Candidacy of Prof. Hughes

Lawrence Spivak, impresario of Meet the Press, has eyes that see farther through the political mists than most people’s, and last week they lit on H. Stuart Hughes, professor of history at Harvard University who, having got himself 140,000 names on a petition, is now officially on the ballot as an independent candidate for senator from Massachusetts, opposing in all probability Teddy Kennedy (D.) and George Lodge (R.). It takes more than a mere appetite to be a senator to get on Mr. Spivak’s program. Mr. Hughes may end up (probably will) sending Lodge to the Senate by drawing away from Kennedy a crucial number of votes. But the true importance of Mr. Hughes’ race, it has generally been understood by sophisticated political observers, would lie in indicating what is the latent strength in this country of the neutralist-pacifist-collaborationist vote. H. Stuart Hughes has been a prominent spokesman for the position that we should renounce our nuclear arsenal, whether or not the Soviet Union does. He is, in a way, America’s Bertrand Russell.

Buckley

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

Lawrence Spivak, impresario of Meet the Press, has eyes that see farther through the political mists than most people’s, and last week they lit on H. Stuart Hughes, professor of history at Harvard University who, having got himself 140,000 names on a petition, is now officially on the ballot as an independent candidate for senator from Massachusetts, opposing in all probability Teddy Kennedy (D.) and George Lodge (R.). It takes more than a mere appetite to be a senator to get on Mr. Spivak’s program. Mr. Hughes may end up (probably will) sending Lodge to the Senate by drawing away from Kennedy a crucial number of votes. But the true importance of Mr. Hughes’ race, it has generally been understood by sophisticated political observers, would lie in indicating what is the latent strength in this country of the neutralist-pacifist-collaborationist vote. H. Stuart Hughes has been a prominent spokesman for the position that we should renounce our nuclear arsenal, whether or not the Soviet Union does. He is, in a way, America’s Bertrand Russell.

Buckley