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KVOS Special: The Race for Washington
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- Senator, the speculation is that you're in your toughest battle
- since you went to the Senate way back in the '40s.
- Do you consider that to be true?
- Well, I don't know.
- I consider any campaign a battle.
- I don't know who's doing the speculating.
- But I always campaigned the same way
- I've always campaigned in these elections.
- I've been now in 23 of them.
- And I don't know.
- You never know whether they're tough or not tough
- till the votes are counted.
- How have people taken to your Maggie Mobile around the state?
- Well, pretty good.
- I think people like you to come in, particularly
- in smaller areas, where you have the opportunity
- to be on the Main Street and talk with people.
- And they come up and ask a lot of questions.
- And we have good discussions.
- And they like to see the candidate and work with them.
- And of course, this time, it was all the more important,
- because the time was a little shorter
- for campaigning than normally.
- Senator, how do you feel the campaign
- has been going, particularly in eastern Washington?
- You've been over there this month.
- I was over there for about a week.
- I think it's going all right.
- I think this campaign, any problems
- that I may have in this campaign are not necessarily due to--
- well, they're due to just one thing, Andy.
- It's to get a vote out.
- 35% of the people voted in the primary election.
- And if you get a reasonable vote out, why, I don't think
- there's any serious problem in this campaign
- anymore than there has been in the others, where we'd
- have a 65%, 70%, 75%, 80% vote.
- I don't think there's any question about it
- if a vote would come out.
- But it is an off year and.
- And there's only one statewide race, the Senate race.
- And there are some very important initiatives
- on the ballot, but they're not the emotional issues
- like the right to work or things of that kind.
- And an off year also has less voting.
- But we're hopeful that we've been trying
- to help stir up a great deal of interest
- in getting out the vote.
- And I know that all the radio and television stations
- have been doing the same thing.
- But I don't think there's much question about it
- if the vote comes out.
- The last time you ran in an off-year election
- was in 1950, if I remember.
- Yes.
- Do you think there's more apathy in this election
- than the one in '50?
- It was about the same.
- It was a very light vote.
- And my majority was not very big numerically.
- It was fairly good in proportion to the amount of vote
- if you ask.
- Back in 1956, when you ran against former Governor
- Langley, you had a margin of around 220,000,
- I believe, something in that area.
- Of course, this was a presidential year too.
- But on a percentage basis, you came out with about 60%
- of the vote.
- Is that your hope this year?
- Well, I think the primary vote, even though it was light,
- if that was projected, the majority
- I had in the primary was projected up
- to double the vote or the same vote
- we had in the Langley campaign, it
- would run about the same, percentage-wise.
- Your opposition has been asking for a television debate.
- Is there any possibility that there
- will be one between now and election day?
- Well, I don't know just what they particularly mean by that.
- I'm debating every day.
- I'm out in front of the public.
- I cast 4,251 votes in the United States Senate
- alone on issues of major importance.
- And I think everyone knows where I stand.
- I don't know just what you'd debate about.
- There's no use debating about something that there it is.
- You've had taken a stand, and that's it.
- There can be no debate about a record.
- Well, there's been ideas around in the press that the state
- voters may have turned a little more conservative
- in this election, the Goldmark incident
- is cited as an example.
- Have you found any evidence of that?
- Well, I don't know that the number
- of voters, the general trend is more conservative.
- There's what we call the right wing group.
- Surely, they've been more active, let's put it that way.
- Whether they're more vocal than they are numerical
- remains to be seen.
- But I think they've been much more active, particularly
- in eastern Washington than normally in this campaign.
- And usually, the lighter the vote, the more that shows up.
- And I would think that maybe they
- would cast more votes than normally if their activity is
- any criteria of that.
- Senator, in your travels around the state,
- what have you found out from the people
- as far as President Kennedy's Medicare program is concerned?
- Well, of course, Senator Jackson and I both voted for Medicare.
- And I'm sure both of us would again.
- I think that the majority of the people
- are for getting started on it.
- No one in Congress denies the need exists.
- And what we are arguing about is the method.
- And people are saying, well, go ahead with it.
- Get started.
- No one method is completely free of certain faults or bugs.
- No one method's perfect.
- But to get started.
- This is the same fight I had 29 years ago
- when I introduced the first old age assistance
- bill in the state legislature.
- We had lots of discussions about the method.
- But we made a start.
- And I think Medicare for the ages
- is in the same relative position as a social need of the people
- today.
- And this is the way to start it.
- And I think people are going to demand this.
- And I think the great majority of people
- are for getting started in this vital need that
- exists in the country today.
- What are some of the other concerns
- that you've had expressed to you around the state?
- Well, I think there's a great revival of--
- again, where a need exists, of hoping that
- we can do something about federal aid
- to education in the universities and junior colleges
- or your own place in Bellingham.
- There again, everybody admits that the need exists.
- And the controversy is over the method.
- And people are saying, well, all right,
- go back and figure out some method.
- Make a start.
- Maybe it isn't perfect, but the need's there and should be met.
- I find a great deal of that.
- Of course, people are wondering how the farm program may work.
- There's some theories.
- But everyone is well pleased with the action of Congress
- in the trade bill, which we hope was much
- on the plus side for us, because we're an export area, the Puget
- Sound area.
- And then they feel much better in view
- of the situation in Cuba and other places
- that we spent a great deal of time
- building up what we think is the most powerful and best and most
- efficient military establishment in the world,
- that the world has ever known, as a matter of fact.
- And the Polaris thing over in Bangor and all these things,
- I find the people are--
- There are certain facets of the things where maybe they
- don't quite like this thing or that thing.
- But generally overall, I don't find too much opposition
- to what has been going on in this administration
- or in the Congress this time.
- As matter of fact, I find that we should have done more.
- And that they want us to get these two needs I suggest.
- Do more.
- So of course, there's always the great concern
- about the foreign matters, foreign affairs.
- And we're concerned.
- The people are concerned.
- I like to discuss that with them.
- And we sit down and discuss it.
- I think people feel better when they
- discuss some of the problems with you and the many facets.
- And I think they're all in agreement
- that this country, although it's a leader in the free world
- in this terrible fight we have against communism, which we all
- recognize and we all hate--
- we hate communism, all of us.
- In this world today, you can't just shoot from the hip on it.
- You've just got to calculate it and plan, be firm.
- But you've got to move very carefully,
- because the threat of a World War III
- may be a chain of events that no one meant to happen.
- You've got to--
- Mr. Christensen.
- This is your first political effort.
- You're going up against one of the biggest vote-getters
- in Washington state.
- How do you feel about that?
- Well, I feel somewhat, Andy, like a man with a hand ax
- thus far in the campaign, because we've only been
- at the thing for 10 months.
- We've done it with somewhere around the neighborhood
- of $60,000.
- We know that he does have somewhere in the neighborhood
- of $300,000.
- We've had one billboard.
- He's had 200.
- But when you examine the fact that he has had 25 years
- and has hundreds of thousands of dollars and we have $60,000
- and that we actually arrive at about 74%
- of his vote in 10 months, I think it's a small miracle.
- And I think that we're going to be able to do it
- in the final election.
- Why would you say that you would be
- able to beat Senator Magnuson, when former Governor
- Langley wasn't able to do it in '56, a man who was
- more well-known than you are?
- For a simple reason, Andy.
- I think that Governor Langley basically
- didn't want to run for the United States Senate.
- I think that he was encouraged to by political leadership
- because of his capabilities.
- I want the United States Senate seat for a philosophy
- that I represent.
- And I'm willing to fight for it.
- I think that makes a lot of difference
- in the tenor of a campaign and what
- you have to say to the people.
- I'm really concerned.
- Certainly, people want virtues in politicians
- that they have not had in the past years
- in many political leaders.
- You've been around the state now, what, two or three times.
- Where have you found your biggest support?
- Well, of course, we found a strong support
- in eastern Washington, which we carried.
- Mr. Ben Larson and I carried eastern Washington,
- 20 counties.
- We made a very serious chink in the wall in the Magnuson
- strength by carrying Spokane Country.
- We carried Garfield County three to one.
- We carried Yakima County, which we suspected would happen.
- Then on the west side, Whatcom County,
- we feel was a real good race.
- We can take Senator Magnuson in Whatcom County
- if the people will get out and vote,
- the Republicans, the Democrats, and the independents who
- have pledged themselves to us.
- One interesting facet is, in the Pierce County area,
- I think there are about as many Democrats as you could
- hope for in any one county.
- And yet, Governor Langley ran--
- I wouldn't be quoted exactly on the statistic.
- But I think that he lost by 22,000 in Pierce County.
- And according to some of the newsmen there,
- if Senator Magnuson can't carry Pierce County by 40,000 votes,
- he can't win the election.
- Now, this past election primary, I only
- tailed him by 11,000 votes.
- With Ben Larson's votes, which are Republican votes in support
- of the Republican philosophy, we only
- tailed him a little over 7,000 votes.
- Well, there's a vast difference between 7000 and 40,000 votes
- that he has to pick up if he's going to make
- a clean sweep of the state.
- So the chink has been very seriously made.
- We've had response from Washington, DC
- that there is a great deal of concern about this on his part.
- Both in Michigan and California, the John Birch Society
- has caused some problems in the Republican ranks.
- Do you foresee anything like that
- in the state of Washington?
- No, I don't, for the simple reason, very honestly, Andy,
- we started out the campaign.
- We had one basic idea, tell the people what we think.
- And that's the truth.
- And those groups of people who have
- their varied and divergent interests, if they believe what
- we are stating, then so let them join our effort, and so be it.
- We haven't gone out of our way to appease or to please
- or to do battle with any social segment of our society.
- This isn't our job.
- Our job is stating our case to the people and, on that basis,
- allowing the people as individuals to join our effort.
- Your case, it seems to me has been
- built around a fairly conservative philosophy.
- This seems to be one difference between your campaign
- and that of Governor Langley in 1956.
- Do you think that this is a telling difference?
- No, actually not.
- The Seattle newspapers aren't sure what I am.
- I think as the issue develops, I state my position,
- and someone would have to come to the conclusion.
- Let me take one example.
- I am certainly opposed to trade with communist nations.
- Senator Magnuson some time ago was
- on television in another channel in this state
- and made the statement he wanted an increase of trade
- with Red China.
- Now, I'm emphatically opposed to trade with Red China.
- At one time, he suggested that we get out of Berlin.
- I think it would be completely unwise to get out of Berlin.
- At these points certainly, I suspect
- you might call me much more conservative than his view.
- And I'm rather proud of that fact.
- I don't think you can pin me to a spectrum, Andy,
- because conservative or liberal or middle of the road,
- it means something altogether different
- to every American individual you meet.
- I like to refer to myself as just a commonsense American.
- And that should be enough.
- I have allegiance to the Constitution and my God.
- And I figure that should be enough for a man
- to have the basic ingredients for statesmanship.
- Do you think that you're a former Lutheran minister
- will help you or hurt you?
- Oh, I don't know.
- I was told when I first began that Roman Catholic people--
- this was told to me by a very professional politician--
- that Roman Catholic people would cut me up
- because there was so much thinking about the Roman
- Catholic vote.
- This has proved out to be very untrue.
- The Roman Catholic people in the Seattle area
- put a tremendous article in their own newspaper
- on their own behalf, without even asking,
- in support of my candidacy.
- So the professional politician has
- been wrong from last October until now about our campaign.
- They said we'd never get enough money.
- They said we'd never be able to open offices.
- They said we'd never get the help of the people
- at the grassroots.
- And everything that they said we couldn't
- do, including the Roman Catholic support,
- we have gotten and gotten it wonderfully.
- Right after the primary, you said
- that you intended to expose some of the things which
- you considered bad in Senator Magnuson's record
- in the past 25 years.
- Have you done so?
- Or is this something that we can expect later on?
- Well, you can certainly expect it on a regular basis, Andy.
- Let's just take a basic fact.
- Now, the Grand Coulee Dam.
- Now, President Kennedy was here himself and made the statement
- that the Grand Coulee Dam was practically
- built by the incumbent.
- Well, the incumbent, the elder politician of our state
- wasn't elected until 1937.
- And the Grand Coulee Dam was built in 1932-33.
- In other words, an untruth was told to the people.
- And the people accept this type of thing.
- And the thing that amazes me, we pride ourselves
- on being the best educated people in the world.
- And a politician comes along, tells us he's done something
- for us which, in reality, he hasn't.
- And the people swallow it.
- Now, there's an interest in the fact
- that the elder politician of our state
- certainly has been interested in cancer.
- Andy, aren't you interested in killing cancer?
- Aren't most of these people interested,
- in fact, all of them, in killing off the dread disease, cancer?
- Maybe we haven't passed legislation.
- I certainly would hate to see such a thing come out
- as a platform plank for a politician to run on.
- I think this is how degenerate politics has gotten.
- The World's Fair, President Eisenhower
- pushed the button to begin it.
- He went back to Congress and got the appropriation for it.
- But who takes credit?
- The elder politician of the state.
- The elder politician is proclaiming
- that the state's in good shape.
- Would you want to say that in Bellingham?
- Are there so many people employed in Bellingham
- that you just possibly can't find people to work for you?
- If you go to Spokane and find that is a depressed area,
- if you go to Gray's Harbor and find it is a depressed area,
- would you say losing 70% of our logging industry
- is growing and moving ahead?
- Would you say a salmon industry on an emergency basis
- is a real fine product of 25 years of service?
- Andy, all I want to do-- and people say to me, be positive.
- I don't know how much more positive
- I could be than to tell the people in this audience
- the truth as what I know it.
- And maybe you have here the infringement
- of the clergyman on a white charger with a sword.
- That's all I want to do is tell people the truth.
- You know, I've said that I wanted to debate with Senator
- Magnuson, and I do, Andy.
- And I'm willing to lose a debate.
- I'm willing to go against 25 years of living off
- the public payroll to debate with the man
- before all the public in this station, if possible,
- because I'd rather have people vote against me out of informed
- positions than to vote for me in not knowing
- what the issues really are.
- I proved my interest in grassroots knowledge
- of the issues by going to 938 meetings up till the primary.
- And I don't think there is a candidate in the United States
- that's done that thus far in this primary.
- You seem to have politics in your blood by this time.
- If the outcome of the election in November
- is such that you are not in Washington,
- would you be interested in keeping going with politics?
- Andy, I honestly must tell you in all frankness,
- I haven't even considered the idea of losing.
- Representative Westland, the Congress
- has taken its time about adjourning
- for the session, which means that you
- haven't had too much time out among the political hustings.
- How do you think this is going to affect your campaign?
- Well, Andy, you're quite right.
- This was the longest peacetime session of Congress since 1850.
- And what it means is that I have to do
- in three weeks what I normally would have done
- and two or three months.
- That is to try to get around the 2nd Congressional District
- and to put my campaign into effect
- in a very, very short time.
- How do you think your campaign is coming?
- Well, Andy, I think it looks all right.
- I suppose, actually, the candidate
- probably knows less about how he stands than anyone else.
- I think I'm in a real race.
- But I like the vote that I received in the primary.
- I think I obtained about 56% of the total vote,
- despite the fact that my Democrat opponents had
- quite a horse race.
- And as a matter of fact, this was the best vote I have ever
- received in the primary.
- From what I've heard so far in one week of campaigning,
- I think I'm going to be re-elected.
- Would you say that this is going to be
- a relatively easy campaign for you in comparison
- to other campaigns you've run?
- No, sir, not at all.
- I think this is a real tough campaign.
- It's obvious from the brochures that my opponent has put out,
- which cost quite a little bit of money, Andy,
- that he's well financed.
- I know that he's been working hard
- in meeting people for quite a few months.
- And I figure that it's a good, tough race.
- But I've been in those before, Andy, as you well know.
- You speak of brochures.
- Your opponent has distributed one
- which maintains that you have a poor voting record in Congress.
- Yes.
- What's your reaction to that?
- Well, I guess my reaction is perfectly normal, Andy.
- Match my voting record and attendance record
- against most anyone.
- This little brochure that he put out is so full of misquotations
- that the whole thing becomes of no use.
- Just for example, in one place there, Andy,
- he says where I'm curled up in the back seat of Hugo Hopkins'
- automobile coming back from Vancouver, where
- I had been defeated in the finals of the British Columbia
- Championship by Chuck Hunter.
- Than underneath that, it says, 1960, Congress in session.
- Well, I looked at that.
- And I remembered quite well that very situation.
- The only difference was, Andy, that it happened when I
- was in college back in 1924-25.
- This is one of them.
- Representative Westland, what's your program
- for Whatcom County?
- Well, I think one of the real programs,
- one of the real things that's got
- to be done here in this Whatcom County area, Andy,
- is on this lumber situation and this competition
- with British Columbia, where we have exported literally
- thousands of jobs up to BC.
- I put in a bill to eliminate the application of the Jones Act
- to our shipping so that we could use foreign bottoms
- to ship our lumber from Bellingham to the east coast
- and thereby save $10 a thousand.
- Now, President Kennedy has approved that legislation.
- And I would hope that the Congress will pass
- my bill or someone else's bill.
- I don't care which bill it is that's passed.
- And help us to compete on a reasonably competitive basis
- with the British Columbia.
- Mr. Moore, your campaign for Congressman in the 2nd district
- doesn't seem to have gotten off the ground.
- Is this because of lack of money, lack of enthusiasm,
- or an unbeatable incumbent?
- No, I think we're getting off the ground now.
- I would say a lack of apathy in the primaries.
- Republican and Democrats alike, were
- we're not interested in coming out to the polls,
- it would seem, but particularly the Democrats.
- But now in the last 10 days or two weeks,
- things are picking up.
- One of the things that you have been claiming
- is that Mr. Westland, the incumbent Republican
- in the 2nd District, has one of the worst voting
- records in Congress.
- And yet, Jack Westland is remaining in Congress
- until it adjourns.
- How do you square that with what you claim to be his record?
- Well, this year, he seems to be staying on the job more,
- possibly because it's called to his attention.
- He does have, according to many people's judgment,
- the poorest record of any congressman
- west of the Mississippi River.
- Mr. Moore, concerning your background
- as Fisheries Director-- twice you've
- been Fisheries Director in Washington state.
- You've served in advisory capacities in that area
- for the federal government.
- Is this playing a big part in your campaign?
- I believe it is, because the fisheries resources are
- in such bad shape and the invasion of the Russians
- and the Japanese in the North Pacific.
- And no one's standing up real hard
- to fight for fisheries, I think that the interest is
- focused on me, because I believe that we have some answers.
- At least we have to stand up, Andy, protect
- our historic fishing rights and to do something
- for conserving this important resource.
- What's your stand on President Kennedy's Medicare program?
- I'm for Medicare.
- I believe it's a very important program.
- I think it's a basic issue in this campaign, where
- the Republicans generally are opposed to it,
- and the Democrats are for it.
- I'm for the program.
- Are you finding that your campaign funds are building up
- now that you're heading into the last weeks
- of the general election?
- Well, I wouldn't say they're building up,
- but they're coming in.
- We're getting a few more dollars for advertising
- and getting out pamphlets of information.
- Well, if you're going to campaign
- in this kind of weather, I suppose
- you must be pretty serious about this.
- Do you think you have a good chance of winning?
- Yes, I think I have a good chance of winning, especially
- if we get out a good vote.
- But this being an off-year election make some doubt there.
- But it does look good in the last week.
- And particularly, I think labor and the common man
- is waking up.
- What's your analysis of Snohomish County?
- This county has been traditionally Democratic
- and yet, representative Westland has
- managed to take Snohomish County the last two times.
- Do you think you can get it back from him?
- And is this the key to the second district?
- I think it is the key to the 2nd District.
- And I think he didn't have a strong candidate before.
- I think I can make a little better showing
- than my predecessors did on the Democratic ticket.
- What about meetings?
- Are you arranging meetings around the district?
- Yes, I'm having meetings and coffee hours and breaks
- and so on and rallies.
- And it's looking good.
- Mr. Moore, have you've got any plans specifically
- for Whatcom County?
- Yes, we do.
- We've checked over the industrial possibilities
- and formed new ideas here.
- And I think we can materially help the farmers get a better
- price for his milk and chicken raisers
- for their chickens and poultry.
- And I think that by building Drayton Harbor into a fish
- farm, possibly Terrell Creek up there at Birch Bay
- and develop the recreational area a little better,
- we'll get more tourist travel.
- I think Whatcom County is definitely in trouble
- unless some new life is given here
- to stimulate a little more interest in business
- and tourism.
- I think that there are several things.
- I've been working with Jack Pierce and some others who
- are interested in the welfare and the economic situation
- here in Whatcom County.
- And I know that I can do a better job to help the lumber
- industry, because back there in Congress, they go to meetings,
- they take a vote, but nobody is really working hard.
- Because of this important question--