Fifty years ago today I was employed by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States Courthouse, Foley Square, Manhattan, New York, as an attorney-examiner. John F. Kennedy was the President, and I was hired after an interview by my future supervisor at Brooklyn Law School which I attended in the evenings. I was employed under President Kennedys law honor graduate program, and I remained in the FTC investigating such manufacturers as Timex watches and its John Cameron Swayze commercials that Timex takes a licking, and keeps on ticking. I also investigated the womens clothing industry which virtually doesnt exist in this country any longer, having been shipped overseas to be produced by low wage employees. Some of the other companies that I investigated was Decca Records, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Laboratories, etc., etc., for violations of the variour anti-trust laws. Nevertheless, I was not a fan of Pres. Kennedy, as I was at that time what was known as a liberal. Today I might be called a progressive, and i didnt consider JFK to be a true liberal. The true liberal, or progressive, was my hero, Adlai Stevenson, who had run for President in 1968, and lost, and was now the United States representative at the United Nations in NYC. Thus, as the 1964 election was approaching, I wrote to Ambassador Stevenson and asked whether he would consider running a primary agains JFK in the 1964 election for the Democratic nomination. Stevenson had visited Dallas, Texas just a few weeks before the assassination, and he had been spat upon by Texas conservative demonstrators in the streets of Dallas. When he returned he advised Pres. Kennedy not to visit Dallas, but the president ignored his advice as he was on a mission to cement relationships within the Democratic party between two factions of the party, one led by the Gov. Connelly who was shot on the same day, and in the same motor parade as the president. The following letter is the response that I received from Ambassador Stevenson just a few days before the assassination, where he references what took place in Dallas. I have treasured this letter for 50 years along with the photo of Adlai Stevenson along with the photo of him which was sent to me by his son, who at the time was the Governor of Illinois. Hope you enjoy and appreciate this little known chapter of our history.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 11:55:55 +0000