Publishers: The Eagle & the Chickens

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When George Romney made his first political trip to New Hampshire last July, the Manchester Union Leader greeted him with a frontpage editorial headlined: GEORGE ROMNEY CAN'T AND SHOULDN'T WIN. The editorial went on to quote an unnamed corporation president as saying, "Romney is one of the meanest men I ever had anything to do with." That was just the beginning. One editorial after another flayed Romney for "letting down the boys in Viet Nam," for acting like a "desperate demagogue," for not being born in the U.S. Complained the paper: "It would be hard to think of a more irresponsible leader for this great nation than the Mexican-born George Romney."

Romney is only the latest in a long line of moderate-to-liberal politicians who have been branded by the Union Leader as unfit for office. The man who does the branding and writes the editorials is William Loeb, 62, perhaps the nation's most intemperate and opinionated publisher.

While most U.S. papers have moved closer to the political center, Loeb has stayed resolutely on the far right. Warring against the twin evils of taxation and timidity in foreign affairs, he has substituted his own eagle-chicken classification for the customary hawk-dove. By his definition, even Walt Rostow and Robert McNamara qualify for the "chicken" category. "The harbor of Haiphong," he says repeatedly, "should be bombed off the map."

A Habit of Losing. By the standards of metropolitan journalism, Loeb's Union Leader (circ. 55,000) is not very big. Nevertheless, it is New Hampshire's largest and only statewide daily. As such, it is read and feared by every politician courting the New Hampshire vote. The candidates supported by Loeb -the late Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, Brigadier General Harrison Thyng—have a habit of losing. Richard Nixon doubtless has mixed feelings about Loeb's support in the current presidential primary. But better to be liked than hated by Loeb. In the 1964 primary, he referred to Nelson Rockefeller as a "wife swapper." Earlier, he called Leverett Saltonstall "that fatuous ass," and Eisenhower "that stinking hypocrite." So hot have been his attacks on the Kennedys that Bobby finally hit back: "If there's anyone more reckless with the truth, I don't know him."