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Kefauver and Voters: A Mysterious Connection
Kefauver’s handshakes were the key to his campaigns. But two reporters who watched him believed that he didn’t enjoy it. So why did he keep doing it? And why did the voters love it so much?
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A Friendly Bet, A Big Game, Lasting Effects: Kefauver and the 1952 Sugar Bowl
When two Senators made a friendly wager on the outcome of this game, they felt they had a lot at stake. As it turns out, the real stakes of the game were about the future of college football.
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Kefauver at the Movies: “Turning Point”
For once, a take on the Kefauver crime hearings from a major studio with a star-studded cast. But did they make the hero a bit too heroic?
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Civil Words on Civil Rights: Kefauver Calms an Angry Crowd
In 1956, Kefauver stood up to a pro-segregation crowd in Florida… and won them over. What can his courageous example teach us today?
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Thank God I’m A Country Boy: Kefauver’s Musical Connection
Throughout his career, Estes Kefauver used country music to connect with people and promote his campaigns. Like Kefauver himself, it may not have impressed the powerful, but it hit home with regular people.
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Haste Makes Waste… and Bad Laws: Kefauver and the Jencks Act
What do you get when you have two months to pass a law driven by anti-Communist paranoia, anti-Supreme Court resentment, and with the FBI and Justice Department holding a gun to your head? Nothing good. But it’s a law that’s stood for 75 years.
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Don’t Touch That Dial: Kefauver and Television
Estes Kefauver was the first politician to use TV as a springboard to national fame. Why has his pioneering role been forgotten?
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Campaign 1956: Kefauver VP Nomination Speech, A Truncated Tribute
When Adlai Stevenson let the convention pick his running mate, Mike DiSalle of Ohio nominated Kefauver. He gave a good speech – one that he had to edit while he spoke,
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A Forgotten Fearless Fighter: Senator Stephen Young
Depressed about the election? Looking for a path forward? Consider the example of Ohio Sen. Stephen Young, a fighting liberal who didn’t hesitate to punch back against stupidity and cruelty.
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Courage and Cunning vs. Conservative Crackpottery: The Battle Over the Bricker Amendment
In the mid-1950s, conservative isolationists – whipped up by fears of one-world government – tried to amend the Constitution to take away the President’s authority to negotiate treaties. Kefauver stood up to stop it.
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Estes Kefauver for President 