Word: morrisseys
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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...
...brink -and chose defeat. Though virtually none of his colleagues knew of his decision in advance, he notified President Johnson of his switch the night before the Senate showdown. He also tipped off Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, whose forces had become reasonably confident that they could scuttle Morrissey's nomination. After crossing the Senate floor to give Teddy an avuncular handclasp, old Ev rumbled: "It takes something for a young man to subdue his pride. It doesn't bother an old bastard like me. But in a young man it takes courage...
...advised efforts for an ill-equipped judicial nominee may be largely forgotten-while his retreat from the brink of embarrassment will be warmly remembered as an act of high courage. Outside the Senate, which is not likely to confine Teddy Kennedy's ambitions indefinitely, the Morrissey affair may be remembered as a negative entry in the record book of a clan that made great capital of the pursuit of excellence...