Nerves & Psychosis

Tall Estes Kefauver was still striding along ahead of the field, his coontail wagging behind him.

The Tennessee Senator had two more primary victories to wave in the faces of the Democratic pols, whose coolness toward him was beginning to turn into nervous recognition. In Wisconsin, he ran up more than 200,000 votes to 18,000 for his nearest opponent, a state Democratic leader who filed as a stand-in for Harry Truman. That gave him Wisconsin's 36 delegates.

On the same day, he won a more important victory, psychologically, in Nebraska. There he dealt a fatal blow to the campaign of Oklahoma's Senator Robert Kerr, the man who said he would run if Truman didn't. The count: Kefauver 64-111, Kerr 41,889. Kerr said he was still running, but he was only a 72-hour candidate: a serious contender from Saturday night, when Truman withdrew, until Tuesday night, when the Nebraska results came in.

From Nebraska, Kefauver moved on for appearances in Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois and California. In New York to seek delegate and financial support, he gave the big city some of the Kefauver treatment. He arrived 20 minutes late for an 8 p.m. meeting with Manhattan's Young Democrats, casually shook hands all around, explained that he hadn't eaten dinner, plopped down in the back of the room and ate a ham sandwich. When his 81-year-old father, Robert Cooke Kefauver, appeared in a room where the press was interviewing the candidate, Estes called: "Hello, Poppsy." He led his father into the circle formed by the press, and announced: "This is my daddy."

Adlai Stevenson, the man who might be able to overtake Estes Kefauver, was still struggling with the decision: Should he announce that he is a candidate? The question came at him everywhere, even as he inspected Illinois' Menard penitentiary. Said Stevenson: "Several inmates, mostly in the psychiatric division, recognized me. They stood and saluted and said, 'Mr. President.' I don't know whether it was a case of extreme psychosis, or if I should have been flattered."

Vice President Alben Barkley was still thinking about running, but insisted he hadn't made up his mind. Said he: "I'm not like the justice of the peace in Kentucky, who announced that he was taking the case under advisement and would render a decision in one week for the plaintiff."

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