Evening star., 1960-10-16


didateS, Senator J. Strom Thur
mond Of South Carolina and
Fielding Wright Of Mississippi.
In 1914 opponents Of a fourth
term for Franklin D. Roosevelt
talked in several Southern States
of movement to '"free" the
Electoral College of any real or
assumed obligation to go down
the straight party line. That
movement got nowhere. It has
gained ground in recent years
especially in State legislatures
that specifically ruled they should
be unbound and unpledged.
-
To Prevent Unanimous Vote
This first happened in 1921
when William j. Plumer, an elec-
tor from New Hampshire, pumped
for John Quincy Adams so that
James Monroe would not have
a unanimous vote. He presum-
ably thought George Washington.
alone should have that distinction
but he also wanted to bring
Adams to public notice as presi-
Dental timber later.
Such political independence or
personal stubborness has been
rare. 1t might happen this year
but probably in comparatively
few instances. A Southern bolt
of huge proportions from the
Democratic ticket seems much,
less likely now than it did i'm
mediately after the Los Angeles
convention last July. ''
If States such as Virginia,
Florida and Texas go against the
Kennedy johnson ticket they
probably will go for the Nixon
Lodge ticket. It is doubtful they
would rally behind any third
party such as the 1948 Dixiecrats
- who failed to defeat President
Truman. or the Progressive Party
that supported former Vice Presi-,
dent Henry A. Wallace that year
without carrying any State.
In this connection, it is i'm
portant to remember that a bare
majority of States popular vote
for either presidential candidate
gives him the States entire elec-.
toral vote-unlesS individual elec-
tors jump over.
Virginia, for example, has a
Conservative party that hoped
unsuccessfully to sponsor Senator's
Byrd, Democrat of Virginia, and.
Goldwater, Republican of Arizona,
for a ticket. Its candidates are :,
C. benton Coiner and Edward ].
Silverman. Similarly Conserv-
ative party in New Jersey nomin-.
ated Senators Goldwater and
Thurmond.
Georgions UnpIedged
Georgia voters decided last
month by a majority of about,
10000 that the States IL electors
remain unpledged. Under State
law, however, they were unbound q.
in any event. But 10 of the 10
have personally promised to vote
for Senators Kennedy and john
son.
The Texas Democratic State
convention last month voted re-
placements for two Democratic
electoral candidates who said
they would not vote for Senator
Kennedy. Florida Democratic
candidates for State Offices are
running on platform of their
own because they dislike the
Democratic national PLATFORM
But practically all of them have
announced they will vote for the
Democratic national ticket. There
seems little likelihood that any
great number of Democratic elec-
tors in that State or elsewhere
throughout the South will vote
for the Republican national
ticket.
The dispute as to whether an
Electoral College aSpirant or
member has a moral, political or
any kind of other obligation to
vote loyalty for nominees of his
party is as old as the college itself.
The poet James Russell Lowell,
as a Republican elector from
Massachusetts, in 1876, resisted
pleas to switch from Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes to Democrat
Samuel Tilden. He was urged to
do that because the fiercely dis
puted presidential election might
cause another civil war. He in
sisted he was chosen as an elector
as a party representative rather j.,
than as an individual.
This attitude was so strong that
in 1872, for instance, Democratic
electors from three States cast
their votes for Horace Greeley on :
the very day of his funeral.
Membership Qualification
This wasn't the original idea
at all. An Electoral College men,
Der was enviSioned by the Found
ing Fathers as a fountainhead Of
Judgment and diScernment rather
than as party f1gurehead. S.,
A lot can be said for the Elec. :
toral College which incidentally
was not officially known by that
name until 1845. In fact, a lot
was said and written eloquently
and effectively, especially by Alex
ander Hamilton in THE Federal
ist." He did not hesitate to affirm
that if the manner devised for
electing the President and Vice
President) is not perfect it at least
is excellent"
1T is equally desirable" he
stated, that the immediate cleo
ton should be made by men most 4
capable of analyzing the qualities ,
adapted to the station, and acting =
under circumstances favorable to
deliberation and to a judicious