The Charlotte News

Friday, November 28, 1958

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Geneva that the Soviet bloc had offered this date to negotiate an elaborate international inspection system to prevent surprise attack, provided that the West would agree to other disarmament measures. The delegate from Czechoslovakia, speaking on behalf of the five Communist nations, had put forward the offer before the ten-nation East-West conference regarding ways to prevent surprise attack. A communiqué announcing the Communist proposal did not specify what other disarmament measures the Communists were demanding. The submitted proposal said that it was "for the establishment of ground observer posts and aerial inspection, and simultaneous realization of certain measures in the realm of disarmament to reduce the danger of surprise attack." It was the second proposal put forward by the Soviet bloc at the 19-day old conference, represented by delegates from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania and Albania. The other Communist proposal had sought to prohibit flights of nuclear-armed aircraft over foreign countries or over the open sea, a move obviously aimed at the U.S. Strategic Air Command's constant readiness flights. The Western delegations had refused even to discuss that first proposal, contending that it was political in nature and therefore outside the scope of the conference, which had been called only to discuss technicalities of prevention of surprise attacks. It appeared likely that the Western delegations would also refuse to discuss the Communist disarmament proposals, whatever they might be, as the Western delegations had refused to discuss disarmament at the conference, contending that it was another political question outside the purview of the confreres.

The U.S. and its allies had begun mapping strategy this date for a long diplomatic battle against the Soviet Union's "free city" campaign to oust the West from West Berlin. The State Department had given stern notice on Thursday night that the U.S. Government did not intend to "enter into any agreement with the Soviet Union which, whatever the form, would have the end result of abandoning the people of West Berlin to hostile domination." The statement promised careful study of the Soviet proposal to convert West Berlin into a "free city" protected by some type of U.N. watchdog operation, and also promised consultation with Britain, France and West Germany, as well as the other NATO allies. But officials said privately this date that while the statement did not specifically and immediately reject the Soviet proposal, there was no doubt that in the long-run, probably late in December, it would be rejected. Some Western counter-proposal calling for a solution of the Berlin problem as part of an all-German settlement might be put forth at the same time. Indications were that the consultations would reach a climax at a meeting of foreign ministers of the 15 NATO allies in Paris on December 15. Officials predicted that the Western powers would delay until that point their reply to notes sent to them on Thursday by the Soviet Government. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had made clear that for the ensuing six months he did not plan to force a showdown regarding the Berlin issue, which had taken most of the tension from the crisis which had been building since he had announced on November 10 that he would turn over to the East German Communist regime the remaining authority exercised by the Soviet Government in East Berlin. That had raised the threat of Communist interference with Western allied use of supply routes from West Germany through the Communist territory to West Berlin, a distance of 110 miles, a threat which had raised the danger of a possible East-West clash.

In Tokyo, it was reported by Japanese Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama that the U.S. and Japan would resume negotiations the following week on revision of their 1951 security treaty.

In Algiers, Algeria this date began its first legislative election since 1951 with the choice limited to candidates supporting continued French rule. Balloting for 67 members in the French National Assembly would continue through Sunday.

In Moscow, the newspaper Soviet Aviation this date reported the unexpected death of Soviet Air Force Maj. General Sklyarov the previous Sunday, providing neither his age nor the cause of death.

Also in Moscow, it was reported that Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota had begun a short visit to the city this date, having flown from Helsinki, Finland, on Thursday night during his tour of Europe.

In Seoul, South Korea, it was reported that metropolitan police this date had banned outdoor gatherings and demonstrations of all types. The police chief said that police had uncovered and were investigating "a serious North Korean Communist subversion plot against the Republic of Korea".

At Cape Canaveral, Fla., the super-secret "Goose", which was unidentified officially, had streaked across the Atlantic this date after launching from the missile test center.

The Veterans Administration announced this date that dividends totaling 256 million dollars would be paid during 1959 to more than 5 million veterans holding participating Government G.I. life insurance policies.

In New York, a Federal District Court judge this date extended until Monday an order restraining a strike by pilots against American Airlines. A hearing which had been set for this date was also postponed until Monday. The temporary restraining order had issued the previous Monday night and originally had been set to expire at midnight this night. The judge angrily rapped both the airline and the Air Line Pilots Association as being "pretty silly" and for "having failed morally" in their dispute. Eastern Air Lines awaited the outcome of its no-strike plea to its flight engineers, which was scheduled to come before a Federal judge this date in Miami, Fla. Even if an injunction were granted, Eastern would be unable to operate until the mechanics' dispute was settled. Meanwhile, the non-struck airlines had been filling the gap in service for air travelers, but not without some delays and confusion. Putting every available aircraft into service on Wednesday, those airlines had handled the holiday crush, and trains and buses had also been jammed. But on Thursday, there was the usual mid-holiday lull, with most carriers reporting little crowding. When vacationers were to start returning home during the weekend, however, the transportation problem would again become complex. The flight engineers had struck at Eastern in a dispute involving engineer training on jets, the so-called "third man" issue, plus a wage demand package. The International Association of Machinists had also sought wage increases and rule changes. The IAM had walked out at TWA in a deadlock over wage demands. A new mediation effort would be made in Kansas City this date to bring both sides together. A third strike by stewards and stewardesses of Lake Central Airlines in the Midwest regarding wage demands had delayed, but not halted, the operations of that airline.

In Newport News, Va., the case of ten black children who were seeking admission to a white elementary school had come before a U.S. District Court judge this date. There is no indication of the result or the exact nature of the proceeding.

In New Orleans, a special three-judge Federal court this date had declared unconstitutional a portion of Louisiana's segregation laws which forbade interracial athletic contests.

In Asheville, evangelist Billy Graham said that he had accepted an invitation from ministers in Clinton and Anderson County, Tenn., to preach on the grounds of the recently dynamited Clinton High School on Sunday, December 14. Ministers in Clinton had planned a meeting this night to make further plans for the gathering, with indications that there would be efforts to push toward getting the racially integrated school rebuilt. Several prominent people had been invited. The school had been dynamited by three separate explosions early on Sunday, October 5, timed precisely three minutes apart, resulting in 16 of the 20 classrooms being damaged. The Reverend Graham and his sponsors said that the December 14 gathering would be evangelistic and not intended to raise funds for the school, but a spokesman for a fund-raising committee would be given time to present a check for about $21,000 to Anderson County School Board officials, the money having come from thousands of schoolchildren. Newspaper columnist and radio-television personality Drew Pearson had started the school rebuilding drive with the slogan, "Bricks for Brotherhood". Among those invited to the meeting on this night in Clinton were Tennessee Governor Frank Clement, presently in Europe, North Carolina Governor Luther Hodges, California Governor-elect Pat Brown, and Charles Taft of Cincinnati, a brother of the late Senator Robert Taft and a former president of the National Council of Churches. Mr. Taft was also chairman of the Clinton schoolhouse committee. Among its members were the Reverend Graham, Governor Hodges and AFL-CIO president George Meany. It was uncertain how many of those invited would attend this night's gathering. H. V. Wells, editor of the Clinton Courier-News, who had worked with the ministers in organizing the meeting, said that labor groups and manufacturers had made generous offers of free labor and materials to rebuild the school. He indicated that no appraisal of the value of the offers had been attempted, but Reverend Graham had said that he understood the total, including the schoolchildren's gifts, might approach $200,000.

In Charlotte, it was reported that the Chamber of Commerce would host Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts at its annual dinner meeting on January 15, the announcement having been made by News publisher Thomas L. Robinson, the current president of the Chamber. The meeting, at which the 1959 officers would be installed, would be held at the Park Center. Mr. Robinson said: "We are delighted Senator Kennedy can take the time from his busy schedule to come to Charlotte." Arrangements for the dinner would be made by the annual meeting committee, of which B. S. Griffith, managing editor of The News, was chairman. The committee would meet the following Tuesday morning at the Chamber to make plans for the event. Senator Kennedy, who was overwhelmingly elected to a second term in the Senate in the midterm elections, was only the third Democrat from his state sent to the Senate. Prior to his election in 1952, defeating incumbent Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., he had been in the House for six years, representing the Massachusetts 11th District. He was also regarded as a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1960, having narrowly lost the vice-presidential nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. He was currently a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Labor and Public Welfare Committee, and the Select Committee investigating misconduct of unions and management. He was one of nine children and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, had served as Ambassador to Britain between spring, 1938 and late 1940, had also been, prior to that time, U.S. Maritime Commission chairman and chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission, all under the Roosevelt Administration. His mother, the former Rose Fitzgerald, was a daughter of a former Mayor of Boston, "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, who had once represented the same district which his grandson had represented in Congress. Senator Kennedy was also the grandson of Patrick J. Kennedy, a member of the Massachusetts House and State Senate from East Boston. Senator Kennedy had attended Massachusetts public schools and the private Choate School, had graduated with honors from Harvard in 1940, with his honors thesis having subsequently been published in 1940 as Why England Slept, had attended the London School of Economics in 1935-36, and had taken graduate courses at Stanford University in 1940—which, according to one of his sisters, he hated. During World War II, he had served as a torpedo-boat commander in the Navy in the South Pacific and was twice decorated for injuries received when his boat, the PT-109, had attacked a Japanese destroyer in a night action on August 2, 1943. He had been commended for his "courage, endurance and excellent leadership" in towing injured members of his crew to safety and bringing them through Japanese lines. In March, 1945, he was retired by the Navy for injuries suffered during his service, which impacted his back and nearly cost him his life in 1954 when he underwent surgery, an injury which would plague him for the rest of his life. In 1957, he had won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, Profiles In Courage, compiled while he recovered from his back surgery, with the help of Theodore Sorensen, later his adviser and primary presidential speechwriter.

Donald MacDonald of The News reports that it was as if Santa Claus, acting as an official starter, had stood outside the shops this date and sounded a starting gun, as the Christmas race was on early in the morning, with shoppers waiting outside stores and rushing in for after-Thanksgiving sales. At J. P. Ivey & Co., store officials estimated that 60 persons were at the store's main entrance when the doors had opened. Inside, salesgirls began "the biggest day we've had this year", according to one such person, who said that she was busiest selling sweaters, which were going for two dollars below the pre-Thanksgiving Day prices. One of the most heavily trafficked areas in Ivey's had been the jewelry counter where a saleswoman sold pearls, bracelets and earrings at 99 cents each. Efird's Department Store reported a busy day also, with three police officers going on private duty as store detectives. Belk's had put five police officers on duty, and Ivey's had four off-duty policemen patrolling for the light-fingered among the eager shoppers. Sport shirts for $2.98 were selling fast at Belk's, keeping a salesgirl "busier than I've ever been," she said. Santa Clauses—what you mean, plural?—were on duty at most of the city's big department stores, and in record shops, Christmas carols sounded through the cold morning air. (We may not be able to read yet, but just you wait another year and we'll be checking you twice.) Parking lots displayed "lot full" signs for the first time in several months, and on the streets traffic crawled along at a snail's pace. In the crowd of shoppers were students, many of whom were home from colleges for the Thanksgiving holidays—assuming they had not killed anybody recently. Threatening weather had not deterred the "Mother and College Daughter" as they had come to town to take advantage of the sales. Outside window displays caught the rapt attention of many children who pressed their noses against the glass and laughed at a woodland Christmas scene at Efird's and at a mirthful Mama Santa Claus in the window at Ivey's. (Were there plural Mama Santa Clauses?) "Everywhere the rush was on." Merchants, after suffering through a recession year, were hoping that the pre-Christmas shopping crowds would produce a large volume of sales.

Violent accidental deaths had marred the observance of Thanksgiving in many homes across the nation the previous day, with traffic accidents being, as usual, the primary killer. The traffic death toll since the start of the four-day weekend had far exceeded the number killed in fires and miscellaneous accidents, but nevertheless appeared to be running near or slightly below the average for a comparable non-holiday period lasting four days. The count, which had started at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday and would continue until midnight Sunday, covered 102 hours. Fires had claimed the lives thus far of nine children the previous day, fire having destroyed a home for the retarded and crippled children in Oklahoma City, claiming five of those lives, and four children and their parents had perished in a fire in the suburban area of Little Rock, Ark. Two 12-year old Chicago boys had drowned when they had fallen through thin ice in a park lagoon. Safety experts attributed the near-normal traffic toll to the fact that highway travel during the Thanksgiving holiday was not as heavy as on other holidays such as Christmas, New Year's, Memorial Day, July Fourth and Labor Day. The National Safety Council did not make a pre-holiday estimate of the traffic toll for Thanksgiving, but estimated that 470 traffic deaths would be expected for a comparable four-day non-holiday weekend at the current time of year. In a survey by the Associated Press, covering a 102-hour weekend period between November 12 and 16, the count had been 394 traffic fatalities, 32 deaths by fire and 121 from miscellaneous accidents, for a total of 547. The all-time record high in traffic deaths for a four-day holiday had been 707 during the Christmas weekend of 1956. The overall record for the same period also had been set at that time with deaths in fires and miscellaneous accidents causing the total to reach 884.

In San Quentin, Calif., it was reported that a ten-year old girl, who lived in a remote mountain village in Greece, would receive a letter, gifts and money for a big Christmas party from her 5,000 "dads" in the U.S., all of whom were San Quentin Prison inmates. The men had "adopted" the girl in September through Foster Parents Plan, Inc., a New York charity organization, and had donated $1,400 for her support, from which she received $15 per month. For a Christmas party, the little girl would receive $25 extra from the fund, which would buy quite a bit in Greece. A prison official said that it was "something like handing a kid $250 to go to the candy store." A Christmas package would contain presents, primarily those handmade by the prisoners. San Quentin officials said that the biggest problem was to keep the inmates from going overboard on supplying the little girl Christmas. "A lot of them wanted to send their own money," according to the associate warden, "and a good many asked if they couldn't have their families send money. We had to turn them down, because Foster Parents Plan feels the needy children should be treated as nearly equally as possible." Scores of inmates wanted to have their handmade gifts included in the package. Santa Claus would deliver the gifts to the girl's one-room cottage shared with her family, but the presents had to be limited. The girl had written to her San Quentin "fathers" recently, describing her small village, and stating, "I'll keep praying every day for you." The inmates decided on the "adoption" after seeing a motion picture, which had been put out by Foster Parents Plan.

In Phoenix, Ariz., it was reported that a husband who normally liked to kiss his wife, had sneaked up on her while she was peeling potatoes the previous day and kissed her, at which point she had grabbed him, forgetting that she had a knife in her hand, causing her husband to have to go to the hospital with a stab wound in his shoulder. Doctors said that he would recover. Likely story… He was lucky he did not wind up dead, hitching a ride with Otis. (What's with this, like, Alcatraz deal regarding a state crime of murder? There was no interstate kidnaping alleged and thus no Federal crime, and Alcatraz only housed Federal prisoners. The scriptwriters meant "Q", as they had stated a couple of weeks earlier, in reference to the stint done by the caped-crusader with the mysterious cigarette case he had lifted, the booty strangely not having been among the confiscate. We have never heard it called "Q", incidentally, any more than they call it "Frisco", the immediate sign of a provincial tourist, uncool, like, daddio, probably some unkempt, unhep cat from down at Dino's by the Strip where they are so given to faux nouveau.)

On the editorial page, Marquis Childs indicates that despite the optimism that by mid-1959 there would be an economic boom, shoppers were watching the rate of sales of new automobiles to attempt to gauge the realities behind those forecasts.