Why Kefauver? Why Now?

(featured image source: University of Tennessee’s Estes Kefauver Image Collection)

“Who am I? Why am I here?”

Admiral James Stockdale during the 1992 vice-presidential debates

Welcome! If you’re here for the first time, you might be wondering what’s going on here. Why am I boosting the presidential ambitions of a somewhat obscure political figure with an unusual name who’s been dead for 60 years?

In part, it’s precisely because of that obscurity. I’ve long been a student of American political history.  Not infrequently in stories about the politics of the mid-20^th century, Estes Kefauver’s name kept popping up, a mysterious figure lurking around the edges of history.

To learn more, I started reading Internet articles about him, then graduated to reading Kefauver biographies, and then to the books and journal articles that he wrote. The more I read, the more fascinated I became, and the more strongly I felt that Kefauver deserved better than to be consigned to a couple footnotes in the history books. One of my big goals for this site is to tell the story of Estes Kefauver, so that he isn’t forgotten.

But there’s a reason this site is called “Estes Kefauver for President,” and it’s not just because the Senator threw his coonskin cap in the ring twice (in 1952 and 1956). Our politics today are full of division, anger, and paranoia. The 2024 presidential election looks set to be a rematch of 2020, and the overwhelming public reaction seems to be: “Oh no, not again!” The people are crying out for new choices and new voices.

What the people want, I believe, is someone like Estes Kefauver. In a political age marked by cynicism and distrust, where democracy itself is in question. the Senator’s earnestness, liberal populism, and unshakeable belief in America and its citizens are just what we need.

Although Kefauver inspired fierce devotion among his supporters – Hubert Humphrey called Kefauver’s backers “avid and livid fighters” who would “scratch and bite” – he was no demagogue. He was a hard-working advocate for the average American against the larger forces trying to take advantage of them, from organized crime to corporate monopolists. He believed in using the power of government to help those he called “the plain people” – a “government with a heart,” as he called it. He was a Yale-educated lawyer with a keen intelligence, but he spoke to the people in simple, straightforward language. He met people at their level without talking down to them or treating them as idiots or marks.

Kefauver best summed up his approach to politics with the questions he asked himself before deciding to hold Senate hearing on prescription drug pricing: “Is it right? Is it in the public interest? Does it need to be done? Well, then, we had better go ahead.”

He was an independent-minded leader with the courage to stand up to powerful interests in his own party, from urban political machines to Southern segregationists. This independent streak foiled his presidential ambitions – as Scotty Reston of the New York Times wrote, “Senator Kefauver’s weakness is that he has nobody for him but the people.” Today, though, the hostility Kefauver attracted from political and business elites would only increase his appeal.

This site will go into more detail on all the points mentioned above, and much more. I intend to make the case that Estes Kefauver deserves to be remembered as a dedicated, thoughtful, visionary statesman who would have made a fine president. He deserves better than to be lost in the margins of American history.