National Affairs: Poor Man’s Candidate

With no drums and tramplings, Kentucky’s Senator Alben Barkley hit the road. Accompanied by only two aides, the 70-year-old Democratic candidate for Vice President made little leaps around the East by airline, train, and rented car. His knee was stiff and he was suffering from a cold (which he doctored with drugstore pills), but he kept at it.

He spoke in hotel dining rooms and town halls, from jerry-built platforms and trailer trucks. He gave no impression of a man seeking office for himself. He put his biggest effort into giving the state ticket a boost.

His themes were the “do-nothing” record of the Both Congress, the gains of labor and agriculture during 16 years of Democratic Administration. At Georgetown, Del., he reminded some 300 farmers that the county’s farm income had gone from $4,000,000 in 1932 to $85 million last year. Roared Barkley: “I don’t claim it was all due to the Democratic Administration but it certainly wasn’t due to the Republicans.”

Reporters dubbed him “the poor man’s candidate.” He addressed 400 A.F.L. unionists in Bridgeport, Conn., the annual convention of the United Hebrew Trades in Atlantic City, a Liberal Party meeting in New York. In Worcester, Mass, he lit into Dewey’s statement on atomic energy: “Someone should point out to the governor of New York that it was the ‘dead hand’ of Government which created the atomic bomb.” His good temper was unfailing. Asked by New Haven reporters if he thought the ticket was going to win, he retorted with a grin: “Certainly. What do you think I’m running around for?”