National Affairs: Common Practices

The Democrats' delight at Nixon's discomfiture was prompt and predictable. Rhode Island's Senator Theodore Francis Green called on Nixon to name his contributors and tell how the money was spent. When Nixon did so, Vice-Presidential Nominee John Sparkman hinted darkly that Nixon's situation called for a congressional investigation. Candidate Adlai Stevenson said: "Condemnation without all the evidence, a practice all too familiar to us, would be wrong."

The reaction of Nixon's fellow Republicans in Congress threw some light on the Nixon fund. Congressman Oakley Hunter of California volunteered the information that his friends have set up an expense fund for him, and...