The Charlotte News
Saturday, June 7, 1958
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.S. had ordered a Soviet diplomat to leave the country because he had "paid hundreds of dollars to an American citizen" for U.S. manuals and other secret documents, according to a State Department announcement this date. It said that the Soviet Embassy had been told to get Nikolai Kurochkin out of the country immediately because he was persona non grata. The move against the third secretary of the Embassy followed by about three weeks the Soviet ouster from Moscow of a U.S. Embassy second secretary, John Baker, Jr. In that incident, Soviet officials had charged that Mr. Baker "systematically violated the norms of behavior for diplomatic representatives," to which the U.S. had protested that it was not true and Mr. Baker indicated that his offense appeared to have been that he was friendly toward students at Moscow University. A State Department press officer said that he did not know the specific amount of money alleged to have been paid by Mr. Kurochkin, and did not know how long ago the incident had occurred other than during the previous months. He also did not know whether he had actually obtained documents or whether they were classified as secret at the time he sought them. The spokesman referred questions to the Defense and Justice Departments. The expulsion order was provided to the Soviet Embassy counselor the previous day by the deputy assistant Secretary of State for European affairs, Foy Kohler. The State Department recalled that on January 14, 1957, Maj. Yuri Krylov of the Soviet Embassy had been expelled "for similar actions" and the Embassy had been warned at that time to see that the purchase of documents "by means of improper payments to American citizens be discontinued immediately."
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had arrived in Washington from London for conferences with the President and speechmaking visits to two colleges. He had been met at National Airport by Secretary of State Dulles and he stressed that his visit was an informal one, the chief purpose of which was "to make a pilgrimage to my mother's state, Indiana." He would speak in that state the following day at DePauw University. The White House indicated that the Prime Minister and the President would not meet before Monday afternoon, when they would start three days of informal conferences. After his departure from Washington on Wednesday, the Prime Minister would meet with Canada's Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, in Ottawa.
In Algiers, it was reported that Frenchmen and Moslems this date had begun a reappraisal of Algeria's future, now under the firm control of Premier Charles de Gaulle. For the first time since the Algerian question had begun to dominate the French Government, it was Paris and not Algiers which was calling the shots. The difference was the commanding figure of Premier De Gaulle, the strongman who was keeping his own counsel. Following a three-day triumphal visit in Algiers, the Premier had unceremoniously told the committees of public safety, who had previously ruled during the crisis, that their political maneuvering was at an end. At the same time, he held out to the nationalist rebels a promise of equality with Frenchmen and in Algeria "which will always be French." The words of the new Premier were being studied all over Algeria and it remained questionable whether they would be accepted. For the generals and European settlers, the answer was probably that they would, but not without complaint. For the Algerians in the mountains, the answer was probably that they would not be. But with a strongman in Paris for the first time, the rebel goal of full independence appeared no longer within grasp. The public safety committees were shorn of their political status without reaching their final goal, which was to have been a clean break from the political system in Paris.
In Bone, Algeria, a band of Algerian rebels had staged a hit-and-run raid on the eastern port city this date, some 36 hours after Premier De Gaulle had addressed a crowd in the city's central square.
In Belgrade, Yugoslav police had cracked down on a plot of Soviet sympathizers to organize escapes to the east.
In Jakarta, Indonesian Air Force authorities said this date that the rebels based in North Celebes were now supported by four B-29 bombers based outside Indonesia.
In Cambridge, Mass., the rocket satellite of Sputnik III was due to make its first morning appearances over the U.S. during the ensuing few days, according to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory this date.
In Jackson, Miss., the NAACP this date defended Professor Clennon King, who had been ordered to the State mental hospital after his attempt to become the first black person to enroll in the all-white University of Mississippi.
In Point of the Mountain, Utah, hold-up killer Barton Kirkham had died on the gallows at dawn this date, his last words having been a plea for forgiveness. Through two years of imprisonment, the 21-year old had insisted he had no remorse for killing two persons in a grocery store holdup, and that he was unmoved by religion. He maintained a calm attitude to the end. No members of his family had witnessed the hanging. Throughout his confinement, he had carefully built up a reputation as a tough guy who laughed scornfully at the ideas of mercy, remorse and religious salvation. That façade had cracked only once, during the last minutes of his final appearance before the State Pardons Board the prior Wednesday, when he nervously had told them that he would rather spend his life in mental treatment than die on the gallows. A detailed account of the hanging is provided for those who relish the macabre.
In High Point, N.C., a 39-year old
accused rapist, kidnaper and robber from Louisiana had surrendered
meekly to police at the bus terminal early this date following a
day-long stakeout for him at the terminal having been discontinued.
The man was not armed and was still wearing the dark green khaki
shirt and trousers in which he allegedly had left Louisiana to see a
woman in High Point, with the woman's cooperation having led to his
apprehension. Authorities had been alerted late on Thursday night
after a deputy sheriff had received a call from officers in Clinton,
La. The deputy said that his information was that the man was wanted
in Clinton in connection with a two-week series of crimes, including
a highway robbery, kidnaping and five rapes. Details of those crimes
were not known. The man was booked on a fugitive warrant and was
being held without bond pending a hearing in Municipal Court.
Officers said that the man had agreed to waive extradition
proceedings and return to Louisiana. Maybe he would eventually run into Oswald down 'eyeh
In Statesville, N.C., a man, formerly of Charlotte, had died during the early morning hours at a local hospital shortly after the automobile in which he was a passenger had been struck by a train. He was the owner of the Statesville Hardware & Paint Co. The accident was still under investigation and no one had been charged. The deceased had graduated from N.C. State in 1933 and his parents resided in Charlotte. He had been active in civic affairs in Statesville.
John Kilgo of The News reports that a check of the County Recorder's Court clerk's records showed this date that there had not been any money forfeited in unpaid bonds to the court, in contrast with at least $12,550 in unpaid bonds which had accumulated in the clerk's office at the City Recorder's Court.
Ann Sawyer of The News reports that there were a half dozen bondsmen in the city and not all of them were licensed, some being agents of other bondsmen. Under North Carolina law, the requirements for becoming a bondsman were that they had to be licensed from the State, for a fee of $40 in Charlotte, and be financially responsible. Bondsmen did not usually write bonds for less than $50 and usually charged 10 percent of the total bond as their fee. The bondsmen indicated that it was a risky business, citing as example having to spend large sums of money attempting to bring defendants back for trial who failed to appear and violated their bonds. Most of the bondsmen in Charlotte, especially the white ones, were well known and had been in the business for a number of years. She lists the white bondsmen, indicating that one of them was not licensed and that three others were agents of another bondsman. Whether the black bondsmen are listed on page 3-A, you will have to determine for yourself, should you happen to need one.
A man of Charlotte had found a note in his mailbox which read: "Friday night is when we come. If you know this you'd better run… The mob from Marlwood strikes again. We hope your ears aren't made of tin. A little money will keep the next bomb out of your mailbox." The man notified the County police and officers said that the area in which he lived had suffered a rash of mailbox blasts lately, but the previous night, there had been no explosions.
The first $50 prize in the newspaper's Social Security game would be "very handy" for payment of medical bills, according to the winner, a 60-year old accountant recovering from a major surgery. His Social Security number had been the first that Pat Willingham, Miss Charlotte, had drawn from a drum containing thousands of first-week entries. The man had been one of three winners in the newspaper's football contest the previous fall, receiving one-third of the $100 prize and was also a regular participant in the newspaper's word game, which had now been discontinued. Second prizes of $10 each had gone to five others. The contest would continue the following week with the entry deadline being noon on Friday. You'd better send them your Social Security number fast, and hope that no one steals it and your identity along with it.
On the editorial page, "Court Probe Poses Task for Council" indicates that the investigation by the City Council for possible irregularities in certain operations of the City Recorder's Court, involving at least one police officer, was still ongoing, while it was no secret that the reputations of both agencies were already sagging under public suspicion.
There had been unofficial reports that court funds had been used to cash bad checks for another police officer and that forfeited but unpaid bonds of considerable value had piled up in the Recorder's Court.
It finds it too early to draw conclusions from those reports or to engage in imagining which might injure innocent persons or offices, as there would be plenty of time to specify any irregularities and to assign blame after the official investigation was completed and the auditor's report on the court clerk's office was examined.
But it finds it time for the City Council to recognize its ultimate responsibility in the matter and to prepare itself to make a full and complete report to the public, followed by assigning blame for any wrongdoing and by studied but vigorous efforts to correct any imperfections found in the administration of the court.
It makes room for there possibly being more smoke than fire or more fire than smoke, but the Council had to play the role of fireman in full public view when the facts were in, as its reputation was also at stake.
"In Diversity, There Is Also
Strength" indicates that Justice William O. Douglas, a mountain
climber and world traveler during the summer recesses of the Supreme
Court, could always be depended on in a pinch to remind Americans of
their rough and ready heritage, having been at it again recently
during a television interview—that having been on May 11 with Mike Wallace
He was the most rugged of the Federal judiciary's rugged individualists and was complaining testily that the inclination presently was "to look for a teacher who is so-called 'safe', a minister who is 'safe', a Congressman who is 'safe'." He defined "safe" to be any individual who did not have unorthodox or original ideas and who was "not a contentious character".
It finds the inclination unfortunately to be true, part of the legacy of the late Senator McCarthy and others, with no place in American life. In the words of Justice Douglas, it amounted to "a general contraction of the feeling of ability to speak freely and a general lowering of the standards of free expression that we have enjoyed in the early days. In the Jeffersonian sense of freedom of speech there should be no horizon on debate, on talk."
It finds that the words, while old and possibly tired, still had significance in the age of conformity and the Organization Man. It was easy to forget, in a nation which enjoyed a reasonably secure and comfortable existence, that freedom drew its strength from diversity, that when people preferred uniformity, they were forsaking individuality and forfeiting their freedom.
Groove-living tended to eliminate the burden of assuming personal responsibility for human welfare and progress, but unless man was willing to venture outside the groove occasionally, he could not survive, running the risk of reversion to the darkness of the cave. Yet, the original thinker and nonconformist was always in danger of having his wings clipped, often the victim of super-patriots, the know-nothings and others who contributed to what Senator J. William Fulbright had called the "swinish blight" of anti-intellectualism.
It remembers a talk on anti-intellectualism which the late Elmer Davis had made at Vassar in 1953 when McCarthyism was in its full flower, indicating: "I ran into an instance of that a few years ago, on an official if not an intellectual level where you would hardly expect it. A girl who had been a Wave during the war wanted to get back into the Navy as a civilian employee. She gave me as a reference, and a security officer of Naval Intelligence came around to check up on her. I gave her a glowing recommendation, as I conscientiously could. I spoke highly not only of her loyalty but her intelligence—at which he frowned. 'These intelligent people,' he said, 'are very likely to be attracted to communism.'"
The piece finds that suggestion nonsense, and more than a little ironic that it had occurred in the land of the free and the home of the brave. "But, of course, as Mr. Davis was careful to remind his audience, this will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."
Under bone-spurs Donnie, it is fast becoming the land of the unfree and the home of the cos-play—either a cowboy, a wrestler, a racecar driver, or some other nincompoop making their living primarily on their backsides wearing the costumes of the rugged, pretending to be rough and ready Americans, while obviously anything but as betrayed by their brash, braggadocio speech and bullying conduct, as with their fearless Leader. Maybe, after all, we ought to return to the draft to ensure that the fat and flabby among us lose some of that stupid weight, much of which is between their ears.
"Coda for a Chicago Horn
Blower" indicates that in the spring of 1942, the Government and
the broadcasting industry had been seething, with James Caesar
Petrillo having spoken in the name of "live"
A show called "This Is the Army" had never aired and NBC had been forced to cancel a high school orchestra program because none of the talented amateurs could produce a union card from the AFM. Editorial writers branded Mr. Petrillo the "Mussolini of music".
Mr. Petrillo had ordered the national anthem to be played before and after each engagement and was simply more interested in musicians than music, especially "canned" music, and would not be muted on the subject. In stressing his point, he had once asked, "What's the difference between Heifetz and a tavern fiddler?"
After 38 years as the music czar, he had mellowed, with his last major battle having been with members of his union whom he claimed had made excessive demands on the movie industry which were too costly for "a sick industry" since the advent of television. During the current week, Mr. Petrillo had announced that he would no longer be chief of the union in spite of placards pleading with him not to leave.
It concludes that now he could go
home, light up a pipe and turn on the radio, finding out the
difference between Jascha Heifetz
A piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, titled "Busy, Busy 'Doctors' on TV", indicates that a few years earlier there had been many cigarette advertisements full of endorsements by "doctors", with a cartoon of the era having shown two men standing in front of a big building with one saying to the other: "It must be a cigarette factory; I've seen lots of doctors going in and out."
Now "doctors" on television were selling patent medicines. Of course, they were not actually doctors but often wore white coats and otherwise looked so professional that the viewer took it for granted that they were actually physicians.
It indicates that what had brought
it to mind was a news story to the effect that the Federal Trade
Commission and the maker of an antacid remedy had agreed that the
latter would modify its commercials in which actors dressed as
doctors recommended a product. It finds the sad part being that the
company would have to stop claiming that stomach acids could burn a
hole in a cloth napkin and no longer would the viewer be fascinated
by watching the scientific-looking fellow in the white coat pour
"concentrated stomach acid" on a piece of cloth and then
hold up the cloth to show the enormous hole in it. Viewers would have
to be content with other intriguing demonstrations of medical
science, such as the one in which a hammer beat on the brain until
the victim swallowed the right medicine—Anacin
It concludes that one could learn a
lot about medical science
Drew Pearson continues his report on his prior visit to Bucharest, indicating that the Union of Rumanian Journalists had met in the old House of Lords of the Kingdom of Rumania, similar to the Newspaper Guild meeting in the old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol in Washington. The old House of Lords chamber was similar to an art theater in the U.S., with a rostrum instead of a movie screen, and a battery of translation booths in the rear, where speeches were translated into other languages.
Mr. Pearson, having preached people-to-people friendship until it was now officially adopted by the Administration, decided he had to attend the meeting of journalists. The last clipping he had seen from Bucharest had paid respects to him with considerable vigor, about the time they had organized the freedom balloons to reach the people behind the Iron Curtain. The piece had said that he was "a defender of American democracy. Not long ago he organized radio debate on American democracy in which it was to be expected the American way of life was praised and worn-out anti-Soviet calumnies were uttered." The Moscow press had hammered him harder, with Izvestia having once written: "If the Magnates of Monopolistic Capital profiteer on wars, so also do their newspaper salesmen. Such a one is that veteran of slander Drew Pearson." Pravda had once charged: "Pearson will resort to any means to sabotage the cause of peace."
So he had some doubt when he accepted the invitation to attend the meeting, not knowing whether he might be greeted with boos and jeers. Instead, he had been met by a delegation of newspapermen who informed him that he would both speak and preside over part of the meeting, being told that he would receive a list of speakers and be nudged on the elbow by a Rumanian editor, to compensate for his lack of knowledge of anyone behind the Iron Curtain. A newspaperman from Moscow would preside half the day, and it was implied, therefore, that the U.S. could not play second fiddle to Russia, causing him to accept the challenge, and the next day had mounted the rostrum.
He had gotten the impression that newspapermen in the Soviet-bloc countries were far more open-minded than ever before and wanted to be friendly toward the U.S., having come a long way from the time when they had hammered at the U.S. editorially on a constant basis and when it was impossible to communicate behind the Iron Curtain except by balloons.
Walter Lippmann indicates that what had occurred in France illustrated the truth which he had come upon years earlier in a history of the French Revolution, that a regime was rarely overthrown by a revolutionary movement, that instead it collapsed of its own weakness and corruption and then a revolutionary movement entered among the ruins and took over the powers which had become vacant. He thus finds that it was not true, as some were saying, that a democratic and free system of government had been overthrown by a conspiracy of colonels and extremists, by the connivance of generals and right-wing politicians, among whom were General De Gaulle, himself.
The Algerian war, which had been a military failure and a disgrace to the good name of France, had been presided over by a Socialist politician who owed his appointment to a Socialist Prime Minister. Regarding North Africa, the authority of the French Government in Paris had collapsed long before the insurrection had broken out the previous month. As early as the prior February, after the bombing of a Tunisian village, it had been very plain that the Paris Government was too impotent to govern.
He thus finds it false to look on General De Gaulle as the person who had overthrown or connived to overthrow the parliamentary government, instead having come to power because the Government could no longer pretend that it was able to govern. It had been said by some that while General De Gaulle was not a Fascist, he was an old man, as had been Von Hindenburg in Germany, who, in his senility, would make way for a French version of Hitler. Mr. Lippmann indicates that, having seen General De Gaulle recently, he did not appear the least bit senile, having extraordinary historical insight and imagination, second only, if not equal to, Winston Churchill. He found no trace of the modern vulgar dictator of the type of Hitler, Mussolini, Juan Peron or Gamal Abdel Nasser, and had shown in his books that his mind was profound and that his style was a true expression of his mind, as he used no ghost writer.
He was an authentic bearer of the central traditions of Western society, did not use its values as stereotypes and slogans. His mystery was that, being authentic and not time-serving, he touched the chords of memory which bound the nation together.
There had been bad relations between the General and President Roosevelt during World War II, of which, he says, he had been aware of significant bits and pieces, the bad relations having begun at the start of the war, after the fall of France in spring, 1940, when there were two French governments, one inside France at Vichy, under Marshal Petain and dominated by Hitler and the victorious Nazi armies, and the other in exile in London under General De Gaulle.
It had been the U.S. policy for good reasons to maintain diplomatic relations with the government of Marshal Petain in Vichy and in North Africa, those reasons having been that there was an intention by the Allies to invade North Africa and there was hope for collaboration of French officials and soldiers in that invasion. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and the President determined that there should be no relations with the Free French under General De Gaulle. Though American hearts were with the Free French, the calculated policy required that the U.S. be with Vichy, causing much misunderstanding and several irritating incidents. The President, Secretary Hull and General De Gaulle never forgot or outlived their original cross purposes. All of it had been complicated by a temperamental clash between FDR and General De Gaulle, illustrated in the perennial and celebrated joke that General De Gaulle, who must have been about 6 feet, three inches tall and all male, regarded himself as the Maid of Orleans, the Joan of Arc, of the French disaster, a joke which FDR had thought quite funny, proving that the General was not to be taken too seriously.
Mr. Lippmann regards it as a Philistine's joke because the General's role, as with Joan of Arc, had been to rally the nation and compel the Government to resist the invading enemy. Thus, it had been no surprise that there was no warm understanding between the two men. "In fact it was no more absurd, nor was it any more conceited, for de Gaulle to think of Joan of Arc than it has been for, let us say, American presidents, in time of crisis, to think of themselves in terms of Washington and Lincoln."
Rowland Evans, Jr., indicates that tell-tale signs were pointing to the strongest Democratic majority in the House after the midterm elections since the height of the New Deal, as forecast by the California primary the prior Tuesday. Even Midwestern Republicans appeared to have jitters, despite their impression that farmers voted Republican when prices and harvests were good.
Informed estimates were that the Democrats might pick up between 20 and 40 new House seats, meaning that the new House could give the Northern and Western Democrats effective majority control without the help of Southern conservatives. If that were to happen, the center of power in the House would shift from the moderates to the Northern liberals, and with it, the power to enact legislation.
Everyone already knew that the Democratic prospects in the Senate were excellent. And not since 1934 had the party in the White House increased its seats in the House in a non-presidential election year. In the five off-year contests since, the party in power in the White House had lost an average of 44 seats. If applied to 1958, the Republican total of 198 House seats would drop to less than 160 and the Democrats would go from 233 to more than 270. Republicans also had a large number of "marginal" districts which were most likely to reflect changes in voting patterns. Careful study of the results in the 1956 and 1954 elections showed that the Republicans had 79 seats which were especially vulnerable, while the Democrats had only 51. Even more significant was the number of Republican incumbents who, for one reason or another, had decided not to run for re-election, already totaling 23, well over ten percent of the Republican membership, with more possibly to drop out. It meant that new Republican candidates had to be given a costly build-up and go before the voters without the advantage of an established reputation.
The most nagging and fundamental of all Republican worries was the fact that, aside from farm prices, the trend of events appeared to be running against them, with many economists expecting the recession to last well beyond the fall and predicting a fairly long period of relatively high unemployment. Headlines from abroad were also upsetting a lot of voters, as Mr. Evans could attest from a recent survey in the Midwest. There was an uneasy feeling that matters had been permitted to get out of hand and that the Administration was somehow to blame.
On the positive side, Republicans talked hopefully of a better than usual crop of candidates, of cashing in on the labor union scandals and of Democratic over-confidence. The California primary, however, with its bad news for Senator Knowland, had demonstrated that the labor issue would not defeat many Democrats.
It all added up to the belief that the Democrats would achieve 270 House seats for the first time since 1936, and if they did, the Northern members were aware that they could dispense with Republicans and most Southern conservatives and still command a majority. Achievement of that "magic number" would transform the entire political climate in the House and in Congress as a whole. Such "liberal" legislation as school construction and income tax reduction, not presently under serious consideration, would have new life. That and its impact on the 1960 presidential election were the real stakes in the November midterms.
Special note to Fox Spews: In consequence, if the Democrats in 2026 pick up less than 44 seats, you can tell your viewers that it was in fact a kind of red wave, based on historical trends, or, as we say in the trade, historitrends, following this chart, if you will direct your attention over here for a moment...
A letter writer from Lincolnton indicates that people there were more than a little disgusted with the story in the Sunday Observer taking up where Congressman Charles Jonas had left off several weeks earlier, saying that David Clark had learned all of his law at the knee of Mr. Jonas, while he worked for his law office. The writer says he was a friend of both families and remembered when Mr. Jonas had asked Mr. Clark to come into his office. Mr. Clark's record in law school had been the highest and he came from a family long distinguished in the legal profession. Mr. Jonas was feathering his own nest and doing Mr. Clark no favor. He was also doing himself no good in Lincolnton, where the facts were known in his hometown. He says that in the past he had voted for Mr. Jonas and was on the fence when Mr. Clark had announced as a candidate for Congress, but after reading Mr. Jonas's remarks concerning their business relationship and realizing that he might be distorting facts for personal gain, he had decided to vote for Mr. Clark, whose integrity was unquestionable.
A letter writer is concerned about the Welfare Department and its purpose, whether it was only for the relief of a few and what qualifications one had to have to obtain its help. The writer says he knew of a lady with one child who had just come from the hospital after having been sick for more than a month and being off work most of that time. She had gone to the Welfare Department for help paying her doctor and hospital bills but was flatly refused. She had not wanted continued help but just temporary aid. She had no sick benefits or hospitalization insurance. She performed part-time day work and paid $6.50 per week for a three-room duplex with a back porch and bathroom, but no hot water, closets or cabinets. She had to set up housekeeping in January which had produced a furniture bill. He finds that if the Welfare Department would not help in a case of that sort, "pray somebody tell me what must one do?"
It is possible that the writer is a woman, given the name, which could be either male or female.
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