New York, Nov. 1—Senator Henry Jack-son, a pillar of sanity in matters that relate to the national defense, has been touring Idaho in support of the re-election campaign of Senator Frank Church. Read that one, and weep.
You can look at it statistically if statistics are your paper doll. During Church’s tenure there have been sixty Senate votes on matters directly related to defense: procurement, research, development; programs involving the Trident, the long-range Tomahawk, cruise missiles, F-14s, marine carriers, XM1 tanks—the paraphernalia of such strength as is needed to permit firmness in the development of our foreign policy. Frank Church voted against the military requests 49 times. On 45 of those votes, Senator Jackson voted against Church. Now, senators belonging to the same party have often disagreed; but regular, systematic, obsessive neglect of the military is a serious delinquency in the eyes of Senator Jackson, or so he tells us. But there he is, in Idaho, arguing for the re-election of Frank Church when the alternative is Steven Symms, who has voted on Jackson’s side on virtually every question involving the military. What does Frank Church have that Symms doesn’t? He is a Democrat, and the question arises: is Scoop Jackson more concerned that the Democrats should amass a majority, than that the Soviets are amassing a preponderant military machine? Somebody ought to ask him. As a matter of fact, I will.
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