The Charlotte News
Friday, January 9, 1959
FIVE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President, in his State of the Union message to Congress this date, had pledged to "continue to take every action necessary to uphold" the Constitution and the courts in areas of race discrimination and against any challenge regarding civil rights. At the same time, he announced that he would ask the new Congress to enact new civil rights legislation, but did not go into details. He said that the eyes of the world were on America as never before. "The image of America abroad is not improved when school children, through closing of some of our schools and through no fault of their own, are deprived of their opportunity for an education." He gave no indication whether he would propose legislation to deal specifically with the integration controversy which had closed some public schools in Virginia and Little Rock, Ark., and threatened others. Thus far, the only public indication the President had given of what he might seek in the civil rights field was his recent news conference statement that he would request that the life of the Civil Rights Commission be extended, that Commission having been created by the 1957 Civil Rights Act to look into allegations of denial of voting and other rights. It was set to provide its final report to Congress and the President by September 9, 1959, two years after its creation. Largely because of Senate delays in confirming its members, the Commission had been unable to get into action until late in 1958. Speaking of the Government's role in civil rights, the President had said: "The government of a free people has no purpose more noble than to work for the maximum realization of equality of opportunity under law. This is not the sole responsibility of any one branch of our government. The judicial arm, which has the ultimate authority for interpreting the Constitution, has held that certain state laws and practices discriminate upon racial grounds and are unconstitutional. Whenever the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States is challenged I shall continue to take every action necessary to uphold it… All of us should help to make clear that the government is united in the common purpose of giving support to the law and the decisions of the courts."
The President also challenged the heavily Democratic Congress to meet the Communist threat by living within his 77 billion dollar balanced budget and working toward tax relief "in the foreseeable future". He said that his formula was designed to preserve the nation's way of life, that useless expenditures "might tend to undermine the economy and therefore the nation's safety." He also urged new laws aimed at eliminating "corruption, racketeering, and abuse of power and trust in labor-management affairs." He expressed disappointment in the previous Congress for not acting in that field despite disclosures by the investigating committee headed by Senator John McClellan of Arkansas. He also proposed amendment of the 1946 full employment law "to make it clear that the government intends to use all appropriate means to protect the buying power of the dollar." He did not specify just what he had in mind, but again called on labor and business leaders to exercise statesmanship to curb the wage-price spiral. He announced that he would set up a Cabinet committee on price stability for economic growth. He also urged passage of new farm legislation designed eventually to reduce heavy Federal outlays in that field, and to assure "greater freedom for markets to reflect the wishes of producers and consumers." As in the case of the other programs, the President had gone into no detail on the farm program. Specific provisions of all of the programs would be set forth in a series of special messages to Congress in the ensuing several weeks. He said that the nation's economy was strong and healthy, that the 1958 business recession was fading into history and that personal income was at an all-time high. He said that his military budget would advance "a sensible posture of defense" along with increased efficiency and avoidance of waste. He said that the basic question facing the nation at present was more than mere survival, that it was the military defense of national life and territory and the preservation of a way of life. "We must meet the world challenge and at the same time permit no stagnation in America. Unless we progress, we regress."
The Senate this date had turned down a key proposal designed by civil rights advocates to clear the way for a tight new curb on filibusters, with the vote having been 60 to 36. The roll call vote had been the first test of strength in the battle over rules touched off with the start of the new Senate session two days earlier. It marked a victory for Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and other Democratic and Republican Senate leaders supporting a compromise offered by Senator Johnson. Conversely, it had been a major setback for Vice-President Nixon and a bipartisan anti-filibuster bloc of Northern and Western Senators. The vote had been on a motion by Senator Johnson to table and thus kill a resolution by Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, whose aim had been to establish that each new Senate had the right to adopt its own rules by majority vote at the start of the session. The anti-filibuster forces, however, were far from giving up. They said that if they lost out on the first round, they would attempt to change more to their liking a compromise anti-filibuster resolution of Senator Johnson. Senator Jacob Javits of New York, one of the coalition leaders, said that the showdown on Senator Johnson's tabling motion would be "the decisive vote on this whole question." Opponents of changing Senate rules contended that adoption of Senator Anderson's motion would leave the Senate without any rules and open up a Pandora's Box of confusion. In a move to counter that argument, the coalition forces had planned to revive the proposal somewhat before the showdown vote. Specifically, it would be revised to read that the rules of the Senate in the last Congress would prevail in the new 86th Congress, except for Rule XXII, the cloture rule. Another new section would spell out that immediately following adoption of the resolution, the next order of business in the Senate would be to consider the revision of Rule XXII. Leaders of the coalition generally were urging that the rule be overhauled to permit filibusters to be cut off by the votes of 50 Senators, or a majority of all 98 Senators. Under the present rule, it took the votes of 66 Senators, or two-thirds of the entire membership to effect cloture. Senator Johnson's compromise proposal would permit filibusters to be closed by a two-thirds vote of the Senators present and voting, also applicable to motions to change the rules, which were currently exempt from any cloture. In addition, running directly counter to the theory behind the resolution of Senator Anderson, Senator Johnson's compromise would specify that Senate rules would carry over from one Congress to another. Senator Javits and others argued that that last provision of Senator Johnson's proposal was enough in itself to warrant its defeat, contending that it would foreclose a majority in future Senates from changing the rules. Senator Javits told the Senate: "The proposal of the majority leader is not even a sop. It's absolutely meaningless." Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, leader of the Southern Senators fighting any change of the rule, said that he was "unalterably opposed" to Senator Johnson's proposal, saying that it had gone too far in curtailing freedom of debate.
In Detroit, it was reported that Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan had stated, "A salesman sometimes names a higher price than he expects to get for goods," in reference to Russia's proposal that all troops be pulled from Berlin. He told newsmen, however, that Russia regarded its proposals for a settlement of the Berlin problem as "good and reasonable". Asked if he would propose an East-West compromise on the withdrawal of troops, he said: "We already regard our proposal as a compromise. We don't suggest that Western troops be withdrawn and replaced by other troops." His comments were in response to questions of reporters on a Soviet proposal which would make West Berlin a demilitarized, independent and internationally guaranteed "free city". Mr. Mikoyan was currently engaged in a tour of U.S. cities and had made a brief speech urging that the U.S. and Russia cooperate for an enduring peace, stating that there was "a great deal of mistrust between us and we cannot do away with it all at once." He urged a greater exchange among people to gain a better understanding of each other's position and said that it would lay the groundwork for settlement of issues which divided the U.S. and Russia. His remarks this date followed a session of blunt talk on war and peace the previous night to a group of captains of American industry at one of the Midwest's most exclusive clubs.
In Zamora, Spain, it was reported that a dam on Lake Sanabria had burst early this date, unleashing a wall of water on the mountain village of Rivadelago, and that more than 80 persons were known to have perished and many more were missing. Houses in the village, a town of 500 inhabitants, had been swept away as if made of cardboard. The dam had broken in the wee hours when most of the villagers were asleep. All fire trucks and ambulances, and troops garrisoned in Zamora plus members of the Falange Party youth front had been immediately ordered to the scene. A power station on the western edge of the lake and employees on duty there had been engulfed by the wall of water. It was one of the most inaccessible sections of Spain and posed no threat to American forces, whose nearest base was at Madrid, 190 miles to the southeast. Telephone and telegraph connections with the village were out and the road from the village to Pueblo de Sanabria had been washed out in a number of places, making rescue operations difficult.
A snow-bearing low pressure area had moved out to sea off the North Carolina coast this date, leaving cool mid-winter sunshine and a hard crust of between one and three inches of snow and ice in its wake. Hazardous street and highway conditions from the wet snow and rain which had pelted northern North Carolina on Thursday had caused school closings this date in Wake, Durham, Surry, Allegheny, Alamance and Rockingham Counties. The State Highway Patrol reported that no fatal accidents had yet resulted from the storm.
In Wyndanch, N.Y., a note was found on a car seat beside the body of a 27-year old Air Force sergeant, which read: "I hope God will see fit to let me see Mickey again. I loved her so much I know I could never be happy without her." Along with it was a picture of his Japanese bride. They had met and fallen in love three years earlier while the sergeant was stationed in Japan. They were then married there also. They looked forward to settling down in the U.S. Six weeks earlier, the seregant had been transferred back to the U.S. and his bride had come with him. She had been welcomed at the home of her husband's parents and the couple stayed there while seeking a home of their own. But after three weeks, Mickey had become ill and on December 27, had been hospitalized at Mitchel Air Force Base, with doctors finding that she had a malignant cancer. The previous Saturday, with her husband at her side, she had died. On Wednesday, relatives of the husband and friends gathered at a funeral home for the services. After awhile, it had been discovered that the grieving husband had disappeared and could not be located. Finally, the parents had gone home and there found their son's body in the car, parked in the garage with the doors closed. He had started the motor and had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The following day, he would be buried beside his bride.
In Orangeburg, S.C., it was reported that a judge this date had set February 20 as the execution date for two young men convicted in the murder of a State Highway Patrolman. Lawyers for the two men, one, 26, of Dorchester County and Charleston, and the other, 24, of Savannah, Ga., had indicated that they would file appeals with the State Supreme Court which would automatically stay the execution date.
In New York, it was reported that a 75-year old man was something of a financial genius, but had accepted relief checks for the previous 20 years to make $21,000 playing the stock market. Since 1938, the shabbily dressed bachelor had been receiving $71.10 per month in welfare checks and had collected about $17,000 over the years. In addition, the retired hospital orderly had received welfare allowance for clothing, furniture, rent and medical care. He had taken his money and then plunged into Wall Street trading, becoming known as a man who would lay down as much as $4,000 in cash on a broker's desk in a single transaction. Through an anonymous letter, investigators had caught up with him the previous November. The district attorney said that the man, when confronted by the investigators, had turned over his $1,525 bank account to the welfare agency and given the department power of attorney to sell his $21,000 in securities to make restitution. Immediately after doing so, he said that he was destitute and had gone right back on relief. He had appeared in court the previous day with nine other welfare clients, all women, all charged with illegally receiving relief checks. The man was also charged with grand and petty larceny. The district attorney said that the man's savings and investments had been illegal because persons receiving welfare aid had to take an oath periodically that they had no assets. He also said that the elderly man probably would be given any balance left after the sale of his securities, adding: "He seems to have a fine sense of economy, which the government could use."
Also in New York, it was reported that ostriches could be pretty peculiar birds sometimes, which was why Doreen had a frozen bottom, at least until it had been thawed out. Doreen had always puzzled everyone at the Bronx Zoo, as she kept wading in a zoo pond even though other South African ostriches would not go near it. Late on Wednesday, she had gone out to take her little dip as usual but this time her beloved pond was not as it usually was, being frozen over. That did not stop her, however, and she went clomping right on out and crashed through the ice, all 305 pounds of her. When zookeepers spotted Doreen, all they could see was her neck and head poking above the icy water, looking pretty miserable. It took quite a bit of doing, but the zoo personnel finally had gotten her out by pushing ladders out onto the ice until they could hoist her, lugging her, frozen stiff, back to the ostrich house. After the ice was chipped from her feathers, Doreen was bedded in warm, dry straw for the night. She seemed fairly chipper despite all of the problems, but when morning came the previous day, it was found that she could not stand up. She apparently had not regained the proper circulation in her big, long legs. That problem stumped the zoo experts for awhile, until somebody hit on an idea for a kind of hammock which would hold up her body but permit her feet to touch the floor. That way she could begin using her legs again even though she could not support herself. Apparently it had worked. At last report, Doreen was beginning to kick around somewhat and probably wanted to return to the pond.
Not every story has a happy ending, though they could have stood a re-write on this one
In St. Louis, it was reported that a man whose doctor had advised him to stay out of smoky places because of asthma, had been named fire marshal and assistant fire chief of a suburban community.
On the editorial page, "Charlotte Needs a Permanent Solution" indicates that a Yuletide gesture by Home Finance Group employees would supply hot lunches to another 145 hungry youngsters for the remainder of the current school year. The gift had been announced the previous day by City School superintendent Elmer Garinger and was the latest in a series of volunteer moves by local organizations and individuals to help feed hundreds of children who were going without lunch in the Charlotte schools. The HFG workers had voted to give $1,055 to the City Lunchroom Department rather than exchange gifts among themselves. It finds it a heartwarming decision.
Others, including the Charlotte Board of Realtors and the United Appeal, had volunteered financial assistance to help correct the grim situation. Generally, the local response had been wonderful.
But it was not a permanent solution. Possibly enough money could be raised through volunteer contributions to feed the hungry children during the remainder of 1959, but there was also the following year and the one after that. It hopes that the citizens' committee currently studying the size and shape of the problem would continue to seek a comprehensive answer which did not depend on the ad hoc ups and downs of public generosity. It was probable that a combination of sources could be found for the necessary funding. That did not matter. What mattered was the reasonable assurance that children would not have to go hungry now or in the future.
"We Had 'Interstellar Spaces,' All Right" indicates that H. L. Mencken, when gazing at the South in his "The Sahara of the Bozart" a few years earlier, had thought of the "vast interstellar spaces … the now mythical ether." He thought of it because only in an astronomical metaphor could one find words for "so vast a vacuity" as the literarily bone-dry South. To his mind, not only was North Carolina on the list, it was a capital offender.
It suggests that scanning 1958 literary North Carolina, one might think of the same thing, "the vast interstellar spaces." But it finds that it would be an unforgetting reader of the lead essay of Harry Golden's Only in America, titled "Why I Never Bawl out a Waitress", in which Mr. Golden could not conceive it as worthwhile for one mortal to berate another over a mixed-up order in such vastnesses.
The point was that though thoughts might run to the same "interstellar spaces", it would not be because literary North Carolina was any longer part of a "vast vacuity". With Mr. Golden perhaps being its reigning potentate, North Carolina was anything but a vacuity the previous year, along with the rest of the "decadent" South.
In North Carolina, there had appeared new on the bookshelves works by Jonathan Daniels, Prince of Carpetbaggers, as well as the transplanted Mr. Golden's best-selling essays, the whimsical Elizabeth Black's and Julian Scheer's Tweetsie, and the academic work of Duke University professors J. B. Rhine and J. G. Pratt, Parapsychology: The Frontier Science of the Mind—the latter work prompting our not uncasual question as to whether all, or at least many, of the close wins of Duke in Duke Indoor Stadium through the years have been, at least in part along with the turned-up heat, the product of its Parapsychology Laboratory, though we are also not oblivious to the notion that a similar question could be posed by opponents anent voodoo or witchcraft perhaps having had some effect on some of UNC's close wins through the years, if not via some traitorous, surreptitious UNC fan in that same Department at Duke, masquerading as a Blue Devil while actually wearing light blue beneath the cape.
Southern states, with North Carolina
bidding to lead them, had proved receptive to individual expression,
which it finds important. As disturbed with social and economic
ferment as Boris Pasternak's Russia, there were in the South windows
from which the artist might look out. "'Look at Switzerland,'
the sardonic Harry Black said in Graham Greene's The Third Man:
'Centuries of brotherly love—and what has Switzerland
produced? The cuckoo clock.'" (The latter quote demonstrates the peril of reliance on a movie rather than the actual text of the story, and the necessity of double-checking the names of characters before referencing them, in this instance Harry Lime
But some would say that one ought look at the Mississippi of William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Carson McCullers. While being absolutely opposed to "decadence", it had seemed to produce literature.
It thus proposes a secretive toast to greater Tar Heel "decadence" for 1959, and asks please not to tell Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois. (Perhaps, it should have been a little more directly topical and referenced Sr. Castro.)
"Growing Vocabulary" indicates that during the previous few years, there had been many contorted labels introduced into the vocabulary of American politics, such as: "Conservative progressive", "progressive conservative", "moderate liberal", "liberal moderate", etc. Now, it understood that there was still a newer one, "limited liberal", causing it to suggest that soon they would be all filled with disgust—unlimited.
"'Perhaps Virginia Is Too Modest'(!)" indicates that recently the genteel Richmond News Leader had hailed North Carolina's industrial growth, pointing to its reported gain of 153 new plants during the current year, representing a capital investment of 111 million dollars, a payroll of 30 million dollars and a workforce of 9,300 employees, wondering reprovingly at Virginia's lag in the hunt for industry. It said: "North Carolina's industrial promoters know a great deal more about what is going on down there than our people seem to know about what is going on up here. The North Carolinians are selling their state aggressively, successfully. By comparison, Virginia's efforts are pathetic."
The newspaper had also mused that North Carolina could be lying or padding its figures, leading to a converse possibility which it finds astounding: "Perhaps Virginia is too modest; it is a characteristic of Old Dominion."
It wonders when Virginia had been "too modest", when it had ceased to claim the loveliest women, the most charming manners, the most intriguing history, the ablest statesmen, the most literate education, the tastiest hams, the most readable poetry, the most beautiful countryside, the most valiant soldiers, and the most engaging cities.
It finds that one needed "A Guide to Virginia Jargon" and that to consult such a book under the word "Modest" would possibly yield the following: "Any admission or suggestion tending to bring another state into good repute, relatively speaking with the Old Dominion."
"Life in America" indicates that a Detroit man had invented an anti-masher device for women which sprayed the molester with an indelible ink as it set off a siren.
A piece from the Washington Post, titled "Mining for Midas", indicates that a team of indefatigable archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum, which had been digging up the sites of ancient Phrygian cities, had uncovered what it believed to be the palace of King Midas at Gordian. According to legend, the King had acquired the gift of turning everything he touched to gold with results which were nearly disastrous for him. The story went that after finding the archsatyr Silinos, one of the boon drinking companions of the wine god Dionysus, sleeping it off in some Phrygian grove, Midas had made him a prisoner and refused to release him until the gift was granted him. As was usually the case, there was a catch which Midas had discovered as soon as he reclined himself in his royal banquet hall for his royal dinner, realizing that he could not eat or drink gold.
Midas, however, had been an actual historical personage whose kingdom was in central Asia Minor not very far from the modern Turkish capital of Ankara. He had inherited it from its founder, his father King Gordias, along with a considerable royal treasury which apparently was not enough to satisfy him because the legend about the "Midas touch" was said to be an allegorical allusion to his habit of confiscating almost any golden object which came to his notice, possibly necessitated by some complicated fiscal system similar to that of the U.S. practice of gathering all the gold into Fort Knox.
Another legend about him had grown out of his notoriously bad musical taste. It was said that he actually preferred the shrill pipe notes of Pan to the majestic chords from Apollo's lyre. The indignant Apollo, therefore, had caused the ears of Midas to grow into the contours of the ears of an ass. So conspicuous a deformity could not be concealed from the King's subjects and must have caused him no little embarrassment. Thus, to the present, "Midas" or "Midas-eared" were epithets which disgruntled musicians applied to music critics.
It indicates that it was happy to pass that bit of information, for whatever it might be worth, along to former President Truman on the off-chance that he might find an occasion to make use of it.
Drew Pearson indicates that despite pretenses of neutrality, the White House did not remain aloof in the bitter battle between Representative Joseph Martin of Massachusetts and Charles Halleck of Indiana for the Republican leadership of the House. The White House had pulled wires vigorously behind the scenes for Mr. Halleck. In fact, the drive for him had been launched about six weeks earlier at a secret White House meeting attended by Mr. Halleck and presidential aides Jerry Morgan and Jack Anderson. Former White House adviser Tom McCabe, Philadelphia Scott's tissue king, had also been present. They had planned the strategy for the Halleck campaign, decided to canvass the 153 House Republicans for the necessary votes to unseat Mr. Martin from the leadership post which he had held for 20 years. The canvassing job was then turned over to three supporters of Mr. Halleck, Congressmen Robert Wilson of California, Gerald Ford of Michigan, and John Byrnes of Wisconsin. That trio had begun a barrage of long distance telephoning to Republican colleagues, most of whom were at home for Christmas. The anti-Martin campaign had reached a climax at a big "pep" session several days earlier at the Congressional Hotel, attended by 35 supporters of Mr. Halleck. Mr. Halleck had shown up as the secret meeting was ending, with a press statement he had already written, announcing his candidacy. He told the meeting: "This isn't a liberal-conservative fight, like we are witnessing in the Senate. It is a fight for more aggressive, more positive leadership than we have been getting in the House. Joe Martin promised me four years ago that he would step aside as leader. I'm ready now to put the issue to a test."
The Martin forces had also been busy, with Mr. Martin belatedly phoning numerous colleagues pleading for their support, even phoning Republican Representative Frances Bolton of Ohio while she was eating lunch in the House restaurant. But the situation looked so desperate that it was decided not to negotiate a "truce". Following a strategy session in Mr. Martin's office, House Republican whip Les Arends of Illinois called on Mr. Halleck with a proposal that Mr. Martin would step down as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee and agree to name Mr. Halleck assistant floor leader, provided that the latter would get out of the race for leader. But Mr. Halleck had turned the offer down. At another Martin strategy session, Representative Dick Simpson of Pennsylvania angrily told Pennsylvania Republicans that Mr. Martin was a victim of "White House connivery".
Joseph Alsop indicates that the latest impressive Soviet rocket launch was only one more proof that national defense needed to be the overriding issue in the new Congressional session, and for once, what ought to happen in theory might almost happen in fact. All of the best informed leaders in Congress, from Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire on the right to Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota on the left, had returned to Washington in a mood of almost angry disquiet about national defense issues, with hardly a trace any longer of the old willingness to "leave defense to Ike". Except for one or two old faithfuls like Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, the more influential legislators were all more or less deeply distrusting of the President's budget-minded defense planning.
There were two practical reasons for that novel distrust, the first being that the Congressional leaders were far more aware than the general public of the enormous fraud practiced in the post-Sputnik period after October-November, 1957, that, in fact, the pretended increase of U.S. defense effort after the first two Sputniks had really been nothing more than an increase of defense publicity. Even the most knowing of the members of Congress had taken some time to perceive that the Sputnik challenge was not being answered with any great effort or investment which had not been previously programmed. But they had perceived it now as they could hardly fail to do so. Three days after the Soviet moon probe had been launched, the President himself told the White House meeting of Congressional leaders that his 1960 defense budget would actually be somewhat less than that of 1959. The figures were 40.85 billion dollars of requested appropriations, against 41.140 billion dollars for the current year. Those were staggering figures and the Congressional leaders might be worried less about the neglect of the challenge to the Sputniks if they were not increasingly aware of the detailed defense facts.
A year earlier, for instance, few people in Washington would have paid much attention to Brig. General Thomas Phillips and his article on "The Growing Missile Gap" in The Reporter, or to Albert Wohlstetter's article on "The Delicate Balance of Terror" in the January edition of Foreign Affairs. Now, a great many people were asking questions about the articles, as they should.
General Phillips, one of the best defense experts around, had painted the darkest picture of the missile gap which had been traced by any informed person. Some of his facts were questioned by the Pentagon, quite probably as a result of the corruption of complacency in the current intelligence analysis. But as chief of the War Projects Division of the semi "official" Rand Corporation, he belonged, in effect, to an annex of the Air Force Planning Staff. Not even a Pentagon press officer could question his knowledge of the defense facts.
After denouncing Mr. Alsop as an "unwarranted optimist", Mr. Wohlstetter, the Government-employed expert, had bleakly remarked that "we must expect a vast increase in the weight of attack the Soviets can deliver with little or no warning." He said that, therefore, "strategic deterrence, while feasible, will be extremely difficult to achieve." He concluded, in effect, that the U.S. "may not have the power to deter attack" at "critical junctures in the 1960s", if things continued as they were.
The plain warning of a possible failure of the American strategic deterrent had been confirmed by signs in the Pentagon, such as the rising talk about "minimum deterrence", which meant nothing more or less than a strategy of killing the Soviet Union with a few big, dirty hydrogen bombs after the U.S. was nearly dead and almost all of its striking forces had already been killed. Behind the theory of minimum deterrence, there was nothing more or less than flabby, helpless acceptance of the gravest sort of inferiority to the Soviets in strategic striking power.
The warning of Mr. Wohlstetter had also been confirmed by the Kremlin's threat to Berlin, which could only be countered by complete readiness to fight a major war. Premier Khrushchev would hardly be making that kind of threat if he did not think the military balance was sharply tilted in the Russians' favor, and if he did not expect that the West's answer would be influenced by that tilt of the military balance.
One hoped that Mr. Khrushchev had miscalculated. Thus far, the Western response to the threat to Berlin appeared likely to be completely firm. The crisis arising from the threat was also likely to give just the needed extra push to the existing Congressional impulse to do something about national defense before it was too late.
Doris Fleeson provides a variation of an old ballad put together by the press galleries in tribute to Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson's preparations to match the space age, goal for goal. He had secured a sweep of six handsome rooms extending across the whole western end of the top floor on the Senate side. The fireplaces actually were marble and the view of the Washington Monument was superb. Unhappily, the White House was not quite tall enough to rise above the Potomac Park foliage, but at least one had the comforting assurance that it was there, just to the right of the monument. Those quarters were solely for Senator Johnson as Majority Leader, head of the Democratic Policy and Democratic Steering Committees, and the Senate Space and Preparedness Committees.
He had a 17 pushbutton phone plus one for hold. An aide explained that the telephone company had asked Senator Johnson to let it try out the system with him, which naturally invited the comment that the telephone experimenters knew where to come for maximum testing efficiency. To fill his requirements for public rooms, he had latched onto the handsome two-room suite just off the Senate floor, which was formerly the Senate District Committee room. It had been beautifully redecorated and a new bathroom installed. At last count, 17 upholstered chairs and a large leather couch awaited the press and public, with plenty of standing room left over. Two lovely secretaries presided there.
The interests of Texas were centered in another three-room suite in the Senate Office Building, which had its own staff and administrative assistant. Nobody had yet figured out how many and what rooms elsewhere were occupied by the large collection of plain Indians who worked for Chief Johnson and his sub-chiefs on space and defense matters.
The taxpayers could have no doubt that all people in those offices worked for their pay. Senator Johnson drove himself and expected his staff to keep up with him. He was also a perfectionist and knew that Senators who ran "tight ship" offices were taking out invaluable campaign insurance. His correspondence was literally endless, for example, including annually all the graduates of Texas high schools.
In his somewhat paradoxical way, Senator Johnson's efforts to bring order and ironclad efficiency to the human and largely accidental business of politics was a very large part of his considerable charm.
A letter writer from Salisbury wonders what chance New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had to become President. He finds him more like FDR than any living man, with his voice sounding like the late President in the early Depression days. He was also like him in a second way, in that "he has a small brain trust of college professors around him who furnish him with ideas." He was beyond all doubt the best bet for the poor people of the country. Under him, many poor people would come nearer to getting their rights than under anyone else. Labor could not afford to be against him, for he stood for the same things for which labor stood. He had all the experience of an administrative sort which a president would need. His service in the State Department and other places would make him an expert in foreign affairs.
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