Notre Dame, June 6, 1964
Barry Goldwater in California
Barry Goldwater from Arizona won a decisive victory in the California primary. All 86 votes of the Republican delegates from California go to Goldwater. It is therefore highly probable that Goldwater will receive the nomination of the Republican Party at its national convention in San Francisco. As far as can be anticipated, it will be Goldwater who will confront Johnson in the campaign for the presidential election this fall. Goldwater’s ultraconservative attitude gives even fellow Republicans discomfort, who have started a “stop Goldwater campaign.” The thought that Goldwater could possibly move into the White House triggered, especially in the European press, severe alarm.
Notre Dame, June 10, 1964
Vote on Cloture in the Senate
Today the Senate voted 71:29 for cloture, closing the unlimited filibuster. The adoption of the Civil Rights Bill has been delayed for months by the tactics of marathon speeches. Last night, a senator from West Virginia held such a marathon speech which lasted from 6 p.m. until 8:50 a.m. in the morning.* From now on, each senator will have only one hour to speak on the Civil Rights resolution. The chances for adopting the Civil Rights Bill have increased considerably.
[Cloture, that is putting an end to the tactics of obstruction by marathon speeches, was introduced in the Senate only in 1917. A two-thirds majority is needed to achieve cloture. That happened by the vote taken on the Senate floor on June 10, 1964, in connection with the debate over the Civil Rights Bill. Before, Senators had unlimited time to speak, cloture usually limits the time to speak to one hour.]
*[Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat from West Virginia, had joined the filibuster tactics of the Democrats from the South. During the night of June 9 to 10, 1964, he gave his longest speech that lasted more than 14 hours.]
[The academic year at the University of Notre Dame finished with the commencement exercises on June 6 and 7. My family and I left Notre Dame by the middle of June and embarked on the journey by car along the Great Lakes to Boston that had been planned long in advance. It first led us in a northwesterly direction across Illinois to Galena and then on to Waverly, Iowa, where we met with friends, the family of a Lutheran pastor and professor at Wartburg College. From Waverly we drove directly north via Minneapolis to Duluth, the western end of Lake Superior. From there the journey continued on Interstate 2 across the sheer endless woods of the Ottawa National Forest to Escanaba and then along the northern shore of Lake Michigan to St. Ignace and a visit to Mackinac Island. From St. Ignace we drove over the Mackinac Bridge and then through Michigan to Port Huron. After a short distance through Canada, we reached the Niagra Falls. From there the journey went on via Buffalo to Cooperstown, New York, and finally over Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Boston. Wherever on this 3,000 mile stretch we came to a place of literary interest, we stopped.]
June 15-17, 1964
Galena, Illinois
Galena, situated in the northwest corner of Illinois, was one of the most peculiar small towns which we encountered in the Midwest. Its history and old culture go back to the Mississippi steamboat era. Until 1850 Galena was regarded as the great “metropolis” of the West, a role which was later taken over by San Francisco. It was the hometown of Ulysses Grant. The wealth of the town was based on its copper mines. In the summer of 1840 Herman Melville had come to Galena to visit his uncle. The journey over the Great Lakes to Galena, and then down the Mississippi and up the Ohio back to Albany, New York, left a lasting influence on his writing.
[Escanaba, Michigan], June 20, 1964
The Center of the Lutheran Church
Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota form the center of the Lutheran Church in America. This goes back to the strong immigration in the 19th century from Scandinavian countries, mainly from Norway and Sweden. The Church was for the settlement of these vast and lonesome territories an indispensable help to get started. It was also the spiritual center for schools and the cultural development. A good number of well-known private colleges in these states have been founded by the Lutheran Church.
St. Ignace, Michigan, June 21, 1964
On the Upper Peninsula of Michigan French place names and topographical designations like Sault [su: ] Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Pt. aux Chenes, Epoulette, Manistique, Marquette and many more prevail. That was in the 17th and 18th centuries the entry area for French explorateurs and missionnaires. The missionary area of the Jesuit Order stretched, starting from Quebec, all over the Great Lakes. The French influence today is still visible everywhere.
Mackinac Island
Mackinac Island was a surprise. It is during summer without a doubt one of the most beautiful vacation resorts in the Midwest. The small island, which is reached by ferry from St. Ignace, lies in the Straits of Mackinac that connects Lake Huron with Lake Michigan. This important connecting passage was discovered in 1634 by the explorateur Jean Nicolet (1598-1642). Due to its location, Mackinac Island was of special strategic significance during the colonial period. It was an essential starting point for the exploration of the North American Continent as well as an emporium for the fur trade. The Jesuit missionary Père Jacques Marquette (1637-75) founded the town of St. Ignace on the shore across from the island. In 1673, starting from this place, Marquette advanced as far west as the Mississippi River and thereby prepared for La Salle the way for the exploration of the Mississippi to its mouth in the Gulf. Fort Mackinac still played a decisive role during the War of 1812. Today, Mackinac Island is a major tourist hub. As no motor vehicles are permitted on the island, visitors move around on horse-drawn carriages. The well-preserved Fort, its terrace and restaurant with the magnificent view of the Straits, rank foremost among the many attractions.
St. Ignace, June 21, 1964
Senate Adopts Civil Rights Bill
On Friday, June 19, the U.S. Senate adopted by a vote of historic significance 73:27 the Civil Rights Bill. Only the signature of President Johnson is still needed for this fiercely debated Bill to be enacted as federal law.
[The Congressional Record (Bill H.R. 7152) shows that the Senate vote on June 19 on the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was taken in tribute to John F. Kennedy. As Senator George McGovern elaborated: The Civil Rights Law “was passed in tribute to John F. Kennedy, who on June 19, 1963 had sent a message to Congress calling for the passage of a comprehensive civil rights law.” (Congressional Record, 88th Congress, Second Session, vol. 110, pt. 11, p. 14,432).]
Port Huron, Michigan, June 22, 1964
From St. Ignace we first drove over the Mackinac Bridge. This bridge, which was opened as recently as 1959 to public traffic, spans the Mackinac Straits and connects the Upper with the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Then the day’s journey continued on Interstate Highway 75 south to Flint and from there east to Port Huron on the Canadian Border. The highways, parks and rest areas of Michigan are exceptionally well kept, to the advantage of the vacation areas in the northern part of the state.
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, June 23, 1964
It was only a short distance across the Province of Ontario to Niagara Falls. The Canadian side of the Falls offers the best view of this unique display of Nature’s wonder. On the American side, on the other hand, one can join a guided tour and, protected by long waterproof jackets, walk down close to the Falls.
Cooperstown, New York, June 26, 1964
The Gem Cooperstown
After the long drive from Buffalo to Albany, the side-trip through the Mohawk Valley to Cooperstown was a welcome change. The small town lies like a jewel on Lake Otsego. It is named after its founder Judge William Cooper, the father of the author James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). The settlement Cooperstown originated around 1800; some of the original buildings have been preserved. The Cooper heritage, in regard to the family as well as to the author’s works, is being well looked after. Cooperstown was the original home of the author, from which he drew the narrative materials for “The Leatherstocking Tales.” Lake Otsego and the source of the Susquehanna River form the authentic background for The Pioneers (1823), the first of the five novels in “The Leatherstocking Tales” series. Today, Cooperstown is a sought after place for excursions. It is also the place of attraction for baseball fans from around the world, for it is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, June 28, 1964
Arrowhead
The Farm Arrowhead was tightly closed, just as generally speaking the entire estate looked rather dilapidated.
[Pittsfield lies in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts. The stay there offered me the opportunity to visit the Farm Arrowhead, where in 1850-51 Herman Melville had written Moby-Dick. Only years later, the Melville Society acquired Arrowhead, a place which is of significance for American literature. The Farm House was renovated and appropriately turned into a Museum with Melville memorabilia.]
[I had already made arrangements in Innsbruck with a Fulbright-guest professor in Austria that during our six week sojourn in Boston my family and I could move into his home in West Newton. From there I drove every day to Cambridge to Harvard University in order to pursue my research at the Houghton Library. I had permission to examine the manuscripts of Thomas Wolfe. Just at that time, the extensive literary estate of Thomas Wolfe in the William P. Wisdom Collection had been made accessible to research. In the summer of 1964, Richard S. Kennedy and Paschal Reeves had begun their work of editing the pocket notebooks of Thomas Wolfe. That monumental work was published in 2 vols. as The Notebooks of Thomas Wolfe in 1970. Paschal Reeves called my attention to the many entries on Europe in Wolfe’s notebooks. Out of this, finally the idea emerged for Jason’s Voyage: The Search for the Old World in American Literature, which appeared as a book in 1989.]