Evening star., 1962-01-21
DEMOCRATS
DEMOCRATS "
5000 Hear Truman Praise Kennedy
AS Vigorous, Brilliant Leader
Continued From Page Al

JdillLleu Cne Ilag-QecKed ar
mory for the $100-a-plate din
ner marking the first anniver-
sary of the Kennedy admin
istration.
Among the 200 guests at the
long head tables on either side
OF the armory were President
and Mrs. Kennedy, Vice Presi-
dent and Mrs. johnson, Speak
er and Mrs. Mccormack, seven
cabinet members and an equal
number of Democratic govern
ors.
Mrs. Kennedy wore a white
satin gown with a bolero top
beaded with sparkling crystals
and pearls.
There was entertainment on
the program, too. Comedian
Danny Thomas, Singer Rose
mary Clooney, Actress Lee
Remick and the Presidents
brother-in-law, Actor Peter
LaWford, came to amuse the
black tie audience.
Rayburn Lauded
Vice President johnson paid
tribute to the late Speaker
Rayburn, praising him as a
man who kept the Democratic
Party forever loyal to old ira
ditionS and forever alert to new
ways to serve social progress
and human freedom"
President Kennedy was
scheduled to deliver an off-the-,
cuff speech at the end of the
rally.
The dinner was expected to
net some $550,00 for the Dem
ocratic Party drive to increase
the pro-Kennedy majorities in
both houses of Congress next
November.
In his speech to the rally,
Mr.. Truman praised the incum-
bent President as a wise, bril-
liant and vigorous" leader. Then
he did his bit to swing public
opinion behind one of Mr.. Ken
nedy's priority legislative prof.
ects, the passage of a broadened
reciprocal trade bill.
The former President began
by recalling that ''it was only
about Is years ago that I went
before the Congress and urged
them to adopt the Marshall
Plan-a plan to give $12 billion
OF our goods and supplies to
keep Europe from collapsing."
Eliminate Barriers
Countries which were on the
verge of collapse in 1947," he
noted, "are now uniting to-
gether, eliminating trade bar
riers and moving forward to
ever greater economic strength"
The rapid recovery of Europe,
Mr.. Truman said, has proved
that Lenin and Marx and
Stain and KhruShchev are
wrong. They will not bury us. s
They cannot bury us. When it s
comes to economic growth and
power and higher standards of I
living. the free world will beat
the slave world any time" :
He called on Congress to give +
the President broader powers, 5
both to protect American in
terests and to strengthen the :
trade of the free world" in
order to achieve what he called >
this great breakthrough for q
freedom"
Last nights rally at the S
Armory ended busy day Of d
politicking for the Nations top
ranking Democrats. =
In a morning meeting at the q
Sheraton-Park Hotel, the Dem :
ocratic National Committee q
heard its chairman, John M. +
Bailey, announce plans for an
ambitious organization drive r
aimed at building up the -
party'S precinct strength in ad- :
vance Of the 1862 mid-term
election. =
Mr. Bailey said that Opera \
ton Know-How," as he called t
the drive, will feature a series t
of State and regional meetings 6
at which staff members of the
national committee will give v
county chairmen from across s
the country tips on voter regis +
tration, campaign financing, C
publicity. candidate recruit
ment and organization tech t
niques. +
The goal of the Democratic r
organization effort is to reverse t
the tradition that has seen the r
party in control of the White
House lose seats in Congress in
every off-year election since
1884. a
While announcing the start t
of Operation Know How" Mr.. c
Bailey took a swing at the Re-
publicans for seeking city votes +
while opposing parts of the t
Kennedy program he said would !
solve urban problems. S
The Republican National I
Committee last week adopted t
a report prepared by Ohio G.
o. P. Chairman Ray c. Bliss I
detailing plans for building Re- t
publican organization strength I
in the big cities. t
Mr.. Bailey told the Demo-
cratic meeting yesterday that l
1.-The Republican Party can
have the Bliss report and any ;
other kind of report it wants,
but until they stand for the '
things the people in the cities
want, their organization won't
do them a bit of good.
They can't fight against the
minimum wage and housing .
and medical care and all these
other programs in Congress-"
he said, "and expect to get the
support of people in the cities"
Echoing that argument,
CNoolyor AEaCorV,a 81 64IA A.