Word: rauh
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Sensitive to party-wide anxiety over "backlash," Rauh peddled the FDP as a liberal, not solely a civil rights, movement and dwelled on the corruption, disloyalty, and conservatism of the "traditional" delegation, playing only lightly on the discrimination issue. The FDP, argued Rauh was a viable political alternative to the "traditional" party, not just an organized protest against the bigotry of the "traditionals...
...While Rauh horsetraded deftly behind closed doors, the Party's Washington office stumbled through a convention-eve public relations campaign. Foreseeing a listless convention, Party leaders had long realized that the "Mississippi question" would receive inordinate press coverage in late August. Yet, inexplicably, the Party never developed an orderly publicity drive...
...Tuesday, because of inadequate advance notice, the Washington FDP office released Rauh's legal brief to a half-attended conference. When notified that some reporters hadn't seen the brief, the office manager snapped: "Well then let them come over and pick one up." Harried newsmen, quartered in the Sheraton Park Hotel, found it difficult to travel cross town to the office, and as a result many never read the FDP's case...
...Monday morning, August 24, Administration mediators offered the Party a "fraternal delegation" compromise, whereby "traditionals" who signed a loyalty oath would be seated in the Mississippi section, and the FDP would receive floor space with no voting rights. Rauh turned the offer down and began gathering votes for a minority report and a floor fight. His action alienated many wavering delegations...
Late Monday night Roy Wilkins visited FDP spokesman Aaron Henry and urged him to back down. Henry refused and the Party lost NAACP support. Rauh and King continued to counsel firmness. The wisdom of their resolve was proven Tuesday when the Administration offered a fresh compromise, giving the Freedom Party two at-large seats on the floor. Under intense Presidential pressure, New York and California, the core of the FDP's support, agreed to the proposal. In a hurried caucus of the Freedom delegation, Rauh and King urged the Party to accept the compromise and hail it as a great...