McCarthy Nostalgia
Upon reading Mr. Larry Fuller's
letter of October 15, praising Sen.
Eugene McCarthy, I experienced a
tremendous surge of nostalgia. I
remember fondly six months of an
exciting, challenging campaign for a
candidate in whom I truly believed.
Like Mr. Fuller I was a part of
Sen. McCarthy's campaign, but the
Democratic Party chose Mr.
Humphrey as its candidate. I did
not feel this was the end of the
road, but merely a new stage of an
believe then, as I do now, that Mr.
Humphrey holds many of Sen.
McCarthy's views, and that he is the
candidate who promises to carry out
the ideas expressed by the majority
of Americans. I feel sorry for the
Republican followers of Gov.
Rockefeller, for their efforts have
resulted only in the nomination of
Messrs. Nixon and Agnew, neither
of whom give the least hope of
carrying forth any worthwhile
reform. On the other hand, Hubert
Humphrey has for twenty years
been the outspoken leader of civil
rights and far-sighted reform. He
has also presented a plan to end the
war in Vietnam. Of the three
Presidential candidates, only Mr.
Humphrey has given any indication
that he plans to rectify the
mistakes of past administrations.
Mr. Nixon seems content to merely
continue in the path of the very
Johnson administration he
condemns. While Mr. Nixon cries
for a change, he promises only
more of the same in foreign policy.
In domestic affairs, especially
on civil rights, Mr. Nixon differs
strongly with Mr. Humphrey and
President Johnson. The past eight
years will be remembered as the
greatest era of social reform and
civil rights legislation in our history,
yet a Nixon administration would
negate these laws by intentionally
ignoring them and accompanying
Supreme Court decisions, and by
refusing to enforce them.
Therefore, while I share Mr.
Fuller's admiration for Sen.
McCarthy, I see little purpose in
sitting back and complaining. Sen.
McCarthy has made his mark, but it
is now up to all Americans sharing
his beliefs to work for the
realization of his ideas. The way to
carry out these beliefs and other
enlightened ideas held by the
majority of Americans is to get
behind Hubert Humphrey and work
to get him elected. Those of us who
admire Gene McCarthy can only
trust that he will soon wake up and
lead this crusade. For otherwise,
the dedication and efforts of
millions of enthusiastic Americans
will truly have been in vain.
