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Kefauver's reception in the Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium was featured by a mass of gas-filled balloons carrying the slogan: "I Like Estes Bestes." He had prepared a brief speech, planning to rush through it and catch a plane for Washington. But his flight was canceled because of inclement weather, so Kefauver stretched his talk out to considerable length. Excerpt: "We will point to the lack of imagination, the lack of resourcefulness in meeting new conditions in world affairs. We will point to the bumbling, the vagueness, the indecision, and in many cases the sterile inflexibility, which has come to characterize the conduct of our foreign affairs."
Michigan's Williams used the Oklahoma City meeting as an occasion to retreat a bit in his recent bitter criticism of Stevenson's "moderate" approach to politics (TIME, Dec. 5). Stevenson is his friend, said Williams, and "I was not in a state of war at any time." Then he added: "I disagreed with his policy and still disagree."
Adlai Stevenson, who spoke only briefly at the convention, was delighted to hear that Williams had gone even that far toward a truce. "I'm glad he's not at war with me," said Stevenson. "I'm not at war with him." All of which simply went to show that whatever their conflicting personal ambitions may be, the Democratic presidential possibilities at least for the present see their real war as being against the Republicans—instead of against each other.