Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Mary LaskerMary Lasker
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 1143

Presidential election and every two years. I'll give you a list of some of the people I supported.

Q:

How did you determine, Mrs. Lasker?

Lasker:

Well, often they were people who were involved in health legislation and sometimes they were just liberal candidates that I thought might have a chance if they had a little support and wouldn't have any chance if they didn't. Very small amounts of support, say, in Maine or Idaho mean a tremendous amount to liberal Democratic candidates. Once Roger Stevens and I supported Senator Muskie because we thought he'd be a good candidate, and he was better than a Republican, and I think we gave him $8,000 which was probably more than 50 percent of his whole campaign fund, just because we wanted to see Democratic votes in the Senate.

Q:

Well, with a newcomer to the national scene, I mean a man running for the first time for the House, say, did you make some effort to discover whether in the state legislature or wherever he had been...

Lasker:

Oh, yes, I knew people that knew people's records, many people. By this time I really knew everybody who knew who was who every place, including groups who made it their business to find out about candidates, including the ADA and the Committee for an Effective Congress. But I also knew politicians and governors in most states, fewer governors but certainly politicians in the most





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help