REP. UDALL SEEKING MCCORMACK'S POST AS HOUSE SPEAKER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340033-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2013
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: December 27, 1968
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/09/06: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340033-7
NEW YORK TIMES DATE21 17're feS PAGE
Rep. Udall Seeking
McCormack's Post
As House Speaker
The text of Udall's letter
is printed on Page 19. r'
By RICHARD L. MADDEN
Boecdal to The New Yark Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 ?
Representative Morris K Udall,
Remocrat of Arizona., today
challenged 77-year-old John W.
McCormack of Massachusetts
for election as Speaker of the
House in the 91st Congress.
In a six-page letter delivered
to the offices of all Democratic
House ' members this morning,
Mr. Udall declared that "fresh
leadership is vital to our
party."
Mr. Udall, the 46-year-old
brother of Interior Secretary
Stewart L. Udall, asked his col-
leagues for their support when
the House Democratic Caucus
meets next Thursday to select
its leadership for the new Con-
gress, which convenes the next
day.
He also asked his fellow
Democrats for their sugges-
tions, advice and criticisms and
added: "It's lonely out here in
orbit; say something!"
Odds Are Against Him
Friends of Mr. .Udall con-
ceded that the odds were
against his unseating Mr. Mc-
Cormack, who became Speaker
in 1962 after the death of Sam
Rayburn.
But the Udall candidacy
brought into the open the 'wide-
spread discontent over the
Speaker's leadership among
more liberal?and younger?
House Democrats who contend
that the party needs a more
vigorous and articulate spokes-
man than Mr. McCormack.
Mr. MnCormindt; w.bo has
".:onthoned se PAO 19, Column 3
Continued From Page 1, Col. 7
been in the House since 1928,
has let it be known that he
wants to remain Speaker for at
least one more two-year term.
He was reported by his of-
fice to be on the way to Wash-
ington today and unavailable
for comment. But one long-time
friend of the Speaker said of
Mr. Udall's challenge:
"He'll get blistered. The
Speaker already has commit-
ments from .200 members."
The Speaker is chosen by
the majority party at a party
caucus, and the nominee of the
caucus is formally elected by a
vote of the full House on the
day a new Congress convenes.
In the 91st Congress there will
be 243 Democrats and 192 Re-
publicans in the House.
1910 Revolt Is Cited
Capitol historians said today
that no House Speaker had
ever been deposed, although
House members did revolt in
1910 against Speaker Joseph
Cann? of Illinois and removed
him as chairman of the House
Rules Committee.
Revolts over the House mi-
nority leadership have been
[more common. In 1959, for
example, Charles A. Halleck,
Republican of Indiana was
elected minority leader to re-
place Joheph W. Martin Jr. of
Massachusetts and in 1965 Ger-
ald R. Ford of Michigan de-
feated Mr. Halleck for the
Republican minority leader-
ship.
Mr. Udall appeared to be
putting himself forward as a
candidate around whom lib-
erals and other dissident House
Democrats could rally. He said,
however, that the decision to
run was "mine and mine
alone."
"I am the candidate of no
individwil member or group of
members," he said.
-
Mr. Udall, a tall man with
close-cropped hair, has been
a member of the Democratic
Study Group, an organization
of about 100 House liberals,
since he was elected to the
House in 1961 to succeed his
older brother, who was ap-
pointed to the Cabinet.
Supporters of Mr. Udall,
however, are hoping to attract
House members outside the
liberal study group although it
was not immediately clear
how widespread that support
would be. Most House mem-
bers have been away from
Washington for Christmas.
Played Basketball
Mr. Udall, a lawyer and for-
mer professional basketball
player with the Denver Nug-
gets, is regarded as a quiet
but generally respected leader
among the younger House
Democrats.
"Mo doesn't shoot off his
mouth unless he has some-
thing to say," one friend said.
In October 1967, Mr. Udall
broke openly with the White
House over its policy in Viet-
nam.
In his letter' today, which
was made public by other
House Democrats, Mr. Udall
expressed "my genuine re-
spect and affection for Speak-
er McCormack."
"The party and the country
are much in his debt for his
contributions over the past 40
years," he said. "For me there
is no joy in making this chal-
lenge to a fine man who has
treated me with every cour-
tesy. I do so only because I
deeply believe there is an
overriding need for new direc-
tions and new leadership."
Mr. Udall gave Mr. McCor-
mack a copy of his letter last
Tuesday, before it was deliv-
ered generally, Capitol Hill
said.
- -
4r. Udall said that "conver-
sations with a wide spectrum
of members have convinced
me that a majority of House
Democrats privately and sin-
cerely want a Change." He
pledged that if he received a
majority vote at the caucus
next Thursday, he would ask
the caucus to reopen nomina-
tions so that other candidates
could be considered in the
final balloting.
Free Opportunity
"In this way, if a caucus
majority wants changes, it
will not only get it it will get
a full and free opportunity to
pick the very leader it wants,"
he said.
Mr. Udall noted that tradi-
tionally the votes in the party
caucus had been taken by se-
cret ballot. By pledging to open
up the balloting to all candi-
dates if the caucus indicated it
wanted a change, he appeared
to be suggesting a way for
other candidates to come for-
ward who otherwise would not
directly challenge Mr. McCor-
mack.
Mr. Udall said he could "en-
thusiastically support" other
candidates for Speaker. High on
any such list, he said, would be
Carl Albert of Oklahoma, the
House majority leader.
Mr. Albert is seeking re-elec-
tion as the majority leader. He
was unavailable for comment
on Mr. Udall's letter.
Mr. Udall proposed, among
other things, to make the House
"a source of innovative pro-
grams to meet national prob-
lems," to use the Democratic
Caucus more frequently to
bring members closer to the
leadership and to experiment
with more efficient scheduling
of House sessions so that mem-
bers could more easily divide
their time between Washington
and their home districts.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/09/06: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340033-7