Report of the County Chairman by James A. Michener Read Free Book Online Page A

Nixon can.”
    My third prediction was that if Rockefeller did not win the nomination he would certainly accept the Vice Presidency. Again Lieutenant Meisenheimer challenged me with the single most incisive comment I was to hear during the nominating period. As I recall the course of his argument he reasoned, “We must assume that the differences between Nixon and Rockefeller are real. And these differences, being intellectual, constitute irreconcilable elements. Now either Rockefeller is an adventurer or he is not. If he is an adventurer, he’ll accept the VicePresidency, but I’m convinced he’s not an adventurer, so as an honest man he will have to reject compromise. The reason I think he’s an honest man is that the reports of the Rockefeller brothers practically constitute a platform for the Democratic party, and he is either going to have to rescind every one of those reports, or he is going to have to stand on them. He’ll do the latter, I’m quite sure, and if he does that he cannot possibly at the same time accept second place on any team running on the Republican platform. So you can forget Rockefeller as Nixon’s Vice President. He cannot possibly accept such a position, not because of vanity but because he is a logical and an honest man.
    “Furthermore,” Lieutenant Meisenheimer continued, “if Nixon wins in November he’ll certainly run again in 1964 and will probably win then, too. In this century the only incumbents to lose at the end of one term were Taft, because Teddy Roosevelt led a splinter party, and Hoover, who got caught in a depression. In 1968 Vice President Rockefeller would be too old to run. Moreover, if he were the Vice President to Richard Nixon’s President, he’d find the job unrewarding and stifling, because Nixon’s view of the Presidency would surely be much different from Eisenhower’s. I doubt that Nixon would permit his Vice President to wind up in 1968 as the inevitable choice for the nomination.
    “And finally,” Meisenheimer argued, “Rockefeller would not have issued those reports unless he was pretty sure that Nixon would lose in 1960. He knows that Nixon is doomed. His logical game is to sit aside, watch the debacle, and offer himself to the party in 1964.”
    When Lieutenant Meisenheimer was making these remarks I did not recognize their pertinence, for I responded, “You overlook one thing, John. Nixon running with Rockefeller might possibly win the election. Nixon without will surely lose. Now if the old professionals know that their side lost simply because Rockefeller refused to lend a hand, he will be forever dead in the Republican party. You claim that if he sits to one side and watches Nixon lose, he can then offer himself as an alternative in 1964. If he contributes to the loss of this election every professional will work to destroy him in 1964.”
    Lieutenant Meisenheimer replied, “Smart politicians take each year as it comes. If Kennedy wins in November, by 1964 the Republicans may be very happy to have Rockefeller on hand, no matter what they thought of him in 1960.”
    My fourth prediction was one of the few bits of real insight I had during the campaign, and once I stated it, I never reconsidered: “I don’t know who is going to be the Democratic nominee. Obviously, when Kennedy wins tomorrow in West Virginia he’ll be in front position. But you fellows claim the old professionals in the Democratic party won’t have him. If you’re right, they won’t have Stevenson either, and they know they can’t win with Symington. So I suppose it’ll have to be Johnson and Kennedy. And I think they’ll win.”
    Captain Heimark asked, “You think that Jack Kennedy will accept second spot on the ticket?”
    “Any one of the four leading contenders will accept either first spot or second.”
    Lieutenant Meisenheimer probed, “You think Johnson would accept second spot to Kennedy?”
    “Sure,” I said, “and I hope that’s the way it works out.