State of the Union

---

Gin.

Gin!

Gin.

Here's the doc.

What's the verdict, Doc?

Can't last

another 24 hours.

Any chance of us making

the early edition?

He'd want to.

What about some pictures,

last-moment stuff?

No.

Good afternoon,

Miss Thorndyke.

Your father...

I heard your verdict,

Dr. Crane.

That's the daughter.

She's tougher than

the old man.

Get out.

But, Mr. Thorndyke, I...

Out! Out, I say.

Stupid nurses, doctors.

Oh.

How are you feeling, Sam?

Oh, this blasted thing's

eating my guts away.

Did you see that editorial

in the Albany paper?

That fella won't take orders.

Fire him.

I did.

That's my girl.

The White House called

to ask about you.

He should call.

If those Republicans hadn't

knifed me,

he wouldn't be

in the White House.

I'd be dying there.

Well, well, well. What else?

Longstreet called.

Longstreet? That buzzard.

Made me an offer

for the papers.

Willing to keep my name

on the masthead, he says.

I'll keep it there, Sam.

You don't need Longstreet

or anyone else.

Kay, I used to hate you

for being a girl.

I always wanted

a son like me.

But you're bigger

than any son.

A woman's body with

a man's brains.

My brains. Use them.

You'll make the White House,

Kay, one way or another.

The Republican Party

owe us that. Don't forget it.

I won't forget it.

That's my girl.

Men are weak,

vain, idealistic.

Can't stand pain.

Can't stand pain any longer...

Sam.

Women are the only realists.

Until they get sentimental.

Don't you ever

get sentimental, Kay.

I never have.

Yeah.

Er...

Goodbye, girl.

I guess I'll call it a day.

You're the chief

from herein.

I'm gonna miss you, Sam.

Yeah, yeah.

You'll be all right.

You'll be all right.

Make those heads roll.

Make those heads roll.

Don't go in there.

But, Miss...

Oh, good heavens!

Oh, Doctor!

Doctor!

Call the police!

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Fifty-one.

Oh, Doctor.

Lose your stomach,

Mr. MacManus?

Mr. Hawkins' office, please.

First door

to your right.

Thank you.

Hi, Scylla.

Hi, Charybdis.

Well, if it isn't the

poor man's Drew Pearson.

Hey, new talent.

You better go in

before we have

a new columnist.

Wait a minute.

Who's in there

with the lion-tamer?

Team secret.

Came in through

the fire escape.

Tailored?

Mmm-hmm.

Tailored politician?

Hmm.

Tailored

Republican politician?

What else?

Tailored worried

Republican politician?

All politicians are

worried today.

Jim Conover.

Announce me.

Spike MacManus.

Send him in.

If I had your number,

I'd call you and tell you

who's gonna be

the next President

of the United States.

I know. Truman.

You want the walls

to cave in around here?

I'll see you later.

Hello, boss.

Hello, Jim, what's cooking?

You'll be. If one word

of my being here

gets out.

Hey, boss,

the freedom of the press.

If you must grace your column

with my name, it's Conover.

C-O-N-O-V-E-R.

You've spelt it "Canover",

"Can opener",

everything but Conover.

Don't squawk,

I haven't spelt it

"Conniver" yet.

Let's skip the jokes.

Jim, you know the

Republican Convention this

year can end in a deadlock.

I don't know anything.

My uncle with the

two heads does.

Spike.

He tells me they're following

the usual Republican policy:

The Tafts, Deweys, Stassens,

and Vandenbergs

may knock each other

out of the running

even before the Convention.

Thus providing

a perfect track

for a dark horse.

Which leaves you,

Mr. Conover,

a fight manager looking

for a good heavyweight

who can punch.

Jim, I think

I have your man.

Yeah, you

and everybody else.

This is Kay Thorndyke,

not everybody else.

I'm sorry, Kay, it's just

that you have to show me.

I'm from Missouri.

Ha!

If you were from Missouri,

you'd have a job

in Washington.

Lay off, Spike.

All right, let's have it, Kay.

Who's your man?

Item one:
born in Nevada.

But there's never been

a western president.

There are Americans

out there, too.

Item two:
self-made,

sold newspapers,

worked his way through school.

Item three:
good war record.

Partisaned Lafayette

Escadrille WWI,

decorated by

three governments.

Ancient history.

Item four:
started the

two-by-four airplane factory

and ran it into

the biggest thing

in aviation today.

Look at me

when I'm talking to you.

First industrialist to

introduce labor-management

plant administration.

He's never even been

threatened with a strike.

He'd have labor in one pocket,

big business in the other.

Are you interested?

No. What's Horatio Alger

look like?

Women have been crazy

about him all his life,

if that's what you mean.

Well, that lets me out.

And men?

Part owner of a ball club.

Ever run for office?

Not even for dog catcher.

Hates politics.

Then what's given him

this presidential yen?

Oh, he hasn't got it yet.

You're going to

give him that.

On the newsstands tomorrow.

"Our planes have wings

but not our ideas."

You could make him

the next president, Jim.

Kay, I'm not

terribly impressed.

I never am by amateurs.

But if you and Grant Matthews

happen to be in Washington,

and knock on my door

to get out of the rain...

But I have been trying

to make this clear

all afternoon.

I don't want to be

President of

the United States.

Guess the job isn't

big enough for him, boss.

President. Holy smoke.

Why, when I was a kid,

my dad took me on

a two-day trip

just to look at

President Taft.

On a clear day

you could see him for

a couple of hundred miles.

Yeah,

you sure could.

After he passed,

my father slapped me

right across the face.

When I asked him

what that was for, he said,

"Just so you'll never forget

the day you saw the President

of the United States."

Well, Mr. Conover,

I've listened to some pretty

tall reasons around here

why I could

run for president.

Self-made man,

friend of labor,

dark horse and all that stuff.

All very flattering,

I might add.

But, could I ask you,

a professional politician,

to give me one good reason

why me, Grant Matthews,

should run for the biggest

and the best job in the world

when there are

10,000 other men...

Wait a minute.

Let's understand each other.

I'm not telling you

you should be President.

I was under the impression

that Kay Thorndyke

brought you down here

to sell me on the idea,

not for me to sell you.

Now let's not get childish,

nobody's trying to

sell anybody anything.

Kay, the man

doesn't want the job,

and hundreds of others do.

We're wasting our time.

That's right, Kay.

He's right.

We're wasting his time.

I'm not interested

in politics or politicians.

And I don't

like airplanes.

That makes us even.

Although I could get

to like you, Mr. Conover.

Mr. Matthews,

it's no skin off my nose,

but just for my private files,

you made a speech in Cleveland

that hit the front pages

all over the country.

Even the New York Times

with that stuff about,

"Either we pull together

or get pulled apart."

Every Republican leader

wishes he'd made it.

So?

I'm trying to get it

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