George,

I seem to recall Gene McCarthy running in the 1968 election against Humphrey and Bobby Kennedy on the Democratic side and Nixon and Rockfeller on the Republican side.

In any event, I was still in high school, junior or senior, and actively supported McCarthy and the "New Democratic Party," a coalition of disgruntled labor groups and minorities supporting Yarborough. I don't know if you remember, but I had McCarthy "flower power" stickers all over my turquoise VW for months and pulled a sign on a trailer on several weekends encouraging people to register and vote for McCarthy. I helped man phones for a few weekends in his San Antonio campaign office and went to Houston, unbeknownst to Dad, for an extended weekend to surf at Galveston and then see him at a local rally.

John Loper (holding champagne glass) at 1972 wedding of George and Annabelle Loper

Of course, my democratic party alliances ended shortly thereafter. After supporting McGovern in 1972 (lead Students for McGovern at Lehigh) and voting for Jimmy Carter in 1976, I have fully converted to the grand Republican Party. I trust you won't hold this against me.

Texans for Change - Elect Bush!!!

Love,

John Loper (electronic mail, September 10, 2000).

Addendum: Nephew Joe Clancy in the red coat and nephew Dan Clancy in the red shirt are shown in the picture above.

Says Joe: Dan and I were avid McCarthy supporters early on in the campaign, but as six and five year olds, we were disappointed when he vacillated and soon turned our attention to Batman who was running with Robin as vp (electronic mail, September 14, 2000).