The Senior Voters

For age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress

With all its ingenuity and affluence, the U.S. has somehow contrived to make a mockery of that assertion of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on behalf of the elderly. Victims of a society that has prolonged life but shortened its usefulness, they sit playing chess, feeding birds or nodding in the sun in geriatric ghettos from San Diego to St. Petersburg. If less well off, they huddle in threadbare apartments in central cities, eking out a meager existence on Social Security, daring the sidewalks only when necessity overrides fear and infirmity.

For too long, Americans over 65 have carried their burdens in stoic silence; at last they are speaking out. Mindful of the fact that they constitute 10% of the U.S. population and an estimated 17% of all registered voters, the elderly are mobilizing their political power. This mobilization could become more effective than the much heralded new youth vote because oldsters regularly vote in large numbers and know their needs precisely. Their aim is government redress for inadequate health care, housing, employment and income. Some 6,000,000 have joined politically oriented groups like the National Council of Senior Citizens and the American Association of Retired Persons, which lobby for legislation to aid oldsters. Last week, as proof of their new clout, some 3,500 men and women delegates of all races from all 50 states assembled for the second White House Conference on Aging.

Fivefold. The five-day conference was the culmination of a year of preparatory meetings in various communities to plan an agenda for the aged. In Washington, the delegates split into committees to formulate recommendations on such problems as nutrition, education and transportation. In testimony to the emerging strength of the movement, a Who's Who in politics came to meet with the conferees.

President Nixon appeared on the last day and told the delegates that he plans to increase the budget for the Administration on Aging "nearly fivefold," bringing the sum to $100 million by 1973. He also promised that he would immediately begin to work on means of relief for elderly homeowners burdened by increasing property taxes. Delegates had earlier been disappointed when high-ranking Administration officials failed to deal with what old-age programs need most: an immediate, fresh infusion of federal money. They were pleased with Nixon's promises.

The delegates also reacted favorably to Ted Kennedy, whose $250 million food program for the elderly was the only piece of legislation passed by the Senate while the conference was in session (it was later buried in a House committee). The bill, which passed 88 to 0, was to have provided funds to the states for low-cost meals for anyone 60 and over, particularly for the poor and members of the minorities. At a reception attended by an overflow crowd, Kennedy urged the delegates to keep up the pressure on the Administration.

With a presidential election year coming up, both Republicans and Democrats are bidding for the votes of the elderly. And they do vote: of the 20 million Americans over 65, nearly 70% cast ballots in the 1968 presidential election, compared with a 61% turnout by the electorate as a whole. Moreover, voters over 50 gave Nixon 47% of their votes in 1968, enough to make the difference between victory and defeat then and just possibly again in 1972.

To deny Nixon these votes, the Democrats are mapping a senior strategy of their own. It will hammer at the inflation that squeezes the fixed incomes of retired people, Nixon's threat to veto a Social Security increase, and the fact that the Administration asked for less money for old-age programs in 1972 than it did in 1970.

Tangible Proof. Wilbur Cohen, the former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, who will write the recommendations on aging for the Democratic National Convention platform, thinks that the Democrats should push a bipartisan effort for property tax exemptions for the elderly who own homes assessed at less than $15,000 and for at least a 25% increase in Social Security benefits. That uncomplicated legislative program, coupled with some hard campaigning in states like California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and New York --all of which have large populations of older voters--could mean a switch of 1,000,000 to the Democratic presidential candidate, Cohen contends.

While the Democrats and Republicans are fighting over their vote, organizations such as the N.C.S.C. and the A.A.R.P. will be waiting for tangible proof of the parties' commitment to the cause of the elderly. John De Vito, a retired auto worker from Cleveland and a delegate at the White House conference, summed it up: "The senior citizens have fought two wars and paid more taxes than anybody else. Our pressure is 20 million votes. If you don't carry out our program, you don't get our votes."

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