Aug. 7, 1964 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy today held a Gracie Mansion breakfast session with New York Mayor Robert Wagner that gave impetus to reports of a plan to draft Kennedy as Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in November.
The meeting came on the heels of the Mayor’s White House visit to President Johnson, during which LBJ reportedly okayed such a New York maneuver, so an apparent conclusion was that the late President’s brother looked for Wagner’s blessing as the finishing touch. He already had the expressed approval of the party leaders who control the state convention set for Sept. 1 in Manhattan Center.
All the Democratic leaders from State Chairman William McKeon down knew about the Gracie Mansion session, but they were hesitant to speculate on the verdict from the Mayor.
After the meeting, the Mayor left for his summer home at Islip, L.I. Kennedy flew on to Amherst, Mass., without making an announcement. After addressing the World Assembly on Youth at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he will be back in New York Monday to speak at the American Bar Association’s convention.
“All I know is that the Mayor expressed himself as ‘not opposed’ to a Bobby Kennedy candidacy in a meeting we had with upstate leaders at Irvington, N.Y., a few days ago,” said the state chairman.
News reports out of Washington during the day were to the effect that the Attorney General’s plans for becoming New York’s Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate were being completed.
Reports emanating from City Hall on the Johnson-Wagner meeting last weekend at the White House had the President assuring the Mayor that the Kennedy-for-Senator plans had his approval.
After studying the idea of making a race for the Senate for several weeks, Kennedy said on June 23 that he would not be a candidate. At that time, he was hopeful that President Johnson would choose him as his running mate.
When Johnson eliminated the Attorney General and other Cabinet members from the list of potential Vice-Presidential candidates on July 30, Kennedy was immediately urged by influential New York Democrats to reconsider. He has now done so.
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