July 1, 1964 - Senator Everett Dirksen (right) said today that Senator Barry Goldwater’s drive for the Republican Presidential nomination could not be stopped, even by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
“This thing has gone too far,” the Illinois Senator said.
Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader, made the assertion at a news conference at which he said he would place the Arizona Senator’s name in nomination at the Republican National Convention.
The move was viewed as a heavy blow to the late-starting campaign of Governor William Scranton to win the nomination. Dirksen said that Goldwater would win the contest even if Eisenhower threw his support to the Pennsylvania Governor.
Meanwhile, Henry Cabot Lodge, former Ambassador to South Vietnam, conceded that he still lacked a battle plan to stop Goldwater.
However, he said he was confident that something could be done by the opening of the convention and insisted that Goldwater’s present delegate strength was not prohibitive.
“I’ve been in so many meetings,” said Lodge, “that I haven’t had time to go into the matter of [stop-Goldwater] tactics and strategy. But I don’t doubt for a second that a lot of things can be put together in the time remaining.
“Delegates are not like so many pencils in a box. Any man who says that delegates are bought and paid for and ‘I own them’ is only deluding himself.”
The view that Goldwater could not be stopped was shared by many observers. Recent political developments have seemed to help the Arizona Senator and to frustrate Scranton.
Since Monday, these developments have taken place:
— The 40-member New Jersey delegation, in a holding action that favored Goldwater, declined to commit itself even though a majority was inclined toward Scranton.
— The 58-member Illinois delegation, in contrast, was polled and Goldwater received the first-ballot support of 48 delegates and the probable support of five more.
— Governor George Romney of Michigan virtually released the state’s 48 delegates from their obligation to vote for him as a favorite son.
At the convention, opening July 13 in San Francisco, 655 votes are needed to win the nomination. Goldwater claims about 690 votes.
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