Nation: The Leader: Everett Dirkson

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On weekends during the campaign, Dirksen tries to get home. Lugging his huge briefcase (loaded, it weighs 35 Ibs. —more than the valise with his clothing) aboard the plane, he studies as he flies. But the minute he touches foot on Illinois soil, he shows that he has not lost his old touch. In Deerfield, a rainstorm scattered his audience. "Just a minute, folks," he commanded. "If I can stand up here and get wet talking, you can stay here and get wet listening. I've got another speech to make this afternoon, and my suit is going to be soggy and wet on that long plane ride back to Washington tonight." The folks returned to hear more. In a speech on Labor Day, he was at his evocative best. The morning rain, he whispered, had given way to the midday sunshine and the evening starlight because—well, because Fortune smiled on him and on the people of Illinois, and besides it was—the voice rose beatifically —Labor Day in America.

However much he may cooperate with President Kennedy when in Washington, when he gets back home he leaves no doubt about whose side he is on. The President, he charges, is "taking the country downhill," has failed in five areas: peace ("There was no Wall under President Eisenhower"), prestige ("an alltime low"), progress ("progress all right—but in the wrong direction"), party support ("On the satellite bill, nobody from the President's own party would stand up and defend him"), and purpose ("Democrats are hungry for power to fasten more control on farmers and businessmen").

The Challenge. Everett Dirksen was once a man of vaulting ambition. He campaigned seriously for the Republican nomination for President in 1944. He badly wanted to be Taft's vicepresidential running mate in 1952. Now he is happy where he is, and has a deep sense of fulfillment. "Life," he muses, "is a matter of development or decay. You either grow or you retrogress. There's no standing still. You go backward or forward. The challenge will make you grow, if you are willing to assert a leadership and look on the challenge as something to be met and disposed of." Dirksen looks upon Election Year 1962 as another one of those challenges—to be met and disposed of.