Word: planked
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Republicans in Miami Beach, by comparison, was a mere ratification process. Admittedly, the presidential nomination was never in serious question last week. But the party did engage in a candid, spirited debate on the Viet Nam question, and 40% of the votes went for the relatively soft plank recommended by a minority of the Platform Committee: even some pro-Humphrey delegates voted against the Administration on this issue...
...lacked courage, as he is all too ready to recall. As mayor of Minneapolis at the age of 34 (he is 57 now), he cleaned up the police force, reduced crime and upgraded schools. He risked everything for principle when he forced a strong civil rights plank on a reluctant Democratic Convention in 1948, prompting a walkout by Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrats. He showed foresight when he crusaded for Medicare 15 years before it became law and proposed a Peace Corps nine months before it was established. His peace credentials, validated in the struggle for enactment of the Limited Nuclear...
...under way next afternoon, it led to an unusually free and searching exchange of views. Many war critics wanted above all a kind of ritual sacrifice?an admission by the Johnson Administration that its involvement in Viet Nam had been a grave error. Doves generally characterized the majority plank as a charter for more of the same...
Supporters of the plank argued that it left several options open to a future President, rather than unwisely committing him in advance to a specific course of action. Moreover, warned Missouri's Governor Warren Hearnes, an unconditional bombing halt could endanger U.S. servicemen. Boggs cited a statement by U.S. Viet Nam Commander Creighton Abrams to the effect that a bombing halt would mean a fivefold increase in enemy strength in the area of the Demilitarized Zone within two weeks. Many military experts consider Abrams' estimate an exaggeration...
...doves received the loudest ovations for their statements. But the pro-Administration forces, dominated by Southerners who were determined to prevent a repudiation of Johnson's policies though not particularly interested in how the plank might damage Humphrey, received the most votes. When Albert read the final tally, it stood at 1,567¾ for the majority plank, 1,041¼ for the minority. Even before he finished reading the results, a chant of lament began in the New York delegation: "We shall overcome, we shall overcome . . ." From the galleries: "Stop the war! Stop...