• U.S.

National Affairs: The Dewey Headline

2 minute read
TIME

Whenever Nelson Rockefeller hits the road to campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Vice President Richard Nixon, his archrival, invariably drops a barbed headline. During Rocky’s Western tour the announcement was made, with exquisite timing, of the formation in Rocky’s own New York State of a Nixon Club, with many of President Eisenhower’s closest friends as members. Last week, with Rocky in the Midwest, Nixon did it again. At a big Washington Christmas party given by the Nixons, New York Lawyer Thomas E. Dewey, a surprise guest, turned up jauntily, mingled with the high-ranking guests, and started tongues wagging. Afterward, Dewey and Mrs. Dewey were widely noted guests at dinner in the Statler Hilton Hotel, with the Nixons and Attorney General Bill Rogers and his wife. And on Saturday, despite chilling temperatures, Dewey and Nixon played golf together at Burning Tree.

All Washington looked for the hidden significance of the Dewey visit. As a former New York Governor, Tom Dewey could hardly come out formally against Rockefeller, his incumbent successor. But he is still the Vice President’s longtime friend and sometime political cicerone. Best Washington analysis: Dewey’s visit was an unofficial but undisguised blessing for Dick Nixon and his candidacy.

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