Kefauver: The Political Man

This is the second of two articles on Senator Kefauver’s candidacy. The first dealt with his political technique. The portrait of himself Senator Estes Kefauver presents to his public is, at first glance, as two-dimensional as a paper doll. The slightly comic character in a coonskin cap, whose claim to national fame rested largely on his television rating when he entered the primary race for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1952, does not appear worthy of serious consideration as a possible occupant of the White House.

But the Senator from Tennessee cannot be counted out of this year’s primary contests. Although rating far below Stevenson in the public opinion polls, Kefauver has two inborn advantages over him—and over candidate Harriman. He need not explain away a facile brilliance, as Adlai must, nor inherited wealth, as must Honest Ave. Of this year’s starters, Kefauver alone has the homespun touch which strikes a ready spark in the average voter, as his 1952 battle of the primaries proved.

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Peter Crumpet

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Presidential Election

This is the second of two articles on Senator Kefauver’s candidacy. The first dealt with his political technique. The portrait of himself Senator Estes Kefauver presents to his public is, at first glance, as two-dimensional as a paper doll. The slightly comic character in a coonskin cap, whose claim to national fame rested largely on his television rating when he entered the primary race for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1952, does not appear worthy of serious consideration as a possible occupant of the White House.

But the Senator from Tennessee cannot be counted out of this year’s primary contests. Although rating far below Stevenson in the public opinion polls, Kefauver has two inborn advantages over him—and over candidate Harriman. He need not explain away a facile brilliance, as Adlai must, nor inherited wealth, as must Honest Ave. Of this year’s starters, Kefauver alone has the homespun touch which strikes a ready spark in the average voter, as his 1952 battle of the primaries proved.