St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-12-16

imitation of Eisenhower Republ
No one here has any doubt
given to the new President by
friends of Lyndon B. johnson, If
not johnson himself. Certain col
umnists who are regarded as re-
flecting the johnson viewpoint
have burst into print with all
lsorts Of gratuitous advice to Ken
nedy.
Summed up, it was simply:
Don't listen to the advanced lib
erals"
That phrase advanced liberals"
is supposed to be absolutely devas-
tating rhetoric.
However, it was Sen. Harry F.
Byrd Of Virginia who chose to
throw down the gauntlet to Ken
nedy. He defied the Senate hber-
ais to kick him out as chairman
of the powerful Senate Finance
Committee, which has proved to
be the graveyard of important Soc
ial legislation since the mid-30s.
Byrd's pretext for bringing the
fight out in the open was a plea
by Sen. Joseph Clark ID. Pa,
to his acknowledgements, that they
denote from the craftsmanship
those who failed to support" the
national ticket.
Since Sen. Jim Eastland Of Miss
issippi did give verbal support to
the national ticket, 1t was reason
able Of Byrd to assume that he
was the man Clark had in mind.
Why Byrd chose to wrap him
self in a mantle of martydom is
unclear. But what Is clear Is that
he wants to rally the nations con-
servatives around him. If the Sen
ate liberals should insist on I'M
seating him as chairman of the
Finance Committee, Byrd would
replace Sen. Barry Goldwater as
the hero of the right-wing.
Since heroics is not something
usually associated with economic
die-hards, suspect that there Is
something more behind the Byrd
maneuver.
NO MANDATE" AND NO
IMAGE" - What's going on, I
believe, is a concerted effort to
destroy the powers of the Presi-
dent-elect before he takes office.
Because of the practically even
popular electoral division the con-
servatives think they have a better
than $3.50 chance of succeeding.
The first propaganda move on
the part of the right-wing was to
say the returns prove there Is mo
mandate" for important domestic
social welfare legislation.
Now the Byrds and their associ-
ates are going a step further.
They are saying, not too subtly
either, that Kennedy does not
believe any Of the Democratic cam
paign oratory or adhere to the
planks of the Los Angeles plat
form.
This is how they are trying to
destroy the Kennedy image:
A story is circulating here, put
out by Byrd's friends, that Ken
nedy and johnson paid a call on
the Virginia solon not long after
the nominating convention. They
wanted Byrd's support, so the
story goes. But Byrd countered
with long harangue on the parts
of the platform to which he OBJ
jected.
He concentrated much of his
fire on a plank that was close to
the heart of the trade union move
ment, that is, the platform pledge
to work for repeal of the so-called
right to work" laws. Besides
Byrd, Kennedy and Johnson, Sen.
Smathers of Florida was also said
to have been present at the con-
ference.
Arthur Krock of The New York
Times makes this flat assertion:
Senator Kennedy, with the con-
currence OF his running-mate and
in the presence also Of Sen. Smath-
ers of Florida, then informed Byrd
that the Administration would not
include the repeal in its legisla-
tive program.
Byrd, so the story goes, then
decided not to attack the national
ticket as he did four years earlier.
He simply did not support 1t this
year.
There is a big argument now as
to whether this pledge was ever
given Byrd or not. The only way
that argument really will be re-
solved is to see what the Senate
Democrats do about honoring the
"right-to-work" plank and also
whether Byrd's powers are trim
med, or not.
1t seems fruitless for the Demo-