514 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

Q. Governor, do you have any reaction to David Scull's opinion —
as a Republican member of the Council in Montgomery County —
to his hint that he may switch and join the Democratic Party?

A. Well, I'm not sure it was a hint. I didn't read the exact comment
that Mr. Scull made, but in my judgment, switching parties while in
office is not good for either the parties or the individual. I think the
parties today offer a broad enough cross section of opinion to accom-
modate everyone's personal views, and I think the average member
of the public is a little bit disenchanted about party switching where
it involves persons who are actively in or seeking political office. So
my advice to Mr. Scull would be to stick with his own party and try
to improve it and convert it to his point of view, the point of view
he thinks the party should be following. My personal contacts with
him give me no reason to feel he would junk the party.

Q. Governor, didn't you once switch parties?

A. I made known long ago that I was a registered Democrat until
I was about 25 or 26 years old. I was never in politics. I changed my
affiliation because of personal admiration for a person in the Repub-
lican Party, who happens to be a judge at the present time. And I
think many young people either register or subsequently change their
affiliation because they have a high personal respect for an individual.
They then stay with the party they get active in.

ADDRESS AT DEDICATION OF WILLIAM PRESTON
LANE. JR.. MEMORIAL BRIDGE. SANDY POINT

November 9, 1967

Today, we officially dedicate in name a bridge that in inspiration
and spirit has long been dedicated to William Preston Lane, Jr.,
Governor of Maryland from 1947 to 1951.

When this imposing span across the Chesapeake Bay opened to
traffic on July 30, 1952, it marked the first physical connection between
Maryland's Eastern and Western Shores, a feat of unprecedented en-
gineering genius. Even more, it signified the successful culmination
of over a half century of vision and struggle to achieve this purpose.

Even before the advent of the motor vehicle, sketchy preliminary
studies were made to span the Bay by bridge. It was the unfulfilled