Word: scrantons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...press conference, some 100 newsmen jammed the ornate wood-paneled reception room in Harrisburg's State House. Scranton, looking tanned and healthy in the glare of television floodlights, read his 600-word statement deliberately, but with such sincerity that at one point tears welled in his eyes...
...phone call threw Scranton's aides into turmoil. He refused to tell them what he planned to say, brushed aside inquiries from even his closest staffers. The day before the press conference, the Philadelphia Inquirer splashed an eight-column headline across its front page announcing that Scranton had decided to reject a draft for the nomination. Even State Attorney General Walter Alessandroni, his top political adviser, did not know what Scranton intended to say. Fearing that he meant to issue a Shermanesque statement, Alessandroni admonished: "You can't do that...
...Scranton said he had considered announcing flatly that he would reject a draft, but "I believe no American has the right to take that position." If a draft did materialize, he continued, it would have to be "one which I personally would feel came from the hearts of the people," and not one that was "engineered or arranged." But he sought to make it "crystal clear" that he would prefer not to be drafted. Said he: "I sincerely do not wish...
After the press conference, Scranton aides were elated. Their man hadn't said yes. But he hadn't quite said no, either. That was what they had feared he would do, and now, in adding up the effects of his statement, his backers came up with some healthy pluses...
...last week's statement, Scranton obviously meant what he said. Thus, he projected the image of a man who was not about to connive or deceive in an effort to reach the White House. That was one plus. By staying out of presidential primaries and state convention battles for delegates, Scranton can avoid the political attrition of open warfare. That is another plus. By keeping himself open to a genuine draft and by preaching Republican unity, he appeared as a citizen willing to subordinate his personal desires to the national, and the party, interest. That was the third...