OSU Libraries
Oregon State UniversitySpecial Collections & Archives Research Center
Ninety Days Inside The Empire: A Novel by William Appleman Williams

Glimpses of An Election

Page 92

"You train 'em, including me, and then we'll see just how many votes you get in this kind of neighborhood."

Marsh knew who he wanted, and recognized two problems. The first involved persuading Griff and the others to break up their teams and give him Cat and Susan and Run-Run. Trust him though they did, and respect his savvy as a kind of magic, the Negroes resisted vigorously. It took a full meeting, and even then it was dicey until Mitch volunteered to rotate between Mr. Hank and Griff, and Caroline said she'd go with Lette when Maggie was working.

The other difficulty was to convince the Scotts to focus their concern with individual salvation on the practical action of voting for the best man available. Marsh later admitted to Griff that he was surprised by Marilyn's response.

"That's what I mean about politics being big meetings and slogans and so forth. I like to talk to people face to face, and so does Richard, and we're all for Mr. Clay."

For three nights in a row, from eight to midnight, with Clay present most of the time, Marsh trained his troops. He told them what kind of clothes not to wear, how much makeup for the women, where to park their cars or which buses to take, how to defuse anger by apologizing and starting to leave, and gave them a fund of stories about "their" granddaddies for dealing with the race issue. The last night was a dress rehearsal, with Marsh playing every conceivable kind of white working-class person - including the women.

Within a week, Marsh was getting reports that Burton was suddenly showing concern about this invasion of his territory. David Cohen called to offer to join up (a suggestion politely declined with praise for his other efforts). Over lunch, Gillmor wanted to hedge his earlier bet about what percentage of the vote Clay would get. And funny stories kept coming in during the progress reports.

Marsh was not particularly surprised to learn that Susan and Marilyn had been invited in for more than talk (by quite different types, to be sure), and he expected Cat to be very effective, but he was intrigued by Run-Run's enjoyment and success of the work. Griff had been particularly upset when Marsh kept asking for Run-Run, arguing that he was just the right type to convince Negroes that the whites were serious about all this; and Marsh had been ready, if necessary, to compromise on Run-Run because he worried about the anti-Semitism confusing the issue (as he had been when Cohen volunteered).

But upper-class bred or educated or whatever, Run-Run's combination of charm, dedication, patience and no-crap-taken-here presence proved extremely effective. Late one afternoon, reporting that they were about done, Cat told Marsh two particularly revealing stories. He began by explaining that Run-Run could dress-down with the same casual flair he displayed wearing starched dress whites.

"We were working opposite sides of the street, him going one way and me the other, so we were kind of flying wing on each other."

"Never thought of that-good idea."

"So, anyway, he's wearing this pair of tan duty pants which I swear he slept on under his mattress to get just the right wrinkles, and a washed-out cream corduroy jacket with a dark green sports shirt with the collar half in and half out of the coat. He knocks on the door and this very attractive blonde appears in a robe that's open top and bottom. She puts a hand on the door frame to open the top a bit more.

"Now you have to understand I'm standin' there kitty-wampus across the street one house down thinking this must be a very lonesome or a very energetic housewife. Run-Run once told me that his father told him when he encountered a woman with much cleavage and few clothes to take one good look and then look her in the eye; so that's what he does. Then he backs off a step and consults those name sheets you gave us. 'Course I couldn't hear what was said, but you can make that up for yourself. She takes a half-step out her door and reaches over to help with the papers."