THE CONVENTION: The New Boss

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As he landed in Chicago for the big day, Richard Nixon ran slam-bang into one of the biggest, loudest crowds that ever greeted a candidate. Perspiring throngs clawed and pushed at him. Nixon placards rose and spun in the humid air, confetti cascaded down from hotel rooms, and the traffic din from Lake Shore Drive fell to a whisper under the tumult in the streets. Squeezing through the tight throngs, Nixon found safety at last in his Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel suite. But it was a safety of sorts. Beneath the clamor and the cheers lay a snorting Republican rebellion that threatened the future not only of Nixon himself but of his party.

Into a Trap? Nixon was in plenty of trouble. His meeting earlier in New York with Republican Liberal Nelson Rockefeller, and his 14-point agreement of principles ("The Treaty of Fifth Avenue"). had rocked Midwestern, Southern and Western Republicans. Conservatives, led by the vocal and determined Barry Goldwater, stormed through the city, accusing Nixon of nothing less than treachery. Behind guarded hotel doors, the G.O.P. Platform Committee and all its subcommit tees foundered in a ragged dispute among conservatives, liberals and moderates. As moderates gritted their teeth and dug in, the platform was shaping up to something close to a conservative manifesto on defense and civil rights.

As if this were not enough to raise the hairs on Nixon's neck, Dwight Eisenhower himself was burning up the wires. The one man who could destroy Nixon with a word was warning by phone that the use of words like "bold" and "new" in the defense plank of the platform would be "falling into a trap." The statements. Ike said, were the unmistakable handiwork of his own former speechwriter, Emmet Hughes, who had quit the White House staff in disillusionment with his role there and now was Rocky's policy adviser (TIME, June 20). By using Rocky-Hughes wording, said Ike to Nixon, "you are saying that you and I haven't done a proper job."

Strengthening Grasp. Nixon's first move had the impact of a grand-slam homer in the last of the ninth. He called a press conference. A throng of newsmen, TV people and photographers crushed into a long, narrow room at the Conrad Hilton and fired shotgun questions. With each answer Nixon deftly assumed his strengthening grasp of leadership.

Q. Will you spell out what you want in the civil rights platform?

A. The civil rights platform is unsatisfactory as far as I'm concerned. I believe it is essential that the Republican Convention adopt a strong civil rights platform, an honest one which does deal specifically [e.g., mention of sit-in demonstrations] and not in generalities. [The final draft omitted that specific.]

Q. What is your reaction to the charge that your agreement with Governor Rockefeller was a "Munich"?

A. The statement represented a summary of his views and mine, views that he and I have long held.

Q. Will you base your preference for Vice President chiefly on foreign or domestic affairs?

A. Whoever is nominated has to be a man who shares my views in the issues of foreign policy, human rights and economic policy. If he is not, he will not be an effective Vice President.