Stanley E. Weber Oral History Interview –JFK #1, 2/12/1966 Administrative Information
Creator: Stanley E. Weber Interviewer: Charles T. Morrissey Date of Interview: February 12, 1966 Place of Interview: Portland, Oregon Length: 33 pp.
Biographical Note Weber, Stanley E.; Journalist, Oregon Journal. Weber discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] presidential campaign and primary in Oregon (1960). He discusses his role in JFK’s campaign as the secretary of the Kennedy for President Committee in Oregon, and he touches upon campaign issues such as labor and Catholicism, among other issues.
Access Restrictions No restrictions.
Usage Restrictions According to the deed of gift signed June 12, 1968, copyright of these materials has passed to the United States Government. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.
Copyright The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excesses of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form. Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.
Transcript of Oral History Interview These electronic documents were created from transcripts available in the research room of the John F. Kennedy Library. The transcripts were scanned using optical character recognition and the resulting text files were proofread against the original transcripts. Some formatting changes were made. Page numbers are noted where they would have occurred at the bottoms of the pages of the original transcripts. If researchers have any concerns about accuracy, they are encouraged to visit the library and consult the transcripts and the interview recordings.
Suggested Citation Stanley E. Weber, recorded interview by Charles T. Morrissey, February 12, 1966, (page number), John F. Kennedy Oral History Program.
GE:lERAL SERVICES AIKD'IISTRATICJi NATIQIAL ARCillVES AND RECORDS SERVICE
Gift of Personal Statement
By Stanl ev E. deb~r
to the
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library
In accordance vith Sec. 507 of the Federal Propert1 and Adminis trative Services Act of 1949, as lil:lended (44 U.S. C. 397) and regulations iuued thereunder ( 41 CFR 101-10 ), I, 5t.,nkv ;;, dchcr , herein.after referred to as the donor, hereby give, donate, and convey to the United States of America for eventual deposit in the proposed John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, e.nd for adm1n1stration therein by the authortties thereof, a tape and transcript of a pereooa.l. statement approved by me and prepared for the purpose of deposit in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library. Tbe girt of this Cl8terial is made subject to the roll.oving terms and conditions:
1 . Title to the mater ial transferred hereunder, and all l.it erary property ril!hte, v ill pen to the United States as of the date of the delivery of this material into the physical custody of the Archivist or the United States.
2 . It is the donor's vish to make the material donated to the United States of America by te=s of this instrument available for research as soon as it has been deposited in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library.
3. A revision of this stipu1ation governing access to the material for research may be entered int o betveen the donor and the Archivist of the United States, or bis des ignee, if it appears desirable.
4. Tbe material donated to the United States pursuant t o the f ore going sball be kept intact permanently in the John Fitzger ald Ken.oedy Library. c._./ .
Signed ::dc&d"" ,,...- I tf;t: 2 g ~ Date 21 ?eb!"...arv lo<,8
Accepted ~ r f?;.12&-e Q._./ cll.1V18t o 1ihe United States
Date I d- l-9 b f·'I~ or r 1 ,,,,. 1 Stanley E. Weber Table of Contents Page Topic 1, 3, 10 Democratic National Convention, 1960 1, 33 Weber and John F. Kennedy [JFK] 2, 5, 12, 26 Kennedy for President Committee, Oregon 2, 10, 14, 23, 27 Oregon campaign and primary, 1960 2, 5, 10, 33 Weber’s involvement in JFK’s presidential campaign (1960) 2, 7, 19 Support for JFK 2, 24, 30 Labor issue 3, 7, 17, 25, 32 JFK’s opponents 6, 18, 27 JFK and Catholicism 10, 21 JFK’s personality 15, 20 Use of media in Oregon campaign 32 Weber as the Regional Information Officer for the Department of the Interior \. '· .,' ·~1 Oral History ~nterview with STANLEY E. WZBER Hilton Hotel , Portland, Oregon February 12, 1966 By Charles T. Morrissey For the John F. Kennedy Library MORRISSEY: Let ' s start by my asking you how you viewed the approaching Democratic Convention of 1960, from the vantage point of somewhere i n the late 1950's. Was there any one candidate that struck you as potentially the strongest, or most attracti ve? Also, how did you hap.pen to become involved in John F. Kennedy's campaign? WEBER: I had no experience in politics, or no active part in politics until late in 1959. I was a newspaper reporter here in Portland for approxi matel y thirteen and a h alf years prior to 1959 . But I first saw Kennedy in person in the surmner of 1959, at Seaside / Oreg·on, where he came to deliver a speech to the Oregon , AFL- CIO Convention. I was covering that .convention for my newspaper, the Oreqon Journal here in Portland. I was very favorably impressed with the appearance that Senator Kennedy, who was then the United States Senator from Massachusetts , made at that convention. It just so :happened t hat about two months later when Congresswoman Edith Green was organizing - 2- the Kennedy for Presider.t Committee in Oregon, she got in touch with me and asked me if I would serve as the executive secretary of that committee . MORRISSEY : Ead you known her .:-cviously? WEBER: Only very slightly. I ' d only met her once or twice , bi.::.t my name ~1.a.d been reconunended to her. I wrote a labor column in the Journal , and I had written some articles which I believe favorably impressed her, and for that reason , she asked me to come to work on the committee on a full-time paid basis. That 1 s how I got into politics, but of course I was, as I said, very impressed with Se~ator Kennedy's appearance at Seaside, and I followed his career, I wo~'t say as much as politicians do , but certainly probably more than the average citizen . I felt that he was definitely of presidential c a libre and would make a fine president . ~ was v ery happy to accept the offer and to work for the Kennedy campaigr... Oreg·on, of course, being one of the key primary states , it was impor·cant to have a full time paid man here, and to set a campa ign organization going that early . This was even prior to the time that Senator Kennedy h o.. d annou:::-iced publicly that he was going t o run for the preside ntial nomination . His speech in Seaside was particularly impressive because at t hat time the labor issue was very prominent . .L-c was probably the number one political issue i n the nation because of the revelations brought up by the McClellan Committee of which Sena·cor Kennedy was a member . There was L~gisla ·tion in Congress which many l abor leaders opposed, and on w·hich President Ken:iedy took a position that was u~popular with some labor officials. I think many of the rec..s onable and enlightened officials red ognized that this was a sound position he took . But when he c ame to Seaside at the l.F ~ o f Lo-CIO Convention, I don ' t believe the atmosphere t~ere was hostile to him, but it certainly was not overly enthusiastic as you might expect ordinarily . I t wasn't a we.rm fr i endly audie nce. 'I'hey were r <::-.·cher dubious about this eas'.::e::-n Senator who had voted in a mc..nner that many of them -3- felt was wrong on the labor issue. He launched right into the subject without any hesitation, a nd gave a sound, reasonable explanation of his position and why it was necessary to vote the way he had . And I think he won a great deal of respect from the delegates . MORRISSEY: Were the delegates to that convention at that time primarily in support of Hubert Humphrey for t he nomination? WEBER: It would be impossible to say whether the ma jority of_ them were or were not in support of anybody. I don't think that most of them had probably made up their minds. But it was true as I recall, that the supporters of Hubert Humphrey were very active at that convention and were known and were organizing . MORiUSSEY: Oregon supporters? WEBER : Yes, that's what I mean--local Oregon supporters in the labor movement, as I recall it, were either organizing formally or at least inf ormally in support of Hubert Humphrey, and of course, Senator Wayne Morse of Gregor.. , who later became a candidate for the nomination, had his backers too I believe at that time . But there were some m.~mphrey supporters at that convention- local people. I recall that even though I wasn ' t , as I say, in politics, I had telephoned my wi :C e who was i n Portland a day or two before and suggested that she come down to the con vention to hear Senator Kennedy because I felt it would be an important appearance . And she did come down and brought our childre~, and they had an opportunity to meet him at t~e convention following h is speech. It was a.nice warm sunny day and everybody went outside , out of the meeting hall afterwards, and he circulated in the crowd . And I know my wife speaks of that occasion often now, this being the first time she had ever met Senator Kennedy. And she , too, was very impressed with his speech . As I say, I think a lo·c of the delegates were too even though , when the speech started, they rr..ay have been uncertain about their feelings toward ~im . But he made such a fine presentation, that I - 4 - think he won lots of support there. MORRISSEY: Was it a difficult decision for you to resign your newspaper job? WEBER: No, I was eager to make a change , and I felt ·that this would. be a good opportunity personally. And also I t~ought it would be an i nteresting ar.d worthwhile experience. So I d id it. My name had been recommended to Mrs. Green by one of my colleagues on the ,Journal , the political editor, Larry Smith, who inci dentally became a pretty good, ~lose friend of Senator Kennedy ' s. Larry Smith, shortly thereafter, became seriously ill and died shortly after President Kennedy 's inauguration. Kennedy, when he was still Senator, wen-t to Larry Smith's apa rtment and visited him when .Larry was very ill during the pri mary campaign . In fact, that was the day of the primary election , and Senator Kennedy was due to leave the airport that morning. But before he left, he went out to Larry Sm ith's apartment . [Hyman B . ] Hy Raskin and I went with him, and I th2n drove Senator Kennedy and Hy Raskin to the a irport from Larry Smith's apartment . MORRISSEY : C~ that ride to the airport did the Senator comment on how he expected the results to be? WEBER : l~:o, I don't think he did. I remember one of the things on the ride to the airport that concerned him a little bit was the fact that we passed a number of polling places, and ·.:.l1ere was nobody waiting in li~e; there was no activity_ ! mean, all you could see was a sis:!:"l. say.:...ng p::::-ecinct number 127 1 or whatever ii: was, and h e :cer.~z~ l'..":-ced , "Where were the voters?" He apparently thought t~era would be a large turno~t of voters that early in the mor~ing . But in this state at least, it doesn't work that way. Many of the people vote in the evening or later in the day , and there really isn ' t too rn.uch activity in the morning . So he thought maybe there wa.s not much interest, and : think that conc er~ed him a little bit, but I did explain - 5- to him that I thought that wasn't indicative of any lack of interest at all. It was mostly just the pattern of voting procedure. \, Anyway, my job in the campaign then was executive sec retary. of the Oregon Committee for President Kennedy . I had thought that probably it would be to a great e x tent a publicii:y job because of my background a s a newspaper man , but it 'cu:cned out that publicity was only a small part of it . Organizatio~ and gen~ral activities connected with running a camp~i gn were major features of it , and running the campaign head~uarters . MORRISSEY: 'I'his question asks for an awful lot , but tell me, how does one start to organize for Kennedy? WEBER: Well, for tunately, Mrs . Green had already started some of the ground work and had done some of the major things. She had appointed a commi~te e of key people right here in Portland . For exampl e , ------, Dr . Dean Anderson was vice chairman , Mrs . Green was c hairman . She appointed a finance chairman, and then she appointed some key people to beco:ne chairmen of the various interest groups . For example, we had a labor chairman, and we had a businessman 's chairman , and we had people interested in agriculture . MORRISSEY:· Was i t diffi cult to get a labor chairman? WEBER : No, i t wasn ' t. We had an outstanding labor chairman in my opinion, a man named Gordon Swope who was an official of the re'l:.ail clerks union and was a very rine person, very intelligent and capable . And we fou~d , as I say, considerable support for Kennedy in the labor movernent . There was also considerable opposition from people who were either com.mitted to other c aadidates or who for one reason or another didn' ·t want to support Senator Kennedy . But we had a number of peo9l e who were active in the labor movement and who served on our committee . But the~ Mrs . Green also appointed a chairma~ in each con gressio~a~ d ~ strict. A~d then we undertook to find a chairman in every county . l~:1d part: of r,1y job was to try to find chairmen in each cour..·cy , :'..n those coun·cies where we didn't already have one . -6- MOi~l;zISSEY: Wa s i"t hard? WESER: It wasn't really as dif~icult as I e xpected . We ran into some di:::Ciculties, but I was very happy with the caliber of people we got in all the counties and in the districts . We had what I t~o~ght was an impres s~ve list of people. It seemed that President Kennedy attracted to his campaign people of outstanding ability ~nd intelligence. One of my ~est difficult jobs was finding a chairman in Lane County . But when I did find one, a man named Ralph Hillie.r, a young attorney down there, he was a terrific county chairman . I remember when I went down to the Lane Count y Democratic conven~ 1 on. This was shortly after I had taken this position, late in .1959, and there was a Lan e County Democratic convention . I went down there , and there was very little interest for Senator Kennedy . There was some . Jl,nd those people who were for him were very enthusiastic . But I remember the religious issue cropped up there in discussions with people . People who, as far as I know, were not themselves prejudiced but felt it was a mistake for the Democratic Party to nominate a Catholic . 'I·hey thought, as one of them told me, " It's going to be 1928 all over aga~n . We ' ll get beat on the religious issue . " But nevertheless, after discussions with several people, the name of this Mr . Hillier , Ralph Hillier, was recommended to me . I me·::: with h i m, and he finally agreed to t a:<.e t he chairm<::.nship, and he did an outstanding job. And Lane County was, of course, a very inportant county. It's 'che county where the city of Eug·ene is located , and it ' s oae of ·::he me.st populous counties in the state . But in almos·c every county, it seems to me, we found somebody who was enthusiastic and a good chairman . And we did have a good organization. MORi--<.ISS:2Y: Were many of these people new to politics? WEBEE: I think many of them were, yes . There were some who were::. ' t . I don ' t. >cnow what the proport ion was of those who were new, but they weren ' t - 7- party leaders , gene~ally speaking . They were people who j~st had an i nterest in politics. They usuaily participat ed in the c ampaig·ns . IV:o st of them I think had some experience . They were very enthusias t i c. I think Mrs. Green had l aid the groundwork by getti ng good key peolc in many of the committ e e positions , and that was ver y important in the c a mpai gn . MORRISSEY : Were many of the people t hat she lined up people who previously had been active i n her own campaigns? WEBER: I think many of them were, yes . I think many of them were active in her c ampaign, but many , of course , weren't because her campai gn for Congress was of course c onfined just to Multnomah Count y in the third c ongres sional district . But I t hink many of them had worked with her before . MORRISSEY: In y our travelling around the state did you find much sentiment for Adlai Stevenson? WEBER: As I recall it, yes, there was some sentiment at that time, but I wouldn ' t say it was very extensive. There were many people who wanted Adlai Stevenson to r un, but a t that stage of the game, during the primary, he i ndicated no interest at all in running, and I think many of those people then did support Senator ~ - ennedy . As it turned out, t h e three most prominent candidates were Senator Kennedy, Sen ator Wayne Mor se (the Oreg·on Senator) and Hubert Humphrey . But then after the West Virginia primary, Hubert Humphrey dropped out. And it boiled down to a c ampaig-n between Senator Mors·e a nd Senator Kennedy . Lyndon Johnson was on the ballot , Stuart Symingt.on was on the ballot, but they didn 't wage any campaign in this state and had n o real orgainzation . Senator Mo r se d id have an active or9anization. The Humphrey organizat ion, as I say, ceas0d to function a~ter the West Virg inia p rimary, and some of their people did come over and join ou r c ampaign . And I suppose some of them supported Senator Morse . But we -8- did 9·'2·-C. sorne of ·t:ieln .. And it boiled do\,\Jn ·to really a tv10- ~an battle between Morse and Kennedy. MORRISSEY: Before the votes were counted, did you have any doubts that your c~ndi date might not win? WEBER: As I say, I was a novice to politics, except c.s an o:Cserver . -_: ' d been an observer as a newspaper repc.:: .. .. - But I had no way of knowing how the election was c;o ing to come out, and I remember asking Hy Raskin once because Hy Raskin was an experienced poli ticiar1.. I rernember once a sking him when Jchey were sitting around, h s 2nd scme others, totaling figures and so on, and I said, "Eow do you estimate this? I mean what do you go on?,,. .J;nd he said, "Oh, it's just a feeling you get." . One day you'd feel great; you'd have a meeting; and Senator Kennedy would appear; and it would be an enthusiastic ~~owd. Pe'd make a wonderful i mpression, and you'd feel great. But then maybe another day something would happen, and you wouldn't feel so enthusiastic. But I did get the feeling late in the campaign, that things were going well. And every place we went, it seemed t hat the response to Senator Kennedy was very enthusias·tic. It was warm. He was attracting· good crowds. They were friendly crowds, and from the reports we had, his opponent was not attracting c rowds of that magnitude. And for that reason I felt that we were in a strong position and would v-rin. But originally, that is early in the campaign, it looked to me like an I uphill fight because Senator Morse was a very popular senator here among Democrats, and he had the backing of some of the party people. And from that standpoint , it looked like the odds we re against us. But as the campaign went on, Senator ~ rea.sons why r.e want ed the support of tt.e people of Oregon, and I think it made a v ery strong impression on Democr atic voters in that primary. And of course , he won the c ampai gn by a substantiai margi n . Was there a bandwagon feeling for Ke nnedy after his vict ory in West Virginia? WEBER : Well, i t certainly help ed . I d on't know that t here ever was any fee l i n g of a real bandwagon here . At l east I didn ' t have that f e eling. I guess you c ould use the o l d cliche: we were r unni ng scared , so to spsak. We worked a s hard as we c ould, and of course a~Ler the West Virginia primary when Senator Humphr ey dropped out, there wa s this, as I saia before, many of the Humphrey peop.. '"rh o we re active in that campaign did c ome in and offer t heir help t o u s . But I thi n k probably some of t hem went to Senator Morse . MORRISSEY: I was wondering if some Oregon voters wanted to vote ~or the man that appeared at t hat time after West Virginia to be the most likely winner? WEBER : Well, I just have no way of knowing r eally why they voted . As I say, I think it was primarily due to the =ine campaig·n that Senator Kennedy conducted . He made a very impressive appearance . He did campaign very hard he:::-e . He carnpaigned extensively . He s.:ot around to many pc.rts of ·the state, and he recogni zed the importance of Oregon because this was the last major pri mary ~ efore th~ I~~ocratic Convention. I know we felt that if De wor:. her2 over a favorite son like Sena·::o:c 1"1orse, it would have a great impact on the Democratic Convent~on , and I think it did. I remember one incicen-t ; thi s was late in the primary 2.nd has to do with the im~>ortance with which Senator Kennedy viewed ~his carepaign and t~e desire he had to get out and really campaig-n every mi:..:ute that he was here , to meet people. -11- We had scheduled 2n appearance fo~ him at the Tektronix Manufacturing Plant here on the o~tskirts of Portland. It's a large electronics corporation, and he had expressed a desire to go to more industrial concerns. He thought that this would be an e ffective way of campaigning. So I set up this appearanc e for him at the Tektronix pl2nt in the morning, and it was a very succes · ·:ul appearance there. Ee ·went through the plant and met the wor~ers individually. He talked with them, he shook hands. Then they had a rather early lunch hour for a large number of the workers. And they had a big employee cafeteria, and the management very k indly consented to let him appear there and speak. And he did that at the lunch hour, and it went very well . And then on the way back into downtown Portland-- we were scheduled then to go to a restaurant here where M.r s. Green had set up a lunchGO~l. meeting for him with some of t.he campaig·n workers. But as we approached downtown Portland, he turned and said , "Well what time do we have to be at the restaurant?" And it turned out that we had a few minutes to spare, and he said, rrwell, gee, we're just wasting time driving." And when the car stopped at the corner, he suddenly opened the door and jun::_::>ed out . He said, "We might as we ll w:~lk down there." And so we were all very startled . [P. Kenneth] Kenny O ' Donnell was in the car, and I was there,· and Pierre Salinger and the driver of the car . So all of us jumped out ~xcept the driver , and Senato:.::- Kennedy said, nwhich way's the rest aurant?u And I said, "=t's down that way". It was almost a mile to the restaurant, but he just walked down the street and shook h a~d s with people, and stopped and talked to them, said , "I'm Senator Kennedy, and I ' m running for the nomination for president ." It indicated to me that he didn't want to waste a mi::.ute. Every minute was devote~ to some coastructive ef~ort toward the campaign. MORRISSEY: Did you plan h is itineraries? WEBER: Well, I didn' ~ do it individually. We had what we cal.lea a st.rategy comrnittee of people in ti:-.e cc:mp2ign organization. I sat in with -12- them and helped . But basically they planned the itineraries. And it was my job then to fol l ow through and make the de tailed arra ngements. But this, incidentally, was how we got into this Tektronix ~anufacturin~ concern . Our strategy cornrnittee had put i~1 a mini.rrr('.1m number of appe arances at industrial plants . They had the feeling that it would be better to schedule appearances at shopping centers, parti cularly suburban shopping ce:1ters where you announce in advance and publ icize in advance that Senator Kennedy is going to be at the so and so shopping center at a given time. And we did that for a day or two, and President Kennedy, the night before that we went to Tektronix, said to me, "We've got ·too m2ny shopping centers here." He said, "I f2el we should get in where the vlorkers are . I want to make more appearanc~s at industrial places." So he said, "You sci1edule sorc,e fast . r;· So that meant the next morning, and I did that. I had to work that night late setting up this t h . 0 at Tektronix. It wasn't just something you could do by Just a telephone call the next morning. You had to contact people and get ~ermission and so on . And then we also sche __ led him in on a shipyard . That was very successful. And it was very encouraging because I remember that Gordon Macn ab, one of the Associated Press reporters here in Portland, covered that appearance at the Albina Shipyard, and Gordon , the AP man , took a very informal poll among the workers , and h e reported that they were very strongly in favor of President Kennedy. And that was certai nly an en couraging sign because if Senator Morse was going to have any support at all, it would seem that it would c ome from t h e working class people. We h a d other reports . As I said , Larry Smith, t h e political editG~ of the Jou rnal told me his ~J roth e:::-, W:.11 0 was in the longshoremen' s union, ·told him t:hat even ii1 the J_;:-.ng·shoremen 1 s ·G.nion there was strong support for Se nator Kenne dy. So those things, you add all those up, and that's how I g·uess you corne to a feeling- about the campaign. MORRISSEY; W>10 was on t~~, at strategy committee? - 13- 'dEBER: Well, Dr . 1'1nderson was on it. State Senator Walter E. Pearson was on it . Let's see, Edna Scales was on it. [Mrs. EeO.] Bobbie Berg of Saler..1, I believe, was on it. Sylvia Nemer was on it. Of coJrse, Edith Green, if she were here, but she was back in Congress and wasn't here much of the time. But when she was here, she certainly was on it. And I've forgotten if there were t\,-JO or three others, probably Betty Schedeen, who was our third congressional district chairman, was on it. MORRISSEY ; unusual to my knowledge for a corru-ni ttee to plan itineraries. WEBER~ Well, of course all of this was subject to the approval ·in Washington of the Kennedy campaign people back. there. In other words, we would let them know where he was going, where we had planned to send him and they could veto anything . MORRISSEY: Were there any problems in coordinating your activities here in Oregon with the national representatives of the Kennedy organization, such as Hy Raskin, Kenny O'Donnell, and some of the other people you've mentioned? WEBER: Well, I wouldn't say there were any serious problems because Hy H.askin was a ,.::.errific man to work with. He was very capable and he was our sort of liaison man with the Washington headquarters . He knew Oregon wery well because he had worked out here in 1952 in ·che Stevenson campaign. And he was well known to Democrats out here. He knew a lot of the pres~ people, and he knew the way this state operated. So we really didn ' t hav2 ar... y mojo:c problems. I deal"t:. by telephone with [Stephen E.] St~ v e Smith in Washington on a lot of the details. But I also dealt with Hy Raskin, and of course, Edith Green was in Washington herself and in tou~h with me by telephone when she wasn't here personally. And the p roblems were not really g-reat. I mean we got along fine. They were a terrific - 14·- group of people to wor~ with. It seemed to me that it was a wonderful crgc.:n i zatior". So there were no great problems in the.. t rega.:cd. J-ust before ·che primary election / many of the key people from \f,!c..shington were out h e re . [Lawren ce F . ] Larry O'Brien, Kenny O'Donne:l 0£ course , Pierre Salinger was here every tLue Presiden.t Kennedy c ame here . MORRISSEY: W~en these peo2le c ame out, there wasn' t any parti cular subject, or subjects, that they were distressed about in regard t o the overall organizat.ion? WEBER : Yes , come to t hink of it there was one thing- and I know Hy Raskin can certai nly fill you in on ~~e details ~et t er than ! can on this-- but they fel~ very strongly that a vigorous telephone campaign to get ou t the vote just before the primary was e s sential and desirable. And we didn ' t feel that way here . MORRISSEY: Why? WEBER: Well , as ~ recall it, the way Hy expressed i t , he felt the voters o f Oregon were a mor e sophisticated type of v o ter, that they didn't make up their m::.nds on th2 bas.is of a telephone c a ll, and they didn't need a t elephone c all to have somebody call them up and tell them to get out and vote . I mean t hey followed the c ampaigns c:osely i n the newspapers and on television, over I the r a dio , and that the way to reac h them more effectively was with literature, soxnething· that would present views and op inions of the candidate. A~d we c oncentrate d more on distribu tion of lite::-ature. 1/fe had s ome terrific workers here , wonderful vol ur.teer workers who devoted many hours. We put. out a publicati on , that one ·that I've given you , and other publicat.ions. And we hit those door to door, particularly in t he metr opolitan area of Portland, but i n other p arts o f t he state. And we felt t~at we could con centrate our work '\, ~ore effectively i~ that kind of an approach where President Ken:i.2dy's views WO\J. l a be brought to t he people . And, well , - 15- I don't know, there see~Tted to be a feeling that a telepho;.1e call just wasn ' t tha effective way of doing it . As it turned out, ::: ·::hinJ<:: ~-iy ::-·a.skin an..:. t hose of us who felt that ·way were probably rig·ht b ecause we d id wi n t h e pri ma ry b y an un9~ecedente d total . MORRISSEY ; Did you make extensive use of t elevision? WEBER: Well, we didn't make as extensive a use as we would have liked . We did use television in t he primary, and we thought it was very effec t ive. We had two o r three progr ams . One was a sort o f p a nel discussion in which Senator Kennedy s at around the table i. with seve:cal of our campaign ::..eaders. We had our labor chairraan, Gordon. Swope; we had somebody represen t i ng, as I recall it , b usiness people and other interests . And ~he y asked Senato r Kennedy questions about t he issu e s t h at were important to those spec ial i nterest groups , and then he disc ussed the issues. This was one ·::echnique we used . The other one was a teiephone- in type of question and answer prog-ram where Presiden-t Kennedy simply appeared on the screen and accepted telephone calls from the public . We had a battery of telephone operators ·there who received t hese telephone questi ons . The q~estions were then pres ented to Senator Kennedy , aLd he answered them . This was , we thought , very successful the first time we tried it, but as I recall it , the seco~d time we tried it, it wasn't as successful . And the reason it wasn't was simply that people were asking the same questions over and over . I mean after t h e f irst program t ~ ey had just about exhausted most of the issues. Ar.d we found it was so successful, ,chat we said, " Well, let ' s 'c..ry it c:.g·a :._n. '' And _we did, and \ve found they were asking almos·t the same que stions. So we felt that, well , we ' d just a~out exhausted that technique, so we didn ' t try it again . But it was a very effective technique the first time it was cried, and p=obably the s~cond time . But it was clear that to try to do i t again wou .,_a not be c.s effecti ve . Were these carried on statewide telev ision? - 16- ~: \!EBER: As I ~ecall i t , yes. As far as you could in the state. At that time it was difficult to re2ch many parts of the state, the remote parts o f the s tate, with direct television. We did , I believe, have a linkup wiLh some of the larger cities down the Willamette Valley: Eugene, S ale~ , and Medford. But we cou ldn ' t reach the far eastern parts of the state . IViORRISSEY : Did you tend to write off certain parts of the state and concentrate on Portland? WEBER : ~ o, we did not. We tried to get Senator Kennedy around to every section of the state, and we had a cafilpaign organization chairman in eve~y county and in all congressional distr icts. And one ~ n ing t hat I think I learned, as I say, I was a n ovice in politics, but it seemed to me that it would be a mistake for any one campaign to concentrate just i n the metropolitan area because the impact t hat a candidate o= national stature makes in a small community far outweighs, on a proportional basis, ·the impact that he will make in town like Portland where people cf r.ational stature , whenever they come to Oregon , always come. 0£ course, ~ t is necessary to c amp a ign in Portland. You don' t write off Portland. But on the other ~and, you go to a town like Newport on the Oregon coast, a relatively small town_ When a ma;.1 of Sena.tor Kennedy' s stat-u.re comes to a town like l~ewpor-t , t he entire city is aware of i t , and everybody turns out . And the impact is g-rea·t , very s ·:i::- eat . And this happened in every small town we went , and I t h ink it's, the r efore , important i n this state at l east t o ~it these small areas. Bat of course , you've g·ot "i.:o , again quoting Hy F~askin , remember he. said, "You've sot ·~J go fishing Where the fish are located • rr fa.nd you can It spend a disproportionate amount of time i~ small areas . ··i'Je w2ryt ir.. those areas where Democratic registration was rel ~~ iv ely high. We didn ' t go in the primary in those a reas , "I. r-1ec:n not c.s much, where the Republicans had a big edge in :egistration . We had a la:ge wali map o f the sta~e with all -- t::-. 12 cou~ties o"C:.tlir:ed on i ·c; we knew what the Democratic - 17- registration was in every county; and we selected those counties where ·the registration wc..s the highest, naturally, to conce~~rate the campaign . But we did hit all parts of the state, all sections including the far easte rn agricultural areas, sparsely populated areas. MORRISSEY: Was there an effort , either before the primary or before the November election , to register more Democrats? WEBER: Oh yes . In the primary , the party itself undertook that . But in t he general election in November, we made a big effort to register people . And of course we were then working ~irectly with the party organization . -It was a cooperative ef ~o rt at that time . But we didn't rely entirely on the party organi zation, vle had our ovm Citizens for Kennedy and Johnson . And we concentrateci hea v.ily on that. We had teams of registrars out. We had a very effective volunteer attorney group, lav.;yers who wen-t out and accompanied the registrars to answer any legal questions that might come up with respect to registering to make sure that it was done properly . JYIORR:::SSEY : Did you expect Oregon to go for Kennedy in the campaign against [Richard M.] Nixon? WEBER: Gee, I had great hope f or that, but I think deep down in my heart I knew that it was going to so the way it did, that Nixon would win . I I think the relig~ous issue was a very strong issue at that time, and Oregon had had a long tradition of voting for Republ ic2~ns for presj_dent except during· the depression days when they vo·ted for Franklin D. Roosevelt. . And it was just too muc~ to overcome, I think, those factors . MORRISSEY : We re there c .-1y scars left from the primary battle that ~urt the overall Democratic canpaign in ~~e contest against Ni xon? -18- VIBBER:: I don't recall that t~is was . . Well, I'll take that back. Yes , I think there was. - mean I'm not sure that there were scars par ticularly from that campaig-n, but there were some problems with Democrats, Democratic leaders from various parts of the state who I don't think were &s strongly corrmitted as t~ey might have been. I suppose that the primary had somethi ng to do with that. I<:'s hard to say, I mean, what the motives were. We, of course, didn't waste time on that~ we were busy on other things. Back during the primary campaign did you have c.ny trouble with Protestant ministers around the s-C.a.te sounding off about the '' dang·errc of a Catholic candidate for President? I don't recall any Protestant ministers, but that issue was pre~ent, although strangely enough it didn't seem to me that it was as potent an issue in the ~rimary as it later developed in the general election. In t~e general election it was an issue. It was brought right out i nto the open by the rather notorious letter that was sent out by, as I recall it, the Scottish Rite Shrine leader here i n Oregon. But in the primary I don 1 t believe that any Protestant ministers ever spoke out that way, at least not to my knowledg·e. And as I say , it didn't seem to be as potent an issue in the primary. I'm not sure v/hy tha·c was, but it just didr.' t happen. In fact, as you know, we won the primary and lost the general election. It seemed to become much more prevalent in the general election. v!e ran into it , and we did start conducting son1e telephone surveys in the general election, c alling people up, selected people, and we found that many of them were raising that q:uestion . And I don't think it's so rnuch a question of outright burn:· :. s· prejudice against Catholics . It was a feeling, well, why take a chance on getting a Cathoiic when this issu2 w2s being- talked about. So they felt, well, why should we take 2 chance on a Catholic if it ' s going to lead to, you ~new, influence from the V~tican. So that seemed to be the r eaction. - 19- ., :·i1 J.V.lORi~ISSEY :_ Where did the volunteers come from? WEBER: Volunteers seemed to come from every walk of life, from all over. In the primary we had a wonderful volunteer organization. They just c a~e in and offered their services. Prior to the time I g·ot i nvolved in the campaig-r-~, .tv:rs. G:::-een and those w·orking with her had al:ceady lj_neC: up, as I say, a number of volunteers . Bu·t wherever we went, we attempted to get narnes of people . Then we had mailings, and we ' d send them and tell them we needed volur.teer workers, and they came in a nd offered their services . There were many professional secretari es and ste;:iog-raphers who worked as volunteer typis'.::s. We had colle<;;e and hig·h school st.udents who came in and did all kinds of chores tha t needed to be done. We had people who volunteered the use of their c.:utomobi les, and · we had l ots of people who came in and helped with the mai ling· cc:::npc:.ign t~;.at we had. It ' s hard to say where they came fro:n, -:::-.ey just came from every walk of life, all k ind s of p~ofessional people and business people , working people, c:.nd ho~sewives. In the primary we had onl y two paid people in ·the cz.npaign here locally, ~yself and Margaret Ann Scaife who worked with· me in the office. All the rest were volunteers . We had , of cours2, & campaign headqu arters downtown and that was fully manned ail the time with volunteer people, mostly housewives, during the day and at night. Then we set up volunteer head quarter orgaDizations in key cit~e s around the state: Eugene , Medford, Salem, Pendl eton, I believe. Those were I little store front headquarters t hat were opened up and mann ed by volunteers in those areas . T}1ere were a lot of women who worked effectively a n d wholehea:!'.'.'tedly in the campaign . But t.he:c e were ?. iot of ~-c1en who worked , came down nig-h ts, worked weekends. So it was a wide variety of people t hat did. Did the Kenr_edy women corne to Oregon and set up their far. WEBE::-~ : Jacq~eline Kennedy was here early in the campaign, although this was p rior to Senator Ke~nedy's form<:. l a:r:nounc e~t:.ent , which I believe came very - 20- early in 1960, i:hat he was g·oi.29 to run. I remember Jac queline ~Zermedy w2 s '\iliith him in October 1959 when he appeared h2re, }::ru.-t as f ar as I know she didn rt set up any tea parties. Pat Lawford, his sister, was here on one occasion in 1960. No, ~here were no tea parties of any kind by the Kenne dy women. She (Pat Lawford) was with him and traveled in the airp:ane with him on on~ trip to Corvallis and Al bany. I believe there was a reception for ?at Lawford at one pla ce given by the local women, but not one that she gave . And I donrt believe Jacqueline Kennedy was here except for that visit in late 1959. However, there were many local wornen who did g-ive parties and receptions and so on . 1110RR ISSEY~ As a former newspaper;:r~an, c ould you comment on how the Oregon newspapers treated Kennedy 's candidacy? WEBER: Well, in the primary I think they i:reated h im very well _ And, for that matter, in the general election I think ou~ papers here were very fair. We had some good editorial support. In the primary , I recall we used one editori al from the Eugene Reqister Guard that we had reprinted and distributed . We printed it just on a flat piece of paper, a flier, so to speak, which we included in some of our dis-C.ribut:.on of literature because it was v ary favorable. And with respect to the newspaper repor-::ers, I don 't recall any of t hem w·ho weren't fair. I don't mean they were pro-Kennedy either . They were just fair. And we got widespread coverage. I mean there was a tremendous amount of interest here in the primary c ampaign. We were very pleassd with the coverage we got . :t was very helpful , I mean helpful in the sense that it was extensive an.a iair. Wa.s t.he situ2tion different in November? WEBER~ \iJell, in Noy 2mber the press I think was over wh elmingly s·1.... pportin9 i.~·i xon, as far as editorial policy went. But again we had no complaints - 21- about t:t-ie news coverage~ The edi to~ial policy we did~ 1 t c..g-ree wit:ll., b'.J..t we cc..n • t cornplai::L abot:t. it as bein9 unfair o:::: un:,.:-8asona:oie. : -c. was sirr;ply a ~c. atte::- of a i ffarence of opinion, B-c:c t}1e news coverage was good. We always got fair and extens ive coverage. XOR.RISSE:'.. 0:1 t:r~e occasior.s that you were VJith Jonn ~ WEBER : ·well, I told you about the o::-"e where he get c-.rt cf the car ar.d st.a:::ted walki ng down the street. That was o ne that comes to mind. He l:..k2d to do that kind or thir.g. I :cernerober i n the suburb of Milv12uke2, Oreson--it.: s a snall t.owr:. just outsi de t h e city liiT.i ts of Portland- - he got out on the s ··::::.eet there. He loved ·c o get ·:iut and walk down t he str..... and g o into the d:cugstore a~1d t:1e cJ.othing· sto::e and j<.:. . :::;hake h a nds with the proprietor or .,_ : 8ver happer~e"'- ·to b ~ 1ere , talk b riefly I sav.r ·--· ·. once get ar__ .r at ~ of his campaign wor2<.:ers _ Tl-;.is was c.. ~:.~o tion pictu:.:·.s mail. .. _o was up frorn !-Iollywood doing some rco-tion pictt:re --;.;orko He was taking som.::: p ictures ·c.r.at were to be used later in the general election if he sot the nomination. We were riding in an au·to:·,_obile, 2.nd this motion picture rr.an informed Senator Kennedy that he had made o.rrar-igernents for and had recorded a new c ampaign song f or Senator Kennedy and had h ired a music&~ group to make this r ecor ding4 Senator Kennedy became ve::y a:-1gry c..t this,. He wa.nted to know how much it cost, anc whe:n r.e w2.s informed of the cost, which was several thousand doll ars, 1-.e said, "Th:_s is te:::-rible .. That's way too r:r•J.cn mo:-iey Q" 3e said, •·we have to be ca.reful with t he ar:10un-c. o:= rnc12y we spend i n tl"'lis c a.npaig~'l v" And he re2.lly got. ~.r:. gry at: t his ma.n fo:c do :~ ng it, for spendir:g· that much rn8x:~y Orl a e:ar.1paign so:lg. Be said, "We've already got a C2.Ti1paigD. so~gv 11 As a mat-:ar of fact, : think we had two a lre2.dy, " ~~:igh Hopes" and one ot:her c..t ·that stag.e, and he said t:ne:::e was no n eed for c.not:. __;::- ca:::.19a.ign song ~ And it was re:.;..:_ ::..y the o;:J.~y time ~~ saw him 93t c..Dgry durin9 th.a tin1es t hat - 22- :::: was v,ri.th hi.:m. Generally s peaking , he was very pleasant. It was al)_ bi.l siness in the s ense that there wasn ' t much t ime £or jocul&rity and clow~ing around . In fact, there wasn't any time for that~ But that was the only time I saw h im beco~e u nhappy with one 0£ his workers. o:n I do reme:::nb2r one i nc i d en·c when we drove back from Corvallis and Albany. We had gone down to Corvallis a nd A~bany , that ' s abo~t seventy or eighty miles south of Portland , he made an appearance at a reception in Corvallis an d then went about eight or ten miles over to Albany for a speech at a dinner. I·t was a situation where his ai:::-- pla ne was down there, bu·t it would be just about as fast to drive bac k, or maybe faster to drive the seventy- fiv e miles to Portland o~ a freeway with no stops . So Gordon Swope , ouZ. l a"bor chairman , drove the c ar . I sat in the f ront sea"'.: with h :..rn , and Pierre Salinger sat in the front s eat, h is press secretary . Then in the back seat Pat Lawford was with Senator Kennedy . She sat in the back seat and she had a friend with her . I've forgo'ccen her name , but she was from the Los Angeles area . She wa s a friend of Mr s . Lawford who was t raveling here with Mr s. Lawford . Senator Kenn edy did a lot of jo:<.:in9 aLd jus t relaxing . It was about the only t ime that he really d id relax from the rigors of campaigning , and just had a chance to really talk with his sister while leisurely d riving . MORRISSEY : On any of these occasions do you reca ll that he speculated about his prospects? I WEBER : I don't reca ll any speculation . He was always interested in gathering information. He didn ' t speculate to me_ He was always eager to find out now t ~:ings v./ere goi ng· _ A:nd "nostly w}1en we· were driving in cc..rs-·-that 's •,vhy I :Drought that incic:ent up about the :: ::::- ive back fror,1 Albar~y and CorvalL.. s - - when we we-:e drivL1g in c ars, ~e was always planning and finding out something , f 2.nding out vinat: ' s going ·.: o happen next , and making pians, directi ng Pierre to "be c c.· tacting someone in Chicago or New York or Los . .. :.1geles or some place. f\nd answering Q:L:.e:cies ar:d find ir-s ou-t whc:. t was hap9ening . But this was - 23- the one except~on on this dri ve when he wasn't. But I never heard him speculate . I-Ie was always trying to find out in- format.i on about w:!.l.a·c wa s happening . Presumably he was specuaiting h i mself, but he didn'~ , so far a s I know, tell others what he was thinking . lV!.ORRISSEY:- lviaybe speculation's ·cne wro::lg word . Whc.t I had i n mind is perhaps an assessment or s uinL~ary o f how he felt t~ings stood . WEBER : .t.!.e just didn't make any . As far as I know, Senator Kennedy didn't make any assessments to me dur ing the pri mary on what his c hances were . I have no doubt he must have assessed that with some of the other people . MOR::~ ISS:SY : Eow much of your campaign finances were raised within the state? WEBER : I don't recall exactly. But in the primary, .l as I do recall it, I think a large share o f it came from outside the state, from the national organiza~ion . It ' s pretty diffic ult to raise financing for a p~::..mary campaign in this state. 'I'he general election is someth7 ·-,-:· else . But in the primary there j u s t aren ' t very many contr i~~ ~ o rs . ~nd so I think the majority of the funds came fro~ the nat ional headquarters. I MO~RISSEY : One reason why Kennedy did n ot get the vice presidential nominat ion a t the 1956 Convention was that nany delegates from farm areas were dubious of h~s voting record on agricultural issues . I was wondering i f that popped up in Oregon during the primary? WEaER: It didn 1 t ~Gem to ~ e a ~urning issue in the primary. ~e had a farm chairman--! know we 6id in the :eneral electio~ at least . I don ' t recall t~at this w~s any great issue . Of course, he did go into i:l-.e eas·c.ern part of the sta·ce, which is primarily an - 24-- agricultura: grazing area, and he tal~ed about, I think, the farm issue. But : {on't recall that there was any great issue ov2r that here . MORRISSEY-: I should broaden that ~uestion to include issues of reclamation, conservation, resource managerr,ent, ·::hat sort of ·c.hing. WEBER: ~:.ose things didn't seem to be of major importance in the primary. The major issue that Senator Kenr.edy raised in the primary was the significance of this prima:y nationally, and of course, labor, as I said earlier, was an issue. But the significance of the primary . We campaigned--I mean Senator Kennedy I don't think ·used these wo:-::<3.s, but others cid in his behalf, "Don ' t waste your vote, vote for a man who is a serious candidate . " In fact, one of our slogans, we had sor.1e posters put out that we put on the backs of hc:.ses _. the city buses here in Portland, paid 2.dvertising: "Make your vote count." That was one of our big campaign themes, u:::-ging Democrats in the primary to vote for a man that was potentially a presidential candidate of a serious stature . And agriculture, as I recall it, wasn't a burning issue at all; neither was conser vation nor reclamation, nor resource planning and management . MORRISSEY: You say that labor was an issue, and yet I get the impression that a lot of laboring people were working for Kennedy . WSB:2R:.- :'.·es, it was c.n issL:.2 becau se of P!:'esident Kennedy's participation on the IV:cClellan Co:at.Tfiittee. _2l.nd I think it was an issue with a lot of labo~ officials. But I still have the feeling that a lot of--now don't ~isunderstand me , a ll the labor officials were no~ opposed. We h a d a strong labor organization composed of officials of labor u1ions and others. They recognized tha'c Senator ~"Zennedy had a sound position even though some other labor officials, I think, felt that it was the wrong -25- posi tj_o~-1. Everyo:'le knov,rs the ·i~eams te:::-s, o:E course, particularly were opposEd; t~at is, t~e o~ficia:s again. But I have a feeling ·::hc.t even a1-:jo~!.g th2 Te2::;1sters ·union ·::hat many o:'.: the worJcing members u :ClC:oubtedly vot.ed for President Kennedy, o:.: Senator Kennedy at that time. And I think this was true in many or the u:r_ions, as I say. In those little informal polls, you mig-ht sc.:y, ar;:ong· the long::::l--;.oreme::J. and ar:iong the ship- yard· \vorkers, and certainly among the pJ_ants that he visited, :'. . .:::us trial p~._an-i:s , he got c. warm reception from the workers. 'I·~; is Tektro!'lix plant, these were,., working -people. We went to the woolen mills, Pel."ldleton Wo,llen Mills on the outskirts of Portland. It's alrnost ·entirely women workers in a woolen mill . Ar_d. ·they we:::e very enthusiastic a~d warm in their s upport of: him. So it ::..s c:.n i.sst:e arno~'19 the labor officials. A~d of course, Senator Morse ~ad a position that was directly 09posed ·to Sc~·-.::..t:or l.Zen.I18dy 1 s in t he labor leg is latiori that was p:corr:inent c.:t tha-C. time~ He was making it aI'- issue. So it was ar: issue, ho.t the laboring people, I'm pretty sure- the wo..y t!-"e vot.e went I thir.k would bea:c that out--felt 'chat Senator Kennedy :had made a reaso:-_a.ble and sound explanation of his position on t.he labo::: le9islatio:1 that was so very prominent national:y at that time . Iv:iOrtRISSEY ~ Fo~ this iJ.yte~view program f o:;:- the Kennedy Li~rary what labo:!'.' officials of Oregon would you recommend 'c!'la t v1e talk to? WEBER ~ Well, Goydon Swope w!:o was the carnpai9T1 labor chairrnanJ plus Gso:;:ge Brown who was the state ~o litical chairman for the AoF w L. -C.IuOw ~ James Mc::.cr who i.s now :cetired but at t 1-:.a-C. ·C.i:r.1e ·was the executiv.'.:! secretc..::::y o:E t.!-1e C:::.-cgo!:: A?L- CIO, Roy .Hill of the pai.n-C.e:::-s unio:.!. hero ':/ho w2s active in O'u.:c campaign. If I ~2d erstand yoLr qilestion 20::::-=ac tly, if you':::.-e trying to siet o. .complet.2ly balance v.::..ewpoin::: , you may wc..nt to talk to some of the Tea2ster officials. You mentioJ'.1e....:::. these info:::-mal polls that you. ~~00~<:. ~ ---.. - 26- WEBER: ·well, . I should:l 1 t say we took them. P.s I say .. Gordon Macn a~ from AP took that one, and Larry Smi th's brat~~~ took the one from the longshoremen. JY:ORRISS2Y: Was there a~1y formal polling in which polling organizations were hired? WEBER: Frankly, I don ' t know. ~ believe that there was by the I<:ennedy Campaig·n Comrni ttee nationally. And of course, I think others in the campaign can tell you about that. £.CO:.: W~BER: Yes. Well, of course, Edith Green w&s the c hairman . She was ·che congresswo1:-tan from Portland, and she had the opportunity to observe Senator Kennedy closely in Washington, and she headed ou:: statewide c2.mpc..ig·n here . Dr . Anderson, the vice c t.a:i.rman, was a faculty member of Portland State College, and . he was the acting chairman when lV!:rs . Green was not present here in the state . She spent most of h2r time back in 'f·,:·ashington . Lorentz Brow:-1 , the finance chairman , is a I bus i ness-man here in Portland. He's a building contractor. He h 2s been active in Democratic poli tics for a long time, ~nd he helped raise money and to handle the financial side cf the campaig·n. iV:::::-s . E ~ow [Bobbie] Berg- of Salem w;;s our chairman i:--1 tho.t co·,.L-:.ty , Marion County ::..:i which ..Jc~a 1.L em is· located, a~d she was very act~ve in that area . lVlO:;(RISSEY:: Had she bee~ active previously in party affairs? W'EBER :: = think she had , in the Stevenson campaisn I believe oc 1952 or '56 . Bob ~oyer , Robert A . Boyer, in ~edford was our district chairman in - 27- t~e sout~wester~ Orego~ district. [James O. ] Jim Burns of Condon, Ores~n, eve~ in eastern Oregon, was in charge of ·:::r..c..-c dis·::::::-ict over t:~ere. 'I'hat' s primarily an a g-ricultu:r-al , grazing, stock- raising area . Joe Ceglar of Portlan~ was a labor official. Ee w2s a business ag·e~l.t or executive for one of the carpenters unions here in Por~land, and he was on our labor co:cnmi"i:tee and one of several fine labor officials who did support us in the primary. ·Gladys Everett of Portland. S:'.-'ie is c.. lawyer here in town, and she was very active in our speakers bureau thc:.t we set up. We set up a speakers bureau of people who volur.teered to go around and give ·calks at lunceon g~oups and meetings of various kinds~ Whenever a call came in for a speaker, we could call on that group . As a raatter of fact, a s I recall, she may have been chairman o.C the speakers "bureau in the Kennedy campaign. Katherine Fra::ie of P0rtland is a school teacher, MOxRISSEY: ?ardon my ignorance, but is that a Catholic school? Y2s, University of Portland is a Catholic school. ,."as ·r ~nere• , any a1scuss1on- · • -""bo·u+-~ .._': WEBER: Yes, there wi s. Since you mentioned that, ".:here was d::. ci..::.ssic:1 ar_~ sc:ne apprehensio:-. on. t£-1c po.rt of c.;,.~:c cor:::mit·tee members about that - -· rsmel.T'.be:c ·cha".: we :'lao a rsc~ues ·.: =o:c Senator Ken:i.edy to appec:.:: at sorn.e Cathol :..c ~-.1eeti.n.g· s, c.::-id frc.n:<.ly I ·thi:J.;< we ·tended to - 28- :; II avoid the::r... B-...:-c 0~1 the other !12nd, we felt that it would be a rn.istc.ke to s 2 :_ - we' re not going t.o become associated in any manner with any Catholic organization . And we finally conclu~ed tha~ ~his was a logical place to hold a big public meeting in the north part of Portland. It was a co~venient place bacause it was a b~g meeting hall, and as I say, :i..t wasn 't confined to the universi·ty students anyway / and we w2nt Qhead and scheduled it ou~ there. It is a Catholic scl-1001 . The presi dent of the Ur..iversity and Edith Green were both on the platform, and participated i n the int:cod·-.:.ction of President :t Earry hogan was a~ attorney ~n ~ne Dalles, and he was chairman i~ Wasco County. ~he major industry there, I bel~eve, is agricult~re. Harry did a wo~derful job over there. Mary Jackson of Portland is another union official. She was in the waitresses union, secretary of the waitresses union . Kary Kelly o f Med ford ~ ~ d been active in Democratic politics a~d , I believe, in the Stevenson campaign, and she w.a s t he chairman o::: t!'~at cou:.-i ty, Jackson Cou:::.ty where Medford is located. Ed Murphy of Roseburg was our chairman in Douglas County. Ee w2s a lawyer in i: I / I - 30- a small town, c '.~bou-c t'.:-~irty miles from PortlaDd--and she's a close friend of Mrs. Green, and had been act ive in Mrs. Green's campc..ig·n and she worked very har d . She was a chairman \, ~~ her county and wor~ed very hard in the campai gn. Betty lJ Schedeen of Gresham was our chairman for this congressi onal d i st:::-ic·t; that is , the third congress ion2.l district i n which Portland is locatec. She w~s very prominent in the campaign . MORRISSEY: Ead she been active previously? WEBSR~ Oh yes, she's been active and worked wi th Mrs . Green, a close personal fr i end of Mrs . Green ' s, and she was very effective in the campaign. Monroe Sweetland from Milwaukee was a small- town newspaper publisner. Monroe was one o:f those who was in the campaign i~ the very early days . He ' d been active in Democratic politics a long time in Orego~ . An~ he took a prominent part in th ~ campaign . Gordon Swope of Portland was chairman of our 12bor committee . Be was an official, a busi ness agent, of the retail clerks union here, and he did a fine job of lining up support for Senator Kennedy among laboring people and of arranging a big labor breakfast. He did a fine job at that, acted 2s master of c e remoni es, and made the arrangements for it. Dan Thiel, another state senator from Astoria, a businessman in Astoria. He was very eff e c tive in the northwestern coastal region of the state i n organizing support . John Wilson of Portla~d . another labo r official ·who was active in the labor campc l~ORRISSEY ~ Was it Francis Reagc..n you inentioned who worked with veter~ns groups? Yes . Was Kennedy's war r ecord pt:.blicized effectively? WEBER: Yes , ~twas . And in t~e ~=ochure that I've given you that' s over there on the table, ~ think we brought that out in t here. I t~ink that a very effective campaign aid was his war record . MORRISSEY: Putting mo desty aside, do you think a lot of these labor people came into the organization bec2~se you had reported on labor issues for so many years? WEBSR : No, I don't . I don ' t think i t had anyt ri~Lg to do with i t. I think that these . . I think in this state, we are very fortunate in t~e c;:uali ty , caliber o::: 12bor people that we hc..ve . ':'he la'Dor unio~s of this s tate had elected leaders that are by a~d large very capable and intelligent p2ople. I think they recognized in Senator Kennedy a man oi tremendous ab~lity and potentiality , and a man who would be of g-reat benefit to the labor movement. ::'.:: think tr-at's why they came in, and even in tne face o f a primary where Senator Morse who was campaignir:.g rig·h ·t O:l that labor qt:.estion and did have the support of some other very prominent labor offi cials , never theless, many of them recognized that here was a man that t~ay could and wculd an.d wan-::ed to support. And wh i le it was vE:.::y helpful to ne as a labor repor~er because I was personally acq~ai~ted wi th a l l of these labor peopie , I don ' t think t~a~ was a factor at ali, net at all . In fact, many of them had already been all line6 u p before I got i nto the campaign , some of them . ::.: ·think i "i rnav have helped me. It r.elped 2 l:'..ttle . I ::::c2..Yl. I could g·::; in with Gordor.. s·wope , for exe>.mp1e, to a labor :·:,ee·ti:r.g, and there was no problem in establishir..g i· nJ..· t J..a· 1 r appor-c· or a ny-cr:ing.· · · ~J.- -Knew -er.em·' a 11 . Ana' \ve would - 32- set ap a 1-abor corc:ni ttee ::,1Ee ting. ai-:d I'd be there , a::::1d it was helpful for t~-iat reason . It was fortunate . I don't think it really was a big factor . HOL<.RISSEY: Senator 1''.iorse had been defeated by Senator Ken~-dy i~ the Maryland.primary just before the Oregon pri:cna:cy. Did that hurt his campaig·n out here? WEBi'.:R: w0:i.1, : th:.nk it certainly had some dampenir.g e::fect or, it. It 's impossible for me to measure it in any way, but . ~'mRR ISSEY: Did the ~ennedy people emphasize this? W3BER ~ No, we C:idn 't ..:::rnphasize it. rrhe thing- sort of spoke for itself. I mean , as I think I brought out, my i mpression of the campaign, w;;.s not an an-ci- Morse campaign a·t all . We didn't c a:npaign agai nst Senator Morse in any way, not at all, not by any of our people and particularly not ~y Senator Kennedy himself . · our campaig~ was not an anti - Morse campaign , i t was a pro-Ke~nedy campaign, 2nd we emphasized those things about Senator Kennedy . And so, no, we didn 't try to capi talize it at all . MORRISSEY: When the Kennedy Administration came into office was there any possibility o f yourse:f soing t o Washington? i. Well. there may have been . I had no desire to i II g·o to ·washing·ton. I too'.'- a job h,ere. There was a federal position open here , and I was appointed to that position . Kay I a.sk wh at that was? WSBSR ~ Yes, I am t~0 Regional !n~ormation Officer for the Department of the Interior . -33- I didn't k~ow that . Yes , fo~lowing the campaign, I expressed an inte:ces·::: in i·t to I•.!::cs . Greer~, and subsequently I was a:?pointed to that position. MORRISSEY~ = s that your current position?j VJEBER: That's rn.y current position , yes. Well, I didn't realize we were both bureaucrats all the time . [laughter] WEBER: Yes, well, whe:: Stewart Ud<:..11 became Secretary of the L1terior, why, obviously somebody recommended 'co him ·.:hat he appoint me "co this position, and I later received a telephone call and was told that I wou ld be appointed to that position . So that's wha."i::. I ' rn C:o ing· ."lOW b As j_ t happens I'm also a lawyer , strang·ely enoug·h, newspaperman and a lawyer . I d id attend ti law schoo:a. and pc:.ssed the bar exam. So when this job terminates, I suspect r·:1 be going into the practice of law rather than newspaper work. i'iORRISSZY: A many fac eted c a reer. I've run out of questions . Do you think I ' ve missed a nyth ing? WEBER : Gosh, it you have , I c a~ 't think of it right -:-_01d _ I can only say thi.::. ::.n addition, tha·c tl:is w~s a v e ry fortunate thing for me to be associated with the Kennedy campais·::i. First of all, it was a r..ew experier..ce. := wc..s a complet.e :1ovice / eo_:;.1d I know that I-Iy Ras:-;: in ;1ms·t i:12v~ been driven to the point of distraction 2. ·c times de2.l.:.ng· v1i t~1 ll ~e becc."C..se he was u sed to dealir:g with :people wI:o had much more experience in politics, and I was so naive a~~ut so~e thing3 in politics . B~t more than that, more ~han ~he interesti~g e xperie~ce for me , just being in a political campaign, was the opportunity to associat e with Senator Ke~nedy a t very close range ana be i n very close I - ~; - 34- to·c,ch \,.•ith him d\:J.ring· those periods wl-1e ~ . :h.e was out here and to have the opp 8rtunity to recognize at ~ i: s t han d that this was a man ~f treTuendous ability, anl of leadership c.;:uality that we needed. So I' ra very c;-rateful for the oppor t"..1r. i ty ·co have been L1 t his :?Osition _ It's something t h at I'll, you know, always remember and cherish. So other than that, I don ' t knmv of a~!ything more. MORRISSEY. Thank you very much. I have enjoyed this; I !lope you have . WEBER: Yes, I have . ,. I