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So there was great fear on our part that Steve Smith would in some way or other get involved against us as part of the Kennedy machine. And so I went up to see him and said, “We will find somebody and we will beat him, and I just want you to be aware of that so you won't do something that you will find regrettable because you didn't have all of the facts.” I wanted to make it clear I wasn't threatening him; I was just trying to cajole him, to make him think about it rather than to just jump in without having all the facts.

So then we started looking for candidates. You couldn't get anybody to run for district leader. And of course that club is so crazy -- they came up with exotic ideas like getting James Baldwin to run. If he had said “yes,” they probably would have taken him.

Incidentally, Baldwin at that time lived on Bank Street, didn't he?

Yes, that's where they went to see him. And then they went to Theo Bickel, and they wanted to get him to run, and they went to every exotic personality that they could find -- Ray Rubinow. I'm not using “exotic” as a pejorative; I'm just saying big time names from their point of view -- celebrity types. And they wouldn't run. So I said, “I'm the president of this club. We're going to have a candidate. I don't want to