SYMINGTON MAKES BIG USE OF STAFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700450020-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2005
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: February 24, 1960
• Content Type: NSPR

`p 1960
WASHINGTON SFA&
Approved For Release 2005/01/27: CIA-RDP750
BEHIND THE CANDIDATES
Symington Makes
Riq 'Use of -Staff
".- By 'DAVID S. BRODER
star Staff Writer
Staff work splays a greater part-'in the presidential bid of
Senator Symingto' ,Democrat of Missouri, than it does in the
campaigns of any of his prospective rivals.
As the only presidential hopeful with' substantial executive
experlenex theformer Air Force Secretary relies ito'reon his
staff than do Senators Hum-
ph Johnson. or ,Kennedy 'or
Vice 'Preside' Nixon
The Missq,urian s .}ill in
using Other' people's talents is
Fourth of five articles on the men
who advise and assist the leading
contenders for the 1960 presiden-
tial nomination.
acknowledged even by those
critics who i im he puts too 1 McKinney of Indiana and Wil-
s
supporters contena, nowever;
that Senator Symington'9 abil
ity to attract, and use top
drawer tale t is, in itself, a
recommendation for the fob he
as, well as F. Joseph (Jiggs) "' Oynnng will
Donohue, a Truman-appointed braintrust, as such, but the
District Commissioner who Senator , reads widely and
dr
w
f
l
a
s
ree
y on the thoughts
managed Senator Kefauver's
1956 presidential campaign, t men Who impress him. His,
t
seeks. They advise the Senator .lf
,this arguinel't, the Symington
campaign' setup is a model of
efficiency compared, to the
rather lunrbeXahg vehicles some
.of the other "hopefuls are :rid-
ing into battle, ?
Two Key Aides
The two` key -men . In the
Symington , campaign are a
pair of transplanted Missour-
ians, one already `we'll known
land the other. certain to be-'
,come famous 'If' A he Senator
makes itto tl?e White House.
The formlir s CI M. Clif
ford, a sud&9iftfl. Washington
lawyer who was-,;former Pres,-
dent Truman'S?special counsel.
Mr. Clifford'hes the informal
Symington strategy. board 'that
includes 1}3 1W Another-political
veteran of the Truman ?years;
.The ex-President himself ha
Harty leaders on his behalf.
Field operations of the Sym-
ington forces - the Senator's
equivocal status does not keep
his, backers from the ardent
pursuit of 'delegates-are dir-
ected by Representative Brown,
Democrat of Missouri. Mr.
Brown, a smooth-talking for-
mer radio man, is noted for his
1956 feat of ousting Dewey
Short from the Ozarks con-
gressional seat most observers
thought he had ' permanently
acquired. He has been employ-
ing his talent on the Senator's
behalf at . gatherings around
the country for the past year.
Davis and Conrad Cohen.
Because Senator Symington'
Within the past month, al
headquarters for Symington
field operations has been
opened in . the Investment
Building. William H. Perkins,
Symington, lout, virtually-eyes r., a Chicago insurance man,
Democrat? politican -bell y# heads the staff on duty there.
that Mr' ];uman is 1uppor ifs He is 'assisted by William J.
his fellow issotifian who lej Bray, a veteran Democratic
a series -,pf high, pests in th ampaign aide, and two young
Truman 'adMinji-ti on acquisitions from the staffs of
The mays m y e eelwottf$?the Democratic Senate and
~.M~i'"J~? 3~1r_..wt . (House Committees R.ichord
ington adiujnlatratign, is, Stan-
ley R. Fike, now the genitor's
administrativetsist,ant, Mr.
Fike, who cont%- 1s a razor-
sharp mind behind soft Mis-
souri accents, was publishing a
string of weekly newspapers in
the suburban Kansas City area,
when he was asked by'Senator
Symington to take over _pub-
llicity for his 1952 Senate race.
Mr. Fike moved to as ington
with the Senator in 1953, and
has headed his office staff and
tended his press relations ever
since.
His most important function,
at the moment, is to serve as
the link between the Capitol
.Hill office and Mr. Clifford's
political operations downtown.
Because Senator Symington has
not yet removed the last veil
i from his candidacy, there is a
reluctance to run his campaign
from the Senate office. But the
operations of the political and
legislative staffs are fully
meshed-and Mr. Fike and Mr.
Clifford are the Chief meshers.
Two Former Truman Aides
Grouped around Mr. Clif-
ford at the political end of the
operation are two of Mr. Tru-
man's former Democratic Na-
tional chairmen, Frank E.
is relying chiefly on his per-'I
formance in the Senate to es-
tablish his qualifications for
the Presidency, the operations)
of his Senate staff are an inte-
gral part of his campaign ef-
fort.
The senior aide is slim, seri-
ous Edward C. Welsh, a profes-
sional economist who has been
with Senator Symington since
he headed the National Security
Resources Board in 1950. Dr.
Welsh, a Ph.D. from Ohio State,
specializes in the national
security and defense areas onl
which so much of the Senator's!
S ( - n' ,
000040020-7
League law graduates, Milton
S. Gwirtzman of Yale and John
H. Zentay of Harvard.
In addition to his campaign
and office staffs, 'Senator Sym-
ington gets advice from,a wide
array of personal friends; for-
mer business and Goyernment
associates and present political
colleagues.
His friendships are notable,
officials such as James E. Carey
of the Electrical Workers, and I
industrialists such as Frank
Pace. of General Dynamics and'
Thomas G. Lai bier, jr., of
Consolidated' Vultee. Finances
in his past campaigns have
been headed by a St. Lour Re-
publican, Sidney Maestri, the
board chairman of the Mer-
cantile Trust Co.
avorr
e sources are notably
nonpartisan. A book called!
'.'What We Are For," written!
by President Eisenhower's one--!
time speech writer, - Arthur'
Larsen is a favorite with Sen-i
ator Symington. Other recent
books that .have influenced the
Sehator's thinking are Bar-
bara Ward's "Five Ideas That
Changed the World," Emmett'
John Hughes "America . the
Vincible," Lederer and Bur-
dick's "The Ugly American,"
When the Senator joined the)
Agriculture Committee two
years ago, he brought onto his
staff Edward Jaenke, 30, who
had been teaching farm econ-j
omics at the University of Mis-
souri. Mr. Jaenke works closely,
with Richard M. Schmidt, jr.,
a former Denver prosecutor
who was hired last summer to
direct the Senator's investigat-
ing subcommittee's probe of the
Agriculture Department.
The balance of the legisla-
tive work-and most of the
Senator's speech writing-are
Heads Field Operations
and "Protracted Conflict," an
analysis of Soviet cold war
strategy published by 'the For-
eign Policy Research Institute
of the University of Pennsyl- I
vania.
The Rockefeller Brothers
Reports, the pitklliq. ? atements
of Iles, articles -and'
boos r4 enry A, Kissinger
and . Walter Lippm rin ,-all.are
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700450020-7