Nation: The Pugilists

The normally cherubic face of Indiana’s Republican Senator Homer Capehart, 65, turned an angry red. His big fists grasped the lapels of his Democratic Senate opponent, sturdy Birch Bayh Jr., 34. Growled Capehart: “Don’t try to get away.” Snapped Bayh: “Take your hands off me.” The performance was a bit too competitive, even for the Indianapolis Athletic Club, and an onlooker rushed in to prevent a fist fight.

The cause of the quarrel was Democrat Bayh’s belligerent drive to prevent Capehart from becoming the first Hoosier ever to serve four terms in the Senate. The specific incitement was an issue which seems likely to stir emotions of candidates —and voters—from now until November. The issue: Communist Cuba, and what to do about it.

“Send the Marines.” In Washington, Capehart has been as pugnacious about Cuba as any member of the Senate. As a member of the Latin American subcommittee of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, he has advocated direct U.S. intervention in Cuba. On the stump back home, he urges a naval blockade against Communist arms in the Caribbean, then adds: “If a blockade doesn’t work, send in the Marines.”

Democrat Bayh (pronounced by), former Speaker of the Indiana House, angrily denounces Capehart as a “warmonger.” Capehart, he charges, is “playing politics with the blood of American boys and the safety of American homes.” Bayh supports the Kennedy Administration argument that Castro may collapse from economic chaos, cites the Kennedy pledge that action will be taken against any aggressive attempt to export Communism from the island. Bayh’s argument is sometimes effective. Acidly commented one farmer: “Sure, let Homer call for an invasion; we’ll all follow him when he yells ‘charge’ and hits the beach.”

Just a few weeks ago, almost everyone conceded that Capehart, a farm-born Hoosier who became a millionaire phonograph manufacturer before his election to the Senate in 1944, was a cinch to be reelected. Everyone, that is, but Bayh, who has been campaigning furiously in a white station wagon equipped with fancy gear for making newspaper photo mats and television tapes. Also born on a farm, Bayh was president of his 1951 class at Purdue University, earned a law degree from Indiana U., was elected to the state legislature in 1954, owns a 340-acre farm near Terre Haute. Admits Capehart: “If we don’t work we could get beat.”

Who’s a Liar? Capehart is working. Last week he abandoned Washington to campaign in his bull-like voice, beat a fist into a palm, and roar: “There’s a hundred ships loaded with Russian equipment on the high seas heading for Cuba. This nation had better act.” At a Sigma Delta Chi luncheon at the Indianapolis Athletic Club, the candidates clashed headon. Bayh claimed that Capehart had drawn $250,000 in federal benefits on his own farming operation while “trying to reduce the income of farmers,” and that he had “deliberately violated” the rules of a Senate briefing on Cuba by disclosing that Kennedy planned to ask power to mobilize 150,000 reservists. “I was not present,” interrupted Capehart. “I didn’t know what was said.” “You certainly did know; you breached the security of the briefings,” barked Bayh. “You’re deliberately calling me a liar!” shouted Capehart.

Except for the difference in age, it might have been interesting if they had come to blows. Capehart, although pretty pudgy now, was an Army boxing champion in World War I. Bayh was light heavyweight champ at Purdue.