The Campaign Ahead

A gale front moved in fast from the Pacific, lashing the waves at the dark flanks of the mountains of the Alexander Archipelago jutting out of the sea. The DC-6C Golden Nugget dropped out of the clouds, lumbered only a few hundred feet above the water, slipped, wheels-down, past Mendenhall Glacier and landed at Juneau. From the dripping plane stepped Vice President Richard Nixon, his wife and daughters, "Tricia," 12, and Julie, 10. Pat Nixon explained why the girls were there: "We figure this is an educational trip. They've been studying about Alaska." The Vice President was there for another reason. With the campaign for this week's elections on its last legs, he was already working on the next major U.S. election: Alaska's first election of a Governor, two Senators and a Congressman on Nov. 25.

Socked In. The Nixon motorcade sped nine miles down Glacier Highway along the Gastineau Channel to downtown Juneau. There, in a Front Street theater around the corner from the Red Dog Saloon, Nixon was greeted by about 1,000 Alaskans (Juneau's pop. 7,000). Missing were several of the top Alaska Republican candidates, including former Governor Mike Stepovich, now running for the Senate, and the only Republican given a real chance in the 49th state this year. Stepovich and his running mates had been socked in at Sitka and Anchorage by the foul weather.

Gripping the rostrum with both hands, Nixon spoke earnestly, looking to heavily Democratic Alaska's future through Republican eyes. "There is a great age ahead," he said. "Alaska has had 90 years of paternalism and bureaucracy, some of it good and much of it necessary in a frontier area. But the progress of Alaska in the future will be only as great as bureaucracy and dependence upon the Federal Government in Washington decrease and the opportunity for individual enterprise increases."

Well Booked. Nixon's trip to Alaska topped a tough and exhausting U.S. campaign effort. For five weeks Nixon had been on the road, working and speaking for Republican candidates. Last week his tour took him to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he spoke to 18,000, thence to Wichita, Kans., Billings, Mont. and Everett, Wash. Between speeches he found time to chat about everything from the future of Democratic Presidential Hopeful Jack Kennedy ("He has done much for his party. I don't think his religion [Roman Catholic] will affect his national aspirations") to his preference for sports over political TV shows ("I find them a bore--the shows like Meet the Press").

But such relaxed interludes were the exception for Campaigner Nixon. Even as Golden Nugget carried Nixon from Juneau to Anchorage--where he finally caught up with Candidate Stepovich--and on to Fairbanks this week, the rest of the U.S. was ready to vote (Nixon had already cast an absentee ballot in California). No sooner would the 1958 congressional elections end than the work for the presidential election of 1960 would begin--and for Candidate Nixon that work would make 1958 seem like child's play.

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