Back in the Fray

The international winds in Berlin, in Moscow and in other points east and west seemed to be abating a little, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy felt free to think about his favorite subject: politics. On Election Night 1961. Kennedy was acting as dinner host to India's Jawaharlal Nehru. But the President plainly felt that, for a while, the world's problems could come second to U.S. politics. He therefore turned his mind toward the dozens of smoky, noisy political headquarters across the land, where partisans had gathered to exult or gloom over their candidates' fortunes. And he had himself a fine time.

Throughout the Nehru dinner and the chats that followed, aides slipped the President notes to keep him abreast of the major races. By the time his guests had departed at midnight, Kennedy was exultant over what he had read. He rushed off to telephone congratulations to the major Democratic winners. Then he began calling friends and aides, happily chatting about the fascinations of politics. At 1:30 a.m. he was still at it.

Kennedy had cause to be pleased. The Democrats scored two big wins--in New York City and New Jersey--where he had personally campaigned for Democratic candidates after former President Eisenhower had intervened for their Republican opponents. He felt entitled to claim some of the credit, since, as he put it a day later at his press conference, defeats in either state "would have been interpreted as a stunning setback for this Administration.''

Disturbing Gains. But John Kennedy is a political realist. As he looked beyond the major Democratic victories in New York City and New Jersey, he could see that the Republicans had made disturbing local gains from Buffalo to Louisville, from Toledo to Tucson--often eroding Democratic strongholds. Almost everywhere, the elections had been tightly fought, clearly presaging a hot contest next November, when the voters will choose all the members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.

Next November, though a year hence, is already on the President's mind. Kennedy planned to invade the West this week, making speeches in Seattle, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The White House has already indicated that Kennedy will take to the hustings next year to back Democratic congressional candidates and try to hold or increase the Democratic majority in Congress (a mere 262 seats out of 436 in the House, a healthy 64 seats in the 100-man Senate). His own tight win in 1960 was accompanied by Republican gains in Congress. With a precarious majority--thanks to the Southern Democrats

--Kennedy does not really expect to get all or even most of the programs he wants in the coming Congress (in particular, he will miss Sam Rayburn's savvy help). But as his bills travel along the legislative path, Kennedy intends to note well who votes for what, then lay his prestige on the line by taking the issues to the nation during the 1962 campaign.

To the Grass Roots. Looking toward the coming battle, Kennedy last week was back into domestic affairs with gusto, launching a series of Administration regional conferences. The conferences, a series of "nonpartisan" grass roots meetings open to the public, began in Chicago and St. Louis, will travel to ten more of the nation's leading cities in the next week or two. For two days in each city, they feature Administration officials, ranging from Cabinet members to under secretaries and specialists, who take part in panel discussions and answer questions about the problems of the cities, the aged, the economy and the nation's youth.

The regional conferences are aimed at drumming up support for Administration programs. "We believe that it is vitally important that the Government remain close to the people," said Kennedy in a telephoned address to the Chicago meeting, and that the people suggest "those governmental actions which might assist our country to move forward." That was a tactful way of putting it. John Kennedy knows what he wants from Congress. What he hopes to get from "the people'' is evidence to convince Congress that his programs have wide public backing.

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