National Affairs: Duel in the Sunshine

As a chartered plane bearing Adlai Stevenson rolled up to the Sacramento airport administration building, a crowd of 250 supporters, carrying placards that read "Let's Have Another 20 Years of Treason" and "Stevenson Clicks in '56," was waiting to welcome him. Smiling and confident, Stevenson stepped off the plane, kissed a baby and was photographed while the crowd, prompted by a photographer, waved a welcome. Grinned Stevenson: "They're a well-trained bunch."

Four days later, after a commercial plane taxied to a stop at the Fresno airport, a tired, hungry Estes Kefauver trundled out after sleeping fitfully across the U.S. Only a few...