Politics: In Full Swing

Was it a sight? Was it a sound? Was it a scent? It was all these, and more. It was a national state of mind. For suddenly the 1962 political campaigns were in full swing. With primaries in Massachusetts and conventions in New York, the nominees had been chosen in nearly all the nation’s major races. Now the candidates jostled and shouted. Now challenges for TV debates fluttered through the air like autumn leaves. Now came the inevitable pictures of politicians with Indians—or factory workers, or coal miners, or bathing beauties. Now the members of Congress, grinding toward adjournment, looked fretfully toward their home fronts. And now the President of the U.S. took to the stump in his capacity as party leader.

Teddy’s Brother. President Kennedy was in fine political fettle. He and Jackie contributed two votes toward an avalanche victory in Massachusetts for Democratic Senate Candidate Teddy Kennedy. Then he flew to Harrisburg to speak—principally for Philadelphia’s ex-Mayor Richardson Dilworth, who is engaged in a bitter fight for Governor against Republican Representative William Scranton.

“I will introduce myself,” the President told some 7,000 Democrats at a $100-a-plate dinner. “I am Teddy Kennedy’s brother.” There was no pretense about this being a “nonpolitical” presidential trip, and Kennedy struck out at Republicans in a fashion reminiscent of 1960. Said he: “If the Republican Party is charged with wanting to return to the past, with opposing nearly every constructive measure we have put forward, then they must plead guilty.

“It was a cold day in January when this Democratic Administration took office; the nation’s engine was idling; we were in our third recession in seven years; nearly five and a half million Americans were out of work-the largest number since World War II.

“All of this was 20 months ago tonight. And were I to tell you tonight that all was well; or were I to say that the Syth Congress had done all the things which we feel must be done, I would be setting my sights too low.

“But the facts of the matter are that progress has been made on every single one of these problems, that the decline in our position has been reversed, and that this country is moving forward again.

“No Congress in recent years has made a record of progress and compassion to match this, and only a Democratic Congress could pass these bills, for they were Democratic bills, sponsored and guided and enacted by Democratic majorities, and in most cases against a near-unanimous opposition of the Republican Party. And that’s why this election is so important.”

Best Chance. Republicans, of course, would disagree—and before November they would have a chance to voice their disagreement in the campaigns for 435 House seats, 39 Senate places and 35 governorships. It is increasingly fashionable to say that elections are decided mostly by personalities and local issues, that a pleasant smile is more important than a staunch philosophy, that a candidate’s stand on sewer bonds outweighs his views on foreign policy. But for all President Kennedy’s rosy description of the nation’s state, the U.S. does face grave problems abroad and at home. It is in the biennial elections that the American voter has his best chance to help solve these problems.