Word: morrisseys
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...next 20 minutes Teddy repeated his familiar dithyramb to the Kennedys' longtime political handyman. Swallowing heavily, Senator Kennedy, 33, came close to tears as he traced Frank Morrissey's career back half a century to the days when he was one of twelve children in a family so poor that their shoes were "held together with wooden pegs their father made." Chastising the American Bar Association and other professional groups that opposed Morrissey's nomination to the federal bench-they said he was the least qualified candidate in memory-Kennedy charged that their objections were rooted...
Then, striving for a climax worthy of Profiles in Courage, Teddy finished his eulogy, paused, and declared: "I therefore ask unanimous consent that nomination of Francis Morrissey be recommitted to the Committee on the Judiciary." Thus, he effectively killed Frank Morrissey's chances of a $30,000-a-year lifetime federal judgeship, at least for now, and probably forever...
Anti-Shanty. Oddly enough, the Kennedys might just have scraped together enough votes to win. Their cause had been given a powerful boost by Nicholas Katzenbach, Bobby Kennedy's successor as U.S. Attorney General, who had assigned the FBI to look into Morrissey's confused past. Katzenbach's statement, contending that Morrissey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee had been entirely truthful, glossed over the essential details; the FBI report as released in summary form, did not resolve all the inconsistencies between Morrissey's testimony and other information that had come to light (TIME...
...Senators with a covering letter offering further elucidation on request. The Kennedy brothers worked frantically meanwhile to line up individual votes. One of their arguments was that the legal establishment is prejudiced against the "shanty Irish." The White House also made some phone calls to rally wavering support for Morrissey, who was, of course, President Johnson's nominee...
...cost of victory was mounting. Virtually every Senator pledged to Morrissey's cause seemed increasingly embarrassed. Leverett Saltonstall, Teddy's senior colleague from Massachusetts, unhappily announced that he had changed his position from "no objection" to one favoring recommittal. Staunch Democratic allies of the Kennedys, notably Joseph Tydings of Maryland and Pennsylvania's Joseph Clark, warned that in all conscience they might have to vote no. As one Democratic skeptic put it: "If they vote for this guy, how can they keep the political hacks in their own states off their necks...