Big Battles

Presidential candidates can be decisively helped or hurt by fights in key states for Senator, governor and other offices. Some of the assets and liabilities are already apparent.

In Massachusetts, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, 50, faces a redoubtable opponent: Representative John Kennedy, 35, a war hero,/- a good Congressman and an excellent campaigner. Catholic Jack Kennedy has spent the last year charming Massachusetts' voters, lately at tea parties organized by women Democrats. They brew a big dish of tea, invite scores of citizens to meet his mother and his pretty sisters. Then Jack shows up to shake hands. The "internationalist" son of "isolationist" Businessman Joseph P. Kennedy, onetime U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's (1937-40), Jack has deep family roots in Massachusetts politics: his maternal grandfather, John F. ("Honey Fitz") Fitzgerald, was twice elected mayor of Boston, served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In Missouri last week, the Democrats' chance of carrying the state got a real boost when W. Stuart Symington won the nomination for U.S. Senator over an opponent who had been endorsed by the creaky Pendergast machine and by Harry S. Truman. Handsome Stu Symington has a glamorous record of public service (he was the first Secretary of the Air Force, headed the National Security Resources Board, cleaned up the scandal-pocked Reconstruction Finance Corp.). The Republican nominee, Senator James P. Kem, is not popular, has no appeal to independents and is out of step with Eisenhower on foreign policy. Jim Kem is a member of the hard core of Senate isolationists, was one of the few Senators to vote against the Atlantic Pact, which was the genesis of Ike's post as SHAPE commander. Ike's chance to carry Missouri is considerably reduced by Symington's advantage over Kem, a fact that takes on added piquancy from Symington's long and ardent admiration for Ike.

In New York, the Democrats, confused and leaderless since Bronx Boss Ed Flynn became ill last year, still have not fixed on a candidate to oppose able Republican Senator Irving M. Ives. Since Averell Harriman has so far refused to accept the nomination, party leaders may have to fall back on Manhattan Borough President Robert Wagner Jr., son of the author of the Wagner Labor Relations Act. In that case, the Republicans would have an advantage, but the Democrats may dump Wagner in favor of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. There is an argument among Democrats over whether Junior's name balances his political immaturity which was strikingly evident in Chicago.

In Indiana, Senator William E. Jenner is a powerful vote getter but he is running for re-election against an even more popular figure: Governor Henry F. Schricker, a rather conservative Democrat who put Stevenson in nomination at Chicago. The Republican position is hurt by the fact that Jenner and Ike are poles apart on foreign policy. Last week Jenner said: "If I am wrong and Eisenhower's right, then I haven't hurt my country any. But if Eisenhower and the internationalists are wrong and I am right, then we will have destroyed our most important possession, the American Republic." Jenner says he is supporting Ike, but if Ike carries Indiana it will be in spite of Jenner.

In Kentucky, the Republican senatorial nominee is John Sherman Cooper, who was elected to a two-year Senate term in 1946. Cooper was defeated in 1948, but ran far ahead of the national ticket. He is certain to coax many independent Democrats over to the Republican column and his presence helps Ike in this normally Democratic state.

In Michigan, Democratic Senator Blair Moody and Democratic Governor G. Mennen Williams have tenuous holds on their jobs. Moody was appointed by Williams to fill the seat vacated by the death of the late great Arthur Vandenberg; Williams himself was elected by a bare margin. Unpopular outside Detroit, Moody is supported by the unions, but labor leaders are frequently unable to swing the Detroit election. This week, Republicans faced Moody with a tough opponent: Congressman Charles E. Potter, a legless war veteran who has the support of Michigan industrialists, is a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Williams' opponent is Fred M. Alger Jr., public-minded heir of one of Detroit's pre-automobile families and a strong candidate.

In Ohio, Stevenson will get little help from impish, blimpish Michael V. Di Salle, onetime Price Boss now running for U.S. Senator against the incumbent John Bricker, who is probably the best vote getter in Ohio. The G.O.P. ticket is further buttressed by the candidacy of Bob Taft's brother Charles for the governorship now held by popular Democrat Frank Lausche. If anybody can beat Lausche, Charles Taft is the man.

/- One pitch-black morning in August 1943, Lieut. Kennedy's PT boat was sliced in two by a Japanese destroyer patrolling the Solomon Islands. With ten crew members, Kennedy swam from one island to another for six days before being rescued, was later cited for bravery and for saving the lives of two of his men.

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