Who Libeled Whom?

When Edmund Muskie recently told a group of black community leaders in Los Angeles that "if a black man were on the ticket, we would both lose," few of the ensuing denunciations were as piously outraged as Richard Nixon's. He scornfully condemned his potential challenger for committing "a libel on the American people." The President apparently forgot that in 1968 he had made a similar comment about the possibility of a Jewish running mate. According to Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Dave Murray, during a pre-convention off-the-record meeting with several reporters and editors, Nixon was asked whom he would choose as a running mate if he won the nomination. Nixon ran through a list of possibilities--not including Spiro Agnew--and then, according to Murray, someone proposed New York Senator Jacob Javits. Nixon thought hard, recounts Murray, then said no. The country, the President-to-be explained, "isn't ready" to elect a Jew to national office. Now a question arises: Who libeled whom?

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