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Show (Seliind the J4reculiine6 strictions then preventing the sale. Now, despite 'the new chill in the Cold War since the 'copter pact was made, they have been completed and the plushy 15 passenger pas-senger models crated for shipment ship-ment to the Kremlin. Vertol says the two helicopters helicop-ters cost $1,000,000. Russia made a down payment and promised the balance on delivery. The Soviets So-viets are also understood to have "promised' verbally, that they will make no attempt to copy the U. S. manufactured luxury helicopters in its own j r Kennedy's real hopes for winning win-ning are based on voter reaction to pocketbook economic issues, while Nixon's are based most on the "peace isue," atlhough each uses both and both realize the political impact of Cold War isues on the campaign. It is for this reason that each has been wary of the public reaction re-action to Khrushchev's tactics, to Castro's warmongering and even the danger of actual war there, or in the Formosa Straits on the eve of the election. Public reaction to the Korean war in 1952, in addition to Ike's great personal popularity helped the GOP win in 1952. Hungary and Suez helped defeat Demo- light platform and an opportunity opportu-nity to equate himself in voters' eyes with his more experienced opponent. Kennedy, by duplicating the Nixon tactics, turned the campaign cam-paign into a personality contest when he appeared face to face with Nixon on TV. Voters who knew Kennedyxonly as a boyish rich, efficient operator, saw he at least was Nixon's match in debate. This column was originally intended in-tended to be a full, final survey of the presidential congressional campaign before the nation's voters trek to the polls. The truth is, however, that as the hard-fought campaign enters its final days, neither Vice President Pres-ident Nixon nor Senator Kennedy, Ken-nedy, has clearly established himself as the undisputed front runner. Each may claim the victory only one will win. But both still are "running scared" and will continue to do so until the end. It is easy enough for any political po-litical columnist, who has been through half a dozen presidential presiden-tial campaigns, to ponder, speculate, spec-ulate, evaluate and cite proba-bilities; proba-bilities; everybody's doing it. But the truth is that there actually ac-tually is more uncertainty now than in any other presidential election bar none in generations. factories after delivery. This colunmist sighed and accepted ac-cepted the fact that the contract for the 'copters had probably been continued because of the force of the President's 1959 personal request, because someone some-one forgot to cancel the contract and reimpose the ban against 'copter sales to the Soviets, or because our allies might reject new U. S. trade embargoes on Moscow. crats in 1956. Cold War issues may or may not prove crucial in next week's election. But whether they do or not, this columnist found himself playing a small, unintended role in developing one of the issues of the presidential campaign and the Cold War this week. Both candidates have shown themselves to be the most self-critical, self-critical, methodical, hard working, work-ing, most calculating, evenly matched and ambitious young rivals in American political history. his-tory. Each has worked tirelessly to strengthen his own party, invade the other's traditional areas of strength, draw huge crowds, skillfully, shape and use issues and has shown a potential for greatness. But it was too much when I learned that, during construction of the 'copters Vertol also had trained a Soviet pilot and three mechanics. The pilot had completed com-pleted flight tests over the Philadelphia Phila-delphia area. The mechanics were nearly finished with their seven week course. Training of Soviet helicopter pilots was undertaken here because be-cause Moscow's Military has no helicopter air arm, as do all the U. Sy services and the Soviets wanted to learn flight operations and 'copter maneuvers correctly before teaching others back home. I contacted the congressman It began when it was brought to my attention that the Vertol Division of the Boeing Aircraft Co. in Morton, Penn., had just completed two plush helicopters for Soviet Chairman Khrushchev. Khrush-chev. It may be remembered that he said after he had flown in the President's personal helicopter during K's goodwill visit to the U. S. that he would like to have two of the whirlybirds he took a fancy to, similar to the President's Presi-dent's own. The "Spirit of Camp David" was in full bloom, so the White House cut all red tape and re- Doubtless, although he cannot say so, Nixon must surely wish that he had taken the advice of those, including President Eisenhower, Ei-senhower, who advised against the historic confrontations with Kennedy on TV. Ironically, Nixon, an unknown opposing the veteran California Democratic Congressman Jerry Vorhees, launched his political career in 1946 by challenging Vorhees to debate, and Vorhees to his regret accepted. The debates gave Nixon a spot President Eisenhower's barnstorming barn-storming for Nixon is aimed at aiding the GOP, just as former President Truman's "whistle-stopping" "whistle-stopping" may help the Democrats. Demo-crats. While Kennedy's Catholicity hurts in some areas, it helps to solidify Catholic votes in others. While Johnson's vice presidential presiden-tial candidacy is calculated to hold the South for Kennedy, Lodge's candidacy helps Nixon on the "peace issue" with the ladies. representing my home district in New Jersey, who happens to be the key Kennedy Democrat, Rep. Frank Thompson of Trenton who said he would "look into the matter." Later I personally saw Republican Repub-lican Sen. Hugh Scott to bring it to his attention, since he represented rep-resented Pennsylvania and was about to greet President Eisen-how Eisen-how in nearby Philadelphia that very day. My concern was and is that even if the helicopter sale to Khrushchev could not be stopped stop-ped training of Soviet pilots in the U.S. must end at once. |