Category: Politics
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Gene McCarthy: Kefauver’s Kind of Candidate?
In 1968, Kefauver’s daughters backed the Minnesota Senator’s insurgent bid for the White House. Would their father have done the same?
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“A Twentieth Century Congress”: Kefauver’s Call for Change
After the Great Depression and WWII, the federal government was bigger and more complex than ever. And Congress, wedded to archaic and inefficient traditions, was struggling to cope. Kefauver offered a way out of the wilderness. If only Congress had listened.
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Frank Church and Estes Kefauver: Lone Wolves, Honest Men
Church and Kefauver were both ambitious Senators who led high-profile investigations that caught public attention. They were both Senate outsiders with independent streaks. Were their differences a matter of personality… or the times?
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Forgotten History: The Great Senate Fish Battle of 1957
Here’s a story you won’t find in your history book: a tale of sectional rivalries, Presidential recreation, beauty queens, hungry reporters, and fish. So, so many fish.
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“The Gag Stuff Is Out”
Some things never change – including the ridiculous stories that get written during political “silly season.” In this case, the dead time between conventions led to a silly story about a bizarre “ban.”
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Kefauver and LBJ: Two Paths to Power
Estes Kefauver and Lyndon Johnson had a number of things in common: two liberal-leaning, ambitious Southern Democrats who joined the Senate in the same year. But their approach to politics – and the pursuit of power – couldn’t have been more different.
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The Past is a Foreign Country: Decoding an Old Political Poster
I decipher an anti-Eisenhower poster from 1956, showing how many issues that seem vitally important in their day will ultimately be forgotten by history.
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Dirksen vs. Kefauver: Friendly Foes
Everett Dirksen and Estes Kefauver were fierce opponents when it came to regulating big business and monopolies… but when they fought, they often did it with a smile.
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The Speech Kefauver Never Gave
Kefauver’s advisors wrote an acceptance speech in case he won the Presidential nomination in ’52. It’s not as pretty as the one Adlai Stevenson gave… but it might have been more effective.
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Draft Estes Kefauver Acceptance Speech, 1952
The complete draft text of the acceptance speech Estes Kefauver might have given if he had won the Presidential nomination in 1952.
Estes Kefauver for President 