The Democrats' Liberal Hawk on Capitol Hill

SENATOR Henry ("Scoop") Jackson of Washington State is a perplexing study in political paradox. He gaily dismisses his frequent hawk label: "I'm not a hawk or a dove. I just don't want my country to be a pigeon." Still, Jackson remains one of the most rigid supporters of President Nixon's Viet Nam policies. He still firmly believes in the domino theory of Southeast Asian politics and, as far as the rest of the world goes, he is convinced of the ultimate malevolence of the Soviet Union's global intentions. President Nixon thinks so highly of Jackson that he pleaded with him to become Secretary of Defense and later asked that he consider the post of Secretary of State Jackson politely declined both offers.

Why? Because Jackson is a devoted Democrat whose domestic views are as liberal as his foreign policy stance is conservative. He is an exponent of civil rights; in that area Jackson boasts one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate. He also takes issue with Nixon on economic policies. On revenue sharing: "The Nixon Administration is misleading the states and cities into thinking they are going to get something." On inflation: "Their formula to lick high prices is to see that no one has the money to pay them." The Republican Party, he says in summation, "is a museum of threadbare ideas."

Jackson also had a long-range reason for backing away from Nixon's seductive offers: he has an eye cocked on the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. His vision is not wholly the pipe dream it may appear. The Democrats are acutely interested in big winners, and Jackson is surely that. Only 58, he has served 30 years in Congress, 18 of them in the Senate. In the last election, Washington, clearly a two-party state, returned him to Capitol Hill with a staggering 83.9% of the vote. As chairman of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, he has gained a reputation for moving bills through committee more quickly than any other chairman. He is also third-ranking Democrat on the powerful Armed Services Committee and a member of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. His subtle knack for disagreeing without being disagreeable has made him a rarity among his colleagues--a powerful Senator with no enemy in view.

As a potential national candidate, Jackson can also claim seemingly contradictory support. His backing of the military-industrial complex has won him the approval of big business, notably the aviation industry. Yet he is also a friend of labor, whose leaders generally find his economic views congenial.

Though Scoop (the nickname came from an old cartoon character) humorously refers to himself as "an official non-candidate," he most certainly would like to be President. He is also frank about his chances. "I can read the polls," he says. "I can see how far out front Muskie is." If Muskie should stumble along the way, though, party leaders are bound to note that Jackson's disparate views give him as wide an ideological appeal as any other current Democratic hopeful now commands.

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