Stories. Political Moments

I). Tales from Greenville.

a). United States Supreme Court Justice Harold Burton.
Then Senator Burton was a houseguest of my Grandfather's. We went to Granddad's house and met him. While he was at Grandfather's house, he got a call from the Harry Truman White House, informing him that he was being appointed to the Supreme Court. (Yes, a Democratic President did appoint a Republican candidate for the Supreme Court!) That September he was confirmed. (He was in the Supreme Court 13 years and coincidentally, Potter Stewart was his successor).

b). United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart.
I met him at least twice with his father. Upon graduation from Princeton, Granddad Coppock must have been proud because he had Potter and James Stewart up to the Hills of Judea to fish and to meet his Princeton graduate grandson. Potter encouraged me to look at your law school, where his brother was a professor. Met him only twice in Washington, DC.

c). Ohio Gov. Mike DiSalle.
Versailles Poultry Days is one of the largest events in the county. It occurs in early July. Guest speaker was Democratic Ohio Governor Mike DiSalle. Dad, serving as the Democratic County Chairman introduced him. I sat in the front row. But on the stage was the queen of the event, "Miss Chick". At the end of the proceedings, the governor said Fred come up on the stage and meet "Miss Chick. Her name was Judy Reeser, very beautiful. I dated her on and off for the summer. (Nothing like political influence)

Wellington Koo

d). The China Affair. Wellington Koo. (Grandfather Brumbaugh and his brother Congressman Clement Brumbaugh visited the Philippines in 1919 because of Clement's key role in creating Philippine independence. We think they went to China and met Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese revolution. Sun Yat-sen had lost his leadership position but was over internal affairs; matters such as highways bridges and roads. Congressman Clement Brumbaugh had the same role on a committee chairman in the United States Congress. For some reason Dad always kept track of the Chinese. It is for this reason I believe the following quite an incredible event, at least for Greenville, occurred.) Wellington Koo, was the most prominent Chinese pre-communist Ambassador. His absolutely incredible bio is a must read. He helped found the League of Nations. He was China’s Ambassador to the United States and Chinese Ambassador at the beginning of the United Nations. He was the first person to sign the United Nations charter. How my father ever got him to come to Greenville, I will never know. Once again, I sat in the front row as Dad made the opening speech. The beautiful Memorial Hall was filled, 300+. He pleaded for the United States to back Kuomintang party and stop the communist from taking over mainland China. He stayed Granddad’s house. I shook his hand. This was 1949, July or August. In September the Kuomintang were expelled from China by Mao‘s Communist army.. I asked my father why did he ever come to Greenville to plead for his country. Never got a good answer other than no one else would listen to him. (Irony that he graduated from Columbia and was the impetus for me being interested in Japan-China relations when I wrote my Princeton thesis). More information about Wellington Koo

e). The Last Convention.
Dad was a delegate to the 1952 Presidential Convention. (It was the last convention in which there was true Democratic choices and debates. Now everything is decided before the convention and there are no debates.) I was at Culver summer school. There were 12 candidates. The top favorites were Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, and Sen. Robert Kerr of Oklahoma. As I watched on television, Dad said “I vote one vote for Sen. Robert Kerr.” When I got home, I asked dad why. He said for the first round of voting the Democratic committee in Ohio told the delegates how to vote. So many for one candidate, so many for another candidate. He was selected to vote for Sen. Kerr. After the first round he was free to vote as he chose. (Notes of interest, Sen. Kerr was a millionaire oilman and kept in contact with Dad over the years. Adlai Hardin Stevenson was my close and dear friend all through Princeton and Columbia Law school. He was the nephew of the Governor. Another candidate who dropped out early, Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas, was a neighbor of a good friend in Washington and I got to know him rather well. He was the Democratic Senator that stood up against Lyndon Johnson regarding the Vietnam War.)

II) Political Moments. Random recollections.

a). Washington, DC Early Stories.

Louisiana Congressman Hale Boggs: Democratic Majority Leader. The Boggs family were very close to Carol . Barbara was Carol’s best friend. Younger daughter, Cokie Roberts was Ann Sweeterman’s best friend. We spent much time with them. A few stories.

Vice Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson was Hale Boggs closest political ally. On at least three occasions I was with Hale’s son Tom at their house when Lyndon appeared. It was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tom said Bobby Kennedy would not let VP Johnson in the White House.

Alaska Trip. I did odd jobs for Congressman Boggs, such as working for him when he was Chairman of the Democratic Platform Committee. He asked me to be his assistant on his trip to Alaska. Fortunately, I couldn’t acccept because I had business elsewhere. Famous story about how they never found him or the airplane he was in. It lies somewhere at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. I dodged a bullet!.

The Swamp. Congressman Boggs would host or participate in “fundraising events”. There was a guy, Joe M, (will not use his name) who was top lobbyist and drove a Rolls-Royce. He always sat in the back of the conference or the meeting and then it was he who collected a “few dollars” for the Congressman. No one asked who paid for the new driveway at the house or sponsored the vacation.

Kindred Spirits. Carol and I would be invited to attend political parties at the Boggs and other politicians homes. As young people we were “fillers”. One party we sat with Louisiana Congressman Gillis Long. (He was Huey Long’s nephew). Across the table was Washington State Congressman Tom Foley, soon to be Speaker of the House. Congressman Foley asked Congressman Long how can you have such a liberal voting record and be from the south. Congressman Long replied, Louisiana is different. He explained that his district in New Orleans was quite liberal. Then Congressman Long asked Congressman Foley how can he have such a liberal voting record and be from a conservative district like Spokane, Washington. Congressman Foley replied, I vote for liberal legislation. I go home and they inquire if I voted for this or that liberal legislation. Always strongly beleiving that I voted liberal and would reply “”Of Course I Didn’t! I just lie to them. ( “Always the Swamp”).

b). On the campaign trail. Marx Leva was a top Washington lawyer. His partner was US Treasurer under Lyndon Johnson. When I ran the bankruptcy case for American Security Bank, another story, Parkwood, he was the lawyer. He was a wonderful man. He and his partner, Bob Martin, Columbia Law School grad suggested that I be the lawyer for the advance team for advance teams for VP Humphrey’s primary campaign.

Ohio. I arrived in Columbus at the famous old Neil House Hotel. Having practiced law in Columbus over two years I knew everything about it. I was immediately approached by the leader advance team. One of the team had been accused of of sexual advances towards the wife of one of the Columbus city detectives. They demanded to see me. They saw me and said that the FBI in Washington was investigating them for certain behavior and they wanted the investigation called off or they would expose this man and it would be harmful to Humphrey’s visit to Columbus. I called my old boss Leon Loechler, who had been president of the Columbus Bar Association. He said these “city detectives” have a reputation for being real crooks, getting kick backs from the gamblers and drug dealers on the east side of Columbus. I met with the detectives again. They wanted proof the FBI would back off and that I would meet them with the fellow they had accused at the Columbus Airport the next afternoon and send him back to Washington. If not, they would arrest him and cause a scandal. I agreed. I then rented a car. Told the person in question to drive to Cincinnati. I gave him the name of the person to raise money for the campaign. If he got to Cincinnati and he wasn’t being followed or arrested, drive across the river to Kentucky, get on a plane from the Cincinnati Airport and disappear. Game over. I later met with the “detectives", they asked me where the man was etc. I said what is this all about, never met you guy and walked away.

Florida. We stayed 10 days on Miami Beach at the Hotel Fontainebleau. Team leader was Eddie McCormick, nephew of House Speaker McCormick and primary candidate in Massachusetts against Teddy Kennedy years later. Eddie had a first class suite. Many goings-on, money and girls etc. one never knows. The big story was when Humphrey arrived, about three hours later, the Secret Service grabbed me and said Robert Kennedy had just been assassinated. They said that I must find an account for every team member. I found all but two who were off on suspicious ventures raising money for themselves. We met with Humphrey, an incredible evening.

After my experiences in Washington and my political ventures in Ohio and Florida, I dropped out of the Democratic Party.
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Maryland Politics. One short story. One of my closest friends from Princeton, the Ivy Club and all through life from Baltimore to Wyoming was George Beall. George was US Attorney for Maryland. (His father and his brother had been United States Senators for Maryland back when there was a two-party system.) George called me up and said come to lunch over in Baltimore. He described a situation where a high politician had been bribed by a very wealthy contractor. I knew how corrupt Baltimore and Maryland were. I assumed after his description of the actual situation that the bad guy was Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel. I gave my opinion as to what I thought George should do with his case. I was totally fooled; the target of the investigation was US VP Spiro Agnew! George with great courage proceeded and Agnew was forced to resign. George later told me privately how many really bad things Agnew had done, but were kept quiet because of the terms of the agreement with Agnew’s resignation. Nothing has really changed in Maryland!