National Affairs: Keef, According to Jiggs

• Share

"I have no politics," Washington Lawyer F. (for Florence) Joseph Donohue protested piously in 1951. "As a resident of the District of Columbia, I am like an alien enemy, a convicted felon or an adjudicated lunatic in that I have no vote." Last week, chumming with reporters in his new role as national campaign manager for Estes Kefauver, "Jiggs" Donohue had plenty of politics, but few worries about convictions or adjudications. Said he of his hard-campaigning candidate: "Estes is doing a really good job out there. I told him when he went out:

'Now for Chrisake, I don't want to see any of those cow-milking pictures. You're not running for farmhand; you're running for President. Any Minnesota farmer can milk a cow better than you can.' And he's putting on a dignified campaign."

Jiggs's enthusiasm was tempered with the political prudence of a man who never bets on the nose: "Mind you, I don't say Kefauver's going to get it. But I say that Stevenson hasn't got it yet, either. Who knows? Might be a dark horse—somebody we haven't even heard of. No, not [Michigan's Governor G. Mennen] Williams; he's just a big, overgrown boy. Somebody like [Montana's Senator] Mike Mansfield, maybe. Fine fellow, Mike. I like him."

Given a choice between the Keef's two primary races in March (New Hampshire March 13, Minnesota March 20), Kefauver's campaign manager is inclined to place his bets in Minnesota: "Minnesota is what really counts at the moment, and I figure we'll get a good 35% of the vote. That's darn good when you consider that the powerful [Hubert Humphrey] organization is against us, and it carries the weight in the cities." In Florida (where Kefauver is entered in the May 29 primary) segregation is a major issue, and Jiggs has advised him to avoid that explosive subject. "I've just told Estes," he explained, "to lay off civil rights now. Sure, it's important, but there are other issues too. Everything's been said that should be. I said to him: 'From now on you believe in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bible; take it from there.' "

In seething Alabama last week Candidate Kefauver had a hard time following his manager's advice. "I have confidence in the District Courts and in the reason and judgment of the people in the South," he said mildly, on his arrival in Birmingham. Then, prodded by reporters, he blurted out some forthright second thoughts: "I'm not going to condemn the Supreme Court of the United States. Riots will gain the people of the South nothing. I'm one who believes the Supreme Court is very necessary in interpreting the rights of the people."