National Affairs: Professional Common Man

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The Flypaper Grip. Kefauver's coonskin cap caught Tennessee's imagination, and he handily won both the Democratic nomination and the general election. But infinitely more important to his long-term ambitions was the advice given him early in that senatorial campaign by Nashville Tennessean Publisher Silliman Evans Jr. and Campaign Manager Charles Neese. They told him that if he could shake at least 500 hands a day until election time he could beat the Crump machine. He did—and won—and it has since been a slugabed campaign day that has not seen him pump at least 500 hands.

The Kefauver handshake has deservedly become a national monument. It is not bone-crushing, or even firm. It is limp but not clammy. An inward turn of the wrist prevents pressure that would later cause aches and pains. Unlike Adlai Stevenson, Kefauver does not chatter as he shakes; he utters one friendly sentence and reaches for the next hand. As he shakes with his right hand, he applies a light pressure with his left on his well-wisher's right elbow, thus keeping the line moving. When someone launches an extended conversation, Kefauver seems to give undivided attention—but he grabs for the next hand in line. The resulting traffic pile-up generally gets rid of the talker.

Kefauver's handshaking fetish has caused the Stevenson entourage some anguish. Admits a Kefauver assistant: "It's like pulling a fly off flypaper." Even Nancy Kefauver has her tale of woe. Campaigning with Estes one time, she stepped from a plane to face a howling wind and the prop wash of several other planes. Nancy's hat was imperiled, her skirt began to balloon. Says she: "Just as I grabbed for the hat with one hand and for the skirt with the other, an eager, friendly crowd swarmed up to greet us. Someone thrust at me the usual welcoming bouquet, which I, not being endowed with three hands, frantically considered gripping with my teeth. Estes, pumping away with both fists, looked over at me, a little annoyed. Above the hubbub of wind, propellers and introductions, he called out, 'Honey, why can't you shake hands with all these good people?'"

"Shame on You, Estes." In just such resolute fashion, Estes Kefauver shook his way into the U.S. Senate. There, his voting record showed heavy emphasis on TVA, other public-power projects and farm subsidies. It followed Fair-Deal doctrine (up to 95% pro-Administration in 1949-50) and this year won him a rating by the Americans for Democratic Action as one of the eleven Senators most pleasing to that organization's left-wing position. But among his own colleagues Kefauver's popularity rating years ago dropped through the floor; he probably has fewer Capitol Hill friends than any other Senator. Hardly any have supported him in his quest for the presidency. Many feel that he has shamefully neglected his Senate duties to engage in that quest (in 16 years in the House and Senate, he authored not a single major piece of legislation). Others consider him the rankest sort of opportunist, who will do anything to grab a headline.