"Lincoln," the new candidate cried, "would cry out in pain if we sold out on our principles, but he would laugh out with scorn if we threw away an election."
With that declaration of belief and practical politics—meant to appeal to moderates both within and without the Republican Party—Pennsylvania's Governor William Warren Scranton, 46, threw himself headlong into the G.O.P. contest for this year's presidential nomination. In so doing, he injected a rush of excitement into what was becoming a dreary procession toward the certain selection of Conservative Barry Goldwater.
A Foot in Each Century. In announcing his candidacy at the Maryland state Republican convention in Baltimore, Scranton drew a dramatic line between his political philosophy and that of Goldwater. "Can we pretend even to ourselves," he asked, "that it is possible for us to stand with one foot in the 20th century and the other in the 19th? Can we afford to pretend that all is well, when all is not? Can we in good conscience turn our backs on the century-old progressive history of our party? You and I know we cannot."
Scranton readily admitted that it was awfully late to stop Goldwater, and he accepted part of the blame: "I share responsibility with others of our leaders who until now have failed to act. Surely all of us now must confront what is a reality. The Republican Party is in danger—and some say our country may be too."
That admission of tardiness was well taken. For Bill Scranton's belated but all-out entry into the G.O.P. running came only after months of "let Rocky do it" stands by Republican leaders who wished to stop Goldwater but did not want to get hurt in the process. Scranton's entry also came after, and in the light of, one of the more ludicrous episodes in the history of the Republican Party, an exercise in ineptness, vacillation and rear-view heroism that nearly reduced the G.O.P. to a laughingstock before the entire nation.
A Lot of Asking. The scene was the 56th annual National Governors Conference in Cleveland. That conference, only partly by coincidence, fell on the weekend following the June 2 California presidential primary. Before the California results were in, most moderate Republican leaders felt that Nelson Rockefeller, with all the momentum of his May 15 Oregon victory, would knock off Barry in the primary. But they also felt certain that Rocky himself could not get the nomination. Therefore, the Governors' Conference could serve as a first-rate place for Republican leaders to meet and agree on a moderate-minded alternative for the presidential nomination.
But things did not quite turn out like that. Goldwater of course beat Rocky in California, if only by a skin-of-the-tooth margin of 59,000 votes out of more than 2,000,000 cast. To Scranton, that made it seem even more urgent for the Republicans in Cleveland to rally behind a moderate who might beat Goldwater.