The Charlotte News
Wednesday, May 14, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page
reports that the Defense Department had said this date that 36 Air
Force planes carrying Army troops to the Caribbean area had reached
Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico by mid-morning, the troops having
been ordered into the area by the President for possible use should
Venezuela seek assistance in protecting Vice-President Nixon during
his goodwill tour. At least 13 Navy planes loaded with two companies
of Marines were flying to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, with the
first planeloads having arrived there early during the morning. An
additional company of Marines had been flown by helicopter from Camp
Lejeune, N.C., to the Cuba-bound aircraft carrier Tarawa. The
Air Force said that the airlift of the 101st Airborne Division Army
troops and equipment had been accomplished with 27 C-130 turbo-prop
transports and nine propeller-driven cargo planes. One of the cargo
planes carrying helicopters from Andrews Air Force Base near
Washington had landed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida during the
morning. Engine trouble had forced the transfer of its cargo to
another aircraft which would then set out for Puerto Rico. The
President had ordered 1,000 troops to the Caribbean the previous day
after angry, jeering street mobs in Caracas had assaulted
In Caracas, the Vice-President this date refused to cut short his visit to Venezuela after narrowly escaping injury at the hands of the howling, rock-throwing mob the previous day. He remained in the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy and canceled his public appearances. Mr. Nixon had told reporters that he was "covered with spit from head to foot," adding that one of the mob had spat directly in the face of Mrs. Nixon at the airport. Windows in the cars had been broken, showering the occupants with glass, and the cars had been dented and covered with spit and eggs. Rear Admiral Larrazabal expressed regret for the incident and said that strong measures would be taken against the demonstrators, but that he would never order guns turned on Venezuelans. His own car had also been stoned as he returned from a call on the Vice-President at the U.S. Embassy. Leaders of Venezuela's three main political parties had participated in a nationwide broadcast the previous night condemning the riots and urging Venezuelans to conduct themselves with serenity and dignity. Civic and educational leaders had joined in a radio program similarly condemning violence and appealing for order and decorum. The Interior Minister had deplored the disorder and said that it did not affect the traditional cordial relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. He said that the ruling junta had ordered those responsible for the riots to be found and punished.
The President said this date at his press conference that the mob violence against the Vice-President in South America appeared to reflect a pattern of Communist inspiration and exploitation, but said he believed that economic troubles were partly responsible for the anti-American demonstrations in such countries as Venezuela and Peru. He said that there were rumors in Venezuela that the U.S. was trying to impose quotas on such oil exporting nations, but that there was no truth to that rumor. He said that U.S. economic aid and world trade were as vital to the U.S. as was proper defense. He said he admired the Vice-President's courage and fortitude and wanted to do something to show his admiration, but could not state at the moment whether he would be able to fit into his schedule the following day greeting the Vice-President upon his return to Washington. On the subject of taxes, he said that the Administration would have to decide soon whether to advocate a tax cut as an anti-recession step, as corporate taxes and certain excise taxes were scheduled automatically to be reduced at the end of June unless Congress acted in the meantime. Regarding public works, he said that it would be at least two years before construction of any new large projects could get underway, though some programs were already underway, such as the construction of post offices. The press conference had drawn 302 reporters, nine short of a record.
In Raleigh, Governor Luther Hodges said this date that the Vice-President might have exercised "less bravado and a little more judgment" in continuing his South American trip after being greeted by riots. He had been asked at a press conference for comment on the President's actions in sending American troops to the Caribbean in case they were needed to defend the Vice-President in Venezuela, and had responded that the American people were concerned about the situation and "they might have asked for a little less bravado and a little more judgment in connection with this trip."
Members of the Atomic Energy Commission were scheduled to appear this date before the Joint Atomic Energy Committee to defend a 193.4 million dollar construction request, which was being criticized heavily by some Democrats. The request had been submitted to Congress the prior Monday and was promptly denounced as inadequate by several Democratic members of the Committee. Representative Chet Holifield of California, chairman of the legislative subcommittee conducting hearings on the request, said that the AEC and Budget Bureau witnesses would be questioned about reports that atomic construction work was being delayed. He said that there had been reports that construction funds had been held up, that programs had been scaled down and that needed projects had been deferred by executive department decisions, although Congress had indicated it wanted the work to go ahead. Under the AEC proposal, most of the money would be earmarked for additions or improvements to existing atomic plants, but one large new reactor was requested and the Commission also was seeking funds for two projected atom smashers. Another member of the Committee, Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, said that testimony the previous day before his Military Applications subcommittee had indicated that the Budget Bureau had turned down an AEC recommendation for a second reactor to produce plutonium, vital material in nuclear weapons. He joined Mr. Holifield and Representative Carl Durham of North Carolina, the Joint Committee chairman, in criticizing the omission of the plutonium facility from the current budget requests. The latter two also explored what they said was inadequate provision for research in taming the hydrogen fusion reaction of an hydrogen bomb for peacetime uses.
In Paris, the French Government this date ordered General Raoul Salan to take over command of Algeria from an insurrectionist junta led by a tough paratroop officer. In its first official action since being installed early this date, the new Cabinet of Premier Pierre Pflimlin also banned all public demonstrations throughout France and in Algeria. General Salan, commander of all troops in Algeria, had been ordered to take full command in the North African colony from paratroop General Jaques Massu, who demanded that President Rene Coty put wartime hero General Charles de Gaulle at the head of a Government outside politics, constituting a military dictatorship. The Cabinet had told General Salan to maintain law and order in the Algerian capital and to guarantee the protection of lives and property. In its emergency session, the Cabinet had handed over full power in Algeria to Andre Mutter, the new minister for Algerian affairs, taking over from Robert Lacoste, hero of French rightists in Algeria. The Cabinet's orders had been designed to bolster General Salan's apparent struggle for control with General Massu and his so-called Committee for Public Safety. In Algiers, that Committee had begun acting increasingly like a government, with its members calling a press conference for later in the day. General Massu had ordered a virtual mobilization of all European manpower in Algeria and called for more mass demonstrations in downtown Algiers throughout the day. But General Salan had issued a contrary order, telling Algerians to return to work. The men of General Massu controlled key points in Algiers, with his paratroopers in control of radio stations, airports, railway stations, post offices and other communications. In Paris, President Coty issued an unprecedented order to all French forces to obey the new French Government.
In Beirut, Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy had sent a ship this date to pick up Americans in Tripoli after getting reports that the situation was serious in that north Lebanese port. Anti-Government violence meanwhile had moved into its fifth day in Lebanon, a bomb having exploded harmlessly in front of the U.S. Embassy. U.S. Ambassador Robert McClintock had told reporters that there were 53 Americans in Tripoli, most being members of the Presbyterian mission, indicating that they were not being ordered out but had been advised to leave. The Ambassador emphasized that the situation was serious in Tripoli, where a U.S. Information Agency office had been sacked on Saturday at the outset of the demonstrations. Lebanese authorities had evacuated Americans from the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon as bombing, shooting and strikes swept the country. Lebanese armored cars escorted eight Americans and two Cypriot girls into Beirut from the remote Bekaa Valley on the advice of the U.S. Embassy. Six Americans were connected with the American University agricultural school and two were connected with a model farm of the U.S. operation mission, a Point Four program. The pro-Western Government of President Camille Chamoun was reported to be standing defiantly against the shooting, burning mobs. The disturbances which had wracked the republic had subsided again into sporadic shooting during the curfew the previous night, but with the lifting of the curfew, the shooting had increased and the mobs had returned to the streets. The death toll in Beirut since Monday had reached an estimated 20 persons and was expected to go higher. At least 32 other persons had been reported killed since the trouble had begun on Saturday in the port of Tripoli.
In Rome, Premier Adone Zoli had rejected a plea by two non-communist parties that he formally protest to the Vatican against alleged clerical interference in Italy's election campaign.
In Manila, it was reported that the Indonesian rebels claimed this date that their Air Force fully controlled the air over central Celibes and had cut supply lines of a Jakarta force fighting rebels on the west side of the island.
In Buenos Aires, President Arturo Frondizi had carried out an election pledge the previous night by ordering a blanket wage increase, but had taken no steps against the inflation which had accompanied previous pay increases.
The Senate Select Committee investigating misconduct of labor and management opened hearings this date into how a contract was negotiated between the Butchers Union and the A&P Stores in New York and New Jersey.
At Cape Canaveral, Fla., two giant Army rockets, the Jupiter and the Redstone, were poised at the missile test center this date, ready for launching in the near future.
In Montréal, a three-day strike of firemen against the Canadian Pacific Railway had ended this date, following an agreement on a plan for gradual removal of firemen from all yard and freight diesel engines of the line, estimated to take 17 years.
In Washington, it was reported by the National Education Association that the number of children attending half-day sessions in city grade schools had jumped to 20 percent in two years and was still climbing.
In Little Rock, Ark., a municipal traffic judge had said there was no doubt that a defendant before him was guilty of unsafe driving, but added that there was "a pretty good incentive", the defendant having explained that he drove his automobile off a 12-foot bluff onto railroad tracks while speeding away from two unknown attackers who had thrown hot grease in his face when he visited his girlfriend's house. The charge had been dismissed.
There was no news this date on the front page from Lincoln, Neb., on the murder trial of Charles Starkweather, as the prosecution concluded its case with the reading of 111 pages of his 376-page confession, spread over two separate interviews the prior February. But there appeared to have been a parallel event to that which had begun the murder rampage in January, at some point in the past in the town
And let it never pass less than perfidious lips the gross calumny that the residents of Tombstone were, as to all who inhabited such a purlieu of predominant dissolution and insanctity, illiterate louts of the prairie.
On the editorial page, "For Charlotte, a Profile of Progress" indicates that the transformation of the American Commercial Bank's tangled domain into a giant three million dollar skyscraper would add another distinctive addition to Charlotte's urban profile.
Unlike many of its neighbors in the state, the face of Charlotte was not adding lines and wrinkles as it aged, but was rather constantly being "lifted" by surgeons, replacing the sagging features of advanced years with smooth, youthful contours of progress. Architecturally, the changes in recent years had been nothing short of amazing. There was a new public library, one of the most beautiful structures of its type in the nation. The new Jefferson Standard Building anchored the other end of Tryon Street, and the sleekly modern Wachovia Bank & Trust Company Building dominated West Trade Street.
The ridiculously dated Southern Railway depot would soon be mercifully removed, and overhanging signs in the uptown area would soon be gone as well. Sites were being cleared in the heart of midtown for other new structures, while several large projects were in various stages of planning.
In the midst of it all, American Commercial's new three-phase building would add the right touch of elegance, being designed by Walter Hook & Associates, a handsome structure which blended easily with other modern buildings being constructed in midtown. It finds that the final effect would be one of beauty and progress.
"Combatting the Conspiracy of Terror" indicates that anti-American riots and demonstrations in Lebanon, Algiers, Lima, Bogotá and Caracas, as well as other global pressure points, were too numerous and too well-organized to be considered spontaneous eruptions of dissent. It concludes that they were obviously part of an international Communist strategy of "rational terror".
Since violent extremes of ideology and action were ancient hallmarks of Communist conduct, it might be inaccurate to call the strategy "new", but it was certainly new in its application on so many fronts at one time. It finds it a reasonable assumption to believe that it was only the beginning.
Combating that kind of conspiracy was always difficult, particularly difficult for the U.S. at present, as in the minds of millions around the world, the U.S. had been deprived of anything resembling divine grace by uncertain policies, failure of leadership and outright stupidity in dealing with the realities of what could only be called a tripolar world, East, West and the uncommitted peoples in between.
While the U.S. could weather the storm, whether it could weather the storm with honor, retaining the respect and confidence of the world's uncommitted millions remained to be seen.
The outbreaks were too serious to be dismissed in Washington. There was a rational answer to rational terror, but first, the nation had to guard against both pique and false sentiment. It was no time for irritation, frustration or false pride, but rather for cool reassessment of the American position in the world at present. The U.S. did not have to be diverted from its real purpose, but the method of obtaining its ends ought be subjected to continuous examination and improvement. Rational answers could always be found if the country had the will to find them.
"Inflation Note" indicates that the New York Post reported that Russia's commissar in charge of gracious living had slapped the masses with a boost in the price of caviar, going from $6.50 to $9.75 per pound. Soviet vodka cost six dollars per quart. It suggests that at those prices, no one could afford to be a Communist.
"U.S. Don't Allow No Pink Pandas Here" indicates that the only giant pandas currently in the country were toys, but that except for the consistency of the U.S. Treasury, there might be a real one, as several zoos were willing to pay as much as $25,000 for one presently up for sale, the only trouble being that the panda was presently a resident of Communist China, and there was a law against trading with that country.
The zoos had asked the Treasury Department whether the law covered pandas, and the Treasury had replied that it did, as allowing an exception would compromise the trading ban and constitutive victory for international communism. It might also cause the British, who had wanted to expand trade with China, to take exception should the U.S. allow such an exception. Thus, the Government was standing pat in its consistent stand that no pink pandas would be allowed from a Communist country.
Zoogoers would be denied the clownish panda, but it suggests that perhaps it was not so unique in that regard as the zoos had thought.
A piece from the New York Times, titled "The Thrasher", tells of the brown thrasher, big cousin of the catbird, northern cousin of the true mockingbird, longer and slimmer than a robin, with a crown and beak which were rich cinnamon-brown, a throat and belly which were pale buff, streaked with the same brown on the back, and a long beak and bright eye, plus a distinguishing voice.
But his mission was song. "He glories in song. He lives for it. And most of us find May a better month for his return."
Drew Pearson, in Rome, indicates that the average citizen of Salina, Kan., or Sioux Falls, S.D., would have a hard time figuring out why the national election in Italy was of any great importance to that person, and yet it was. The way Italy would vote ten days hence might affect the future of the great American Army base which had been established at Leghorn, one of the largest in the world, large enough to supply all the armies of the free world east of France. Or it might impact the base at Verona, where the U.S. had one combat division, which had, incidentally, made a hit with the Italian people playing baseball. It could also affect the atomic airbase at Fogeia and the NATO base at Naples, where the Sixth Fleet had an important operation. Even more important, American prestige was involved in the Italian elections, for the U.S. had provided a great amount of aid to Italy and had won many friends, about the best friend America had in Western Europe.
But it would not take a heavy Communist vote to change all of that, with even a large vote by the Nenni left-wing Socialists, who favored neutralism, able to change it, or a heavy vote by the monarchists and Fascists. Some of those were about as dependable as Mussolini, the man whom Italians had once ignominiously saluted. The most colorful monarchist candidate was Achille Lauro, the former mayor of Naples, presently touring southern Italy in two Pullman cars. The caravan was giving away shoes and macaroni to voters, which Sig. Lauro could afford, as he had made millions as a ship operator for Mussolini, had left the Naples treasury bankrupt and now pretended to be a great friend of the U.S. He was telling the crowds that the ruling Democratic Christians had followed a wavering foreign policy toward the United States, which spelled ingratitude toward the country which had helped Italy recover from the war.
But what the Italian people did not know was that when U.S. troops had landed in Naples, Sig. Lauro had been at the top of the Allied list of dangerous Italians working with the Nazis. In his home had been found a case of vodka marked "from headquarters, Field Marshal Goering", who had been a guest in the Lauro home two months before the Allies had landed. Also in his home had been found a double-sided bronze medal inscribed "To my great friend Achille Lauro from Benito Mussolini." Italian voters also did not recall that he had made his millions carrying troops for Mussolini to Ethiopia, and later to Spain. Yet, judging by the crowds which he was drawing, he might pull some votes away from the Democratic Christians, who, despite Sig. Lauro's statements, had been the most consistent friends of the U.S.
In direct contrast to monarchist candidate Lauro was Giuseppe Saragat, leader of the Social Democratic Party and a staunch friend of the U.S. Though a member of the Democratic Christian Government, it had been the latter's consistent support in the Chamber which had kept the Government in power. Mr. Pearson had interviewed Sig. Saragat at his apartment in Rome and asked him, among other things, how the U.S. was presently rated with the Italian people, and he had said: "The American myth is gone. We thought of America as a myth, a country which could do anything, whose power could not be challenged. Russia's Sputnik exploded that myth. We still regard America as a very great and respected country, but the American myth is no more."
Marquis Childs, in Copenhagen, indicates that while the only certain thing about negotiating with the Soviets was that nothing was certain, he proceeds to chart the course for the future as had been sorted out at the NATO conference, with the next move being up to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko who, it was expected, would shortly call in the British, French and American ambassadors in Moscow for another round of individual discussions. Those discussions would take place within the framework set by Mr. Gromyko for "mutual acceptance" of any subject for a future agenda of a meeting at a higher level. Thus, the discussions could continue for an indeterminate number of weeks or months.
The belief was strong among highly placed Americans that the futility of trying to come to any resolution of the differences between East and West would be demonstrated at the diplomatic level and that the whole effort would end in mutual agreement to go on disagreeing.
He finds a strong parallel from the past, in that on March 4, 1951, the deputy foreign ministers of the four powers had met in Paris to reach agreement on an agenda which would be considered by the Council of Foreign Ministers, which had survived from the war. On June 21, more than three months and 74 meetings later, the American deputy, Philip Jessup, had announced that there was no longer any "practical utility" in continuing the meetings. He had acted on the instructions of then-Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who, in recent weeks, had argued persuasively against the value of top-level meetings with the Russians.
He finds that the parallel was even more striking because the four deputies in Paris had been wrestling with the same major differences, German disarmament and American bases, which were at the heart of the current diplomatic talks in Moscow. Mr. Gromyko, as blank-faced as he was at present, was the Soviet deputy during that futile marathon in Paris in 1951. The American determination at present was not to break off the talks or at least not until they had reached such an impasse that it was useless to continue.
The process could change overnight should Premier Nikita Khrushchev suddenly reverse the diplomacy up to the present and meet the Western demand for discussion of the problems which the West regarded as the principal obstacles to peace, but no one expected that to happen. Mr. Khrushchev, according to those who had knowledge of the matters, intended to prove that he was "as big as Stalin", and that he had the same ability to get his way with the rest of the world. Obviously, that could not be done by yielding to the West. The same sources indicated that Mr. Khrushchev had the support of the hierarchy of the Communist Party and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
Thus, it appeared there would be another marathon which could proceed even longer than the one seven years earlier because the method being insisted on by the Soviets of dealing separately with each of the three ambassadors was cumbersome and time-consuming.
The U.S. Ambassador, Llewellyn Thompson, was a career diplomat with skill and ability, and above all the great patience necessary to negotiate with the Russians. Mr. Childs posits that he would need all of that patience and skill in the task ahead, as it was a game in which a single misstep could play havoc. Out of the weeks and months of effort could come little more than a sense of frustration and futility which would be evident not only to those immediately engaged but, if the estimate of American policymakers was correct, to public opinion throughout the West.
Robert C. Ruark, in Palamos, Spain, indicates his shock that the times were so modern that the Irish Government was being forced to decide whether or not it believed in leprechauns. An issue had occurred regarding whether to punish 20 employees of the State Land Commission for their refusal to build a fence at Belmullet, County Mayo, because the land in question was a fairy palace and could not be desecrated. If the decision was made that leprechauns did not exist, the Government faced the wrath of a few million people who believed in leprechauns, as well as 30,000 dues-payers in the Land Union.
He finds it a silly issue since any Irishman was aware that the air was thick with fairies, the trees clotted with little people, and the mysterious night noises which set dogs to howl, which people could not hear, came from the little folk, annoyed at the stupidity of the large people. Leprechauns, he suggests, were everywhere.
He had a special one in charge of typewriters, who lived in an ancient, battered Underwood Standard, which had to have yielded 100 million words from his calloused two fingers. They called the typewriter "Old Ninety-Seven" because of its final serial numbers and because it was a wreck. After ten years of columns being turned out by it, including about a thousand magazine pieces and seven books, plus a bum play and some screen work, he had decided that the thing needed to be retired to pasture.
He had written a farewell piece, announcing its retirement, and the Underwood people had very graciously sent him their newest model, called Golden Touch, which had Dynaflow, television and a built-in electronic brain. He was starting a new book on it, but his leprechaun would have none of it, as a series of disasters had struck. Plots would not form, words were spelled backwards, as he spent hours trying to get "tongith" converted to "tonight". Ribbons had broken and he had gotten his fingers caught in the keys.
He had tested the typewriter with others and they had found it non-confounding.
He decided to recover his old typewriter, and found that it responded perfectly, his leprechaun being happy again and the new typewriter since retired.
He says there were several leprechauns around his house, one in charge of urgent messages from the home office as soon as he sought to sneak off for a weekend fishing trip, that one getting in touch with his bosses before he had cleared the gate, with the air then immediately becoming thick with cables and phone calls. Another lived in the bathroom and looked after dripping faucets and busted pipes, while another inhabited a puppy, causing him to eat sofas, photos, and its owner. Another broke down the kitchen stove when they had guests, while yet another lived in a razor which cut him and bloodied up his shirt when he was late for an appointment or trying to catch a plane.
"Ah, yes. Sure and it'll be an ill day for Ireland if the mighty little men are brought into challenge. The best Eire can expect will be another potato famine and a visitation of the Black and Tans."
Speaking of times in need of escape from harsh realities, Eire, its airy fairies, ere now and then on occasion of errs of man in excess, too freed to beseech divine forgiveness, Underwoods and electronic substitutes for pecks to confess, five and a half years down the track would come this exemplar
A letter writer from Huntersville indicates that the passing of W. A. Kennedy a day before he was to have been sworn in as a trustee of the Charlotte-Carver Community College System had grieved all who knew of his work in that area. He suggests that one day there would be in Mecklenburg County a great and big division of the University of North Carolina, while immediately, there would be plans for construction of administrative and classroom buildings. He proposes therefore to the new board of trustees that the first unit of their new plant be named W. A. Kennedy Hall, in recognition of Mr. Kennedy's faithful and imaginative work on behalf of his great ideal.
A letter from the chairman for the North and South Carolina Golden Jubilee Committee of the American Flag Day Association indicates that Flag Day had been officially proclaimed in the two Carolinas in 1944, and with good weather, there ought be many American flags flown proudly and gloriously on Flag Day, June 14. She indicates that the Association was non-profit, the day being observed nationally with respect to the United States banner, flown from public buildings, residences, parks, etc., or anything decorative in celebration of the patriotic occasion.
A letter writer from Salisbury indicates that each college had to advertise the training opportunities which it had for high school graduates, wanting to attract the high school graduates which had the best chance of amounting to something. Intelligence scores and high school grades would inform somewhat of that potential, but not too much, he suggests, with individual initiative and special talents possibly making high school students with low grades into some of the best college students. He imparts that Winston Churchill had not done well in high school, that Thomas Edison had performed poorly, and those examples were enough to show that it was difficult to measure the ability of a student entering college.
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