The Charlotte News
Thursday, February 21, 1957
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President had indicated in his nationwide televised address the prior evening that the U.N. had to "exert pressure" to obtain the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the Gulf of Aqaba, suggesting that U.N. sanctions on Israel now appeared almost certain, with avoidance of such sanctions being contingent on agreement by Israel to withdraw its forces without the guarantees it had been demanding against subsequent attack by Egypt. Arab countries, working through the U.N.'s Asian-African bloc, had urged sanctions and the matter was expected to arise in the U.N. the following day. The President had said that it was a "fateful moment" for the U.N. and its influence in world affairs, that the future of the U.N. and peace in the Middle East might be at stake. He said that the U.N. had no choice now but to "exert pressure" on Israel to comply with the withdrawal resolutions, adding that he hoped that Israel would see that it was in its immediate and long-term interests to comply with the resolutions. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson expressed "regret that the Administration still feels that there is no choice but to bring pressure on one side in a two-sided dispute", but indicated his agreement that Israel ought withdraw, though accompanied by adequate U.N. action which would not leave Israel defenseless. Senate Minority Leader William Knowland, who had also strongly opposed imposition of sanctions, said that he had not heard the President's speech and declined comment.
At the U.N., the General Assembly postponed its showdown debate on the Middle East until the following afternoon to await the results of renewed U.S. efforts to secure Israel's withdrawal from Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The U.S. had requested the 24-hour delay on the basis of reports that the President had sent a new urgent appeal to Israeli Premier David Ben-Gurion to order Israeli troops behind the 1949 armistice lines by nightfall this date. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Abba Eban had declined to say whether he had brought a note from the President or Secretary of State Dulles to the Prime Minister, having returned to Jerusalem early this date to report to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on the situation. He had been met by 40 right-wing demonstrators at the airport, urging him to stand firm against U.S. and U.N. pressure for Israel to withdraw, the demonstrators carrying one banner, reading, "No submission, no retreat," with another banner stating: "Who submits today will submit tomorrow. Who stands fast today will stand fast tomorrow."
Premier Ben-Gurion would reply to the President's statement in an address this night to the Knesset. Thus far, Israel had refused to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and Aqaba without the firm guarantees against renewal of Egyptian attacks. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that this date's Knesset meeting would decide Israel's policy.
Meanwhile, opposition mounted against use of sanctions toward Israel, with Denmark announcing that it would not vote for sanctions, followed by similar stands from the other four Scandinavian countries. France was expected to fight such sanctions, and Canada and Australia were also opposed. Two-thirds of the 80-nation Assembly, or 54 nations, had to vote for a sanctions resolution to secure its adoption.
In New York, 25,000 longshoremen this date refused to return to work in obedience to back-to-work orders by the president of the International Longshoremen's Association, who said that they were waiting until all locals had signed contracts in ports from Maine to Virginia, with agreements having been reached in all ports except Baltimore and Hampton Roads, Va. It was thus uncertain when all of the 45,000 longshoremen would return to work, after having struck eight days earlier. In Philadelphia, the longshoremen followed the New York pattern and remained idle. In Boston, where work was supposed to resume during the morning this date, actual work was not expected until the early afternoon because of the necessity of giving notice of work.
In Raleigh, legislation to reorganize the state's fiscal agencies into a new Department of Administration had been introduced in the State House and Senate this date. Meanwhile, there was a proposed constitutional amendment introduced in the House to change the present method of reapportionment of General Assembly membership, carrying out a recommendation of the commission on reorganization of State government, endorsed by Governor Luther Hodges. Although the State Constitution required that the Assembly be reapportioned following every decennial census, it had failed to do so since the 1950 census. A commission authorized by the 1955 Legislature had recommended the changes which would be effected by legislation introduced this date.
In Hertford, N.C., it was reported that two men had been injured when a Navy Banshee jet had crashed near the Perquimans County High School this date, with no schoolchildren having been hurt and early reports indicating that the pilot had not been located. The aircraft had narrowly missed the school and the explosion had demolished the garage about 100 yards from the main building. The two injured men were mechanics for the school. The extent of their injuries was unknown, but both were believed to have been burned. An unconfirmed report said that the pilot had been killed when he bailed out of the plane. But the operations officer of the Coast Guard said that two helicopters, two lighter-than-air craft, and several other planes had been dispatched from Elizabeth City to search the Hertford area for the pilot. The jet had come to rest on the baseball diamond 25 yards from the main school building, where about 450 students were attending.
In Charlotte, before the Chamber of Commerce Aviation Committee, a proposal for a new airport for "non-scheduled" aircraft had been put forward, citing the need for a second airport to serve not only non-scheduled planes but some privately operated aircraft, with the idea seconded by the manager of Douglas Municipal Airport. It was suggested that the Naval Ammunition Depot property near the city would make an excellent site for the second airport, but the Navy had stated that it would retain possession of the Depot.
Julian Scheer of The News reports that after a luncheon with the trustees of Davidson College this date, Dr. John Cunningham, president of the institution, had indicated that he would retire from his post after 17 years to become director of the Presbyterian Foundation. Students had appealed to him to reconsider after rumor of his decision had spread through the campus via an extra edition of the student newspaper.
In Goeppingen, Germany, some of the officers of the U.S. Army's 8th Infantry Division had been dating German maids employed in Army households, prompting the division commander to pass the word to stop it, as it was embarrassing when a member of the Army would take a friend to an Army cocktail party attended by the maid's employers. But a division headquarters spokesman had denied a report that had appeared in the Overseas Weekly, an independent English-language publication primarily for U.S. service personnel, which had quoted the division chief of staff as having told his junior officers that it was forbidden to go out with anyone who worked for a living, including ribbon and stock sales clerks at the PX, snack bar employees and anyone who was below their social level. The spokesman said that there had been no such statement and that any allegations that the Army was against "working girls" was absurd, as they worked for a living also. One officer had commented, however, that it was more or less common sense that men, especially officers, ought choose their friends with reasonable care.
In Burbank, Calif., Marie "The Body" McDonald was hospitalized for a day or two for observation of a head injury which she had suffered the previous November 27 when the car in which she was driving had gone into a ditch, with her doctor indicating that she was in good general health. The previous month, the actress claimed that she had been kidnaped, held for 24 hours and released in the desert near Indio, with a grand jury subsequently investigating the incident but not returning an indictment.
In Albuquerque, N.M., it appeared that Rio Grande Valley crows believed the city offered the best opportunities, as they were crowding in alleys, peering into garbage cans, raiding backyard gardens, and diving against cats and dogs, stealing anything they could haul off and making life miserable for late-sleeping humans. There were laws against blasting the noisy creatures from trees inside city limits, and so residents were powerless to do anything about the nuisance. The crows had taken a liking to television antennas and perched directly on newly-polished automobiles. They had squad leaders, company commanders, and "brass" of division rank, assigning individual crows to guard and forage, with some assigned to punish. Some hunters swore that a crow knew the maximum range of every gun, making it tough to hunt them even were citizens allowed to do so. Now that they were moving into the city, some people figured it was only a matter of time before they learned how to obtain nickels from parking meters.
On the editorial page, "Words Are Elastic but Facts Remain" indicates that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had obviously been taking a page from Humpty Dumpty's notebook the previous day, that words meant whatever one wanted them to mean, when it maintained that there was no "critical national shortage" of classrooms in the country.
It indicates that there were enrolled in the public schools approximately 2.25 million children in excess of normal capacity, causing those children to have to prepare for the future under the handicap of half-day sessions, makeshift facilities or grossly overcrowded classrooms. In North Carolina, 7,200 children were going to school in double shifts and another 3,700 were housed in temporary quarters not owned by local boards of education and located away from the main campus of the school. Many states were in the same position. The number of pupils in the country's public schools had increased by 5.5 million and the U.S. Office of Education estimated that the number would further increase by about 6 million in the ensuing five years, lending credence to the President's statement on January 28 that the problem was "most critical".
"A Gratifying Display of Legislative Teeth" indicates that Robeson County State Senator Cutlar Moore was just as correct on the subject of highway safety at present as he had been wrong in 1955, having earlier championed a bill to limit Highway Patrol cars to black and silver, when the Patrol indicated a need for unmarked vehicles to catch lawbreakers. He said that in 1955, there had only been a few teenagers racing but that now there were a bunch of them in souped-up cars and planned races, and that he was convinced now there was a need for unmarked cars.
It indicates that it, too, was so convinced and had been longer than Senator Moore, but that a hundred editorials on traffic safety did not match the impact of the reformed position of the Senator. For if the legislators awaited public demand before shaping safety laws into effective weapons against organized insanity on the highways, the laws would become as pertinent as house rules against polygamy in bachelors' quarters.
It posits that the ingenuity of drag racers was underestimated, that not only were they clever enough to make private racing grounds of public highways, they had managed to escape arrest with an elaborate system of spotters to warn against approaching patrol cars, and to insist on additional warning in the form of unmarked cars was ridiculous. But in the absence of public demand for stronger safety laws, the leadership would have to come from the General Assembly, and Senator Moore was showing the way with "a gratifying display of teeth."
"New Chapter in a Distinguished History" tells of Dr. John Cunningham having been a distinguished president of Davidson College, and that his resignation, effective September 1, would deprive the 120-year old institution of the services of one of its truly outstanding leaders. His new assignment, as executive director of the Presbyterian Foundation, offered a fresh and challenging opportunity for service, with advancement of education continuing to be an important part of his new duties, along with the advancement of Presbyterianism.
He had previously served as president of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary from 1930 to 1936, coming to Davidson as its president in 1940. He had been elected president of the Association of American Colleges in 1953, after serving as treasurer and vice-president of that organization. He had also served as president of the Association of Church Related Colleges in North Carolina. His record of church leadership was just as distinguished, both in and out of the pulpit, having been elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church of the United States in 1947, and having served as president of the North Carolina Council of Churches and a delegate to the World Council of Churches. In the development of Davidson, higher education in general and the church, he had already contributed a great deal, and it expresses confidence that his record of achievement would be just as distinguished in his new work.
"Stassen's Politic Silence on Politics" tells of the one-time Minnesota boy-wonder having come to Charlotte urging Americans to have confidence in the President, having been elected three months earlier by the largest popular majority in U.S. history, but saying nothing about politics, declaring a moratorium on anything political.
It says that it had never recovered, and probably neither had Mr. Stassen, from his improbable attempt to block the renomination of Vice-President Nixon at the August Republican convention. It suggests that he likely never had much hope in succeeding in pushing his own candidate, Governor Christian Herter of Massachusetts, as the substitute nominee, but he had always been long on hope, having been a presidential hopeful, himself, in 1948 and 1952, unable to beat out Governor Thomas Dewey for the nomination in either of those campaigns.
It suggests that perhaps his true alternative candidate was himself, but the campaign had garnered more headlines "than any unexplained event since Paris Herald staffers sunk a Pacific island in one edition and, in a fit of rectitude, resurrected it in the next." Thus, Mr. Stassen's moratorium on political talk suited the editors, and it posits that he should have extended it, as long before limiting his talk, the political facts of life had declared a moratorium on his chances of ever being president. There was no need to talk politics.
A piece from the New York Times, titled "Winter Revelry", indicates that during the current time of year, it seemed that the slush, cold and damp bleakness of winter would never end, bringing a strange enchantment that "out of the gray pall of a short, overcast day a magical, golden glow seemingly may appear and through it in happy array there pass the ghosts of past summers." There were beach parties sometimes with steaks grilled over a fire of bleached driftwood, and there were songs in the night where the lighthouse beam swept. There was the smell of freshly cut grass and hay and of newly turned earth and the fragrance of a table bouquet still dewy from the garden.
And it goes on, concluding: "There is all this and much more. But then the focus changes, and outside the snow piles deeper on the window sill and sleet clicks against the window pane."
Didn't the News put forth a similar editorial recently? Who came first?
Drew Pearson indicates that on top of the embarrassing resignation of Robert Ross as Assistant Secretary of Defense because of a conflict of interest, another conflict had arisen in the Pentagon, the eighth such conflict plaguing the Administration. The latest was that of Robert Lanphier, Jr., deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in charge of supply and logistics. He had not resigned his position as vice-president of an electrical supply company in Springfield, Ill., which had defense contracts with the Government. His self-penned biography in the latest edition of Who's Who stated that he had simultaneously been deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense since 1954 and vice-president of the electrical company, a firm of which his brother was president. He was also an executive of a British subsidiary of that electrical company, which had other subsidiaries also. Poor's Directory of business firms stated the company manufactured special products for the Defense Department and had done confidential work for the Department since 1941. Mr. Pearson indicates that it was against the law for a Government official to accept office while retaining stock or financial interest in any company doing business with the Government.
Former President Truman had told freshman Senator John Carroll of Colorado recently that when he had first come to the Senate in 1935, he found that the first six months caused him to wonder how he had ever gotten elected, and that the next six months, had caused him to wonder how the other 95 had ever gotten elected.
During closed-door debate on the President's Middle East doctrine, Senator Richard Russell of Georgia called the doctrine the "moonbeam resolution", that he felt like he was "in a dark room with a moonbeam coming through a small crack. I have tried to grasp it, but I can't get hold of it." He said he had wrestled with Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Arthur Radford as well as with Secretary of State Dulles but could not obtain any information, that the underlings knew how the aid money was to be spent, and that King Saud and his underlings had returned to Saudi Arabia knowing what the money would be used for, but he could not obtain information about anything from anyone.
Taking a cue from Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser, Panama's dynamic President Ernesto de la Guardia was making moves toward taking over the Panama Canal, having sounded out U.S. officials privately about nationalizing it. The canal was presently owned by the U.S., which paid Panama 1.93 million dollars per year for the right-of-way. The Panamanian President had even hinted that he might bring up the issue at the U.N., being reinforced by the fact that Secretary Dulles had already gone on record supporting President Nasser's claim to the Suez Canal, with President de la Guardia being aware that it would therefore be awkward for the U.S. to press its rights to a similar canal in Panama. U.S. officials were so concerned over the attitude that they were seriously considering digging a new canal through Nicaragua.
Marquis Childs tells of the position of extraordinary power held by President Nasser to be no longer capable of being ignored by the U.S., as not even the most wishful thinkers could any longer believe that he would do what the West wanted him to do. With the backing of the Soviets, he intended to control the traffic in the Suez Canal at the point when it would be opened again, and he could set that date ahead indefinitely and thereby work considerable harm to the West and the Western alliance. By doing so, he achieved two goals of Soviet foreign policy since 1946, a serious economic impact on Western Europe and straining of the Western alliance, as the U.S. appeared helpless to bring President Nasser to reason.
The resentment by the British and French was increasing, with the question put bluntly to the U.S. as to when it would use its power and influence to bring President Nasser into line, a question which might appear unfair given that it was the British and French who had initiated an attack on Egypt in early November, precipitating the current situation. Furthermore, no one in Washington knew what could be done about President Nasser.
The opinion was widely held in Europe that the U.S. had succeeded in stopping the French-British-Israeli attack before it brought President Nasser down and that the U.S. was, therefore, responsible for ensuring free passage for the ships of all nations through the canal at the earliest opportunity. Secretary of State Dulles could provide to Israel his "assurance" that traffic in the Gulf of Aqaba would be free for all shipping, but he could not say that President Nasser would agree to it, as he did not know.
Shortly before Secretary Dulles had put forth his plan to persuade Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the area around the Gulf of Aqaba, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Raymond Hare had a long talk with President Nasser, with the belief in Washington that he was seeking to get the latter's pledge in advance to go along with the plan of Secretary Dulles. But the Secretary, in his initial talk with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Abba Eban, had made it clear that he could not, based on his own knowledge, claim to know what President Nasser would do, indicative of the failure of Ambassador Hare. Whether Egypt would have respected the "innocent passage" which Secretary Dulles had sought to ensure was not clear, and what the U.S. would have done in the event that Israeli ships had been stopped was also quite uncertain, such that the Israeli Government felt compelled to reject the "assurance" of Secretary Dulles.
In addition, the Israelis were concerned that withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would open the way to resumption of the commando raids which had taken a heavy toll in Israeli border communities. Also, the Israeli demand for indication that their ships could pass through the canal when it was reopened was of primary concern. Since the U.S. could not give such an assurance even to Britain and France, it was obvious that such a request was beyond U.S. capabilities.
Reports from Cairo indicated that President Nasser was calculating reparations he intended to present to Britain and France, reportedly a large and inclusive bill, one which, if not paid, would result in ships of the two nations being excluded from the canal. It appeared that the Soviets were providing just enough economic assistance to keep the Egyptian economy going, and so long as President Nasser was sustained, his strategic position to cripple the West and spread discord within the Western alliance would continue.
Not since the end of World War II had Russia been in such a favorable position to achieve its major objectives in dividing and destroying the Western alliance. And, Mr. Childs observes, no one in Washington appeared to know what to do about it.
A letter writer finds the service of the Charlotte City Coach Lines atrocious, having waited for a bus for 30 minutes, finding that after one bus had stopped, another would immediately follow, instead of having separation. He believes the service worse at one ticket for a dollar than when it was eight for a dollar. He urges remedial action through the State Utilities Commission, quoting somewhat improbably from Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake as buttress for his argument.
A letter writer from Pittsboro finds that when the Legislature had voted for a 20 percent increase in the salaries of the Council of State, it had committed an intolerable act, warranting impeachment of all who voted for it. He wants the teachers and State employees to hire lobbyists to ensure their 20 percent increase as well.
A letter writer from Zirconia responds to a letter writer who ridiculed a legislator, presumably new State Senator J. Spencer Bell, for being an advocate of world government, this writer stating that she could not see how lasting peace could be achieved in a nuclear world without world law and some form of world government.
A letter from A. W. Black says that the Reverend Herbert Spaugh, in applauding The Crown Tree, by LeGette Blythe, in his column, had alluded to the "thorn tree growing in the garden of the Fortress Antonio", and that from it had grown the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus before his crucifixion, a statement which he says was inaccurate. He says that Luke told nothing of a crown of thorns and the Davis Bible Dictionary stated that the crown of thorns was based on tradition only, Peloubet stating that it was based only on supposition. The Catholic Encyclopedia said that Christ was not so depicted until the Tenth Century, and that it was actually a "circlet of rushes, without any trace of thorns". Smith's Bible Dictionary stated that a crown of thorns was illegal and that "the Rhamnus or Spina Christi (thorn tree) cannot be the plant intended, because its thorns are so strong and large that it could not have been woven into a wreath." He concludes that there was no trustworthy evidence to support the conjecture that Jesus was crowned with thorns.
Well, that changes everything. Regardless, as per the usual with Mr. Black, his cited sources do not appear to support his contentions, similar to Gomer and his coterie of impeachment Enquirers in 2023-24—and, undoubtedly, beyond into the 2030's, if necessary, finally to get to the bottom of it all, to get the goods, after a couple of decades of trying, to show finally, once and for all, just how that stolen election transpired and why the ea-her-thly embo-hod-iment of Je-he-sus is no longer in the Wh-hite House anymore.
Framed Edition
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