The Charlotte News
Friday, January 23, 1959
ONE EDITORIAL
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy had told a House Appropriations subcommittee this date, "The nation is prepared to meet the threat it faces today." Defending the Administration's 40.9 billion dollar defense budget for the coming fiscal year, Mr. McElroy said in prepared testimony: "Our forces are fairly capable of carrying out their assigned missions and will continue to have this capability during the period covered by this budget. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have gone on record with me that they consider this budget adequate to provide for the essential programs necessary for the defense of the nation for the period under consideration." He was the first witness as the subcommittee began probably two months of hearings on the budget. He was accompanied by General Nathan Twining, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and W. J. McNeil, Assistant Defense Secretary. His assurance that the defense budget was adequate obviously stemmed from doubts expressed by some subcommittee members that the proposed military spending was insufficient. Among those who had voiced such misgivings had been Representative George Mahon of Texas, chairman of the subcommittee, who told newsmen that he feared the budget "may have been shaved too close." During the previous year, Mr. McElroy had told the committee that the U.S. had made good progress in the fields of missile development, defense against missile attacks, and antisubmarine warfare. He had said that manned bombers would continue to be an important element of the nation's retaliatory forces for several years to come and that money would be needed for more B-52 intercontinental jet bombers, B-58 supersonic medium bombers and the supporting KC-135 jet tankers. He said that the Defense Department had been working for many years on development of nuclear propulsion for aircraft and that it was of the opinion that the project ought continue to be geared to valid technical and military consideration despite the "psychological advantages which might accrue to the nation which first flies a true nuclear-powered aircraft." No significant reduction in active duty military personnel were planned, according to the Secretary, with active duty strength of 2,520,000 projected for the end of fiscal year 1960.
In Havana, it was reported that the
defendant in the first showcase war crimes trial
In Havana, it was reported by
Associated Press correspondent William Glover that in the Sports
Palace in the trial of former operatives of fled dictator Batista, a
man in a rebel uniform said through loudspeakers: "This is not a
Roman circus
A massive cold wave had cut across the Eastern half of the nation this date in the wake of the winter's most severe and destructive weather, which had left 88 dead and thousands homeless in 14 states from New Mexico to the Eastern Seaboard. Storms abated and floods in some areas appeared to be easing, but the violent mid-winter snow, sleet and rain storms and floods had left many sections staggering. Conditions were in the disaster stage in some of the flood-stricken areas. Although the influx of cold weather appeared to be lessening, the flood danger in some of the five hardest hit states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky and Indiana, remained as thousands continued homeless. The cold also added to the suffering and downstate communities were still threatened by further damage and evacuations.
In Pittston, Pa., crews had sought this date to stop the rain-swollen Susquehanna River from pouring its freezing waters into a nearby anthracite mine where 12 miners were either trapped or drowned. Thirty-three other miners had escaped when the rushing water had suddenly eaten a hole into the Knox Coal Co. tunnel at nearby Port Griffith just before noon on Thursday. One miner said that they had never heard the water come in at all, that it was "just there". Seven men, some aided by a map of the complicated miles of ancient coal tunnels, had escaped by climbing an airshaft several hundred yards upstream from the hole. Twenty-six others had wandered through the maze of tunnels in waist-deep water for seven hours before a rescue team had found and brought them to safety through the airshaft. There were fears that mines down the valley might have to be closed, causing hundreds of miners to be without work.
In New York, it was reported that police this date had one solid clue, a woman's handwriting, in the kidnaping of an ailing, 23-day old child from a West Side apartment the previous day, the second baby abduction in the current year. A specimen of the kidnaper's handwriting had been obtained in the form of a note written at the mother's request before the latter had left on a wild goose-chase for a nonexistent Bronx apartment. In the note, the female kidnaper, said to be pregnant, had written what she represented to be her name, address and telephone number. Police assumed that the name was fictitious after finding that the address was fake. The phone number turned out to be an unlisted one and that of persons not possibly involved in the case, according to police. In view of reports that the kidnaper was an expectant mother, the handwritten note was to be used in a canvass of hospital records and medical offices. Police and the FBI had teamed up in the all-night search of the area from which the infant had disappeared. The grief-stricken father had broadcast a radio and television appeal for return of their baby. The distraught mother said that she had met the woman on Wednesday at Metropolitan Hospital, where she had taken the little boy for treatment of a cold. The mother said that the woman had given her name as Mrs. Gladys Garcia and told her that she was receiving prenatal care at the hospital. The mother said that she was changing the boy's diaper when the woman came over and helped her. It was raining and the woman gave the mother and her baby a ride back home in a taxi. The mother said that she and the other woman had discussed the difficulties of raising a family in cramped quarters. She quoted the woman as saying that she might be able to help find a better apartment for the family and the mother said that she appeared at her second-floor apartment during the afternoon the previous day and gave her an address of a "good" apartment in The Bronx, but advised her to get there quickly. Accompanied by a family friend, the mother went to the Bronx address, which turned out to be that of a post office. She then hurried back to her apartment and found the woman and her infant gone.
Also in New York, it was reported
that detectives posing as out-of-town professional men had raided a
well-furnished Manhattan apartment the previous night and arrested
four women on vice charges. Five businessmen had been found in the
apartment but had not been arrested. The raid had been led by Deputy
Police Commissioner James R. Kennedy, who was heading a police probe
into the call girl racket, touched off by allegations made on a
nationwide radio program the prior Monday night, presented by Edward
R. Murrow on CBS. Mr. Kennedy, who had entered the apartment in the
raid with five detectives, said that the establishment had been
operating for about six months, furnishing girls at fees ranging
between $50 and $100. The raid was on a $250 per month, three-room
apartment on the west side. Police said that detectives, who had made
a telephone date by using a password, had gained access to the
apartment easily, two of them at first. The first detective, posing
as good time Charlies willing to spend $50 each, showed up by
appointment at the apartment occupied by a redheaded woman, 50, who
was 5'4" tall and weighed 200 pounds. In the apartment
In Charlotte, it was reported that yeggs had a busy time the previous night in Mecklenburg County, as three safes in the city had been ripped open and robbed and a 300-pound safe carted away in the county. A County Police lieutenant said that burglars had broken into the Huntersville Ford Motor Co. and hauled the safe out a side door. The safe was said to contain $250 in cash and payroll checks. Fire marks had been found outside the building. The Johnson Coal and Oil Co. had been robbed of $65 in cash in Charlotte when robbers ripped open a large safe. According to police, papers were scattered all over the floor. The Patterson Coal and Oil Co. had its safe knocked open and $58 taken. The entrance to the building had been made through an office window. The Sawan Wholesale Seed Co. had $20 stolen from its safe, entrance having been made to the building by knocking out a window on the north side.
The Charlotte News had won four awards in the 1958 North Carolina Press Awards Contest, announced the previous night in Chapel Hill at the Press Association meeting. First and second place awards in editorial writing, a second-place award in sports writing, and a third-place award in the community service division had been won by staff of the newspaper. Cecil Prince, the editor, had received an award for first place in editorial writing, based on three editorials: "A New South: Not So Wild a Dream", reprinted on the editorial page this date, "UNC Must Reassert Its Leadership in a Region Torn by New Turmoil", and a series on the City's Recorder's Court. The judge of his writing had said: "The writer of these editorials shows exceptional versatility… The effective use of these different techniques, to accomplish different purposes, is rarely found on editorial pages, probably because it demands rare talent." Perry Morgan, presently on leave of absence from his position as associate editor, had won second place in editorial writing for the editorials: "Bumper Crop of Tar Heel Eggheads Is Needed for Our Future Freedom", (appearing in late 1957), and for a series on the Supreme Court and the South, plus for a series on nature. The judge had said of his editorials: "This writer's … editorials are thoughtfully and competently done… His Nature series … are beautifully-turned little essays…" Bob Quincy, the sports editor, was awarded second place in sports writing for the editorial: "Exchange between Peahead Walker and Frank Howard", referring to the former football coach of Wake Forest and the current coach of Clemson, respectively. (There was more to it, but you can get the gist from those entries.) The third-place community service award had been won for the series of reports on the investigation of the City Recorder's Court by police reporter John Kilgo and reporter Ann Sawyer. The story indicates that the newspaper had long been prominent for the excellence of its editorial page and prior to the current awards, it had won five first-place awards in that division starting in 1950, plus two second-place awards and two third-place and four honorable mention awards. Mr. Prince had also won the first-place award for editorial writing in 1956, also winning second-place that year, and had won third-place in 1955. Mr. Morgan had won third-place in 1957.
The News Spotlite Series
would begin on Monday a presentation of five articles titled
"Searchlight on Murder", focusing on a tragic social
problem in the country, that there was a murder every 45 minutes.
Many homicides made the newspaper headlines and almost all of them
raised the question as to why they were occurring. The series would
bring forth the latest findings of social pathologists on the
subject, the reasons why slayings were increasing and what the
society ought be doing about it. The author of the series was Dr.
Ralph S. Banay, the former director of the psychiatric clinic at New
York State's Sing Sing Prison. He was a well-known criminologist and
cited the forces which contributed to the increase in murders,
suggesting what could be done at home, in school, at church and in
society at large to reduce violent aggression
In Memphis, following a recent performance of "The Seven Year Itch" by the Little Theater, a spectator had protested that the play was set in New York and that therefore actor Al Gresham was dialing the wrong number for long distance, having dialed 211 instead of 110.
In Detroit it was reported that a bar operator had returned from a fruitless chase of a man who stole his coat on Thursday, and found that a second thief in the meantime had rifled the cash drawer and taken $115.
On the editorial page, "A New South: Not So Wild a Dream" reprints an editorial by Cecil Prince which had been one of several by him selected by the North Carolina Press Association as representative of the best editorial writing in daily newspapers of over 20,000 circulation in the state during 1958. The editorial had originally appeared on September 16. First prize had gone to Mr. Prince, and second prize had been awarded to associate editor Perry Morgan. The News had won first place in editorial writing in six of the previous nine years, in 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956 and 1958.
A piece from the New York Herald Tribune, titled "Poor Little CWMLLYNFELL", indicates that sad news had come from London, that in Sunday suits and cloth caps, singing their native Welsh songs, 150 coal miners from Cwmllynfell had arrived at the capital seeking a reprieve for their small Swansea Valley village. Its 3,000 residents lived by mining and now the National Coal Board, harassed by losses, planned to close the nationalized but uneconomic pits. With the pits closed, there would be no work and the town would probably vanish.
The piece suggests that if the town were called something like Potts Landing, it would be sorry, but it would not seem so poignant. "For there aren't many Cwmllynfells. True, the United States has its Ochopee, Opelousas, and Ocoee, its Zelienople, Zumbrota, Zumwalt, and Zwolle, and Hohokus. And it's not as if Wales were faced with the loss of Gwyddgrug [and other oddly spelled towns which you may read for yourself]. But still, we'd hate to see even a Cwmllynfell die."
Drew Pearson indicates that a significant aspect of the private lunch which five American labor leaders had given for Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan of the Soviet Union had been that two of them had fought vigorous battles against Communists inside their own unions. Walter Reuther at one time had faced a strong left-wing, partly pro-Communist movement inside the UAW, while James Carey of the Electrical Workers had battled against pro-Communist leaders and a rival union, and had charged that General Electric and International Harvester had been soft toward Communists.
Both Mr. Reuther and Mr. Carey had tried to sound out Mr. Mikoyan regarding the Berlin crisis. The latter had said, "What we want is a free Berlin, dominated only by the German people." Mr. Reuther had replied, "In that case, wouldn't it be well to let the German people determine their own fate? In the last election in West Berlin, the Communists polled less votes than ever before." Mr. Mikoyan said in response that in East Berlin, it was the other way. Mr. Reuther replied that it was understandable because the people of East Berlin had no choice, with only one party for which to vote. The latter had added that if Russia tried to take over West Berlin, it would be violating the "corridor" established by Soviet General Zhukov and General Eisenhower at the end of World War II. Mr. Reuther said that the U.S. was standing behind that agreement and that Russia had an equal obligation.
Mr. Carey had drawn a frank admission from Mr. Mikoyan that the Soviet trade unions had made mistakes, and then said that Russia was making the same mistake in Berlin that it had made with Soviet trade unions, capturing the World Federation of Trade Unions and thereby forcing the CIO and the British Trade Union Congress out of the WFTU. Mr. Mikoyan had replied that the Russian trade union movement had made a mistake and had made other mistakes during that time, but that two neighbors who had made mistakes in the past ought not let their past mistakes dominate their future.
When asked about Kremlin shakeups which had deposed former Premier Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet secret police chief Ivan Serov, and others, Mr. Mikoyan said: "We did the right thing in making these changes. The ones you mention were not serving the people's government. Now, I have a question for you gentlemen: why don't more American labor leaders like yourselves visit the Soviet Union? Adlai Stevenson has paid us a visit. So have members of Congress and a number of your business leaders. But we would like to welcome more representatives of American labor." He added as an afterthought: "Since we are being frank with each other, it is sometimes difficult for me to understand why American labor leaders are so much more vitriolic than your capitalists in condemning Communism. Capitalists come to Russia in droves. Yet, it is sometimes difficult to understand why your business leaders seem anxious to establish good relations with my country, while labor leaders in the United States are so bitter against us."
Joseph Beirne of the Communications Workers said that perhaps if they could go where they wanted to go without so many restrictions, more labor leaders would visit Russia. Mr. Reuther had added that Mr. Mikoyan spoke of the opposition of American labor and that he was right, that there were over 550,000 working people in his union and it would be impossible to convince them that the Russian standard of living was better than the American standard. Mr. Mikoyan had said that he knew about the high standard of living in America and would want to bring living standards for his own working people up to that level.
William Doherty, president of the Letter Carriers, had said that he had spent some time in Russia in his youth, working as a telegraph operator on the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railroads. The column does not indicate what he said otherwise.
Joseph Alsop indicates that since the President had just passed the halfway point of his second term, any successor to him in the event of resignation or death would be limited to only one full term after completing any remainder of the existing term. He indicates that if the President were to retire immediately, the vast majority of Republicans would be unable to contain their joy. The previous year, only the frankest Congressional and organization Republicans would have admitted their desire for the President to leave voluntarily. But now, there were few who were not open about the desire, albeit only in private. The only person who would be truly upset if he left were the former bitter-enders for the late Senator Robert Taft in 1952, fearing that the Vice-President would be a "spender". Meanwhile, the Eisenhower Republicans would be less grieved than anyone else if the President stepped aside.
No Republican, however, in their right senses thought the President would retire, unless his health took an unexpected turn for the worse. The President's pride and the pleas of his entourage would keep him on the job as long as he was capable of doing it. Those who desired his leaving really were talking about the lack of leadership and the hope that the Vice-President would reinvigorate the party and give it a fair chance to win in 1960.
Mr. Alsop finds that under those circumstances, it was ironic that the same Republican politicians were also muttering that maybe Mr. Nixon would not be nominated after all unless he became President before the 1960 convention. Yet it was another significant fact that Mr. Nixon's grip on the 1960 nomination was not nearly as unshakable as it once had been. One obvious reason for that change, he posits, was the emergence of a major rival in the form of Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York. The other reason was the bad news for Mr. Nixon in recent public opinion polls. He suggests that far too much had been made of Governor Rockefeller's threat to the Vice-President and far too little had been made of the threat from the pollsters. Mr. Nixon, himself, had never concealed his opinion that "the polls beat Bob Taft" by making it appear that "Taft was a sure loser." Since Mr. Nixon held that view, he likely was particularly impressed by the recent Gallup poll which showed that he would receive only 38 percent of the vote in a presidential matchup against Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, whom the poll showed would receive 49 percent, with 14 percent undecided. Thus, Mr. Nixon had done worse than Senator Taft, when in June, 1952, the same poll showed the latter at 41 percent against 50 percent for Senator Estes Kefauver, with 9 percent undecided. (Of course, the actual Democratic nominee in 1952 had been Adlai Stevenson.)
Mr. Alsop indicates that it was still early to be worrying about polling results, but if the pollsters continued to find that Mr. Nixon was a weaker candidate than Senator Taft had been, then trouble could be expected, especially if the polls showed Governor Rockefeller doing better than Mr. Nixon against potential Democratic rivals.
Mr. Nixon had always said that a front runner such as himself, being well-known to the country, was especially vulnerable to bad polling news. Politicians would not provide the front runner the benefit of the doubt while tending to be more merciful to other candidates because those candidates, being less widely familiar, had a better chance to come from behind through intensive nationwide campaigning. If he decided to seek the nomination, Governor Rockefeller would no doubt argue that he had a particularly good chance to come from behind because he had come from so far behind with such spectacular success in the gubernatorial race against incumbent Governor Averell Harriman.
He indicates that adding to those facts was that always behind-the-scenes organizer for Mr. Nixon, former Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey, and further that Governor Rockefeller, rather than Mr. Dewey, would now control the large New York delegation at the convention, would leave the organizer Mr. Dewey without a home base. Mr. Alsop finds that the last months had dealt some hard blows to Mr. Nixon but that the odds were still favoring his nomination by at least 2 to 1. "But what seemed an absolutely sure thing before [the midterm] election is by no means a sure thing today."
Doris Fleeson indicates that Senator Lyndon Johnson's pilot model of the presidency had taken off Tuesday "with civil rights gas in its tanks", as liberals promptly questioned the high-octane quality of the Senator's fuel, while admitting it contained every ingredient which the Eisenhower mixers were planning to put into their civil rights propellant.
The Majority Leader's actions had followed by a few hours a trial spin in the labor field by Senator John F. Kennedy, "seeking some presidential altitude with last year's model which Republicans voted down in the House."
Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona had plaintively announced that within the ensuing few days, the President would send the Congress a much faster and stronger vehicle for labor reform. The effect of a strong Congressional initiative, which the President had to follow or veto, remained. It was the deliberate strategy of the Johnson leadership and would be pursued in a variety of other fields, including space and defense.
"New frontiers and sweeping reforms play no part in Johnson's grand design. He argues that they are presently impossible and would only give the President plausible grounds for the vetoes. Republicans say he will hurl at 'Democratic spending.'"
Senator Johnson was seeking legislation of immediate appeal, with the scope and cost sufficiently restricted so that the President would have a hard time vetoing it. While his Senate majority was impressive, it would still be difficult to muster the two-thirds needed to override a veto.
She posits that how the emerging contest would end could not be safely predicted. The White House was lethargic and its attitude was largely negative, but its latent executive powers still remained. Congress made it plain that as an Administration and as Republicans, the Eisenhower forces were up against an aggressive, inventive and resourceful leadership. The President himself was coming under an attack which was scarcely veiled by the insistence that no personal offense was meant. To date, Republicans had not devised a newer answer than "I like Ike", which had met the case during the long Eisenhower honeymoon.
That which Senator Johnson was primarily creating was excitement in an atmosphere of ferment. Democrats were among the first critics to insist that it was more atmosphere than action, but the contrast between the heavy air at the White House and the air in Congress was all in Senator Johnson's favor. Nor was the American temperament congenial to the veto power as opposed to action and at least seeming progress. The solution of Senator Johnson to the civil rights struggle would not be approved without a fight. The South seemed resigned to it, but there would be attempted amendments and substitute bills to which it would not be resigned. Perhaps Senator Johnson was seeking to press his early triumph further than it would go. The betting was that he would prevail and at least one proven Democratic civil rights advocate was already asking to co-sponsor his bill.
A letter writer indicates that since the U.S. had to stick its long nose in every other country's business, while it was in Cuba, it should invite Fidel Castro to do some purifying for the U.S., by starting in Washington and then New York. "Someday, America will realize our real enemy is right here within this country, not some foreign people as government propagandists would have us believe."
A letter writer indicates that the massive resistance movement by the state of Virginia had collapsed with a "great clatter", according to the recent editorial in the newspaper, but urges not to count Virginia out of the race just yet, as they seemed to have peculiar stamina which unfortunately some North Carolina citizens lacked, in that they knew what they wanted and were fighting for it legally. He indicates that they believed that the Supreme Court had changed the Constitution practically to take away states' rights and thus since the Congress had not enacted the so-called "law of the land", Virginia felt that it must fight for what it earnestly believed in. He suggests that one might accuse them of being "extremist" or narrow in their views on "this integration 'thing'", but that no one could call them hypocrites.
A letter from a representative of the March of Dimes seeks help and cooperation in connection with Charlotte's First Annual Boxing Benefit Show, sponsored by the March of Dimes, to be held on Tuesday, January 27 at Charlotte's Park Center. Nationally known television favorite Randy Sandy would meet popular Walter Irby, whom local fight fans had seen perform many times. She indicates that it was the main event and would last ten rounds. There would also be three other fights on the card. She says that somewhere, there were little children crippled by polio, virus diseases, birth defects and arthritis who would walk and play one day as a result of the cooperative effort which was being put forth in connection with the boxing benefit.
Let us hope that all of the boxers leave the ring able to walk.
Framed Edition
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