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Mary LaskerMary Lasker
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Part:         Session:         Page of 1143

Lasker:

Yes, he was very effective.

In any case, the polling started, as I recall it, on Wednesday afternoon, and there was no doubt that Kennedy would get it on the first ballot. So the Kennedy forces had done a marvelous organizational job, wonderful job. Johnson hadn't given the time necessary to his candidacy; he didn't have the money. And Stevenson just hadn't come out for what he wanted to do or would do, and, whereas he encouraged Monroney and Agnes Meyer to do what they were doing, when he could have said don't do it under any circumstances, nobody felt that he had a sufficient mandate to feel that he could commit himself to him politically. It was enormously courageous of Mike Monroney to do this because, you know, when you commit yourself to a candidate, the other candidate when he wins doesn't appreciate the fact in the future at all, and it was disagreeable later for Monroney to have done this, because the Kennedy forces, naturally, scorned him.

Q:

He hasn't been very prominent during the Kennedy Administration.

Lasker:

No, and he's a wonderful man. It was an enormous commitment.

Q:

Did Stevenson at any time after that express regret at his failure to be more positive?

Lasker:

No, he defended himself on this and elaborated on why he had done it. Recently he said to me that he had committed





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