Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 743744745746747748749750751752753754755756757758759 of 1143

It can be a boomerang.

I realized that it could be a boomerang, but I felt that it should be considered, and when he was finally persuaded to use it, his phrasing or his use of it, appealing to people to not vote for Eisenhower because of his health, and saying that the main reason for not doing so was that to get Nixon as President would be such a disaster, was unfortunate. He might not have won in any case, but he certainly would have lost by a smaller margin. And I think that he, too, feels it was harmful.

While I was in La Cinta, the primary campaign in Minnesota took place, and Stevenson was defeated by Kefauver. I realized that unless he had substantial funds and was able to campaign effectively that he was probably going to lose to Kefauver. When two candidates get into a primary fight, the person who loses is practically hopeless in a convention. The person who wins the primaries is the one who has the biggest change in the convention, whether he was the candidate before or not.

Kennedy demonstrated this in West Virginia and Wisconsin.

That's right, absolutely. I realized this and I realized that he needed substantial support right then, and so I promised him what was for me substantial support and I think in the campaign I was probably his largest supporter, the largest individual supporter. And Florence and I met him and Roger Stevens in Los Angeles when he started to campaign at the end of March in California Calfornia was very important to him, as you remember.