An Unsuccessful Attempt at Party-Switching

The excellent article on party-switching (“The Fine Art of Jumping Ship,” May 28) omitted one very famous change of parties, that of Wayne Morse.

Elected in 1944 as a Republican senator in Oregon, he became disgusted with the antics of Sen. Joe McCarthy and other Republicans on the far-right of his party. He was an admirer and friend of President Truman and decided to become a Democrat. He lost his attempt, as a Democrat, to regain his old seat.

JERRY LENCH

North Hills

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President Lincoln saved the nation during the Civil War. Winston Churchill saved Britain from a certain Nazi invasion. Ronald Reagan saved the people behind the Berlin Wall. Sen. James Jeffords saved the Democratic Party from the evil Republican Party.

Now I understand why you compared Jeffords to these other great leaders. At first I thought the reason for the comparison was because all four of these men had changed parties. It’s going to take me a little while to get used to thinking of Jeffords as a hero instead of a traitor. There may still be hope for Benedict Arnold.

ROBERT WILLIAMS

Monterey Park