Kennedy and Johnson to bring
off legislation they wanted. An equally strong impression has been that of two young
men frustrated in their efforts to implement a part of that platform by "Old Guard'
Southern Democrats and Republicans. This will be seen as a good coalition, if a
majority of the country turns up in a more or less conservative frame of mind. But
if a majority turns up in a more or less liberal mood, Kennedy and Johnson will then
be seen as the victims of stuffy, bad old conservatives
In a word, nothing basic
has changed very much. 11
Charles Lucey in the Wash. Daily News: "The current
session of Congress
has become chiefly a salvage operation todayfor
Kennedy
Johnson and the Demo-
crats generally
The Democrats' own members from the South had cut up the 1960
standard-bearers as badly as had the Republicans
The session has added no luster
to Sen. Kennedy as party leader
Sen. Kennedy has discovered it is one thing to get
a liberal platform adopted
quite another to get his party to do much about it in
Congress
Many Democrats are convinced they are being damaged increasingly every
day longer the session runs. They want Jack Kennedy out over the country in the
glory-boy role
The Democrats believe the light that will shine thru over all is of
Jack Kennedy fighting a great battle for the issues the people want. "
Rowland Evans says that Kennedy has called for a depressed areas conference
in West Virginia starting Sept. 19. "The Democratic nominee whose legislative pro-
gram for the special session of Congress is now in disarray, will pattern the West
Virginia conference along lines of the twelve-state farm conference
Some of Sen.
Kennedy's advisers are convinced that the economic situation is coming more to the
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fore as a potential significant election issue
The Senator
is counting on adjourn-
ment of Congress and the start of serious campaigning by the middle of next week
Both the Senator himself, it may be said, and his running mate, Sen
Johnson
are
panting to end the session as soon as possible. They want nothing more than to move
the political spotlight away from Washington and out on the hustings. 11
Religious Issue
Chicago Tribune has a headline this AM reading "Kennedy Gets a Protestant
Answer Man. 11
Rowland Evans (see above) commenting on this says "The Senator let it be
known yesterday that from now on he would be prepared to answer in writing any
question about Catholic theology."
In a second article on the editorial page of the NYHT, Evans sums up his
impressions of his visit to Iowa. "The signs
point to another Republican victory.
Hog prices are holding firm, employment is reaching up, industry is expanding.
Although farmers may be generally unhappy and disgruntled with the Republicans, they
haven't yet cottoned to Senator Kennedy
The religious issue, an honest report must
say, is engaging the attention of politicians out here fully as much as the so-called
'farm vote.
I
Politicians of both parties are convinced as of today that Sen. Kennedy's
religion will play some part in the outcome (in the Midwest). 11
The WSJ, in its weekly Washington wire: "Anti-Catholic rumbling scares Kennedy
into hurried counterattack. Kennedy changes plans, slates quick post-Labor Day swing
into Oklahoma, Texas where anti-papal talk mounts rapidly. The plan: Squash reli-
gious attacks fast by once again pledging church-state division. Task force of lay
leaders will get local pastors to denounce religious prejudice; they'll rebut anti-Catholic
letters to editors, arm local campaigners with Kennedy's answers. 11
Comment on Kennedy's Speeches
Alexandria
Wash. Post: "With a good deal of what Senator Kennedy said.
at Alexandria
about the erosion of American prestige, this newspaper agrees. But when the Demo-
cratic nominee sought to attribute personal responsibility to Vice President Nixon for
every setback since the Korean war, he engaged in the same sort of distortion that his
colleagues so often attribute to the Republicans
Mr. Nixon has indeed been a member
of the National Security Council, but the fact is that he has presided at only 27 regular
-8-
weekly meetings and 2 special meetings out of several hundred
Mr. Kennedy would
do himself more credit if he would rein in a bit on the hyperbole. 11
New York Daily News: "John F. Kennedy declaimed that Nixon, as Vice
President, has had much experience with 'weakness, retreat and defeat.' Sen. Kennedy
exaggerated
The Eisenhower Administration has done no major retreating and
suffered no defeats, up to now at least, in Lebanon, the Formosa Strait, or West
Berlin. Nor did Gen. Eisenhower send regrets to Khrushchev.
Nevertheless,
Kennedy has something of a point. For one thing, the late Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles
for some reason neglected to purge the State Department of a lot of
pinks, queers and persons suspected of being Communists
These characters have
managed to weaken U.S. foreign policy in several areas. For another thing, Gen.
Eisenhower
has been and is too willing even anxious to talk things over with the
Russians under any circumstances
For almost two years, the Administration has
been humbly trying to wheedle Moscow into agreeing to drop nuclear weapon tests
As Vice President, Mr. Nixon of course could not have countermanded any of these
Eisenhower decisions. But Nixon is on his own now
and he will be his own boss if
he becomes President. It seems to us that Nixon would be wise to repudiate these
two weaknesses of the Eisenhower Administration (and any others he may know of),
make some firm campaign promises to clean up the State Department and turn few if
any other cheeks to Khrushchev. 11
Farm Speech
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Senator Kennedy owes the country a more comprehen-
sive farm program than merely trying to stick Vice President Nixon with Secretary
Benson
It is true that Mr. Nixon has supported Benson policies in the past, and
that he owes the country a full explanation of how he now differs with them, as he says
he does. But it is not enough for Senator Kennedy to play upon emotions by associa-
ting Mr. Benson with 'disaster' and Mr. Nixon with Mr. Benson. Nor is it enough
for him to say in ringing tones that he stands foursquare on the Democratic farm
plank, because the platform itself is none too specific on how it proposes to bring
about a glad new day for American farmers. 11
Will Muller in the Detroit News: "A couple of holes in the rigid control, high
support price formula should be apparent to Midwest farmers, few of whom can stay
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in business these days without at least a bachelor of science degree
It is unfortun-
ate that Senator Kennedy spent SO much time booting the prostrate body of Agriculture
Secretary Ezra Benson that he was unable to go into detail.
He's probably waiting
to see what kind of a 1960 model
Nixon is going to offer
It would seem there is
more hazard than profit in tinkering with the farmer for both Kennedy and Nixon. In
the old days, the peddler with a pouch full of brass watches used to take care to work
a community only once. The political medicine men have been hitting the farm circuit
with high voltage snake oil ever since 1932. Those same pains persist in the area of
the farmer's pocket. The last salesman to make a killing was Harry S. Truman
Since then the farmers have been reduced to 8 per cent of the population--each one
with a mighty cross dog. 11
Bobby Kennedy
The New York Post reports on Bobby Kennedy's activities while in New York.
"(Bobby)said heatedly that Gov. Patterson of Alabama must be met. Almost a year
ago: Sen. Kennedy did talk over breakfast with Gov. Patterson
'but he hasn't sold
out to get Southern votes'. 11 Concerning Jackie Robinson, Bobby is quoted as saying,
"I think it is unfortunate, his connection with the Chock Full o' Nuts organization,
which is non-union. Robinson was charged before the NLRB
and it was partly sup-
ported by the NLRB, that he used his race to defeat a union shop there. 11 The Post
quotes Jackie Robinson as replying to Bobby with the following: "If the younger Kennedy
is going to resort to lies, then I can see what kind of a campaign this is going to
be. I don't see at all where my company has anything at all to do with his brother's
having had breakfast with the head of the White Citizens Councils and the racist Gover-
nor of Alabama. I think if he's going to resort to this kind of issue, it's going to
have to reflect in the voting. It certainly makes me more determined to do everything
I can as an individual in opposition to a man whose campaign manager resorts to these
tactics.' On the labor relations matter, Robinson said: 'This is something that happened
in 1957 and the charges were brought up by the head of a union local who has since
been indicted for alleged illegal activities. 111
LBJ (4)
Joe Alsop: "It is a fair bet that the unproductive special session now grinding to
its close has had almost no influence at all on the political prospects of either party.
But it is clear that both parties' prospects have been strongly influenced by what has
-10-
not been happening in the South
Few major political events have produced practical
effects which were so widely misinterpreted or misunderstood
Despite contrary
claims, Johnson's vice presidential nomination has not conciliated the rank and file of
Southern voters
Johnson's nomination has not enraged the northern Negro voters
The effect of the Johnson nomination has been to give the Democrats a fair shot at
the 38 electoral votes of Texas and North Carolina; to improve the Democrats' hopes
for the 29 electoral votes of Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma; and to make it pos-
sible, though unlikely, that the Democrats will pick up Virginia's 12 electoral votes.
Because of the platform and the religious issue
the Democrats may yet take a bad
licking in the South. But what may be called the Johnson effect remains highly sig-
nificant. 11
The Cincinnati Enquirer comments on Senator Johnson's speech to the National
Association of Letter Carriers. "Senator Lyndon Johnson has been around Washington
long enough to know that the Federal Government is not the sole source of all the good
things in life
He charged that Republicans Morget the people' between elections
His point was that we'd all be better off if Democrats held the White House as firmly
as they hold Capitol Hill. The kindest thing one can say of Mr. Johnson's performance
is that he was making a campaign speech
Surely, he knew that within the week
before he spoke the Commerce Department reported personal income
reached a
record level last year
Going back a bit farther, personal income has gone up 65%
since 1952 while the consumer price index has advanced a shade over 10%. This is
real prosperity, not the boot-strap variety generated by government handouts, 11
Foreign Comment (5)
Bernard Ridder, writing in the St, Paul Pioneer Press from Paris: "The nom-
ination of Senator Kennedy has caused wonder and surprise. On every hand we are
asked to explain why, in a time of crisis, the Democratic party should turn from its
tried and trusted leaders to an inexperienced and mercuric politician
Nixon is known,
liked and trusted, and it is believed that he has served eight useful years in prepara-
tion for the presidency. His bold and uncompromising resistance to Khrushchev
are
not forgotten. Much doubt exists, however, in the case of Sen. Kennedy. The Euro-
pean newspapers have been distrubed by the refusal of ex-President Truman to attend
the convention, and have been alarmed by the frank statement that Kennedy is too
-11-
immature and not ready for the presidency
Anti-Kennedy sentiment was climaxed
by the extraordinary and stupid remark of Kennedy that Eisenhower should have apol-
ogized to Khrushchev
It creates concern because any indication of appeasement on
our part causes intense anxiety in Europe
Chester Bowles (is) an entirely unknown
personage in Europe."
Eddie Gilmore, writing from Rome on the opening of the Olympic Games:
"Americans shared a never-to-be forgotten moment in the Olympic stadium
when
thousands of foreigners went nuts at the sight of the Stars and Stripes and the United
States Olympic team
This spontaneous demonstration seemed to justify lend lease,
the Marshall plan and all of the millions that American taxpayers have poured into
other parts of the world
'My God, : gasped a woman, 'what's happened? They
don't hate us. They love us.' And as the young Americans swung smartly around the
great stadium, they were cheered and cheered and cheered
The Russians came a
few minutes later. The applause was polite - - but nothing more. In volume, only the
applause for the Italians topped the Americans."
Polls (6)
Gallup reports on the attitude of voters toward the platform promises, The
results are that fewer than half of the voters believe that either the Democrats of the
Republicans are likely to keep these promises.
Chicago Sun-Times comments editorially on the results of the Prairie Farmer
Magazine poll conducted at the Illinois State Fair which gave RN 58.7% of the votes of
2, 390 farm owners and operators and their wives from 90 counties. Four years ago
a similar poll gave Eisenhower 61.5%. "Nixon's strong showing among farmers was a
surprise to those who have been following farm sentiment
If the poll is representa-
tive, it indicates that while Sec. of Agriculture Benson may be unpopular with farmers
generally, his unpopularity has not rubbed off on Nixon. Perhaps Benson's pre-con-
vention endorsement of Rockefeller and Nixon's disassociation with Benson have helped
Nixon
The PrairierFarmer poll indicates the Illinois farmer hasn't been bought by
Kennedy's promises, yet, nor driven away from his traditional Republicanism by Ben-
son. In fact, it is possible to find some farmers who agree that Benson has been
right all along but has been unable to get the Democratic Congress to give his views
a fair trial."