OCR Text |
Show j3eliind tlte JdeadiineA further imperil the Kennedy Administration's Ad-ministration's New Frontier legislative program in the House. The major effect of an Edward Kennedy defeat in the Democratic Demo-cratic primary and especially, if Republican Lodge is able to best him in November, would be on the political image of the whole Kennedy Clan. The belief that the Kennedys are political unbeatable runs wide and deep in the politics of the sixties. Much has been made of the fact that ex-Ambassador Joe Kennedy instilled a belief that the Kennedys mustn't lose anything they undertake, in all of his family. If the voters should show that the mere presence of the Kennedy Ken-nedy name jn the ballot. esDe- Another Kennedy is in the political limelight. To no one's surprise,- President Kennedy's youngest brother, 30-year-old Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. Control of Massachusetts' politics poli-tics will be at stake in this race every bit as much as the control of New York, California, Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, Michigan and Texas will be at stake in other key elections this November. Never before have so many significant off-year elections held the nation's na-tion's attention in so many of the nation's politically important states. But the Massachusetts race assumes special importance since it is the political home base of the Kennedy Clan. Edward Kennedy must overcome over-come some formidable obstacles in his Massachusetts race. He faces the strong opposition of 36-year-old State Attorney General Gen-eral Edward McCormack, favorite favor-ite nephew of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John W. McCormack, in the Massachusetts Democratic primary. pri-mary. Then, the winner of that political blood-letting will have to heal party wounds, mend the longtime Kennedy-McCormack feud and take on a formidable GOP challenger in the person of George Lodge, son of former U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, in November. The political rivalry between the Republican Lodge family and the Democratic Kennedy clan is second only to that of the Kennedy-McCormack rivalry in Bay State politics. President Kennedy will inevitably inevi-tably suffer an enormous loss in political prestige if his brother loses, regardless of how much the White House denies that the President has a personal interest in the race of his old Senate seat. And even if it could be true that the President "has no interest inter-est in" his brother's Senate race, he could also reap enormous political dividends if young "Teddy" should wage his expected expect-ed hard-hitting campaign and emerge the winner. The belief that, indeed, the "Kennedy magic" is unbeatable would grow. Republicans would be plunged even deeper into pessimistic pes-simistic belief that no Kennedy cially in the Kennedy home state of Massachusetts, is not enough to insure automatic election, then foes of the Washington Kennedys Kenne-dys would also take a new lease on life. The Kid Gloves opposition opposi-tion the President enjoys would come to an end. Republicans would take heart in the hope that President Kennedy could be beaten for re-election. The 1964 GOP nomination would mean something again. The greatest effect of any Kennedy defeat in Massachusetts would be on the skyrocketing political fortunes of the President's Presi-dent's other brother, U.S. Attorney Attor-ney General Robert F. Kennedy. Already, his close relationship to the President, his role as key presidential advisor, global good will ambassador and chief Administration Ad-ministration political strategist, have led to wide speculation. The Attorney General is already al-ready being freely touted as the 1968 heir-apparent to his brother, broth-er, the President, who is Constitutionally Con-stitutionally unable to seek a third term if he wins a second. He is seen as a rival to Vice-President Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson as "Washington's real Number Two Man." His advice weighs second only to the President's in the Cabinet, National Security Council Coun-cil and Democratic National Committee. Robert Kennedy is freely touted tout-ed as a successor to Secretary of State Dean Rusk. He has played a mediator's role in the Indonesian dispute with the Netherlands over New Guinea. He has played a key role in the Berlin "crisis," Cuban invasion could be defeated in 1964. The President's personal hold on politics in Massachusetts and the formation of a New England Democratic bloc would be strengthened. "Ted" Kennedy would inevitably emerge as a key Administration spokesman in the U.S. Senate if he is elected. On the debit side of the ledger, the President's caution in refusing refus-ing to rush into endorsement of his brother's race can be easily understood. He would also suffer enormous political repercussions if "Teddy" loses. It is no secret that there is no small unhappiness inside the Kennedy Clan. Edward could have had any one of a score of White House appointments if he had chosen not to lay the Kennedy Ken-nedy Clan's political prestige on the line in an uncertain race. Even if the younger Kennedy bats House Speaker McCor-mack's McCor-mack's nephew, one major effect would be to deepen the already wide rift between the White House and Speaker McCormack, who is second only to Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson in presidential presi-dential succession. And a new outbreak of the Kennedy - McCormack donny-brooks donny-brooks would also most certainly aftermath and conduct of the Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency. R.F.K., whose initials are becoming be-coming as notable as his brother's J.F.K., is also playing a major role in the White House struggle with the John Birch Society and other Rightist critics of Administration Admin-istration anti-Communism, since he is FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's boss. His anti-trust activities make him a man-to-be-reckoned-with in the business community, just as his anti-Hoffa role gives him special status with Labor. But the carefully-nurtured belief of Kennedy invulnerability invulnerabil-ity in the cold war suffered a setback in the Cuban invasion fiasco, Laos, etc. The whole clan's political invulnerability is now being tested in Massachusetts. A Kennedy "dynasty" may rise or fall at the polls this year. The trouble with today's individualists indi-vidualists is that it's getting more and more difficult to tell them apart. No wonder women live longer than men. Look how long they are girls. |