Democrats: Senator Salinger?

The telephone jangled in the Fairmont Hotel's Room 75 overlooking San Francisco Bay, its waters ashimmer in the morning sunlight. A young woman picked up the phone, announced: "Salinger for Senator." In the roomful of newsmen and politicians, no one flinched more at the strangeness of those unlikely words than puckish Pierre Salinger, 39, who less than 24 hours before had been happily padding about the White House in his job as presidential press secretary.

While even Salinger was not yet used to the idea, official Washington was swept by surprise at the suddenness of his move. Pierre Salinger was...

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