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Long, Hard Road. With 1960 still three hard years away, with Dwight Eisenhower prohibited by the Constitution from succeeding himself, and with elections since 1956 showing a strong trend against Republicans, the Democratic nomination seems increasingly precious. In the Democratic wings, just waiting for the right cue to go onstage, is a whole troupe of possible candidates: New Jersey's Governor Robert Meyner, with a big win under his belt; Texas' Senator Lyndon Johnson, who has yet to extend his vast Senate prestige to the outside world; Missouri's Senator Stuart Symington, ready, in Sputnik's day, to cash in on five years of criticizing Republican defense policy; Adlai Stevenson, believed by many to be eager to try against some Republican besides Ike; Estes Kefauver, still, according to the Gallup poll, the peepul's choice (he leads second-place Jack Kennedy by 26% to 19%, but professional Democratic politicians are more unwilling than ever—if possible—to accept him); and Minnesota's Senator Hubert Humphrey, Michigan's Governor "Soapy" Williams, and even Oregon's odd Senator Wayne Morse, all liberal darlings.
Looking down the bumpy road toward 1960, Jack Kennedy has moments of discouragement. He takes from his wallet a cartoon showing a harassed office worker, standing on his chair, thumbing his nose at his desk, and crying "I quit!' Says Kennedy: "That's the way I feel sometimes." But in a more characteristic mood, even while maintaining his official if-I-decide-to-try line, he looks eagerly to the brawls ahead. Says he: "Nobody is going to hand me the nomination. If I were governor of a large state, Protestant and 55, I could sit back and let it come to me. But if I am going to get it, I'll have to work for it—and damn hard."
And that is just what should be expected of a son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald (whose father boasted that she had turned down the marriage offer of that tea-making sail-boatin' Britisher Sir Thomas Lipton) and a grandson of Patrick Joseph Kennedy and John Francis ("Honey Fitz") Fitzgerald.
Long-Handle Drawers. Grandfather Pat Kennedy, a saloonkeeper, was the Democratic leader of Ward One in East Boston, a state representative and state senator, an associate of such lights as "Diamond Jim" Timilty, the Roxbury boss, and Smiling Jim Donovan of the South End. Grandfather Fitzgerald was a U.S. Congressman and twice mayor of Boston. Honey Fitz's theme song was Sweet Adeline, his political creed was based on the sound premise that the strength of textile-making New England depended on everybody's wearing long woolen underwear, and he thought of himself as "the last honest mayor Boston ever had."
Honey Fitz and Pat Kennedy often opposed each other politically, but they formed a family coalition with the marriage of red-haired young Joe Kennedy and brunette Rose Fitzgerald, who spoke French and German and "understood Harvard." Harvardman Joe, who had just taken over as president of East Boston's Columbia Trust Co. (Pat Kennedy held substantial stock in the bank, which did not hurt Joe's getting the job), promptly announced that he would make a million dollars with the arrival of each new child.