Massachusetts: The Last Brahmin

Leverett Saltonstall went to Harvard and was ninth in his line to become Governor of Massachusetts. Edward Brooke went to Howard and is descended from slaves. It was symptomatic of the liberalization of Massachusetts’ social and political mores that when Saltonstall decided last week to retire from the U.S. Senate in a year’s time, the Negro state attorney general made a strong bid to become the first of his race to sit in the upper house since Reconstruction. Republican Brooke, who is not even a Bay State native, has already attracted wide support for the nomination.

From his tweeds to his twang, Saltonstall is every inch a Brahmin—the last of the Massachusetts species in high elective office. Tall and erect, with the kind of homeliness that radiates integrity, Salty is famed among Senate colleagues for the Bostonian virtues of unfailing courtesy and caution. On one occasion, when asked by a reporter for his opinion on a foreign policy issue, the taciturn Senator replied: “No comment, and that’s off the record.”

Sloop Trim. In public office for 44 of the past 46 years—six as Governor and 21 as Senator—Saltonstall reflected the Brahmin’s distaste for the spectacular and the controversial. But few men have worked harder or more competently in the public interest.

Salty could almost certainly have won another term in November. Though at 73 he is still as trim as the sloop he sails on Maine’s Penobscot Bay, he decided that he might not be able to serve another six years with all the “zeal, ability and conscientiousness” he demanded of himself. A onetime hockey player and junior varsity oarsman, he returned in 1964 to Britain’s Henley Regatta with other hale members of the Harvard ’14 crew that had won the Grand Challenge Cup 50 years earlier. Asked by a young newsman last week if he was feeling his years, Salty beamed: “I’ll take you on any time.” He probably could.

Normal Turmoil. Equally capable of a lively scrap is Attorney General Brooke, who was the first to go after the nomination. Unlike most successful Negro politicians, who owe their election to predominantly Negro constituencies, Ed Brooke, 46, led the G.O.P. ticket in 1962 and 1964 in a state with a Negro population of under 3% .

Although Brooke is the man to beat, his nomination is by no means certain. Among other possible contenders are Governor John Volpe, Lieut. Governor Elliot Richardson, and Representatives Bradford Morse and Silvio Conte.

Saltonstall’s impending exit raised the value of the Democratic Senate nomination. The Democrats already have a lively competition going for the gubernatorial slot with Edward McCormack, House Speaker John McCormack’s nephew, squaring off against Kenny O’Donnell, a longtime Kennedy aide who recently moved back to Boston. Now, with two choice spots open—Democrats consider Volpe vulnerable, while Saltonstall was not—the candidate population will swell. Mayor John Collins of Boston is expected to try for the Senate. Former Governor Endicott Peabody and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman John Driscoll are other possibilities.

Nor, for that matter, would anyone be surprised if Larry O’Brien suddenly decided that being a U.S. Senator was more fun than being Postmaster General. In any event, Massachusetts politics was in its customary turmoil.