Cuba & Kisses

Republican vice-presidential nominee William Miller, who had been having a hard time with hecklers amid scanty audiences, found things were looking up.

In Augusta, Ga., a crowd of 5,000 loudly cheered Miller's vow that a Republican victory will mean recognition of a Cuban government in exile and U.S. permission for renewed exile raids against Castro. At Miami Stadium, 30 khaki-clad survivors of the Bay of Pigs marched across the rain-soaked baseball diamond to present Miller with a "revered emblem"--a gold-knobbed flagstaff representing their Battalion 2506. It was flagless, they bitterly explained, because their battalion flag had been presented to John F. Kennedy, who had promised that it would be returned "in a free Havana." The emblem was now on tour as a prop in the fund-raising effort for the Kennedy Memorial Library.

Before 4,000 spectators, half of them Cubans, Miller declared: "This Administration's* greatest shame is the Bay of Pigs. It backed away from its one opportunity to redeem the freedom of the Cuban people. In doing so, it sacrificed the Monroe Doctrine, which once was the irrevocable guarantee of self-determination for all the peoples of all the Americas."

Meanwhile, Miller's Democratic counterpart, Hubert Humphrey, was getting even more heated up in the enthusiasms of the campaign. Outside San Jose, Calif., he halted his motorcade in mid-procession to change a wilted shirt for a fresh one. In Sharon, Pa., he lost his wristwatch and cuff links to a mob of squealing girls. At Erie, a contingent of 63 teen-age Demzelles formed a corridor between Hubert's platform and his limousine, begged to be allowed to kiss him. Each got her wish as Hubert beamingly worked his way down the line, allowing all 63 girls a peck. It looked like more fun than kissing babies.

*In claiming credit for achievements, President Johnson describes both his regime and that of his predecessor as "this Administration." So do Republicans in assessing blame.

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