University of Virginia Library

Republican Malady

On the contrary, the Republican
party since its beginning (and the
beginnings of its predecessors, the
Federalists and Whigs) have had
stables full of such men Nelson
Rockefeller, William Scranton,
John Chafee, Elliot Richardson,
Robert McNamara, John Gardner,
Douglas Dillon, Hugh Scott, Charles
Percy, Jacob Javits, Clifford Case,
Edward Brooke, Mark Hatfield,
Charles Mathias, (House members)
Ogden Reid, Bradford Morse,
(university presidents) Kingman
Brewster, Robben Fleming, and
Edward Etherington, McGeorge
Bundy, Malcolm Moos, and on and
on.

The Republican malady of
course has been quite the opposite
of the Democrats: the GOP is
forever rejecting its best men and
picking its lesser, the
neo-Jeffersonian — Nixon over
Rockefeller, Goldwater over
Scranton, etc.

The Democrats in 1972 should
not follow the Republican
example. They must find, perhaps,
a new John Kennedy, else their
candidate may have all the
brilliance and standing of Al Smith.
And like Smith, he will lead his
party to defeat.