Letter from Washington

An infallible axiom: in Congress, indeed in any legislature, an event will occur at least a month later than the latest date that the legislature’s leaders say it will happen. What this means with regard to impeachment is depressing. Last January House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R., Ariz.) was saying the House Judiciary Committee would be ready to bring its impeachment recommendations to the House floor by April. And spokesmen for the Committee were emphasizing that this meant the end of April. So today we are buying our Fourth of July sparklers, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D., Mont.) is saying that, yes, he expects the House Committee to recommend, and the full House to vote a bill of impeachment, by the end of July. Soooooo . . . look for the matter, if it arrives, to arrive in the lap of the Senate around Labor Day.

Those of you who are theoretically inclined might be interested in the National Airport Theory of History. If the impeachment trial is going on in the Senate during the fall-—during the campaign weeks—senators up for reelection will face a cruel choice. Their constituents will expect them to attend the long impeachment sessions. Indeed, they will be looking in on television and will be wanting to see their senator bright-eyed and sharp as Clarence Darrow. But meanwhile his opponent will be crisscrossing the home state talking about the nation’s problems and how the incumbent has contributed to them. Some senators will be able to make it home for short, overnight appearances. These are the senators who can get home on flights that leave from Washington’s National Airport, located just a reckless 18-minute drive from the Senate garage. For example, Senator Robert Dole (R., Kan.) can jet out to Kansas City from National, and make it back in the morning. But Peter Dominick (R., Colo.) must get to and from Denver on flights that leave from Dulles Airport, located in the rolling Virginia countryside an hour’s (an hour and a half in rush hour) drive from the Capitol building.

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An infallible axiom: in Congress, indeed in any legislature, an event will occur at least a month later than the latest date that the legislature’s leaders say it will happen. What this means with regard to impeachment is depressing. Last January House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R., Ariz.) was saying the House Judiciary Committee would be ready to bring its impeachment recommendations to the House floor by April. And spokesmen for the Committee were emphasizing that this meant the end of April. So today we are buying our Fourth of July sparklers, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D., Mont.) is saying that, yes, he expects the House Committee to recommend, and the full House to vote a bill of impeachment, by the end of July. Soooooo . . . look for the matter, if it arrives, to arrive in the lap of the Senate around Labor Day.

Those of you who are theoretically inclined might be interested in the National Airport Theory of History. If the impeachment trial is going on in the Senate during the fall-—during the campaign weeks—senators up for reelection will face a cruel choice. Their constituents will expect them to attend the long impeachment sessions. Indeed, they will be looking in on television and will be wanting to see their senator bright-eyed and sharp as Clarence Darrow. But meanwhile his opponent will be crisscrossing the home state talking about the nation’s problems and how the incumbent has contributed to them. Some senators will be able to make it home for short, overnight appearances. These are the senators who can get home on flights that leave from Washington’s National Airport, located just a reckless 18-minute drive from the Senate garage. For example, Senator Robert Dole (R., Kan.) can jet out to Kansas City from National, and make it back in the morning. But Peter Dominick (R., Colo.) must get to and from Denver on flights that leave from Dulles Airport, located in the rolling Virginia countryside an hour’s (an hour and a half in rush hour) drive from the Capitol building.