The Charlotte News
Friday, July 4, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Havana that 43 Americans had spent the Fourth of July in rebel camps of eastern Cuba this date, waiting for their own freedom, with no indication as to when it might come. The U.S. Embassy said that it had no word that the Americans and two Canadians kidnaped by the rebels under Fidel Castro were being freed. Informants had said that the rebels appeared to be hedging on their release after releasing four Americans and one Canadian Wednesday. The U.S. Navy helicopter had flown the five engineers, taken the previous Thursday from the Moa Mining Co., to the naval base at Guantánamo Bay on Wednesday after U.S. Consul Park Wollam had conferred with the rebels. Informed sources said that a snag had developed in the negotiations and that rebel leader Fidel Castro had decided to hold out for further talks, despite a broadcast having been picked up in Puerto Rico on Wednesday night, indicating that Sr. Castro had not known about the kidnapings, that it had been undertaken by bands acting under his brother Raul, who had been instructed to release them. It was not clear what Fidel Castro wanted to talk about and the Embassy was believed to be awaiting new instructions from Washington. There appeared to be some kind of disagreement or perhaps a breakdown in communications between the two brothers Castro. In the broadcast on Wednesday night, Fidel Castro had said that it was possible that the kidnaping campaign had been a reaction against the recent delivery of 300 U.S. rockets to El Presidente Fulgencio Batista's Army to replace some of the wrong-sized rockets delivered the previous year, but the rebel leader said that he nevertheless had ordered the captives to be freed "because they are not responsible for their government's action in sending arms to Batista." He had been conducting a guerrilla war for 19 months in an effort to overthrow El Presidente. Raul Castro was reported to be drafting an apology "to the parents, wives and sweethearts of the men retained" by them.
Representative Peter Mack of Illinois said this date that there had been a well-organized public relations effort to make Bernard Goldfine appear to be more naïve than he really was. Representative John Bennett of Michigan, also a member of the House subcommittee investigating the Adams-Goldfine matter, said that he considered Mr. Goldfine "anything but naïve—a very brilliant businessman." Representative Morgan Moulder of Missouri said in another interview that "any man who has been as successful as he has been both in his enterprises and in securing influence is bound to be a very shrewd person." Mr. Goldfine, a Boston textile industrialist, had stressed his humble beginnings as an eight-year old immigrant from Russia and his fascination at meeting important people. When the subcommittee had disclosed what Mr. Goldfine had described as Christmas gifts that his mills had sent to some "poor workers" in different offices of the Government, Mr. Goldfine had commented that if that was something bad, he wanted to be told about it. The subcommittee had recessed until the following Tuesday in its questioning of Mr. Goldfine after disclosing that he had sent checks ranging between $35 and $75 each to 33 persons as Christmas presents, each of whom was a present or former employee of the White House and Congressional offices, both Democrats and Republicans. The White House had confirmed that two of its employees had received such checks. The primary focus of the investigation was on the gifts provided to White House chief of staff Sherman Adams, and the appearance of a quid pro quo by Mr. Adams by his having intervened on behalf of Mr. Goldfine with two public agencies with whom the latter was having trouble, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities & Exchange Commission, after which no action had been taken against him, even though the FTC action ultimately had been referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution because the mills owned by Mr. Goldfine, after promising compliance with wool labeling laws following civil penalties, had not done so.
In Naples, Italian police would try again in the current month to clamp a curfew and close-watch order on underworld figure Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who had become the recent focus of hearings before the Senate Select Committee investigating misconduct in unions and management, as it had begun the prior Monday a new investigation of infiltration of gangster and racketeering activities into legitimate businesses and small unions through extortion and other coercive means.
On an inside page, the Select Committee chairman, Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, said this date that hearings would resume the following Tuesday and that organized crime posed a threat to freedom unless met. He said that the next hearings would deal with racketeers in Chicago's restaurant industry, with the witnesses to include Tony "The Enforcer" Accardo, whom he described as a notorious gangster who had risen to power under Al Capone's mob. It would be the start of months of hearings designed to provide details, city by city, of the careful scheming by a criminal syndicate to infiltrate and dominate businesses, industries and labor unions across the country. Senator McClellan and Committee counsel Robert F. Kennedy contended that the objectives of that scheme were to provide a front through which to channel revenues from rackets without disclosing their source, to use those revenues to build power in the legal enterprises whereby they could undersell and crush the competition from legitimate business competitors. The previous day, the Committee had completed four days of preliminary inquiry in which 13 witnesses, identified as major racketeers, had been called to testify and who had, for the most part, asserted their Fifth Amendment privilege not to incriminate themselves. Senator McClellan said that their refusal to testify showed a conspiracy and that the Black Hand, known as the Mafia, was responsible, that they had shown an "arrogant challenge to the Government and the decent people of this country."
In London, Britain stood pat this date on his charge that large-scale infiltration of men and arms had taken place into troubled Lebanon from the United Arab Republic, headed by Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In Beirut, strong Government forces had launched a coordinated attack this date and driven rebels from a village at a road junction overlooking Beirut's airport.
In Red Oak, Ia., authorities and forewarned townspeople kept a careful watch against any new flood threats this date as the crests of the Nishnabotna River, which had claimed 19 lives thus far, rolled slowly toward the southwest corner of the state.
First reports of deaths from highway accidents during the holiday period showed that there had been seven traffic deaths, and by early morning, the national total had reached 44 traffic deaths, two drownings and two miscellaneous deaths for a total of 48. Four of the traffic deaths had occurred in North Carolina in one accident near Weldon. Four persons had died in a two-car collision near Orlando, Fla. Three had been killed in a crash in Ohio and three others in an accident in Virginia. The weekend would last 78 hours starting at 6:00 p.m. the previous day and ending at midnight on Sunday. The National Safety Council had estimated that 410 persons would die in auto accidents during the holiday period. It said that 45 million cars would be on the highways, traveling a total of 12 billion miles. They must be traveling to the sun. What speed will they average to get there by Sunday night?
In Weldon, N.C., it was reported that three brothers and a friend, ranging in age from 14 to 23, had been killed early this date when the car in which they were riding had entered the path of a tractor-trailer truck shortly after they had left a roadside restaurant-service station, on U.S. Highway 301 at Mack's Truck Stop, about a mile north of the town. The coroner said that the four youths had stopped at the restaurant and then had driven "at a very rapid rate of speed" heading south, as the tractor-trailer was coming north, and that the car "ran out" and hit the truck head-on, demolishing the car and badly damaging the right side of the truck. Three of the youths had died on the scene and the fourth was dead on arrival at a hospital. The truck driver was not injured. The latter was not being held because he was not at fault as he had no chance of getting out of the way of the car, the truck not exceeding 25 mph at the time. The coroner said that there were two empty beer cans in the car but that he had no way of knowing whether the youths had been drinking at the time. He said that the truck had gone into the front yard of a home and stopped within 6 feet of its front porch.
In Blackstone, Va., it was reported that four persons had died this date in a head-on collision of two cars on U.S. 460, a mile west of the community, four others having been injured.
In Choteau, Mont., two young brothers, clad only in light hiking clothes, had vanished during a light snowstorm in the mountainous northwestern part of the state the previous night, the sheriff having identified the two as being 11 and seven years old.
In London, England, a theatrical producer from Palm Beach, Fla., had reported this date that her 19-year old son was missing and she expressed fears that he was suffering from a loss of memory.
Also in London, it was reported that 37 persons had been injured this date when an electric passenger train had crashed into the rear of an empty string of railroad coaches in suburban southeast London, with no fatalities reported.
In Cleveland, O., air rescue craft were to begin searching this date for a missing two-seater Cessna 172 airplane which had taken off from Cleveland the previous day en route to Newberry, Mich., but had failed to land there.
John Kilgo of The News reports that at least 14 City Recorder's Court defendants had been freed from jail in the previous nine months by Judge Basil Boyd, according to records reviewed by the newspaper this date. In each of those cases, Judge Boyd had changed his mind and reduced sentences originally provided to the defendants. The new cases made a total of 33 in which News reporters had discovered that the judge had reduced sentences. A reporter had found the cases this date by checking the jail commitment records in the office of the clerk of the court. Three of the warrants where sentences had been reduced had notes attached signed by Judge Boyd, explaining his reason for changing the original sentence. One of those involved a woman who was tried in City Recorder's Court on May 19, 1958, for assault with a deadly weapon, sentenced to Women's Prison in Raleigh for six months, initially sent to county jail, but later in the day had her sentence changed by the judge to probation, suspended for two years on condition that the defendant pay court costs. A note addressed to the clerk at the time, a police lieutenant who had since resigned from the force, and signed by Judge Boyd, had said in part, "I find the woman defendant has six children and no one to take care of them." Another case involved a jail sentence which was suspended, originally imposed on February 25, 1958, with the defendant charged with larceny and given a sentence of 30 days, after which the defendant was committed but later released and placed on probation with a suspended sentence on condition that he pay court costs. In that case, a note from Judge Boyd had said that the man had six children and was in the Normandy invasion of 1944. Another man had appeared in the court on February 4, 1958, charged with hit-and-run and reckless driving, originally sentenced to six months in jail, suspended on payment of $100 plus costs and $125 in damages on the hit-and-run charge, and given six months suspended on the payment of $100 plus costs on the reckless driving charge. A note on the file showed that the defendant's sentence had been executed on February 6, two days after the trial, presumably because he could not pay the fine and damages, but then on February 8, the sentences in both cases were reduced, with the $125 in damages ordered stricken from the hit-and-run charge and the $100 fine reduced to $50, and the $100 fine on the reckless driving charge also reduced to $50.
Another winner had been announced in the newspaper's Social Security Game for the week ending June 27, with four of the five $10 prizewinners also claiming their prizes before the prior Tuesday afternoon deadline, the winning numbers having been listed in the prior Saturday's newspaper. Noon this date had been the deadline for entering the present week's contest, the winning numbers again to be listed in the Saturday edition. Be sure, if you are an organized crime figure or just an ordinary crime figure, to pay careful attention so that you might be able to change your identity when needed.
In London, it was reported that the sentry of the Horse Guards, who had broken tradition by speaking and calling a professional guide a "liar" and then telling the person to "move on", had, for daring to talk back, his health drunk to this date by a Brigade of Queen Elizabeth's Household. The sentry's commanding officer, a direct descendant of England's Iron Duke, the Duke of Wellington, said that they were convinced that there were extenuating circumstances causing the 21-year old sentry to speak to the 63-year old London guide, a veteran of two world wars, that he had simply lost his temper as the guide was conducting a party of 34 American tourists around the showplaces of London. The sentry said that the guide had said that one of the sentry's boots was made of patent leather, when they were actually made of the finest leather. The guide had also said that his trousers were plastic when they were actually of the finest buckskin one could buy. He had then said that they did not even have to clean their own gear, which really got under the skin of the sentry, as he had been polishing his breastplate for over an hour. When his commanding officer heard his explanation, the charges were dismissed. Another trooper said that they put up with a lot, as people stood in front of them, stared at them and made all kinds of remarks, some of them very rude. "We are human beings after all and we get fed up." Just give them the Rockefeller salute and move on. The silent shock value will likely have more impact than words, while preserving your silent tradition. You can also snap the fisted hand quickly into the inside joint of the opposing elbow, with that arm struck suddenly straight heavenward also closed-fisted, all to the same effect.
In Virginia Beach, Va., Paul Duke reports that he did not believe that a person drowning had vivid flashes of his entire life moments prior to death, as some had hypothesized. He suggests that at that point, the mind was much too busy with what was basic at hand, preservation of its life. He spoke from experience as he had gone through such a struggle on Wednesday, as the holiday weekend crowd had begun checking into the miles of hotels running along the ocean off Virginia Beach. It had been 90 degrees, a perfect day for dipping in the Atlantic. Following a morning swim, he had rented a small float to zip over the waves as kids did, and had paddled about 150 feet out from shore, which he realized after the fact had been a mistake. For some minutes he had lain on the float as it rocked gently amid the waves, and suddenly, a big wave had heaved the float into the air and him into the water. As he reached out to pull himself back, he felt a sudden, excruciating tightening in his left leg, a cramp. With great effort, he had pulled himself onto the float only to be hit by a second wave that sent him spinning back into the sea. He had sought to find the bottom, but it was not there. Frantically, working with both of his arms and one leg, he fought his way back to the surface. His lungs felt as if they would explode. "The ocean's salt seemed to be draining inside me. The cramped leg was like an anchor." He lurched for the float, caught one end and sought to pull himself onto it, found that his brain was behaving as if it were sending out thousands of SOS signals to all parts of his body, each giving the order to "fight, fight, fight." He had sought to float and sideswim, but could not as his strength seemed gone. At that point, the terrifying thought had struck him that he was going to die. With what stamina he had left, he had yelled for help to persons within 75 feet of him, laughing and frolicking in the surf, with hundreds of others on the shore. But no one heard his cries. He waved and yelled again, but still no one saw him or heard him. He saw a man swimming to his left and shouted as loud as he could with his energy ebbing. The man had heard him and within seconds he was at his side helping him onto the raft and then with his strong arms, pulling him to safety. The cramp had disappeared by the time they reached the beach, and he flopped from exhaustion. When he sat up a few minutes later and looked around for his rescuer, he had disappeared. Since that point, he had walked up and down the beach for miles, hoping to find the man, who had given him his first name or last name, and had asked at hotels and restaurants, lifeguards and dozens of others, but still could not locate him. He concludes that there was not much he could do other than to "offer humble thanks for the greatest turn one man can do another—save his life."
As indicated previously, we once had a similar experience off a remote part of the beach at Acapulco, while apparently testing our Timex
On the editorial page, "The Declaration of Independence" sets forth verbatim the document.
"Where Are Ballot Boxes the Safest?" indicates that post-election storage of nine Cabarrus County ballot boxes in the Cannon Mills had become the subject of much comment and suspicion during the recount of votes in the House race there, which had wound up a tie in the primary.
It indicates that although the practice appeared to be traditional, no one seemed to think highly of it when the contents of the boxes had to be recounted, with the county receiving an editorial lecture on the necessity of taking all steps possible to keep the electoral process above suspicion.
It finds it a good point for both Cabarrus and Mecklenburg, though there had been no complaint in the latter about the traditional practice of having registrars take ballot boxes home with them after the votes were counted. It indicates that to the best of its knowledge, there been no cause for any complaint, as the registrars were under oath, the boxes were sealed and the seals were signed, requiring a clever culprit to tamper with the contents without being found out.
But the practice could lead to suspicion and in the event of a recount, could become problematic, and so might be worth the effort and expense required to collect all the boxes on election night and put them under lock and key on public property rather than have them scattered about in various private homes of the registrars. It finds that such a practice ought at least receive review from local election officials.
"B. F. Matthews: Man of Two Cities" indicates that Benjamin Franklin Matthews had lived a long and productive life in two cities, both named Charlotte, the old Charlotte where businessmen ambled home for lunch along almost empty streets, and the new Charlotte where lunch time could be an unwanted complication in a hectic day.
Mr. Matthews, who had died on Wednesday of a heart attack at age 75, had known both cities intimately and helped to fashion the new one from the old as one of the trusted and reliable lieutenants of the late William Henry Belk, making him one of Charlotte's most respected businessmen.
Both Mr. Matthews and the city were marked by an energetic interest in the growth of sound institutions, churches as well as stores. All through his rise to prominence in the South as a merchant, he had served as a Presbyterian elder and a member or officer of a large number of local civic organizations. Cities always outlasted their builders and nearly always outgrew them. But Charlotte had never outgrown Mr. Matthews and when he had died during the week, he had still been serving his business and his community, and would be missed.
"Give Griffith a 'Day' Any Old Time" indicates that some community in the state would give anyone who was a first at anything a "day" in their honor, as that was the way it was with North Carolinians.
It thus finds that an "Andy
Griffith Day" would be a happy event which it would like to
celebrate if he were to come to Charlotte again. For Mr. Griffith had
brought to television, Broadway and Hollywood a freshness long
needed, and one particularly welcomed from the South and to the
South. It finds that he typified Southern humor, "rich, warm,
unpretentious and meaningful
It indicates that Mr. Griffith had remained a good Tar Heel while abroad the land, with no homes at Malibu or Palm Springs, Manteo, N.C., on the coast being good enough for him. "And Griffith is good anywhere."
A piece from the Wall Street Journal, titled "The Nineteenth Hole", indicates that it had been reported that an enterprising helicopter service was offering Chicago golfers the advantages of the nineteenth hole all over the course, that for a sum, the helicopter would hover above the links and when a foursome displayed a signal, a pretty hostess with a tray of drinks would alight from the helicopter when it landed nearby.
It suggests it as a publicity stunt and doubts that it would ever actually come to be, for one thing because it transgressed safety rules of most golf courses, that the nineteenth hole was definitely not to be played with clubs, as it was the hole where one's partner's mistakes on all of the other 18 were corrected, usually with some heat. Another reason was that the service was incomplete, as there were hazards of negotiating a golf course which offered a martini at every tee, as they would have to offer someone to keep count of the strokes as well as the drinks, and there was no doubt that the jokers would call that person a tee-totaler.
Drew Pearson indicates that it was the 182nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, establishing a new nation dedicated to the principle that all men were created free and equal, not a popular concept at the time, so unpopular that the young ladies of Philadelphia had hissed at the young men who were the Founders, when they passed along Market Street. For four days after the Declaration had been signed, it was not published, and the Liberty Bell did not ring out until July 8, because the ragtag band of freedom fighters had known that if they were too hasty, they would pay for their crusade with their necks.
The country against which they struggled at the time was now the country's ally and both nations were engaged in a battle to protect the original concepts of freedom and extend them around the world. The tools now included propaganda, the ability to win nations through diplomacy, and the weight of scientific military might.
He posits that the nation had entered the struggle cocky and confident, giving advice freely to the world, certain that it could triumph with one hand tied behind its back, so confident that it had driven scientists from the Government and nullified the very freedoms for which the forefathers had fought.
Certain Senators had engaged in the big witchhunt so intensively and the country had been so busy looking under beds for bogeymen, that it neglected the scientific advance of the bogeymen abroad. Several crises had occurred since the war and the country had dealt with them with words and not deeds, while threatening "massive retaliation" at a time when the world knew, and the U.S. should have known, that it would not blithely risk setting the world on fire with massive atomic war.
The U.S. had warned that it would use force if necessary to stop Communist aggression in Indo-China, and Vice-President Nixon had even told the American newspaper editors in spring, 1954 that it would send troops to Indo-China, and yet when the Communist Chinese continued to march into Indo-China, the U.S. had done nothing except have the Vice-President make a speech in Cincinnati a week later, telling the public that everything was all right.
The world had known, however, even though the American public did not know, that everything was not all right and that the bluff had been called in Indo-China.
Later, as a march against freedom began penetrating the Middle East, the U.S. had vacillated, first, in November, 1956, rescuing the dictator of a country, Egyptian Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser, which had been piling up enough Russian arms in the Sinai Desert to conquer all of the region, and then a year later reversing the policy and providing for aid to all freedom-seeking friends under the so-called "Eisenhower Doctrine".
Now, as beleaguered Lebanon wanted that aid, the country had advised it privately but emphatically not to seek it, that the U.S. did not want to be placed on the spot.
He suggests that perhaps the Eisenhower Doctrine, offering aid to countries in the Middle East who requested it to ward off aggression from the outside, should not have been put forward, but once a pledge had been made by a great nation, it had to keep its word or lose its position of greatness. It had been Britain's failure at Munich in 1938 to keep its word to the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia which had tipped the scales of world prestige and sent Britain into the status of a second-class power.
At home, there were still the great concepts of freedom handed down from the Founders, but he questions whether the people practiced them. Though the witchhunts and fear complex of the McCarthy era had passed, a new moral standard in the White House had been set up which made a mockery of the morals preached to other governments—referring to the Sherman Adams matter.
All over Asia and Africa at present, in the little countries the U.S. was trying to help and educate, and all over America in the county tax boards, highway commissions and local police, there were those who said essentially that they were getting away with it in the White House and thus asking why could they not get away with it.
Despite that complex, millions of Americans would continue to fight for those freedoms which the forefathers had brought forth in 1776 and for which they had been hissed and booed by the young ladies of Philadelphia as they passed along Market Street.
Marquis Childs, in Moscow, indicates that American tourists in increasing numbers were visiting Russia during the summer, with the total expected to reach 3,000 and likely to be at least twice that number the following year should the Soviets continue to encourage visitors by granting visas with a minimum of red tape. (It would be the following fateful year in which Lee Harvey Oswald would defect to Russia.)
Many of the Americans were present on business or were part of delegations arranged under the cultural exchange agreement negotiated between the U.S. and Russia. Seven American female doctors had just completed a tour and a delegation from the American plastics industry was having a look at certain aspects of Soviet industry. (There is a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?)
But some of the visitors were just tourists seeing the sights. Five years hence, he suggests, it might be as commonplace as visiting Paris or Rome, but at present, the American in Moscow for the first time had somewhat the feeling of having penetrated into the vastness of Tibet and the lamissary of the Grand Lama. That tourist read John Gunther's Inside Russia Today and spent a few sleepless nights until his passport was returned. A retired Detroit manufacturer had told his Intourist guide on the second day that he was scared to death when he arrived, convinced that every other Russian was prepared to rob him or cut his throat, that he was still not sure, but at least had survived thus far and was beginning to look around in puzzled wonderment at the people who were behaving in a fairly normal way.
Some experienced travelers were beginning to arrive, always on deluxe ships and staying in the deluxe hotels. The impression which they took away was an unhappy one, as the eggs at breakfast were cold and even the caviar did not live up to their expectations. Their attitude was that the Russians might be able to send up Sputniks but could not run properly a hotel, and he posits that when they returned and lectured the Women's Club or Rotary on their experiences under Communism, they were likely to contribute to the American sense of superiority. The most sensible and hard-headed American tourists which Mr. Childs had encountered had been nine G.I.'s who had driven in from Frankfurt, West Germany, in three Volkswagens, intensely interested in everything they saw while at the same time were questioning and skeptical. They had been met at the Polish-Russian border by three Intourist guides, one for each car, who had ridden with them to Moscow and accompanied them on all the sightseeing tours. The guides, two men and a woman, were also young and they and the visitors were quickly ingratiated to each other. But when it came to arguing politics, the young Americans found themselves against a stone wall. One of them told of one of their arguments with a guide, in which they had said they loved their country the way the guides loved their country but did not see everything their country did as right because they knew it wasn't and were willing to make concessions, while the guides claimed that everything Russia did was right. He had asked the guide if he loved his wife and if he thought she was a wonderful woman, and he responded that he thought she was the most wonderful woman in the world. He then asked whether or not she made mistakes, and the guide admitted that she did, but nevertheless said it was not the same with his country, that they could not get anywhere without it.
Mr. Childs indicates that to argue politics with an Intourist guide was an exercise in futility because his or her indoctrination at least matched that of a member of the Politboro, but, nevertheless, might be a healthy thing to undertake to achieve some understanding and knowledge of how wide the ideological differences were between the two sides. He finds that the curiosity of Soviet citizens upon seeing a foreigner, particularly one who was apparently from America, was at least equal to that of the visitor from the outside. The natives stopped and stared, sometimes able to speak broken English to provide a friendly greeting. When the privileged foreign visitor was placed ahead of a long queue waiting to get into the Lenin-Stalin mausoleum or to make purchases at the big Gum Department store, the Russians did not indicate resentment.
Tourists were not an unmixed blessing and the number in Russia would never be large, as the facilities were not presently adequate for any great number despite the addition of 1,200 rooms to the new Hotel Ukraine, the largest in Europe. Much of the available space was taken by official delegations, most of whom were from the Communist bloc countries and the neutral countries.
While the tourist who came for ten days might qualify as an expert before the Rotary Club upon returning home, the Westerner who was present on a more or less permanent basis better understood the nation, though living in an enclave staked out for foreigners. All of his contacts had to be on an official basis and if present for a year or two or longer, he felt that he knew less about more. The permanent resident felt for the wide-eyed visitor pitying contempt, that if only the visitor would stay longer, he would know how much he did not know. Yet, if the tourist took away no more than a small view of the Russian people, he might have made a contribution, however small, to the vast problem of existing together in an incredibly dangerous world.
Doris Fleeson tells of Nelson Rockefeller, running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in New York, to contest Governor Averell Harriman in the fall, which she regards as a move as potentially significant politically as it was personally interesting. When the Rockefellers wanted something, they planned, pressed and pushed in intelligent, farsighted and comprehensive ways for it. Such had been noticed years earlier when newspaperman Joseph Patterson, touring the Rockefeller Center complex during its construction in the heart of Manhattan, remarked upon the movie palace, beautiful nightclub and other activities combined with the excellent office buildings: "When they legalize gambling halls in New York, the Rockefellers will have the best."
Mr. Rockefeller had served in the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower Administrations and his community service interests were too long to list, rooted in nearly every phase of New York life. No other candidate had ever appeared on the scene, not just with ideas and some experience regarding state issues, but also with a presidential platform tailored to the needs of the future. The Rockefeller Reports recently released had dealt with defense, foreign aid, education, economics, and were still being issued.
The founder of the family fortune, John D. Rockefeller, would probably not have given anything for the lot of them, but would have sensed the value of the press which they were receiving and their influence on the thinking of government policymakers.
The Republican Party had never needed fresh faces and ideas more than at present, serving well Nelson Rockefeller. The party was seeking an identity suited to a country which was changing from small towns, widespread farms and the pioneer West to an urbanized country whose changing social patterns still battled and bewildered many of its citizens. The tasks of the cities, which she regards as the present frontiers of democracy, were an old story to the Rockefellers. Billions of dollars for defense did not frighten them, as they had been dealing in billions for decades.
She indicates that none of it meant that New York Republicans would embrace Mr. Rockefeller or make a place for him. He was in a race against a popular politician's politician, former RNC chairman Leonard Hall, and other able politicians of the state Republican Party were not ready to yield to either Mr. Rockefeller or Mr. Hall. Political organizations liked men whom they knew and who knew them, finding little enthusiasm for ideas which had not been tested at the polls and found popular. Unlike New York Democrats, who had repeatedly capitalized on their recruits from the professional and intellectual classes, and the ranks of the millionaires, New York Republicans had failed through the years to use their political aristocracy in elective campaigns. Instead, the state Republicans had made its politicians too servile to big business interests who supported the party.
Now, the biggest business of all had come forward with one of its own, bearing its own name and carrying its banner high. Mr. Rockefeller and his party, she suggests, were in for a time of testing.
A letter writer says that she did not wish to see the flag changed with the admission of Alaska to the union, but submits her idea for a new flag, which would place 49 blue stars on the first white stripe, attracting attention as the flag was flown. She suggests that the stars would be a very bright electric blue and the stars might be placed on every white stripe instead of only on one.
Two hundred and ninety-four stars? She may have fallen through a hole in the flag. In any event, we hope it does not give Trump another hare-brained notion to change the flag also, as he attempts to place his big, fat ugly stamp on virtually everything, like a territorial dog. They will have to fumigate the White House when he finally leaves—again—, and it may take months to remove all of his vandalization and ridiculous changes for the sake of it.
A letter writer from Rock Hill, S.C., comments on an editorial, "Faubus Can Have the Brooklyn Bridge", and especially on its statement as to what had made Averell Harriman and Governor Faubus so chummy. She suggests that the editors had "missed the pernt", that Governor Harriman could not afford to stand aside when New Yorkers honored the nine Little Rock students who had sought to desegregate Central High School the previous year. She asks whether the newspaper would expect Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin or Governor Faubus to miss an opportunity to berate Governor Harriman before a White Citizens Council. She finds that Northern politicians, as with Southern politicians attempting to show who was stronger on segregation, had to show who was the better desegregationist, and she thinks Mr. Harriman's apt description of Governor Faubus fell in that category. It proved that there was little hope that a peaceful settlement of the race issue would ever come from politicians.
The editors note: "That was our 'pernt.'"
A letter writer indicates that many people they saw at present could not be trusted, that words appeared empty of meaning in the present world, such that a person did not know who was honest. She indicates that when a Christian walked with the Lord in the light of His word, he could be trusted, but so many sold their honor and their integrity on the auction block, while a true Christian's word was unchangeable and his promises always kept. "Their statements need no support from the underworld to make them durable and impressive." She indicates that people who worshiped money and who were dishonest would do anything for money, but sooner or later, were always found out.
A letter writer from Kirkwood, Mo., Cyril Clemens, editor of the Mark Twain Journal—who had written the newspaper on occasion earlier—indicates again that he was editing the anecdotes of his kinsman, Samuel Clemens, and would like to hear from readers who might share anecdotes, jokes and stories dealing with him.
Well, there was this one time back there in the primordial times when we and old Marky, as we called him, were plying the Mississippi together on one stormy, dark night, when up jumped the fiercest monster you ever saw...
Framed Edition
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