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Still to come in the Senate are more problems for Kennedy. The natural-gas bill is coming up again, and it is considered a must in the Southwest; Kennedy voted against it once, is prepared to do so again. Restrictive labor legislation is in the works; Kennedy, a member of the labor-investigating McClellan committee, of which brother Bob is chief counsel, is against any such harsh measure as a federal right-to-work law, but probably would support corrective legislation, e.g., a tightening up, with punitive clauses, on the accounting of union pension and welfare funds. Extension of reciprocal trade will be an issue; Kennedy is all for it. So will foreign aid; Kennedy is an effective advocate, has stuck his political neck out by suggesting that it be expanded to include wavering Soviet satellites.
Second Mayflower. Beyond all these worries Jack Kennedy must stand for Senate re-election next year. The fact in itself is simple—but the problem is peculiar. To be sure, Kennedy has Democratic enemies, covert and overt, in Massachusetts. Congressman John McCormack is one example, although the foxy old House majority leader has recently been talking pro-Kennedy for all he is worth. The mutual esteem between Kennedy and Governor Foster Furcolo is at best on-again-off-again; some waspish Bostonians attribute it to the theory that "Gaelic and garlic don't mix." But Jack Kennedy is beyond any question his state's best vote-getter. His Democratic renomination is assured. The real difficulty is in finding a reputable Republican to run against him.
Massachusetts Democrats desperately want the Republicans to run against Kennedy. Explains Adviser John Powers: "If he has an opponent he'll fight hard and the chances are he'll eat the whole Republican slate. We'll redistrict both the state and congressional districts. It will be the real second coming of the Mayflower."
Kennedy himself has an additional motive. He realizes that he has gone too far too fast in the run for 1960, that his liabilities are catching up with his assets—and yet he cannot slow down. A huge, headline-catching win over respectable Republican opposition in Massachusetts would give him a second wind. Then he could be off again on what, by the nature of the position he has staked out for himself, is bound sometimes to be a lonely way. Says Jack Kennedy: "An independent position is the only place for me. I'm a Northern Democrat who has some sense of restraint. I do pretty well in Massachusetts, and if that turns out to be typical of the nation —well, that will be fine."
*And eruditely reminded his audience that Republican National Chairman Meade Alcorn bears the same name as one of Mississippi's Reconstruction governors.
*Another time when Kennedy won no friends and influenced many enemies: in 1954 he did not vote at all on Joe McCarthy's censure, which was widely interpreted as ducking the issue in Catholic Massachusetts. Actually, Kennedy was on his back in the hospital and forbidden to do much reading; hence, he explains, he was not familiar enough with the facts to make a judgment.