Beer arrived at the Convention yesterday morning and told the CRIMSON that Kennedy's plans "are swell changes which will put badly needed vitality into the Party." Beer asserted that "Kennedy is the only man who can make the changes."
The formal meetings stopped Thursday night, but the politicking via liquor and secret conference continued. Delegates and about half of Springfield mobbed the Sheraton lobby for free drinks and food supplied by the candidates. Peabody's bar dispensed the hard stuff for about five straight hours, but Kennedy limited his offering to coke, ginger ale, and Seven-Up, much to the dismay of several delegates.
Meanwhile in upstairs hotel rooms, Kennedy lieutenants were rounding up wavering delegates and taking them to meet him. The Kennedy pressure tactics were repeated throughout Springfield as each candidate tried to solidify his block of votes.
By the time the Convention opened for its second session on Friday afternoon, excitement and tempers were at a high pitch, and the Springfield police were stationed at six-foot intervals around the hall. A veteran lieutenant called it "the highest concentration of policemen in my memory."
Under large portraits of the President and the House Speaker, the 1723 delegates rapidly approved reports by the Credentials Committee and the Rules Committee; but the report of the Platform Committee, presented by Cambridge City Councillor Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '28, ran into trouble.
Although the delegates approved statements supporting the President's program on medical care for the aged and condemning the "reverse freedom ridden" of Southern White Citizens' Councils, there was considerable opposition to a proposal to abolish the Governor's Executive Council.
Despite the protest, chairman Powers called for a voice vote and declared the platform accepted by the Convention. Several delegates came running to the platform, screaming about "railroad tactics,' but the chairman's ruling was enforced.
By the time voting for Senator began at 8 p.m., almost every seat in the hall and in the public galleries was filled. While loudspeakers blared outside the convention hall, bands played, and uniformed girls distributed campaign literature, the delegates began to endorse a candidate for the Senate.
The nominating speeches for both Kennedy and McCormack received wild ovations, but the McCormack cheering section in the public gallery, organized by Harry F. Greene '63 and Barney Frank '61-4. McCormack's student co-ordinators, easily made the most noise.
Five minutes of organized bedlam, however, was not enough to win an election; McCormack had the student support but he lacked Convention votes. Kennedy lost the first district polled (Berkshire) but then began to pull rapidly ahead.
Shortly after midnight, McCormack's floor managers left the auditorium and at 12:25 a.m. the Attorney-General, smiling but shaken, appeared on the platform with his wife. Twenty-four of the forty delegations had been polled.
Soon after McCormack had withdrawn his name and vowed a primary fight, a cordon of police escorted Ted and Joan Kennedy to the platform. Kennedy called the convention's decision "a free voice, a clear voice, and a true voice" and asserted that "the Democrats will choose in the primary as you representatives have chosen here."
As the excited delegates began to cheer Kennedy left for the hotel and a telephone conversation with the President.