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By Root 1826 0

coarse Texan. Both men needed to be the focus of other men’s eyes, and they dominated their own worlds by the sheer force of their personalities. Both were unscrupulous, admirable, treacherous, devoted, and mean. Both were adored by their mothers, supporting Sigmund Freud’s thesis that “a man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror, that confidence of success that often induces real successes.” The thirty-sixth President of the United States and the country’s most popular singer were so alike that they circled each other warily. Both were naturally attracted to the ebullient Humphrey, who flattered each of them unashamedly.

“I will appear in ten major cities stumping for the Vice-President,” Frank told the press. “We’ll start in Oakland, California, and then hit Minneapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, and Chicago, among others.”

But Frank was unable to attract any of his celebrity friends to the Humphrey cause. Shirley MacLaine and Sammy Davis, Jr., were campaigning for Bobby Kennedy. Sammy Cahn wrote the Kennedy campaign song to the tune of “My Kind of Town.” Bill Cosby, Nancy Wilson, Andy Williams, Gene Kelly, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, and Rod Steiger also campaigned for Kennedy. Paul Newman, Robert Vaughn, Dick Van Dyke, and Carl Reiner supported Eugene McCarthy. Frank was the only major Hollywood star to support Hubert Humphrey, and he was of inestimable worth to the Vice-President because his concerts attracted thousands of devoted fans who would pay hundreds of dollars to watch him enwrap his soul in song. He enlisted the support of his daughter, Nancy, who had started singing after her divorce from Tommy Sands in 1965 and had become a pop sensation with her hit song, “These Boots Were Made for Walking.” That song, plus the recording of “Somethin’ Stupid,” which she made with her father, had been number-one songs in America and England in 1967.

“I’m trying to help draw crowds who will contribute to the campaign,” said Frank. “I won’t make any speeches. I’ll leave that to the politicians. I’ll just sing. And I hope that the Vice-President will be with me on all ten of those appearances. I think all Americans should get out and contribute to the candidate of their choice. It’s getting so expensive, it is almost impossible for candidates to campaign properly.”

Frank worked harder for Humphrey than he had for any other political candidate. Records in the Vice-President’s Minnesota archives show frequent phone calls and regular correspondence between the two men and their staffs. In addition to his concerts, which raised thousands of dollars, Frank advised the candidate on the best makeup to wear for television. He recommended special lighting for Humphrey’s political commercials and even suggested dying his hair to look a. little younger. He called Bennett Cerf at Random House, who agreed to lead an effort to place an advertisement for Humphrey in The New York Times signed by leading editors and publishers. At his own expense, Frank made a sixty-second videotape soliciting funds for the campaign, and he spent his own money on voter registration drives.

The rioting that followed the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968 convinced Frank that the black vote would be decisive in the election. He opened his home to Black Panther groups from Watts and other parts of the country, trying to persuade them to vote for Humphrey.

Ironically, his concern for civil rights did not extend to his nightclub performances, which were filled with crude racial jokes and bigotry. Appearing with Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald one night, Frank tried to amuse his audience:

“The Polacks are deboning the colored people and using them for wet suits,” he said.

Looking at Basie’s all-black band, he said, “I’d publicly like to thank the NAACP for this chess set they gave me.”

He called Johnny Mathis the “African Queen,” and used Sammy Davis, Jr., as a foil, complaining about the watermelon rinds in his dressing room and commenting that in a top hat Sammy “looked like a headwaiter