Word: barkleys
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...hurried to Chicago, buoyed by a strong old man's fierce pride, strutted five blocks through heat and applause, and girded himself to grasp the ultimate prize. Then, with cruel suddenness, the prize was snatched away. The Stevenson boom had never really died; when Barkley invited some labor friends, among them the C.I.O.'s Walter Reuther and Jack Kroll, to a friendly breakfast, they carelessly told him the awful truth...
...night the ritual was to be enacted, the amphitheater's galleries were jammed to the rafters with crowds which sat ghostly and half revealed behind the slanted, dazzling shafts of brightness from the television lights. When Barkley came down the stairs at the end of the platform, stiffened his back, lifted his chin and advanced unsmilingly to the speaker's stand, the restless rumble of the crowd became a roar. The ovation went on for 20 minutes...
Occasionally, Barkley forced a grin. Occasionally, he lifted his thick arms for the beelike clusters of photographers below him. But for the most part he remained motionless and impassive, his hands clamped on the stand. Behind him in the mezzanine his pretty wife stood, surrounded by applauding women, stared expressionlessly straight ahead. She licked her lips as if her mouth were dry. Then, finally, the uproar hushed and Alben Barkley began to speak-his vigorous, harsh, measured and practiced voice carrying to the farthest corners of the huge hall...
About 20 "witnesses" paraded through the room to give their opinions on who should be Veep. The field quickly narrowed down. Out went Kefauver (unacceptable in the South), Russell (unacceptable in the North), Barkley (too old), Oklahoma's Mike Monroney (not well known enough). The final choice: Senator John Sparkman of Alabama who, though no Dixiecrat, failed to support Truman in 1948. Later, one of the men present explained: "Stevenson made his decision with Harry Truman's help...
...settlement came in a week when Murray's labor movement reached new heights of power and arrogance. On the economic front, it had tied up the nation's most basic industry. On the political front, it had stopped Alben Barkley (see p. 11). The passing of two milestones showed what a long way Big Labor had come. As to where it is and where it is going, the 1952 steel strike offers interesting clues...