The Political Scene Sixty Years Ago New Hampshire Contestants

PHOTO: In 1962, NH State Representative Perkins Bass had his primary election challenged by Mrs. Doloris Bridges.

by Robert Hanaford Smith, Sr.
Weirs Times Contributing Writer

Don’t you long for the days of old when all was peaceful in the world of politics? I’m not sure when that was. There have been moments of true bipartisanship and expressions of unity between political parties, but more often we experience true division and disagreement, not only between the parties, but within the parties. So we have elections, and laws, and governments, and judges in an effort to maintain order.
As the country faced a national November election in October of the year 1962, sixty years ago, two prominent New Hampshire Republicans had the legitimacy of their primary elections challenged by their opponents.
Representative Perkins Bass had his primary election challenged by Mrs. Doloris Bridges who was one of four candidates running in a special election to be the Republican candidate to succeed her late husband, Sen. Styles Bridges as one of New Hampshire’s two senators. She lost the election to Bass by 1,700 votes, but contended that he broke election laws by not filing accurate financial statements with the Secretary of State. There was a $25,000 spending limit and Mrs. Bridges insisted that, if Bass had included all expenses, he would have exceeded the limit.
The case involved an ad that had been placed in several newspapers the day before the September 11 primary election. The ad stated that a vote for Mrs. Bridges was a vote for the Manchester Union Leader publisher William Loeb who supported Bridges. Mrs. Bridges insisted that Mr. Bass knew about the ad and should have included it in his financial report, and that the ad cost her votes. Rep. Bass said that he had no knowledge of the ad and that his campaign manager would not touch it “with a ten-foot pole.”
Campaign aids for Mr. Bass also were questioned about an airplane that circled southern New Hampshire on primary day towing a banner that said “Vote for Bass.” Campaign manager. William Phinney, said that the campaign office had nothing to do with hiring the plane that urged voters to choose Bass.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court, in a hurry up decision so that it would be made before ballots were printed for the general election in November, issued a unanimous opinion rejecting the call to disqualify Perkins Bass from running for office. Bass lost in the general election in November to Democrat Thomas McIntyre of Laconia.

The objection to Senator Cotton and the petition to disqualify him from running for the office of Senator was made by his Democratic opponent, Alfred Catalfo, Jr. According to The Laconia Evening Citizen, from which I gathered my information, Mr. Catalfo claimed that Senator Cotton “failed to file proper addresses for five out-of-state contributors, failed to list participants at a Washington testimonial dinner, that raised $5,950 and failed to itemize properly the use of his office personnel.”
Counsel for the Senator argued that Cotton had complied with the law as much as it was possible for him to do so. Indicating that the Court would supply written decisions at a later date, they also refused to disqualify Senator Cotton from being on the general election ballot.
Cotton went on to defeat Catalfo in the general election.

Another Fall of 1962 controversy involved the appointment of the State Agricultural Commissioner. Then Governor Wesley Powell took the action on September 26th of appointing Frank T. Buckley of Derry to succeed Perley I. Fitts as the agricultural commissioner and the Executive Council approved the choice. The State Agricultural Advisory Board, a ten-member agency, objected to the appointment. C. Leland Slayton of Warner, one of the board’s members, said that the law requires that the Governor has to consider the recommendations of the Advisory Board before making an appointment of a commissioner. It was further maintained that the Governor had not consulted the board members before announcing and getting the Executive Council’s approval. So the Advisory Board asked the state attorney general, William Maynard to rule on the legality of the agricultural commissioners appointment. Frank Buckley ended up as the commissioner and served in that capacity for the next ten years.
Gilford town officials found it necessary in October of 1962 to call a special town meeting to confirm a vote on a bond issue taken at the March Town Meeting. Town officials expressed regret at having to call a special meeting but said it was necessary to meet the legal requirements of the bonding company. The issue involved an amount of $140,000 to cover the purchase of shore land for the expansion of the town beach. The problem was that the town budget only showed an amount of $10,000 for the purchase of the property, which represented the down payment and not the full amount of $150,000. The citizens had been taxed for the down payment in that year of 1962. The lack of a space on the forms was blamed as a reason the full amount hadn’t been approved.
Just to remind you of what was going on in the world in those early October days of 1962 let me add a few facts.
John F. Kennedy was the President and he signed what was called by The Citizen “the historic trade expansion bill giving him vast power to reduce most tariffs, repeal others, and forge economic links with the booming European Common Market.” He also signed a new drug bill with the goal of protecting the public from bad medications.
On the economic side, the A&P Super Market advertised the best bread for you with something in it that no one has ever tasted – value. A pound and a half loaf of this bread for 29 cents. Campbell’s chicken noodle soup was on sale at six 10 and ½ ounce cans for a dollar. A 5-rib portion of pork loins went for 33 cents a pound. Not to be outsold, Champagne’s Grand Union was selling chickens for 29 cents a pound and halibut steaks for 65 cents a pound. A Columbus Day Sale at Lougee Robinson’s featured boston rockers for $18.88 or a bedroom set including a solid maple bed, chest, dresser and mirror for $118.40. Grossman’s Distribution Center was having a grand Opening celebration on Columbus Day at the junction of routes 3 and 11. For TV entertainment you could watch Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, Jack Benny, The Gary Moore Show, American Bandstand, Millionaire, Romper Room, and others depending on which channels you could get.
And in October of 1962 the World Series was airing.
There you have it, Just a taste of what was going on 60 years ago!