“Scoop”: Everett’s Almost-President

Editor’s note: Originally published November 21, 2017. Republished October 15, 2020.

I think about Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson a lot. Maybe too much.

It’s his giant bronze head at Grand Avenue Park. I used to live on 18th & Lombard. I'd walk to Grand Avenue to watch crimson sunsets almost every evening. His giant head was there, gazing stoically at the sea.

Jackson’s old house is at the park, too, of course. The giant white mansion on the corner of 18th & Grand, offering the residents a sweeping view of Possession Sound.

*Henry M. Jackson (far right). Look how charismatic. You could pass some serious legislation with a smile like that.*

He was that rarest of creatures: a political moderate. He was a Democrat who preserved 9 million acres of wilderness and supported the Vietnam War.

He was the youngest member of congress, elected at age 28. He chaired committees and sponsored bills on bills on bills.

Scoop was a politician’s politician, a conservative man in his private life who managed to be good looking and well-liked. And he came from Everett, was raised on Oakes.

Scoop was a huge civil rights guy and penned the National Environmental Policy Act. I respect this. While his political record at times drew criticism (he strongly supported the internment of Japanese American citizens during WW2) he was always authentic and trusted his gut. His stick-to-your-guns attitude won him popular support time and again in his home state.

I think of these things at Grand Avenue Park. And I think of the other white house that Scoop almost lived in.

And by that I mean the White House.

*Jackson talks with President John F. Kennedy.*

After two decades in the House then the Senate, Scoop was tapped for the next step in his career.

In 1960 he was on the shortlist (with Lynden B. Johnson) to become John F. Kennedy’s vice presidential pick. Apparently, Scoop Jackson was the frontrunner at one point, with Robert Kennedy saying as much on the record.

In July of 1960, JFK called Jackson and said that he had offered the vice presidential office to Johnson and that LBJ was considering the offer. Kennedy said he’d call Scoop back when there was an answer.

Scoop waited in his Washington D.C. hotel for the call that would determine his life's course.

Kennedy called back about an hour later. Johnson took the job.

Like most things in politics it was a strategical move: LBJ brought in Southern votes. Kennedy, a Catholic yankee, needed that demographic in his corner.

Undaunted, Jackson made presidential bids twice in the 70’s and lost both times.

But here’s the thing (I say to myself, walking past his mansion by the park)—losing the vice presidential appointment? It kind of worked out for Jackson.

When Kennedy was killed LBJ inherited the Vietnam War. Johnson went down in history as being infamously stiff-necked about that Asian skirmish which became, in the long run, a huge mess. The longer the war dragged on the lower Johnson's approval rating dipped.

Scoop was spared the yoke of mid-60’s presidential moral imperative, and experienced none of the public backlash for spearheading an unpopular war.

Besides, I think Henry M. Jackson lucked out in a different way. When it comes to white houses, the view from Grand Avenue is better than that from 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Visit all the Henry M. Jackson spots:

HENRY M. JACKSON'S HOUSE
SENATOR HENRY M. JACKSON PARK
HENRY M. JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL
HENRY M. JACKSON WILDERNESS
HENRY M. JACKSON CONFERENCE CENTER (EvCC)