Baltimore GOP Mayor Says Goldwater Made Tacit Deal for Extremist Help

Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin of Baltimore charged tonight that "Barry Goldwater reached a tacit understanding with the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society that he would vote against the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 in exchange for their support."

McKeldin, at present the only large city Republican mayor in the nation, added that such a deal fitted in neatly with Goldwater's "Southern Strategy" for the 1964 Presidential campaign.

At a meeting of the Harvard Young Republican Club, McKeldin said that Vice-Presidential candidate William E. Miller's speech against liberalized immigration quotas clinched his decision to repudiate the Goldwater ticket. He emphasized that President Johnson was the only Democrat he had ever voted for in his life.

However, McKeldin emphatically opposed the possible exclusion of right wing extremists from the Republican party. "We have to do business with a variety of people", he said. "We just had an intra-party fight in 1964; the Democrats have lots of them."

He was optimistic about the national future of the Republicans, provided they can attract Democratic votes. Describing himself as "an FDR Republican," he pointed to his personal success in a city where Democrats outregister Republicans 5 to 1.

In response to a question, he forecast John V. Lindsay, mayor-elect of New York City, as the Republican Party's next bright light. But he commented that Richard M. Nixon was a more likely choice for the party's 1968 Presidential nomination.

McKeldin, who nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower at the 1952 Republican National Convention, surprised his listeners by recalling that he personally supported the late Senator Robert A. Taft. He aided Eisenhower, he said, because he felt Taft's Image as "Mr. Republican" would have proved fatal to the party's chances that year.

McKeldin did not forget to castigate his opposition after admitting that he needed Democratic support. He said, "Neither Lindsay nor I won because our opponents were Democrats, but because they represented the forces of apathy and inertia."

Calling Washington "our partner," McKeldin appealed for widespread federal aid to the cities for anti-poverty and urban renewal programs. However, he opposed the construction of high-rise apartments to house displaced slum-dwellers. He noted Baltimore's success in the use of city-owned houses and walk-ups.

McKeldin commented on the problems of minority groups, particularly the Jews and the Negroes, bewailing the "generations of exploitation and deprivation."

Then he insisted. "It is the duty of the cities to welcome the underprivileged because they represent an opportunity to convert the weakness of the Republic, the cities, into its strength."