Onwards, In Any Case

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September 13th, 1959

The reporters all gathered in one of the press rooms of the Capitol. None of them were told who, exactly, was going to give a statement, but if a notice came from Congress, they would come.

Entered a group of three: a secretary, and Senator Kefauver of Tennessee with his wife, nancy. Smiling politely, they went to the podium. Nancy stood beside her husband.

"Members of the press,

"Thank you all for coming. Once I complete this statement, I'll take questions for a few minutes.

"As of today, it's my twenty-year anniversary of the beginning of my service in the U.S. Congress. In those twenty years, I have focused most of my time and efforts on fighting corruption, in and out of government.

"I have also ran for President, and I was the Vice Presidential nominee of my Party three years ago. So, I am not a young man.

"But if there's one thing I've learned here, or at all really, is that, well, if you're not a part of the machine, you can't use it yourself. Machine politics are still dominant in this country, no matter how much me and fellow Senators and Representatives challenge them.

"Friends, I don't like what I've being seeing, and I'm not one to quit now. I'm going to run for President. If I don't win, then I won't, but I'll lose fighting for something which I do believe in. Thank you."
 
September 14th, 1959

Paul Butler enters Lyndon Johnson's office.

"Morning," said the Senator. He gets up to shake his friend's hand. He shows him to a seat in front of his desk, a tray with coffee laid out before them.

"You wanna get down to it?"

"Yeah, sure--so what in the hell are we supposed to do about him?"

"Ran twice before, and he lost."

"We know what he can be, though. He'll just open the gates, and a bunch of shit will river down all over us."

"Important thing is the final tallies. Besides, he'll be hurting the Kennedy boy more than Humphrey, or anyone who should be nominated."

"But he's still there, that's what bothers me though."

"Then we'll pretend he isn't, and that won't be too hard really."
 
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