Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-10-12
KennedyCaIIs
JAW Bu|wark
Of Liberalism

ATLANTIC CITY. N. j.. Oct.
~ (AP) The United Auto
Workers convention today gave
Senator Kennedy, Democrat
of Massachusetts, a noisily en-
thusiastic reception and cheered
his declaration that the JAW
is a basic bulwark" OF the
progressive liberal movement in
this country.
1T come to you as friend OF
labor" Senator Kennedy said.
IT have never apologized for
that friendship and don't in
tend to start today"
The Senator was invited to
address the convention as one
of the leading possibilities for
the Democratic presidential
nomination in 1860. He made
no direct mention of his pos
sible candidacy, but commented
on handbills distributed at the
Convention Hall entrance sug-
costing Walter P. Reuther,
JAW president. as a presiden-
tial candidate.
st think he would do very
we'll" Senator Kennedy told the
. applauding delegates.
Statement in January
Later, at news conference.
Senator Kennedy said he would
make known his presidential
intentions in January.
The Senator told the con-
vention he had no apology for
his record in Congress on labor
legislation. He declared. "The
labor movement was not let
down by it's friends; it did not
have enough friends" !
He said James r. Hoffa,
Z amster president, may not
approve of me-" but he said he
had no apology to make for
earning such hostility.
Senator Kennedy declared
the Republicans put in the Ia
Dor reform bill many features
intended to weaken the rights
of honest unions and not
aimed at racketeers.
Kennedy Cheered
The convention also cheered
the Senator's statement, II am
unalterably opposed on both
the Federal and State level to
So-called right-to-work laws"
Senator Kennedy said the
JAW and Mr.. Reuther have
"the vision without which the
people of the world will perish"
"You have maintained the
vision" Senior Kennedy said.
seven during these years Of
cold war. despite all the deep
divisions of the world, despite
the worst errors and terrors OF
Stalinism because yours was
never a soft or naive vision.
american labor learned early
from hard experience the ma
ture of the Communist move
ment at home and abroad. You
in the JAW. were in the fore
front of those alerting this
country to the dangers OF world
communism.
'Reuther Understood"
walter Reuther from first
hand experience working in
the Soviet Union in the early
1905 understood the dynamic
nature and the aggressive pos
sibilities of this new adversary
of the West. But he and the
JAW never succumbed to the
recent habit of too many
Americans becoming so pre-
occupied with the Kremlin's
next move that we become
paralyzed, as if hypnotized by
a cobra"
Senator Kennedy spoke
mostly 90 the cuff. In his pre-
pared remarks he said this
country would not be tagging
behind Russia if it had raised
its economic sights to what Mr..
Reuther proposed nine years
ago. He praised what he called
the JAW chiefs bold pro-
gram for international collabo-
ration in ending world pow
erty."
Two other Democratic presi-
Dental possibilities, Senator
Symington, Democrat of Mis-
sour and Senator Humphrey,
Democrat of Minnesota, will
appear before the convention
later this week.
Third Party Opposed
The convention declared yes
terday that both the Demo-
cratic and Republican Parties
need an overhaul-"if the pres
ent two-party system is to oper-
ate more effectively in the pub
liz interest -
While the IL million member
JAW went on record in it's
political action program against
formation of a new major party,
a few delegates advocated such
a move.
Leonard Woodcock, JAW vice
president, urged delegates not
to let their Illustration. resent
ment and bitterness" over legis-
lative defeats in Democratic
controlled Congress lead them
into a third party.
Winters to Speak
On Youth Control