Appealing

Pouring outside money into a sectional campaign is a gamble: you never know whether the aid the funds give a candidate will outweigh the bad publicity they often involve. In the past, out-of-state support for the opponents of Congressman Rankin and Senator LaFollette only irritated voters. This is the risk Professor Howe, MacLeish, and Schlesinger took when they formed the Civil Liberties Appeal to defeat Senators McCarthy and Jenner.

Knowing this and realizing that an association with the University and themselves is no political elixer for mid-western candidate, the three professors gambled. They reasoned that McCarthy and Jenner have brushed so many similar appeals with pink paint that Wisconsin and Indiana voters would not be too upset over another. More important, campaign managers of both Thomas Fairchild and Henry Schricker insist that their candidates need money for advertisements, posters, radio and television time to win their elections. They add that their opponents are themselves getting out-of-state money.

With this in mind, the professors decided that the money raised would do more good for Fairchild and Schricker than the bad publicity would do harm. And while this action may or may not be wise, it is not something they can retract. The news is out, and all money collected can do now is help to remove McCarthy and Jenner from the Senate. For this reason, those who share the aims of the Civil Liberties Appeal should have no qualms about supporting it.