Advise and Consent Page #12

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Leffingwell can take a firm grip on | everything I've built up in foreign policy.

Not let it all fall to pieces.

Harley can't. You know he can't.

No, I don't know that. Why don't you | bring him in and give him some help?

I haven't any time to run | a school for presidents.

I haven't any time for anything.

I guess I've been wrong | in many, many things.

I don't suppose history | will have much good to say of me.

I can't dwell on that.

I've done my best.

You're one of the great presidents, Russ.

Well, if you think so, | that's almost as good as history.

Bye, Bobby.

Good night, Mr. Rresident.

Thank you.

- Anything there? | - Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Don't you ever go to bed, Seab?

Sleep's a waste of precious time | for old folks.

I have a feeling | you've been waiting for me.

Mr. Majority Leader...

tomorrow I'm gonna raise the dome...

off the capitol building. | That old dome won't sit right again...

when I get through speaking my piece. | I know all about James Morton.

How long have you known | about James Morton?

That's not important. | The important thing is, I know about him.

- I said, how long, Seab? | - There's nothing more to say.

- You forced Fletcher to call Brig. | - I was trying to do the best for everybody.

I'll tell you what you were doing. You were | amusing yourself watching us all squirm.

Laughing while a dying president | put up a fight for a man he believes in.

In the Senate, you kept quiet | while Brigham Anderson carried the load.

You were playing | for the right moment to rise up...

and turn on the mighty wrath | of Seab Cooley.

All right, Seab, you've got it.

The biggest moment you'll ever have.

Brig Anderson gave it to you | with a dull razor blade.

Will you wait?

I'll make you a deal, Mr. Majority Leader.

Turn your votes loose, | and I'll keep my mouth shut.

Even if that man is confirmed, | I'll keep my mouth shut.

You call that a deal?

- I call it extortion. | - I meant it as a favor.

Thanks. I can do without your favors.

The subcommittee, under the | chairmanship of Senator Anderson...

has reported favorably | to the full committee.

And the full committee vote | is as follows:

Eight votes for recommendation, | five votes opposed, one abstention.

By this vote, the Committee | on Foreign Relations...

recommends that Robert A. Leffingwell | be confirmed for secretary of state.

I return the floor | to the senator from Michigan.

I move the Senate | now advise and consent...

to the nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell | for secretary of state.

The question is, will the Senate | advise and consent...

to the nomination of Robert A. Leffingwell | for secretary of state?

The senator from South Carolina | has apprised me of his intention...

to speak on this motion.

The chair now recognizes the senior senator | from South Carolina.

Mr. President, there is some opinion | harbored here...

that my opposition to Mr. Leffingwell | has been a matter of vindictiveness.

Mr. Rresident, I'm afraid | that's true to some degree...

and for this, I humbly apologize...

to this chamber...

and to the man in the White House, | who, with good intentions for this nation...

sent the nominee down to us.

I don't expect this apology | to wash away my sins...

but I hope that it will, | in some way, reestablish me...

as a senator in the eyes | of my colleagues...

rather than as the flannel-mouthed | old curmudgeon...

I seem to have become in my | waning years, and so much for that.

Mr. President...

I shall still oppose Mr. Leffingwell...

but without vindictiveness.

His voice is not the voice | I wanna hear speak for America.

It is, to me, an alien voice.

Rerhaps it's the new voice of my country.

These old ears aren't tuned | to these new sounds, I know.

I don't understand much | that Mr. Leffingwell says.

I don't understand | how principles of dignity...

can become outworn...

or how this nation | can be represented without pride.

I don't understand these things.

Of course, I am what I am, | feel as I feel.

I'm gonna vote against confirmation...

yet...

I ask no man to follow me in this.

Mr. President.

Recognize the senior senator | from Michigan.

The senior senator from South Carolina...

has just eaten | a rather large order of crow.

Strangely enough, | he makes the dish seem palatable.

He makes us all want to sit at his table.

He calls himself a curmudgeon.

Well, I hope the day never comes...

when there is not at least one | curmudgeon in this body...

to goad us in the right direction.

I can't agree with him | about Mr. Leffingwell.

I don't interpret Mr. Leffingwell | in the same way. I don't hear an alien voice.

To me, it sounds realistic. | And more than that...

I have great respect for the judgment | of our chief executive.

I'll vote for the nominee.

But there are tragic circumstances | surrounding this nomination...

which takes it out of the usual business | and sets it deeply...

into the conscience of each senator.

For this reason, I now wish | to release all pledges made to me.

- Mr. President, will the senator yield? | - I will not.

All pledges made to me | are free to vote as they will.

- What kind of a double-cross is this? | - The senator from Michigan has the floor.

- Mr. President, I ask for a quorum. | - I protest!

A quorum call precludes any speeches | from the floor until the call is finished.

Mr. Clerk?

- Mr. Abbott. | - Present.

- Mrs. Adams. | - Present.

- Mr. Andrews. | - Here.

- Well, Seab. | - Well, Bob.

- I'll beat you anyway. | - That, sir, is a question.

- Mr. Caulfield. | - Here.

It is impossible to predict the outcome | because there was no time to poll...

the individual members of the Senate, | who will now decide...

free of political commitments, | guided only by their own conviction...

how to vote on the question | of Leffingwell's confirmation.

Senator Anderson 's | mysterious suicide will...

Wells, Simpson, Lansing.

Mr. Randall.

Kanaho abstained in the committee vote, | but he'll vote with Seab.

Strike him off. Goodman, strike him off.

- Mr. Toland. | - Present.

- Mr. Topper. | - Here.

- Mr. Van Ackerman. | - Here and waiting!

- Mr. Young. | - Present.

- Mr. Zeffenbach. | - Here.

Call the absentees.

Mr. Courtney.

Mr. Fickett.

Mr. Fields.

Mr. Granville.

Mr. Larkins.

Thank you. From Strickland. | Seven minority votes for Leffingwell.

- A 42 majority, seven minority. Forty-nine. | - Well, we've still got a chance to win.

Rrior to the quorum, the Foreign Relations | Committee reported favorably...

on the nomination of | Robert A. Leffingwell for secretary of state.

The senator from Michigan | moved the Senate advise and consent...

- to that nomination. | - Mr. Rresident.

I did not relinquish the floor when I asked | for a quorum, Mr. Rresident.

The senior senator from Michigan | still has the floor.

The senator can't hold | the floor in silence.

With the chair's permission, | I shall be very brief.

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