The Charlotte News
Monday, December 5, 1955
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from the U.N. in New York that the U.S. had begun its fight this date for General Assembly endorsement of the President's "open sky" inspection plan, whereby the U.S. and the Soviet Union would be able to perform aerial inspections of each other and exchange blueprints on placement of bases, as a means of inspecting future disarmament and enabling a ban of nuclear weapons. Ambassador to the U.N. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., told the Assembly's Political Committee that the plan would eliminate surprise attacks and might "set a seal against war itself." He challenged the Soviets to drop their opposition to the plan before the end of the session the following week and join the West "in a policy of openness which would reassure the world and advance the cause of disarmament." The plan had first been proposed by the President at the Big Four summit conference in Geneva the prior July and Presidential assistant Harold Stassen had urged it before the U.N. big-power disarmament subcommittee. Secretary of State Dulles had mentioned the proposal in the opening policy debate of the U.N. session, but this date was the first opportunity for the U.S. to seek full Assembly approval of the plan, which had been expanded to include the Soviet proposal for ground observers at railway centers and factories. Ambassador Lodge called for the Soviets to join the U.S.-British-French-Canadian sponsored resolution, which would give priority in new disarmament subcommittee debates to the President's plan and to French and British suggestions for inspection and controls.
In Gettysburg, Pa., it was reported by White House press secretary James Hagerty that British Prime Minister Anthony Eden would confer with the President in Washington at the end of January, with it being assumed by observers that they would discuss cold war strategy in light of Russia's return to an openly belligerent attitude, though Mr. Hagerty had declined comment on the subject matter to be discussed. The Foreign Secretary, Harold Macmillan, would accompany the Prime Minister. He and Secretary of State Dulles and the French Foreign Minister, Antoine Pinay, had, in mid-November, concluded the fruitless sessions of the Big Four foreign ministers conference with V. M. Molotov and the Russians in Geneva. The announcement was made while the President was conferring at his farm in Gettysburg with his special assistant in charge of planning for short-of-war contingencies, Nelson Rockefeller. Mr. Hagerty said, however, that there was no connection between that conference and the forthcoming visit of Mr. Eden. He said that the invitation had been extended by the President. The story suggests it as a strong indication that the President was preparing to resume his full role in national and international affairs, having been sidelined since September 24, when he suffered his heart attack.
The President was expected to provide Republican Party policy this date in a growing dispute among Republican leaders over organized labor's proper role in politics, in the wake of the merger of the AFL and CIO, with the President slated to speak this date at the first convention of the merged organization over a closed telephone circuit from Gettysburg. Some Republicans had said that the merged organization would increase the union tendency to support Democrats and would eventually control that party, while other Republicans had stated that organized labor had every right to participate in politics and that the Republicans ought bid with the Democrats for their support. The message by the President reportedly was intended to counteract statements by some Republicans, such as Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, which union officials viewed as being anti-labor. The Senator, head of the Republican Senatorial campaign committee, said in a Washington interview the previous day that the newly merged organization had "no right" to endorse a candidate in the coming presidential campaign, that they would be "infringing on the rights of independent and minority members of their organization if they endorse any presidential candidate." (In your heart, you know he's right…) The President had given considerable thought to his prepared statement, discussing it with Secretary of Labor James Mitchell. AFL-CIO leaders said that they would plan an even greater role for labor in the political process but that unions never would be wedded to any political party.
An Associated Press survey had shown that about 20 percent fewer youngsters were obtaining second shots for polio than had received the first shot of the Salk vaccine, finding that at least 3.6 million children nationwide had received the second shot, while 7.7 million had received the first shot. The second round total was actually higher, however, because some states had not yet compiled their statistics while others had only produced estimates or incomplete results. Surgeon General Leonard Scheele had stated on a television program the previous day that "chances of not getting paralytic polio are improved by about 75 percent" because of the vaccine.
In Montgomery, Ala., Rosa Parks was
fined $10 plus court costs in Police Court this date for violating a
City ordinance requiring racial segregation on city buses, after she
had refused to move at the direction of the bus driver to accommodate
white passengers and was arrested the previous Thursday night.
Starting this date, blacks had begun a boycott
In Atlanta, the Board of Regents of the University system of Georgia this date gave Georgia Tech approval to play the University of Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl football game on January 2, overruling a statement by Governor Marvin Griffin urging all colleges within the University system to refrain from participation in games against opponents with black members of their squads, the University of Pittsburgh having one black member on its football team. The Board's resolution said that all contests within the state of Georgia would be held in conformity with the constitution, laws, customs and traditions of the state, implying maintenance of segregation, but that games played outside the state would be under the laws, customs and traditions of the host state, with a clause adding that: "No contract or agreement shall be entered into for an athletic contest in any state where the circumstances under which it is to be filled are repugnant to the laws, customs, and traditions of the host state." The proposal by the Governor had stimulated during the weekend demonstrations and rioting by Georgia Tech students in Atlanta, at the State Capitol and at the Governor's mansion, with the students burning the Governor in effigy all over the city. Former Governor Herman Talmadge, a proponent of segregation, had declined comment, saying that it was Governor Griffin's business and that he never messed with another man's business. On Saturday night, students at Mercer University in Macon had demonstrated and hanged the Governor in effigy. Early the previous day, an effigy of the Governor was found hanging from a tree near the faculty club on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene. At Baton Rouge, the Southern Gentlemen's organization, a secret pro-segregation society, urged Louisiana Governor Robert Kennon and Sugar Bowl officials to prevent race mixing at the game. George Harris, the 21-year old president of the Georgia Tech student body, had apologized to the Pittsburgh president of the student body and to the students of the University for what he called the Governor's "unwarranted action", indicating, "We are looking forward to seeing your entire team and student body at the Sugar Bowl." The black member of the Pittsburgh football team, Bobby Grier, a reserve senior fullback, said that he was "just sorry the whole thing came up," indicating that he had never run into that kind of thing before, either at home or on the team, and that he was sorry it had happened. A tackle for the team said that the whole team was mad and that nobody was going to have trouble getting them up for the game. Well, it's the Sugar Bowl, and so no one should have to be getting you up for the game, and, moreover, your beef is with the segregationist Governor, not with Georgia Tech, its team or its student body, obviously. So clam it up, Yankee.
In Chicago, police had charged a doctor with murdering his wife after he had admitted giving her sedatives and beating her into unconsciousness, indicating that the doctor had admitted, following several hours of questioning, that he had administered two sedative injections to his wife, then beat her, and then summoned aid four hours afterward. By that time, according to the doctor, her body was cold. Firemen told of arriving at the home of the doctor and his wife in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, on Saturday night at 8:20 and finding the wife on the bedroom floor clad in a nightgown, with the doctor sitting nearby on a bed in his pajamas. The Skokie police chief said that the doctor had been incoherent and lapsed into a coma, and that after spending the night in the hospital under police guard, had been questioned. The doctor told police that he and his wife had quarreled over money and were both in a "highly nervous condition", that his wife had slapped him and he had then slapped her, having then given her an injection of nembutal at around 3:00 p.m. About a half hour later, they had quarreled again and he again struck her, at which point she fell to the floor between the twin beds, and he then gave her another injection of the sedative and left the room, returning a little while later to find her body appearing to be turning blue, at which time he administered a stimulant shot and applied artificial respiration. He again left the bedroom and did not return until around 8:00, finding her body cold. He then summoned the fire department. The Cook County coroner's pathologist said that an autopsy had failed to show cause of death, that a microscopic examination of the organs would be necessary for the determination, taking about two weeks. The police chief said that the doctor had been dismissed two weeks earlier from a position as staff physician with a medical center in the suburb. The doctor said that he had been a lieutenant colonel in the Army Medical Corps during World War II and had later practiced medicine in New York.
Freezing cold weather had hit the
northern border region of the country this date, replacing the
weekend blizzard which had played havoc with the Central and Northern
Plains areas, leaving behind 16 inches of snow over the prairie areas
of Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, before
turning toward Canada. Temperatures fell well below zero across the
border section, covering most of Minnesota. We urge the report as a caution to UNC's offensive coordinator, who is departing for the University of Wisconsin next year, and ask rhetorically whether the air attack will be as effective with a football full of icy air a good part of the season. Think it over
Dick Young of The News reports that the missing parakeet, believed to be a transmitter of psittacosis to four members of a Charlotte family, was producing more reports than the health authorities had expected, with many calls having come to the Health Department this date reporting capture of wandering parakeets or inquiring about the symptoms of psittacosis. One mother had brought a coughing son to the Department, where a blood sample was taken and sent to the State laboratory in Raleigh to determine if the boy suffered from the disease. A City police officer learned from Department officials about the symptoms of the disease and the probability of its spread, indicating that his father had 20 parakeets. Mr. Young indicates that when there was any coughing among members of families where parakeets resided, anxiety had developed and calls made to the Department.
In Singapore, a plane carrying
Alfred Hitchcock had encountered engine trouble in Bangkok, delaying
its arrival in Singapore on Saturday, causing concern as to Mr.
Hitchcock's whereabouts
On the editorial page, "The ABC and the Old Shell Game" tells of the State ABC Board having, five days earlier, fired a beer inspector of Onslow County while giving him generous praise, finding that the Board had been so busy playing a shell game with the facts that it was hard to discern its reasoning. As a result, Governor Luther Hodges had properly ordered an investigation of the matter.
It indicates that the mystery had developed when the Board had demanded the resignation of the inspector, saying that he would be a good inspector anywhere except in Onslow, where he allegedly had "stirred up" local authorities, that having been denied, however, by the Onslow sheriff, the police chief of Jacksonville and the head of the Military Police detachment there. When pressed by reporters, the Board had said that it had received several complaints against the inspector, one from a Jacksonville police sergeant, whom reporters then tracked down and found that he had been fired for insubordination in early November, at which point the Board stopped giving out statements.
Reporters had also found contradictory reasons for the dismissal in October of an inspector from the Buncombe-Henderson area, after being told that the inspector had been dismissed because Henderson County had voted out beer. Governor Hodges said that he had been told that the dismissal had been ordered to "clean up a situation that reportedly was not good." The chairman of the State Board said that the Henderson County inspector had been fired "as a result of some incidents which have been cleared up and which in our opinion will not recur," and that there was no sense in going back into those matters as they had been settled.
It finds that enforcement policies of the Board appeared quite unsettled and that it was wasting time and the public's patience with its "riddles and foggy statements." It hopes that the Governor's investigation would serve a useful purpose by shedding some light on the matter.
"Just What Do You Do about Dixie?" asks what the proper posture for a Southerner was when "Dixie" was played, indicating that it was among those who were confused and self-conscious about how to react.
The Scots Guard had performed "Dixie" at the Coliseum on Thursday night, and the audience reaction had ranged from ramrod attention to hesitant squats, as well as others who did not budge from their seats, sat on the edge of their seats, waved their arms or simply giggled nervously.
It indicates that one might suppose that those who had stood quietly considered "Dixie" to be an anthem deserving of respect, but that if they did, they might also be offended by those who had jumped to their feet and issued what appeared to be an emulation of the old Rebel yell from the Civil War. It wonders what would be the reaction to those who sat on their hands, whether they were considered Yankees or whether some Southerners believed that such a posture was representing more respect than a loud voice. The others who made half-way gestures, were no problem, as they would stand up with the majority of the crowd.
It indicates that it regarded the anthem as a "dear souvenir" and sided with those who remained seated, hoping that the group included those who resented the waving of the United States flag on automobile aerials and on toilet paper standards at football games. It muses that it could be that the sitters were, for the most part, Yankees, the bored and the tone deaf. "But the way the situation is we just can't tell what to do and when we're undecided we sit."
You could also do a mock gag, though in 1955, one might do so in certain areas of the South at one's peril. Apologists, of course, will always cite to the fact that President Lincoln had called upon the band to play the song on the White House lawn on the evening after the announcement of the surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, on April 9, 1865, but that fails to consider that the occasion was one of celebration of reunification of the country and that the President's nod to the South was one of reconciliation in that specific context, also failing to take account that the event occurred 90 years earlier in a very different time of the country's development. Pulling such incidents out of historical context and elevating them, either negatively or positively, for support or contradiction of a modern viewpoint is a fool's game.
"The Divorce Model: Neglect at Home" tells of Americans paying more attention to the divorce situation in Britain than in the U.S., that, characteristically, they could conjure up emotions regarding the prospect of the marriage of Princess Margaret to divorced Group Capt. Peter Townsend and the problems thus encountered by him with the attitude of the Church of England toward royalty marrying divorced commoners. Yet, it suggests, the same Americans could find no interest in untangling the ridiculous knots which made such an unholy mess of the divorce system in the U.S., where church and state seemed satisfactorily remote.
Each state in the country had its own divorce laws, causing confusion across the land and practically nothing was being done to make them uniform. The right to control their own divorce laws was jealously guarded by each state. Former Governor of Georgia, Herman Talmadge, before leaving the office, had expressed the opinion of many state leaders by warning that any Federal poaching on the sacred legislative preserve of marital laws would be resisted vigorously.
A Federal uniform divorce code had been promulgated in 1952 by the late Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada, providing that, with certain exceptions, divorces granted in one state would be recognized in any other, passing the Senate with minor amendments and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it was shelved. In the past, the ABA had often recommended a model divorce law to be drawn up by a presidential commission of citizens prominent in the fields of religion, medicine, sociology, education and law. There had also once been talk of a uniform Federal marriage and divorce law, but that would require a Constitutional amendment.
It recommends a broad reciprocal program of cooperation between the states, indicating that it was ridiculous for each state and the District of Columbia to battle one another over the methods of obtaining divorce and whether one entity would recognize a divorce obtained in another jurisdiction. It urges that the states had a moral obligation to remedy the existing bad situation.
A piece from the Carolina Israelite, titled "The Chosen People", indicates that it had long earlier come to the conclusion that the best thing in the world to be was a white Southern Protestant, as it ensured a passport, for instance, across the borders of Canada or Mexico without trouble producing paperwork.
It finds that the understanding of that preeminence was communicated by the fact that the Southern white Protestant was a "bellyacher", "the occupational disease of Chosen People." That person believed that everyone was after him, the "North", despite the fact that Southern members of Congress, with their seniority on committees, had been running the North since 1935. He also believed that the "foreigners" were after him, and thus developed societies and organizations for his "protection", when all the while he held the only carte blanche membership in the world, that of being a white Southern Protestant.
While thousands of wills had bequeathed "the copper still on the back porch", this person remained the undisputed symbol of piety and was regarded by all the world as the custodian of the Hebrew God and all the works of Jeremiah and Isaiah. He rarely hung out an American flag and hardly paid attention to July 4, but remained the undisputed custodian of love of country and American patriotism, the only man in society who could tell jokes about God and not have it considered blasphemy. His motives were never questioned and his words, never suspected.
It cites as example that if the following morning, a white Southern Protestant in the Senate were to say, "Let's go over there to Mao Tse Tung and do some trading," a hush would fall over the legislative halls of the land, with even columnist George Sokolsky remaining quiet, and, shortly, the country would embark on a new phase of foreign policy.
For a whole generation, Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower had been but the "chairmen", while the white Southern Protestant had controlled the "Board of Directors" and whenever it appeared that things were not going his way, he simply walked out of the convention.
"But with all the whining, the white, Southern Protestant carries with him the seeds of freedom, and the price he exacts may not be too high at that. And because he remains the One True Individualist left in this world, I love him with all my heart, bellyaching and all."
Presumably, the piece was written by the publisher and editor of the Israelite, Harry Golden.
Drew Pearson indicates that the extent to which the White House staff had been fooling the public about the alleged problems discussed with the President had been illustrated when he held at Camp David on November 21 and 22 his first Cabinet meeting with the National Security Council since his heart attack on September 24. The Cabinet members had been greeted by the President, with the press close enough that they could easily hear some of the conversation, being flabbergasted at a remark by the President, expressing with surprise, "You mean to say that the French just got up and walked out of the Assembly?" referring to the French walkout from the U.N. after the U.N. had voted to consider the question of Algeria back on September 30. Yet on October 24, Ambassador to the U.N. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., had stated to the press in Denver, after meeting with the President, that one of the matters he had discussed was the French walkout.
Mr. Pearson indicates that what irked farmers was the apparent lack of interest in the farm problem in the highest places of the Government, though they recognized that the farm issue was not easy to resolve, but wanted some real attention paid to it. Two developments had recently increased their dissatisfaction, one being the statement to the press issued from Camp David that the farm problem "had not even been discussed" at the first Cabinet meeting with the President, and the second having been litigation started against farmers by Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson for their failing to mix or use up dried milk purchased from the Government prior to November 1, 1954.
As to the latter, farmers and feed dealers who had failed to mix or use the milk by that date were being fined in some cases up to $5,000. The litigation had arisen from the Agriculture Department's sale of 450 million pounds of surplus dried milk, primarily to feed dealers and to a few farmers during the summer of 1954. At that time soybean and cottonseed meal, which were mixed with cattle, hog and chicken feed to increase the protein content, had increased in price, and supposedly for the purpose of reducing the price of feed, the Commodity Stabilization Service had sold half a billion pounds of dried milk at 3.5 cents per pound despite the fact that it had cost the Government 16.5 cents per pound when acquired under the price support program. It had been stipulated that the dried milk had to be used up or mixed by November 1, presumably so that large unused amounts would not depress the price of soybeans and cottonseed when those crops came under the fall market. An investigation by a House Appropriations subcommittee, however, found that the deal had been arranged to give a profit to the big feed manufacturers, with the price having been set following an informal conference with representatives of the American Feed Manufacturers Association held in Washington on March 24, 1954.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop indicate that the major domestic issue of the coming session of Congress would almost certainly be the farm issue, with the Administration having the present intention to make a reluctant gesture of appeasement to farmers, but otherwise standing pat, that gesture to be a "soil fertility bank", whereby farmers would be paid to take part of their land out of production and instead plant grass or trees. Eighteen different plans had been considered and the details remained undecided, with the final version expected to provide for an annual outlay of about half a billion dollars. Secretary of Agriculture Benson and fixed high price supports had become the twin symbols of farm discontent, but the Secretary had no intention of abandoning the flexible support program and the President had no intention of firing Mr. Benson.
The President's view was very much influenced by his brother Milton, who admired Mr. Benson. The latter was convinced that high fixed price supports were a snare and a delusion, and that farmers were beginning to see the light in that respect. Agriculture Department surveys had shown that farmers were in fact turning against fixed supports, particularly in the South, where high supports had priced cotton almost out of the world markets.
Democrats were delighted at Secretary Benson's intransigence on supports, as they had made careful plans to take the offensive at the first opportunity in the coming election year. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota would lead that effort, ready to present a series of measures, starting with a bill to restore the full 90 percent fixed supports, confident that it would pass with the votes of Midwestern Republicans. Democratic bills included also a "soil bank", with Senator Humphrey claiming that he originated the idea and that Mr. Benson had been trying to steal his "baby". Other proposals were for measures altering the farm credit structure, for a food stamp plan to use up surpluses, for graduated support prices to favor the poorer farmers, and for a modified and experimental version of the old Brannan Plan, the proposal by former Secretary of Agriculture Charles Brannan under former President Truman.
The Alsops conclude that whatever the outcome of the battle would be on the issue, it was clear that the Government was now in the business of subsidizing farmers, because the traditional single-family farm system could hardly survive without subsidy. They indicate that despite a lot of mealy-mouthed oratory, the real issue was not whether the subsidy would continue but rather how it would be done and at what cost.
Doris Fleeson, writing from Chicago, indicates that the destinies of the Republican Party were at present within the control of RNC chairman Leonard Hall and leading figures of the Administration, intending to name the next Republican nominee for the presidency, hoping it would be the President, but that if he decided not to run, expecting to nominate Vice-President Nixon.
The strategy of the Republicans of delaying their request for the President's decision whether or not to run until March or later was ostensibly designed to give him plenty of time to recover from his heart attack and to demonstrate to him that the burdens of the office could be substantially reduced. But it also had the practical effect of preventing other aspirants for the nomination from entering the early primaries and shortened the time for shaping outside challenges to Administration control of the nominating process. The first primary would be on March 13 in New Hampshire, where Governor Christian Herter of neighboring Massachusetts might logically seek to bolster his favorite son status, should the President decide not to run. It had been reliably reported that Governor Herter would beat the Vice-President in the New Hampshire primary, which would be a severe blow to Mr. Nixon's prestige at the start of the campaign season. A hundred New Hampshire voters, however, could place the President's name on the ballot and unless he actually asked that it be withdrawn, it would remain. Mr. Hall and the other Administration leaders would plead that the President's intentions were not yet known and that it was too early to force them, urging him to remain silent in the event his name were placed on the ballot. That would discourage Governor Herter and avoid a possible problem for Mr. Nixon in case the President would opt not to run.
The next primary would be on March 20 in Minnesota, which had a similar format to that of New Hampshire, requiring the President affirmatively to remove his name from the ballot. The plan, therefore, was to repeat the same procedure from New Hampshire, to avoid the prospect of perennial Republican candidate Harold Stassen, presently a special assistant to the President and making ambitious noises again, from entering that primary.
Ms. Fleeson posits that while Mr. Hall was the perfect front man for that operation, it was widely believed that it had been formulated by former New York Governor Thomas Dewey and White House chief of staff Sherman Adams. Mr. Hall had induced a state of euphoria in a hundred men and women of proven ability at the RNC meeting, making them stick their heads above the crowd, giving little thought to what lay ahead, though not really certain that Mr. Hall had things right, but as most hoped that the President would run again, were refusing to worry. She indicates that the atmosphere had been pierced to a degree in the closing hours of the meeting by a few of the Old Guard Republicans on the RNC, mostly men who had supported the late Senator Robert Taft in 1952.
A letter writer from Kings Mountain comments on the newspaper's editorials regarding the overemphasis of football at the new Air Force Academy, indicating that there were four ways for a person to gain entrance to the military academies, by Congressional appointment, special Presidential appointment, being the son of a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or by competitive examination. He finds no means of entry by being an outstanding football player. He quotes the former Central High School coach of Charlotte in a column written by Bob Quincy, sports editor of The News, in which the coach said that the Air Force fielded a team which had a wonderful attitude and that when one of the members slumped in their book work, that person was out, that 13 of their best players had sat out one game because of grade deficiencies, wondering how many other colleges had such strict requirements at midterm. The writer indicates that participation in varsity sports was a requirement at the academies and was recognized by educators across the country as a molder of character, teamwork and individual leadership, finds it extremely valuable therefore in the military academies. He thus finds it acceptable that the Air Force Academy would send its scouts and recruiters to the local Shrine Bowl to recruit high school athletes and says that it would be an honor for those players to be approached and to play football at one of the academies, provided they could gain admission and keep up with the strict regimen.
A letter writer from Rural Retreat, Va., finds that atheists were taking a dreadful beating at present, being slandered, vilified and charged with being un-American and communistic. He finds that atheists were not bad citizens at all, that the average American atheist was not a Communist and that some of the leading atheists in the country were ardently pro-capitalist. He says that atheists were conspicuously absent from the jails and that Rupert Hughes, in his book, Why I Quit Going to Church, had said that about 90 percent of the criminals in the penitentiaries were affiliated with one church or another. He says that the statistic did not mean that the remaining 10 percent who were unaffiliated with the church were necessarily atheists. He quotes General Eisenhower early in 1952 as having said, "It doesn't take any brains to be an atheist." He indicates that Kemal Ataturk, Sarah Bernhardt, Luther Burbank, Robert Burns, John Burroughs, Georges Clemenceau, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Auguste Comte, Clarence Darrow, H. G. Wells, Mark Twain and a number of others whom he lists, were all prominent atheists, and that the list showed that they were not brainless.
As some on his list were agnostics, not atheists, he apparently confuses the two, quite distinct in their beliefs.
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