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I will say this, that at the present time, Senator Kennedy, as I said since San Francisco

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last week, is the front runner among the Democratic candidates at this time, and is campaigning

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very effectively.

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I'm glad to return that.

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Mr. Vice President, what was your reaction to the Strauss vote in the Senate yesterday?

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Well this is one of those issues on which Senator Kennedy and I disagree.

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I can only say that I feel that Admiral Strauss has rendered very dedicated and courageous

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service to the country over a great number of years, and I of course felt that the President

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was entitled to have as a member of the cabinet a man who shared his views.

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I think that the action of the Senate denied the country and the President a very capable

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public servant.

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The rejection of Mr. Strauss as Secretary of Commerce, grew beyond the shadow of a doubt

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that Senator Johnson can get anything he wants out of this Senate.

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When he cracks the whip, Senators jump.

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And this is a victory for Senator Johnson above perhaps most anybody else in the Senate,

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but I in myself think that it's a Pyrrhic victory, a Pyrrhic victory, one in which he

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may have won a battle, but will contribute to his losing the war.

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Well there was strong feeling held by, as it turned out, a majority of the Senate,

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that the Senate having a constitutional responsibility to advise and consent to nominations, even

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to the cabinet, that it was in the national interest that the President have another Secretary

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of Commerce and that Mr. Strauss should not be chosen.

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It's not a happy task to reject a man and reject a President's choice, but the Constitution

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does give us that responsibility and that was the decision of a majority of the Senate

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in which I concurred.