A Boston Longshoreman Explains McGovern

The early-form charts on this election would have placed Basil Quirk, 48, an Irish Catholic longshoreman from South Boston, in the camp of Edmund Muskie, the Polish Catholic from Maine. Or perhaps Hubert Humphrey, who dotes on organized labor. Maybe even George Wallace, the sometime Horatio of the hardhats. Those charts have been proved wrong a number of times. Basil Quirk, boxing fan, father of five, proud owner of a three-decker in one of Boston's most solidly working-class areas, is a firm and enthusiastic-supporter of McGovern. Over a dinner of roast beef, baked potatoes, rolls and pastries, Quirk told TIME Correspondent John Stacks why:

I WAS a little bit mistaken about McGovern. I thought he had just a following of the kids. But I went to hear him speak over at the Lithuanian club. He can talk to you on the local level. He picks up on things real quick, and he doesn't seem to need a lot of counselors blowing in his ear.

You know these other guys seem to forget where they come from. They form a kind of political royalty. They think they never can get licked. All the wise guys and all the smart money lined up with Muskie. Now McGovern, he's gone around on a pretty short bankroll. If he can put this thing together, who will he owe? Who'd have ever figured McGovern? He's set them all on their ear.

Today I'm working on a ship from Poland. I talk to foreign nationals all the time. The other day this Norwegian guy says to me: "You know, Basil, America is so big, it can do anything it wants. But it's so big, it don't listen to the small people." That hit me kind of good.

These people forget they spend money to sell themselves to us. To beg to represent us. But when they get a position, they forget they represent people here and that we're the ones that count.

Now McGovern, he started down at the lower levels. At the grass roots so to speak. He's got a realistic understanding of what politics is. He's got to be an honorable guy.

Here in Southie, we got a feeling for each other you don't find many other places. McGovern seems to be a guy who fits in the middle of Southie. You could bring him in and have him to dinner and feel like he's part of the family. I think these farm-state guys are more conservative, more down to earth. I don't think McGovern is that far from his origins.

They say he's left wing. Hey, who's what today? When he gets in there, it's what he is that matters. He's got the kids. And when he's in there, he's got to do the right thing. They'll put a picket line on his lawn if he doesn't. These kids are hard to crap.

What's the future of America? The kids--right? You've got to show them there is something worthwhile here. If he can get these kids in line, maybe it'll work out for all of us. Maybe he can make America become a country these kids would think was worth fighting for.

Now, I want you to write this down.

I firmly object to a representative of a top Government agency saying on TV that the country doesn't have the resources to get a true audit on the phone company. That's wrong.

America is the greatest possible place for the average guy. But big business--when we send a representative down to Washington, they send down a lobbyist, and they take all these guys by the hand. I've worked 25 years on the docks. My kids actually think they're in the middle class. But I'm about two months away from the poverty stricken. We need someone with guts, which I think McGovern has got.

Muskie? If he couldn't handle that guy Loeb, what will he do when he's really in trouble. He knew Loeb; he's lived next door. I'd have liked it better if he'd gone to Loeb's house, rung the bell and whacked him in the nose.

Some of the guys where I work are Wallace guys. They're going for McGovern. He's a class guy. He's got guts.

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