DEMOCRATS: Los Angeles in ’60

Arrayed against the new power of the west were such diverse Democrats as Pennsylvania’s Governor David Leo Lawrence, Illinois’ Jake Arvey, New York’s Carmine De Sapio and Georgia’s Committeewoman Mrs. T. K. Kendrick. In trying to persuade the Democratic National Committee to veto the site-selection committee’s choice of Los Angeles for the 1960 Democratic convention, they argued that 1) Los Angeles is expensively far away for most delegates, 2) the Pacific time zone would mean poorly programed telecasting to eastern audiences, 3) Los Angeles smog is too thick.

But National Chairman Paul Butler of Indiana and his California sidekick Paul Ziffren (TIME, Feb. 16) held votes enough to force ratification of Los Angeles by a top-heavy 71-35, after a three-hour debate at the National Committee’s session in Washington. The victory was a handsome push for Adlai Stevenson, longtime ally and presidential choice of the liberal Ziffren-Butler team. And this, even more than space, time and smog, was what worried moderate Easterners and conservative Southerners most.