Goodbye Bobby

Lyndon Johnson should have been sitting as pretty as a butterfly in a garden ol petunias. All he had to do was flit over to the Democratic National Convention this month, pick up his nomination by acclamation, name his choice for vice-presidential candidate -- and he was off and running. But last week, with the convention only four weeks off, Politician Johnson sensed trouble. He saw the possibility that he might lose control of the one big decision left to the convention -- the choice of his running mate.

That possibility came in the form of a burning boomlet for Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Chicago's powerful Democratic Mayor Dick Daley, a longtime political pal of the Kennedy clan, has made it known that he favors Bobby. So have a clutch of Northern and Midwestern Governors and state and county party chairmen. From his sickbed in Boston, Ted Kennedy declared himself in on the boomlet. NBC Cor respondent Nan Dickerson reported that Jackie Kennedy would return from cruising Yugoslav waters to attend the convention and "help Bobby." To top it off, convention planners were scheduling a massive tribute to John F. Kennedy. Such a spectacle was bound to incite an instant-bandwagon for Bobby, right there in the convention hall.

A Suspect Symbol. All this seemed swell for Bobby, but it seemed anything but nice to Lyndon. The fact was that the President was dead set against Kennedy. He had his reasons. To many businessmen, whose votes and dollars Lyndon needs, Bobby is the suspect symbol of Government intervention. His name conjures up memories of antitrust actions, grand jury investigations, and the heavy hand of Government in the U.S. Steel confrontations in 1962.

Moreover, Bobby and his zealous civil rights approach are anathema to the South, where Barry Goldwater's strength is important.

Last week Lyndon decided that it was time for action. He ordered the convention planners to hold off the J.F.K. memorial program till late in the convention week. He called in Bobby Kennedy, told him that he was no longer a vice-presidential possibility, and hinted that it would be best if Bobby publicly disavowed any ambitions for the office. Bobby refused. After all, he explained rather obliquely, he had not announced his candidacy, so why should he withdraw?

With Bobby sidestepping the issue, the President determined to drop him publicly from his own list of potential running mates. There was no political precedent for his announcement: "I have reached the conclusion that it would be inadvisable for me to recommend to the convention any member of my Cabinet or any of those who meet regularly with the Cabinet." So saying, Lyndon not only ruled out Bobby Kennedy but also knocked off two other men whose partisans had been making Veep noises--Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Peace Corps Boss Sargent Shriver.

"He Shot Us Down." Johnson's ploy surprised many and enraged others, especially those among the old Kennedy "Mafia" who had been pressing Bobby's case. "He shot us down," grumbled one of Bobby's friends angrily. Despite the anger, it is likely that Kennedy's friends will rally round the President soon again, for they have no place else to go. And they will probably accept the wisdom of the President's picking someone who approximates his own portrait of the ideal vice-presidential candidate.

That ideal Johnson expressed last week in an informal press conference: "I think he should be a man that is well received in all the states of the Union, among all of our people. I would like to see a man that is experienced in foreign relations and domestic affairs. I would like for him to be a man of the people who felt a compassionate concern for their welfare and who enjoyed public service and was dedicated to it. I would like for him to be attractive, prudent and progressive. I would like him to be one who would work cooperatively with the Congress and with the Cabinet and with the President."

Odds-On Bet. Who could that be? Hardly anybody, but logic favors a running mate from the Midwest, since that is the battleground which may be crucial for the Democrats in the coming campaign. The leading contender from that region is Minnesota's Senator Hubert Humphrey. Another possibility is Senator Eugene McCarthy, also from Minnesota, and a Catholic.

There were those who thought that wily Lyndon might surprise everyone again. There is, for example, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, a Westerner (Montana) and a Catholic. There is also Iowa's Governor Harold Hughes, 42, a Methodist and an able, attractive campaigner, who is an acknowledged leader of Midwestern Democratic Governors and who, coincidentally enough, was an overnight guest in the White House last week just before all of the vice-presidential flutter started.

Last week Humphrey was the odds-on bet. But until Lyndon announces his choice, the guessing game will go on. And on.

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