Conventional Signs
By JOHN KENNET H GALBRAITH inr c art the floor of the Democratic National ihe'rs. In the voice at once grave, alert, vibrant, one in Chicago, I was approached by tile of our great radio and television commenta- Al'airr seven o'clock on the evening of May 12 base and eternally youthful with which he try ilaci °nee thrilled millions with the news of ik°11d°11's contempt for the bombs, he said: This is a very strange convention. ,' asked him in what respect. He replied, a e‘.' mile sternly : ini- fl is one of the strangest I have known.' 'lightly intimidated, I did not pursue the matter.
i°11 the following evening, as the balloting for the presidential nominee was about to begin, the late edition of a Los Angeles afternoon paper 1,e,a°11cd the floor. Four-inch headlines screamed the news that Senator Kennedy had been stopped and Was in retreat. This echoed information that had been in circulation since the arrival of Adlai StevensonMore on the convention floor the night °efore had set off a demonstration of genuine warmth and mammoth proportions. Minnesota svas going to vote for Senator Humphrey, a support supporter. Stevenson was developing 4'13Port in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And in a 11urrtber of other States including ,, Iowa, North akot.i and Colorado, a major shift to Stevenson had already occurred. The news about Iowa, North Dakota and ° °rad° interested me deeply, for except in Iowa whereone delegate with a half vote—to be 1 Al utter'.J• precise it was Stephen Garst, the son of '3of, x"1 'e great hybrid corn king—had shifted from LennedY to Stevenson, there had been no such trey change. And for arcane technical reasons having cl.c t° do with the release of the Iowa delegation by 're, its governor and the achievement.of a majority sufficient to invoke the unit rule in North Dakota (a rule which in some States allows. a ily • 'fialority of the delegates to determine the vote nt of the entire delegation), Kennedy had actually ir. gained several votes in the preceding twenty-four Id 'lours. All of these matters I was admirably ld situated to know for, on arriying in Los Angeles )t. hh few days earlier, I had been hastily impressed Senator Kennedy s lieutenants, equipped Id rather informally with credentials, and des- patched A. to keep in touch with liberal delegations je Where it was thought I might have influence. (I ly ( have been supporting Mr. Kennedy for the last th' rt t‘%,?, Years.) By the evening in question I had id tacked with nearly every delegate in the three n,egations just mentioned,,and all of the doubt- :1 f l"e5, and I knew with fair certainty the n ' 1311.°Thiscs and convictions of each. Kennedy was r o ' to losing votes in these delegations. Nor waste ic II: trouble elsewhere. His nomination on the first 511°t Was assured as it had been for weeks. hof Ali 0. this is important for an understanding of 5 that once noteworthy American institution, the , Political convention—the Democratic one e h Passed and the Republican one about to e `he'rivene. It is an occasion when almost nothing happens. At the same time it is the centre of a remarkable conspiracy to prevent this elementary The most important of the conspirators are and still seem to be doing his regular job.
extreme example, if he thinks sentiment is developing for Mr. Long, the moderately eccen- tric ex-governor of Louisiana, who earlier this year graduated from a number of mental hospi- tals. The second man tells the first man that it is his experience with national conventions that any- thing can happen. Thus blessed the rumour be- comes a fact. Back on the floor people begin passing the word that NBC has just announced that it will be Earl Long.
The professional politicians, certainly all of the older generation, are also enthusiastic partici- pants in the conspiracy to make something out of nothing. Only if there is action and uncertainty can it seem that they are present for a purpose. Only if Pennsylvania seems to be wavering can a staunch, skilled, experienced and effective sup- porter of Symington, Stevenson, Johnson or Kennedy call on Lawrence or Green or one of the lesser Pennsylvania moguls and make the delegation waver less or more. Only thus can he assure himself and his candidate that he is a man of influence, even of omnipotence. No responsible professional would be guilty of in- venting a crisis, briefing the press, passing the word to his colleagues and the candidate, and then moving gravely, calmly and efficiently to resolve it. But he might do all of these things in response to a really good rumour of a crisis.
The reason nothing happens in the mcdern convention, even though a great deal is imagined to happen, is because it has lost nearly all of its original functions and gained, no new ones. Once when travel was difficult and expensive and other communication was slow and the party needed to agree on a candidate and platform—we have always been far more concerned with selecting the , man than the programme—there was no alternative to assembling the representatives of the party in some city to make the choice. They came unpersuaded or with a variety of candidates in mind. By a process employing oratory, argu- ment, alcohol, appeals to ambition, concessions to cupidity and the narcosis of sheer fatigue they were eventually induced to agree on one. This was the convention.
spend a great deal of time rounding up delegates the newspaier, wire service, radio and television By the time that the Democrats met in Los men—a mighty army in Los Angeles, as it will Angeles Senator Kennedy and his men had been be in Chicago, with a sizeable brigade from Lon- airborne for months. They had won the requisite don. All are there at considerable expense and support and reduced it to firm promises. All that presumably for a purpose. Since no purpose remained was the ratification ceremony. Forces exists one must be devised and this is accomp- were actively deployed among the uncommitted lished by inventing enough news to occupy the and to prevent backsliding, but the real work had energies of all who art. present. The process is been done. Senator Johnson's pre-convention simple. One newspaperman interviews another work among the more tractable southern delega- newspaperman and vice versa, and each listens tions had not produced enough votes. Adlai to the rumours the other has heard. Each then Stevenson had been prevented by his earlier accepts the rumours of the other as coming from declarations of non-candidacy, and also by tem- a reliable source. The television technique is perament, from participating during the time essentially the same. One well-known commenta- when things were really being decided. At Los for asks another well-known commentator, in a Angeles it was too late. This he almost certainly voice tinged by genuine respect, what he thinks realised, although some of his supporters hoped of a particular bit of fiction—by way of slightly to the last that he could be chosen.
Conceivably there may be another interesting convention—it will be when two candidates emerge from the pre-convention solicitation in a tight deadlock. But it won't happen often. The Republican convention, which convenes this week, was over last autumn when Nelson Rocke- feller, following a series of airplane trips, learned that Mr Nixon already had the votes. Not since 1940 (1952 possibly excepted) has a Republican convention had any function more important than to resolve a residual uncertainty concerning the pre-convention choice.
Where the Republicans are concerned not even the newsmen and commentators can now gener- ate much sense of excitement. This year's pro- ceedings, like the last, will be both banal and boring, and this is admitted. The conspiracy to sustain interest in the Democratic rites is far more viable and perhaps will survive for another four years or so. And every effort will be made to preserve the corpse and to pretend that it lives.
This is .partly because the professional politi- cian of whatever party is the self-constituted guardian of tradition. He does not know the purpose of overblown oratory replete with vacuous phrases and calisthenic gestures. He is aware that no one listens. But give him a podium and he goes automatically into his act. It is the custom. So are conventions. It should be added that the convention is 'a delightful reunion and a grand chance to recall old victories and past outrages. (The standard of decorum, it must quickly be added, are far higher than those of a business convention. Drinking is generally mod- erate; the often blatant eroticism of the business- man's entertainment would be unthinkable.) But the intellectuals also cling to the myth of the conventions. We have few ceremonies, few rituals in the United States with a legitimate historical base. The conventions were about the best we had. So everyone hates to see them go— or to admit that, like the cavalry charge, they • have gone.
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