The Prodigal Daughter Read online

  After a memorable reception at the home of Joanna’s parents on Beacon Hill—it included four hours of dancing to the ageless music of the Lester Lanin orchestra—William and his bride flew off to Europe for their honeymoon and Richard and Florentyna returned to New York. Florentyna knew that the time was fast approaching when she would have to make an announcement about the Senate seat, and she decided to phone the retiring senator and seek his advice on how he would like her to word any statement.

  She called David Rodgers at his office in the Dirksen Building. As she dialed the number, it struck her how odd it was that they now saw so little of each other when only a few months earlier they had spent half of their lives within a two hundred yard radius. The senator wasn’t in, so she left a message to say that she had called. He did not return her call for several days and finally his secretary rang to explain that his schedule had been impossibly tight. Florentyna reflected on the fact that this wasn’t David Rodgers’s style. She hoped that she was just imagining the rebuff until she discussed with Edward what was going on.

  “There’s a rumor going around that he wants his wife to take over the seat,” he told her.

  “Betty Rodgers? But she’s always claimed she couldn’t abide public life. I can’t believe she’d choose to continue his now that David’s retiring.”

  “Well, don’t forget that since her children left home she’s been on the Chicago City Council. That’s been three years. Perhaps it’s given her a taste for higher things.”

  “How serious do you think she is?”

  “I don’t know, but a couple of phone calls and I can find out.”

  Florentyna found out even before Edward because she had a call from one of her ex-staffers in Chicago who said the Cook County party machine was talking about Mrs. Rodgers as if she were already the candidate.

  Edward called her back later the same day to say that he had discovered that the state committee was holding a caucus to consider putting Betty Rodgers’s name forward as the candidate, although the polls indicated that over eighty percent of the registered Democrats supported Florentyna as David Rodgers’s successor. “It doesn’t help,” added Edward, “that Senator Brooks is openly backing Betty Rodgers.”

  “Surprise, surprise,” said Florentyna. “What do you think my next move ought to be?”

  “I don’t think you can do anything at the moment. You have strong support on the committee and the outcome is very much in the balance, so perhaps it might be wise not to become too closely involved. Just go on working in Chicago and appear to remain above it all.”

  “But what if she’s chosen?”

  “Then you will have to run as an independent candidate and beat her.”

  “It’s almost impossible to overcome the party machine, as you reminded me a few months back, Edward.”

  “Truman did.”

  Florentyna heard a few minutes after the meeting was over that the committee had voted by a majority of 6 to 5 to put Betty Rodgers’s name forward as the official Democratic candidate for the Senate at a full caucus meeting later in the month. David Rodgers and Ralph Brooks had both voted against Florentyna.

  She couldn’t believe that only six people could make such an important decision and during the following week she had two unpleasant phone conversations, one with Rodgers and the other with Brooks, who both pleaded with her to put party unity before personal ambition. “The sort of hypocrisy you’d expect from a Democrat,” commented Richard.

  Many of Florentyna’s supporters begged her to fight, but she was not convinced, especially when the state chairman called and asked her to announce formally, for the unity of the party, that she would not be a candidate on this occasion. After all, he pointed out, Betty would probably only do one six-year term.

  That would be enough for Ralph Brooks, Florentyna thought.

  She listened to much advice over the next few days, but on a trip to Washington it was Bob Buchanan who told her to reread Julius Caesar more carefully.

  “The whole play?” asked Florentyna.

  “No, I would concentrate on Mark Antony if I were you, my dear.”

  Florentyna called the Democratic Party chairman and told him she was willing to come to the caucus and state that she was not a candidate but she was unwilling to endorse Betty Rodgers.

  The chairman readily accepted the compromise.

  The meeting was held ten days later at the Democratic State Central Committee in the Bismarck Hotel on West Randolph Street and when Florentyna arrived the hall was already packed. She could sense from the loud applause she received as she entered the room that the meeting might not go as smoothly as the committee had planned.

  Florentyna took her assigned seat on the platform at the end of the second row. The chairman sat in the middle of the front row behind a long table with two senators, Rodgers and Brooks, on his right and left. Betty Rodgers sat next to her husband and didn’t once look at Florentyna. The secretary and treasurer completed the front row. The chairman gave Florentyna a polite nod when she appeared. The other committee members sat in the second row with Florentyna. One of them whispered, “You were crazy not to put up a fight.”

  At eight o’clock the chairman invited David Rodgers to address the meeting. The senator had always been respected as a diligent worker for his constituents, but even his closest aides would not have described him as an orator. He started by thanking them for their support in the past and expressed the hope that they would now pass that loyalty on to his wife. He gave a rambling talk on his work during his twenty-four years as a senator and sat down to what could, at best, be described as polite applause.

  The chairman spoke next, outlining his reasons for proposing Betty Rodgers as the next candidate. “At least it will be easy for the voters to remember her name.” He laughed as did one or two people on the platform but surprisingly few in the body of the hall. He then went on to spend the next ten minutes expounding the virtues of Betty Rodgers and the work she had done as a city councillor. He spoke to a silent hall. And sat down to a smattering of applause. He waited a moment, then, in a perfunctory fashion, introduced Florentyna.

  She had made no notes because she wanted what she had to say to sound off the cuff, even though she had been rehearsing every word for the past ten days. Richard had wanted to accompany her, but she told him not to bother, because everything had been virtually decided upon before the first word was spoken. The truth was that she did not want him there because his support might cast doubt on her apparent innocence.

  When the chairman sat down, Florentyna came forward to the center of the stage and stood directly in front of Ralph Brooks.

  “Mr. Chairman, I have come to Chicago today to announce that I am not a candidate for the United States Senate.”

  She paused and there were cries of “Why not?” and “Who stopped you?”

  She went on as though she had heard nothing. “I have had the privilege of serving my district in Illinois for eight years in the United States House of Representatives and I look forward to working for the best interests of the people in the future. I have always believed in party unity—”

  “But not party fixing,” someone shouted.

  Once again, Florentyna ignored the interruption. “—so I shall be happy to back the candidate you select to be on the Democratic ticket,” she said, trying to sound convincing.

  An uproar started, amid which cries of “Senator Kane, Senator Kane” were clearly audible.

  David Rodgers looked pointedly at Florentyna as she continued. “To my supporters, I say that there may come another time and another place, but it will not be tonight, so let us remember in this key state that it is the Republicans we have to defeat, not ourselves. If Mrs. Rodgers becomes the next senator, I feel certain that she will serve the party with the same ability we have grown to expect from her husband. Should the Republicans capture the seat, you can be assured that I shall devote myself to seeing we win it back in six years’ time. Whatever the out