Friday, October 18, 2019

Forgotten Stories: NERO WOLFE TAKES A GHOSTLY CLIENT (1956)

While googling around in search of the Nero Wolfe comic strip that ran in newspapers in 1956 and 57 (watch for it soon!), I came across this press release touting "The Stevenson-Kefauver Bandwagon." It appeared in the Oct. 11, 1956 issue of the Arizona Sun. 

 I sent the clipping to Mr. Knows-all Sees-all Art Scott, asking what it was all about, and he responded by sending me the Bandwagon story itself. So here it is.

 What does it all mean? Beats me, especially since Stassen was still alive, and kept on trying (and failing magnificently) to snag the Republican nomination until 1992 and beyond. He died in 2001.

The tale was obviously intended to amuse Stevenson supporters, and the culprit Wolfe alludes to seems pretty clear, but the motive eludes me. Was Stassen simply a pain the asses of Republicans and Democrats alike?

 Maybe Art Scott says it best: "At least we now have a Wolfe story worse than Please Pass the Guilt."

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4 comments:

  1. Jerry HouseOctober 18, 2019 at 5:42 AM

    I met Stassen briefly in the late Sixties when he was once again tilting at the presidential nomination windmill. He seemed like a decent and sincere guy with nary a ghost-like attribute to him.

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  2. Cap'n BobOctober 18, 2019 at 2:25 PM

    Give my regards to Broadway, say hello to Harold Stassen.

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  3. Todd MasonOctober 18, 2019 at 9:28 PM

    "This article probably alludes to Harold Edward Stassen's "quixotic effort (perhaps covertly encouraged by Eisenhower, who had reservations about Richard Nixon's maturity for the presidency) to 'dump Nixon' at the 1956 Republican Convention." Following Stassen's actions, Nixon attempted to "kill" his political career. "

    https://www.nerowolfe.org/htm/stout/activism_various_rights.htm

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  4. TCOctober 19, 2019 at 1:33 AM

    I remember the jokes about the Stassen campaign headquarters being in a phone booth. That kind of thing.

    And the one about the ad in a personal column: Stassen supporter wishes to meet another Stassen supporter. Object: to find out if there is another Stassen supporter.

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