Political Notes: Together Again

Just a year ago, George Meany sputtered a pledge of non-allegiance to the Democratic Party, “because they can’t deliver.” The delivery rate has changed very little, but the A.F.L.-C.l.O. and the Democrats seem to have become publicly re-enchanted. At the federation’s executive-council meeting in Bal Harbour, Fla., last week, a majestic array of high officials—six in all—accepted invitations to demonstrate the President’s affection for Big Labor. In return, Meany pronounced: “We have made greater progress with this Administration than with any other in my experience—including Franklin Roosevelt’s.” It was almost indecently early to be endorsing Lyndon Johnson’s 1968 candidacy, but then Meany is anything but coy. “I endorse him right now,” he said. The explanation was not hard to find. Last year’s argy-bargy was a permissible luxury only as long as the Democrats had massive majorities in Congress. The prospect of hard fighting in 1968 has cooled heads and warmed hearts with wondrous effects.