Letter, Arthur [Falk] to Nancy and Joe Ellin; August 15, 1964

              Aug. 15, 1964 


Dear Nancy and Joe,


My first sally into the ranks of political activism has led to nothing but consternation. First I sent off a letter to Connecticut's secretary of state. Then I tried to get in touch with the Democratic Party to find out what position the state delegation took on the seating of the Mississippi delegation. I discovered that there were no democratic headquarters in New Haven and that the only place I could call was the state headquarters in Hartford. I called and called and called. Six times I called and all I got were secretaries who said that Mr. Fitzgerald or Miss Quinn would be in tomorrow or in fifteen minutes or in the morning or any minute now. I finally got the hang of things and began to call person to person. Then I left my name and the operator's number, but I never got a call.


Thursday someone announced that Connecticut would support the seating of the MFDP, someone in CORE I think. His list included California and Connecticut and left out Colorado which your list contained. In any case WQXR announced later that "a spokesman" for the Connecticut delegation had said that the topic of the seating of the Mississippi delegation had never been discussed in delegation meetings.


My conclusion is that Connecticut is fence sitting and intends to continue to do so.


Today I got a letter from Ella Grasso, Secretary of State, saying that the list of delegates to national conventions are not filed in that office and that therefore they were forwarding my letter to Miss Katherine Quinn, vice chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee.


Suppose I do get a list by the 19th. By the time I send a letter and tell others to send letters, all the delegates will be surfin' in Atlantic City with their old friends from Mississippi.


Amen,


(signed) Arthur