"What's the atmosphere there in St. Louis?" Vice President Dick Nixon asked, just before he set out on behalf of President Eisenhower last week to try a charm-and-pacification job on the delegates to the American Federation of Labor convention.
"Cool," said Acting Labor Secretary Lloyd Mashburn.
Nixon then asked an odd question: "Why?"
"You know as well as I do," Mashburn bluntly replied. The answer was indeed obvious—the delegates were sore and suspicious over the resignation of their fellow unionist, Pipefitter Martin Durkin, as Secretary of Labor. They preferred to believe that Durkin was...