Category: Political Reform
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Too Much Democracy
The press didn’t approve of Kefauver’s way of campaigning for President. Their criticism belied a deeper unease with the primary system.
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Support Your Local Sheriff!
The crime hearings earned Kefauver a reputation as a racket-buster. But that reputation obscured what he really tried to accomplish.
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How Do You Solve A Problem Like Kefauver?
Kefauver’s Senate colleagues famously disliked him. But it wasn’t really personal – their dislike came from a deeper source.
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He Never Fixed the Washing Machine
In Kefauver’s home life and his political life, he often started projects he couldn’t finish. Why was that?
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Stuck In the Middle With You: Dems’ Brief, Strange Experiment With Midterm Conventions
Republicans are thinking of holding a convention for this year’s midterms. Democrats tried that in the ’70s and ’80s… and it didn’t go so well.
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Protesting Too Much? Kefauver on Congressional “Vaudeville Shows”
In 1948, Kefauver wrote an article decrying excessive Congressional travel and “headline-hunting hearings.” Did his later career make him a hypocrite?
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Electoral College Dropout, Part 5: Kefauver’s Southern Strategy
In 1948, disaffected Southerners tried to hijack the Electoral College because they felt that their region was getting ignored by the national parties. Kefauver sympathized with their complaints… but he felt there was a better way.
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Electoral College Dropout, Part 4: The Dixiecrats’ Dress Rehearsal
We’ve all heard about the South’s third-party effort in the 1948. But did you know that they plotted to subvert the Electoral College four years earlier?
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Legislation in an Emergency: Kefauver Tries to Prepare Government for the Atomic Age
The atomic bomb ushered in a frightening new world with unexpected risks. Kefauver tried to fix the Constitution to safeguard Congress in the event of a disaster. Why didn’t it work?
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Picking a President: Kefauver’s Push for a National Primary
After getting his Presidential hopes crushed at the 1952 convention, Kefauver tried for a Constitution amendment mandating national primaries. Was he the biggest obstacle to his amendment’s success?
Estes Kefauver for President 