One Election Won

What would be the impact of the Cuban crisis on the 1962 elections?

Analysts were forced to apply standard political maxims to a situation in which precedents may not apply. All that was certain was that a powerful new factor, unsettling and emotional, would affect the U.S. voter--in ways that even he may not comprehend until he enters the voting booth on Nov. 6.

President Kennedy announced that he and Vice President Lyndon Johnson had canceled their remaining campaign trips, later ordered his entire Cabinet to do the same. The immediate assumption was that this would hurt the Democrats for whom they had planned to stump. Yet there was a supposition that the nation would want to unite behind its President--and perhaps behind his party as well. Again, went the figuring, the crisis seemed likely to strengthen incumbents of both parties in cases where their opponents have never been tested in high public office.

Those Republicans who had long been demanding tougher action on Cuba and who made it an important theme of their campaign, seemed likely to gain. Prominent among these were Indiana's Senator Homer Capehart and Pennsylvania's Senatorial Candidate James Van Zandt. Such experienced world affairs hands as California's Gubernatorial Candidate Richard Nixon also would benefit.

Despite the overall aura of a rally-round-the-flag spirit, there remained some nagging doubts about the timing of the blockade decision, coming as it did just two weeks before the elections. The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee angrily charged that the timing was political and aimed at preventing a Democratic debacle.

Yet in a strong sense, one election had already been held--and the people had won. For Kennedy had gone out among the people and found that they were deeply concerned about Cuba and were ready to stand behind him if he took decisive action. That knowledge could only have helped him reach his decision.

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