National Affairs: Difference of Opinion

Henry Cabot Lodge seemed to be in a hurry. He burst out of his Hartford strategy meeting with Dick Nixon and only had an over-the-shoulder word for reporters yapping at his heels. "I gotta hurry or I'll miss a plane," he explained. "Besides," he added in the tone of a man who has just been set straight, "I'm No. 2 in this campaign, and I'm not trying to be No. 1."

The questioners persisted. Had the meeting considered the uproar over Lodge's pledge of a Negro in the Cabinet? Had he and Nixon discussed Lodge's lone-wolf stand favoring federal aid to parochial and private schools? Said Lodge abruptly: "There was no controversy." Then, suddenly, he seemed to forget his waiting plane. He launched into an explanation of his position on parochial schools. Even as a Senator, Lodge recalled, he had voted for Governmentsponsored bus service, hot lunches, textbooks for private and parochial school students.* As for a Negro in the Cabinet, he said, he had not "pledged" anything. But "it would be a wonderful thing," he said, "to have a qualified Negro in the Cabinet." Had he discussed this with Nixon? "No," said Lodge. Then he finally raced off for the airport.

Moments later Dick Nixon overheard reporters discussing Lodge's statement about Negro Cabinet members. "We talked about that," Nixon volunteered. "My idea would be to appoint the best persons without regard to race, creed or color." Having once more contradicted his running mate, Nixon might have liked to let the matter drop. But reporters, irked by Lodge's condescending manner, kept the controversy alive. And happy Democrats lent them a helping hand. Wry suggestion from Democrat Lyndon Johnson: There ought to be a "great debate" between Nixon and Lodge.