The Charlotte News
Tuesday, March 3, 1959
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Pioneer IV had blazed a new U.S. space trail this date more than a quarter of the way to the moon and farther out than any previous American rocket. Scientists expressed assurance that the gold-plated nosecone would speed on past the moon into orbit around the sun, where the Russians claimed already to have put their Mechta satellite. The Army had launched the new Pioneer from Cape Canaveral in Florida shortly after midnight. The launching itself had been called "as near perfect as could be determined". The initial speed was figured at 24,890 mph, enough to escape the earth's gravitational pull. By early morning, scientists at NASA figured that the rocket was 66,000 miles out in space, more than a quarter of the distance to the moon, at present 220,000 miles from the earth. By mid-morning, instrument readings and mathematical calculations had placed the Pioneer 72,400 miles along its journey. At the 72,400-mile point, the Pioneer was down to 6,518 mph, close to the speed estimated in advance for that point in the flight. Scientists had stuck to their prediction that the rocket would pass the moon at a distance of about 35,000 miles sometime in mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Early in the morning, three powerful tracking stations, at Goldstone, Calif., in Puerto Rico and at Jodrell Bank in England, had the satellite under simultaneous observation for 15 minutes. NASA said that those simultaneous trackings made possible extremely precise measurements of speed and course. A maximum takeoff speed of 24,890 mph made it certain that Pioneer IV would continue into an orbit around the sun, according to the scientists. But no estimates of the shape or size of the orbit had been promised before Thursday or Friday. By early morning, the space probe, losing speed as it rose, was estimated to be 42,100 miles above the earth at an estimated speed of 8,600 mph. Powered by a four-stage Juno II rocket, the probe was launched shortly after midnight. Two and a half hours later, jubilant scientists of NASA reported "very favorable" results. There had been two previous attempts to orbit or pass the moon, both of which had failed. One of three Air Force attempts had sent a probe up 71,300 miles before it fell back to earth and was burned in the atmosphere. The Army's first attempt had ended at 63,580 miles.
In Inglewood, Calif., it was reported that the status of Discoverer I, the rocket which the Air Force hoped would achieve polar orbit, remained in doubt this date. Official hopes of an orbit had been boosted on Monday on the basis of radio signals picked up in Alaska, but early this date, searchers had failed in their effort to find the missile by bouncing a radio signal off of it. A radio signal was beamed at the orbital path for 40 minutes from the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto. At the Standard Oil Co. research center in Cleveland, O., sensitive radio receivers were to pick up any reflected signals, but none had been received. A person at the Cleveland facility said that he was reasonably certain that his equipment would have picked up a reflected signal if the Discoverer had been where it was supposed to be.
In Moscow, it was reported that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had ended his talks with Premier Nikita Khrushchev this date and had told a press conference that the Berlin situation had "dangerous implications" which had to be settled by negotiation and not by force. The British Prime Minister said: "Unilateral action can only lead to danger. We must avoid unilateral action and agree to negotiate together. Upon that theme we can make progress." Earlier, the British and Soviet premiers had admitted in a communiqué summing up their talks that they had been unable to agree on political and legal aspects of a World War II peace treaty with Germany. But the two government heads, in a communiqué signed in the Kremlin during the morning, said that they had useful talks since Mr. Macmillan had arrived in Moscow on February 21 to explore Mr. Khrushchev's stand on major East-West issues. They had agreed, both said, that the problems of Germany had to be settled and that early negotiations between interested governments had to get underway. The communiqué said that the two leaders also agreed on a common objective of ultimate prohibition of nuclear weapons under an international system of inspection and control.
In Tifton, Ga., it was reported that a school bus had hit a rut in a road and overturned in a farm pond this date, drowning at least nine children. Rescuers said that possibly two or three other bodies might be recovered in the half-submerged bus. The bus had carried approximately 60 children and had plunged into the pond early in the morning on a farm a mile southwest of Brookfield, about 8 miles from Tifton. Two men had helped pull several of the children from the bus after breaking windows on the side remaining above water. Those who were unconscious were laid on the side of the bus. When other help arrived, artificial respiration had saved 10 or 12 of the children. Witnesses said that the bus had been traveling at about 30 mph when it careened into the pond. Even the nine children who appeared dead when removed from the bus had been given treatment for 20 to 30 minutes before rescuers had ceased efforts to revive them. The bus had been taking the children to a high school in Tifton, the principal of which said that he feared that at least two or three children were still in the bus. Officials credited two white men with keeping the death toll of the black children as low as it had been. All the windows in the bus had been closed when it left the road. As soon as the men had broken the windows, according to witnesses, the children had fought for positions. The witnesses said that more of the children probably could have been brought out alive if they had not struggled for positions at the windows. Twelve children had been brought out of the bus for artificial respiration and three had been revived and taken to a hospital with a good chance to survive. Five were soon found to be beyond resuscitation and after working for more than an hour, doctors on the scene had given up hope for four others. More than 1,000 persons had shown up at the scene and automobiles were parked for a mile along the country road. Whites and blacks had worked tirelessly together in the rescue and resuscitation efforts. In addition to students of the high school, the bus had also carried pupils of the black industrial elementary school in Tifton, and most of the dead were smaller children.
In Henderson, N.C., it was reported that a special force of Highway Patrolmen and meetings with Governor Luther Hodges in Raleigh this date had figured in efforts to pour oil on troubled waters growing out of the textile mill strike. The patrolmen moved onto the strike scene with military-like precision during the morning to quiet crowds which had been unruly during the previous few days. The appearance of the troopers backed a promise of Governor Hodges to put an end to the violence surrounding the strike, which had started the prior November 15 when Textile Workers Union of America officials and Harriet-Henderson Mills management had failed to agree on a new contract. In Raleigh, union officials had emerged from the conference with the Governor expressing hope for a settlement, saying that the Governor seemed to be honestly and sincerely seeking a solution to the situation. The union group had spent about 50 minutes with the Governor and were followed by a management delegation.
In Raleigh, it was reported that a masked man wearing horn-rimmed glasses had robbed a branch bank this date of about $20,000, escaping after forcing two bank employees to lie on the floor. The manager of the branch of the First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. on the Old Wake Forest Road said that the man had entered the bank late in the morning, waved a pistol and demanded "all of your money". The manager said that the bandit had escaped after making him and another employee in the bank lie on the floor. He had said: "This is a stick up. I'm not joking. I want all your money." (Who writes these corny scripts for these people?) After taking the money, the manager said that the man had fled in a black 1958 Ford with a gold stripe down the side. It was the fourth bank robbery in the state so far in the year. No arrest had been made in the robbery of almost $5,000 from the Stony Point branch of the Northwestern Bank on February 9. An Army trumpet player had been arrested as the gunman who had stolen $13,373 from the Fort Bragg branch of the First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. and shot the manager dead, with most of the money having been recovered. A man had been charged with the $2,837 robbery of the Weaverville branch of the Bank of French Broad on February 25.
John Kilgo of The News reports that a check forgery ring operating out of the South Carolina State penitentiary had been uncovered by local and South Carolina police. Prison officials had told the newspaper this date that at least six convicts had been printing checks on prison materials and smuggling them out. At least four of the checks, forged on the J. A. Jones Construction Co., had been passed in Charlotte, drawn in the amount of $94.60. One of the men had been arrested in Chester, S.C., and was being brought to Charlotte by detectives this date for questioning. Another man, who reportedly had assisted the first man arrested, was still being sought by police. A police captain who was handling the investigation for the South Carolina penitentiary said that at least 8 to 10 checks on various companies had been forged in the prison. He said that another "large batch" of checks drawn on other companies were out but officials had not uncovered them yet. All of the forged checks recovered thus far, according to the captain, had been drawn on J. A. Jones. The captain said that it was a slow and tedious investigation because they were dealing only with criminals. (Apparently, in the usual check forgery case, they were dealing with upstanding citizens.) He said that six of the prisoners suspected of taking part in the forgery ring were in solitary confinement.
Julian Scheer of The News
reports that violence on television was so frequent that thuds came
in salvos. A survey by the newspaper of a week's television fare
showed an amazing amount of violence in an amazing variety of bizarre
methods. The survey compared the incidence of violence on the screen
for a week with the violence in local newspapers for the same period,
and the result was that television violence was bloodier by a factor
of 2 to 1. Each night from Saturday, February 21, through Friday,
February 27, a News reporter had watched channel 3 between the
hours of 7 and 11 p.m., while another reporter watched channel 9
during the same period. Each evening's report of television violence
was compiled as well as stories of violent death appearing in both
Charlotte newspapers, using the editions delivered to homes in
Charlotte. The survey found that there had been 83 deaths by violence
on the television screen and 36 deaths by violence in the newspapers.
On one day, February 26, there was no violent death in the news
columns of either local newspaper, while on the same day, 13 people
had died on television. People died on television mostly by
shootings, but television writers managed to come up with 16 other
ways to dispatch victims. Of the 83 television deaths, 55 had been
gunned down, with either rifle, pistol or cannon. Some had been
killed in the quick-draw while others had been shot in the back,
others ambushed, some killed in war, some in riots, "you name it
and a bullet did it." No, it can't be
A piece indicates that the following day, the State House Speaker, Addison Hewlett, and Lt. Governor Luther Barnhardt would bang their gavels and the Legislature would be called to order in Charlotte at Park Center. A local bill would be passed, a measure to be introduced by State Senator J. Spencer Bell in the Senate, allowing the County Commission to fix the new rate of pay for members of the drainage commission. Rules would be suspended in the Senate and no committee action would be necessary, permitting the bill to pass quickly and then passed to the House, which would also approve the local measure, and visitors, including hundreds of students, would have observed the making of a law. Governor Luther Hodges would be in Charlotte for the day and would be greeted by Mayor James Smith and Chamber of Commerce president Buell Duncan. The Chamber was sponsoring the event.
Roberta Sherwood, as told to Ann Kramer, provides this date's edition of the "Lenten Guideposts", indicating that for some time she had known that her husband, Don Lanning, was not well. When finally she did get him to a doctor for an examination, the news had been grim, requiring immediate lung surgery. She had been married to him for 15 years and he was her friend, companion and counselor as well as her husband. She admired him especially because life had not been easy for him. During the 1920's, he had been a talented and popular actor, and yet during the Depression, when it was impossible to find roles, he had cheerfully turned to another field and opened a restaurant, which is how they had first met. She and her sister for years had toured the country as an act, and were out of work and desperate. She had gone to see Don and offered him a double, as her sister danced and she sang, for the price of a single. He joked about a bargain, but had taken them on and was wonderful to work for. After that, whenever she was in New York, she saw him. In 1939, they were married. After their marriage, Don had moved to Miami, leasing a small lounge at a beach hotel and she had sung there nightly. But when he became ill, the hotel manager told them they were taking the concession from them. Suddenly, she rebelled against fate, wondering why it had to happen to a man who had lived a decent life, who had never dissipated, who had brought only kindness and consideration to those around him. She wondered why the hotel did not at least give them a break. Don had said that there was no room for sentiment in that business and that his wife had to see their side of it. Seeing that he could be fair and objective at such a moment had silenced her. When he went into surgery, she was singing to him the songs he loved, songs of the Bible Belt where she had trouped as a girl. She sang, "Prayer is the key to heaven." She had added her own special prayer, "Dear God, keep Your Arm around him…" Don had come out of surgery with his left lung gone, but his wonderful spirit remained intact. During his convalescence, she would spend the days with him and then hurry home to cook dinner for their sons, put them to bed, greet the sitter, then dress and rush off to her nightly singing engagement. It had been an ordeal, but she remembered hearing an actress say once, "God broadens the back to bear the burden." Gratitude for Don's recovery had made her strong enough. The remainder is on an inside page.
The sports page lists the All-ACC basketball team for 1958-59. One of them would later teach us American history in high school, and that's a fact
On the editorial page, "The
Larger Good Must Not Be Sacrificed" finds that the rejection by
the Mecklenburg County Commission of the school consolidation plan
the previous day had been bruising but not necessarily fatal.
It suggests that the larger good
would not be sacrificed in a quarrel over lesser interests. The
metropolitan community had come a long way toward its goal, with
benefits to be shared by every child in the county being within the
community's grasp. It finds it would be tragic if those benefits
disappeared because of intergovernmental jealousies. Commissioners
had gone on record the previous day as being "bitterly opposed"
to several sections of the proposed bill.
It finds that most of the
bitterness, however, appeared to center on a section giving the
consolidated school board, rather than the Commission, the authority
to determine a supplementary tax levy. The reluctance on the part of
the commissioners to be dealt out was understandable, but as a member
of the City School Board had pointed out the previous day, the law
already provided a number of safety checks on the tax levy and
another would create more bureaucracy than safety.
It finds that the essential question
was whether educational planning at the metropolitan level would be
effective when the machinery and responsibility for carrying out the
plans were divided among so many governmental groups. A unity of
purpose and effort was one of the reasons for consolidation of the
two systems and it finds that it would be a shame to damage that
unity by internal bureaucracy.
The consolidation plan was a
cooperative effort and reflected great compromise, but there was
still room for more compromise, as long as the larger principles
remained intact. It finds that the worst enemy of consolidation at
present was time, as there was none to waste if the necessary
legislation would get through the 1959 General Assembly. It thus
urges that any differences, large or small, ought be resolved
immediately.
"Should Safe Drivers Be
Penalized?" indicates the State Representative George Uzzell of
Rowan County had introduced a bill designed to restrict the right of
insurance companies to cancel automobile liability policies issued in
the state. The measure stated that no contract of insurance could be
terminated except for nonpayment of premiums or on grounds that the
policy was obtained through false representations. It also made
insurance renewable at the option of the insured, unless the insured
had a record of an accident for which he was responsible or had his
driver's license revoked or suspended. The Representative claimed
that a number of motorists would be "protected" by such a
law, but it finds that the cost of the protection would undoubtedly
be reflected in the rates paid for insurance by safe drivers and
reckless drivers alike.
It finds that a driver did not have
to be judged responsible for an accident to be a poor insurance risk.
Many fast, reckless or drunk drivers had not yet become a statistic,
but almost certainly would unless they reformed. Many aged drivers
with slow reflexes or physical defects were likewise tempting fate
when they entered a stream of traffic. Since North Carolina did not
have compulsory inspection laws at present, many drivers were on the
road with ancient or generally unsafe cars.
It finds that all of those factors
aided insurance companies in predicting risks. Although "preventive
cancellations" were relatively few in number, they did allow the
companies to keep rates down and thereby reward the mass of sensible
drivers. Under the present system, no one was deprived of liability
insurance, as the state had a compulsory insurance program in effect.
When a driver was turned down by two companies, he became an
"assigned risk", which meant that the state assigned him to
a particular company for insurance and that company was required by
law to take him. But the state divided the assigned risk group fairly
among companies operating within the state and no firm got more than
its reasonable share.
It finds that the Representative's
non-cancellation proposal would punish the many for the reckless
behavior of the few and even encourage a greater degree of
irresponsibility. Either way, it finds, North Carolinians could not
afford it.
"Otto Graham and the
Traditional Pass" indicates that Mr. Graham, the man with the
golden arm of professional football, had realized an ambition to
coach, choosing to begin his career in the unpressured uniform of a
Coast Guard commander, reserve. As dean of the Academy's gridiron
club, Mr. Graham would receive a painless baptism of fire. It
indicates that it would be the better way when compared with the
short career of Terry Brennan, who had not met the mark of excellence
at Notre Dame. (His successor, incidentally, mired in mediocrity, would last only four years, a lesson repeated through time in both football and basketball, when programs, accustomed to the heights of success, cannot accept only good teams and go fishing for the heights again. Cf., for a contra example, stupid youngster, the arc of the career of Dean Smith at UNC.)
Even before he had begun his task,
Mr. Graham sounded like a football coach on the right track. He
admitted that he hated to leave Cleveland, but said that he had the
assurance of a long-term contract with the Coast Guard, adding: "But
I'm not worried about that because I intend to be there forever."
"Life in America" indicates that when a fire hydrant in front of a Detroit woman's home
was painted yellow, she had painted it white to match her fence.
A piece from the Manchester
Guardian, titled "A Rattling Good Show, Chaps",
indicates that no regiment worthy of its battle armor dared march
into a town without a mascot accompanying it in front to mark the
distant time when a bray or bark at night revealed the enemy
The RAF now had to rely on other
forms of warning, but it was not to say that mascots were
dispensable. The Air Force had shown a curious predilection for the
pungent goat. The choice remained with the squadrons and sometimes,
as in the case of No. 66, a marked individuality was shown. To ward
off the evil eye, that jet fighter squadron had opened a
snake park in the crew-room. The insignia of the squadron was a
coiled rattlesnake with the motto, "Beware, I have given
warning," very bellicose.
A recent advertisement had drawn a
lively response from patriotic snake-owners on both sides of the
Atlantic. Lady Snow had presented a tail, the rattling end, mounted
in a silver box, which had been in the family for 60 years. At any
time, the first live snake probably would arrive by courtesy of the
American Air Force, who were also going to present the squadron with
a stuffed specimen.
To keep a stuffed snake coiled and
ready to strike on the mantelpiece offered no problem, but a flying
officer in charge of snakes had to do a lot of mugging up for the two
live specimens. A specially built showcase with thermostatically
controlled heating had been installed in the crew-room and while it
was more expense than a kennel, the great thing about the diamondback
rattlers, as the flying officer had discovered, was that they ate
only four times per year and thus caused no special drain on the mess
funds.
Drew Pearson indicates that the
President, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Premier Nikita
Khrushchev had now gotten themselves in a position where they would
almost have to hold a summit conference or face the alternative of
war. Both sides had edged so close to the Berlin brink, with the
author of brinksmanship, Secretary of State Dulles, in the hospital,
that neither could back away. The only alternative was a summit
conference and although the President was opposed to such a
conference, it was probable that he would prefer it to the dread
prospect of war.
He finds that the danger of the
brinksmanship of the previous few days had been indicated by several
diplomatic events. The Russian fleet had rushed radar picket ships to
key points around Russia, an ominous move which would indicate that
the Kremlin was expecting trouble. Russian ships and submarines had
been in American waters many times in greater number and closer than
the fishing trawlers which had been boarded the previous week and
there had been no incidents. The boarding of the trawler, in
connection with the cable break of the trans-Atlantic cable, was
partly inspired by the war of nerves between Moscow and Washington.
Allen Dulles, head of the CIA, had warned the White House that the
Kremlin might seize on his brother's illness as an opportunity to
make a strike against some isolated part of the free world. Mr.
Dulles was worried about a move into Iran, which Russia had long
coveted as a warm-water route to the Gulf of Persia. He had also
warned that the Kremlin might crack down on the growing yearning for
freedom in Poland.
It was the fear that Russia might
take advantage of the illness of Secretary Dulles which had caused
the President to make such a flat statement at his press conference,
warning that the U.S. would not retreat an inch in Berlin. The
statement had been carefully thought out in advance.
During one of the President's visits
to Walter Reed Hospital to see Mr. Dulles, the latter had warned that
the Kremlin might miscalculate as a result of confusion and
uncertainty during his illness and try to catch the U.S. off guard.
Thus, he had advised the President to issue a strong statement
warning Premier Khrushchev that American policy had not changed
because the Secretary of State was ill and that the U.S. would not
retreat over Berlin. The President had conferred twice with Mr.
Dulles in the hospital before finally issuing the statement.
U.S. Ambassador Walter Dowling, in
Korea, had delivered a stern warning to South Korean President
Syngman Rhee not to try to reopen the Korean War, the latter having
sent an intelligence report to Washington that a North Korean plot
was being formed to re-invade South Korea during the coming summer.
Ambassador Dowling suspected that President Rhee might be trying to
resume the fighting so that he could take over all of Korea with
American help, or that there was an attempt by him to strengthen his
political leadership against growing opposition.
President Eisenhower had asked
General Nathan Twining, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to make
speeches defending the Administration's curtailed budget. General
Twining was reluctant to inject the Joint Chiefs into a political
fight, but did not see how he could turn down the commander-in-chief.
The Soviet Deputy Premier, Anastas
Mikoyan, had sent secret word to the American Communist Party that
Russia would soften its attitude toward Russian Jews. The Kremlin had
followed a harsh policy toward Russian Jews for the previous 45
years, but Mr. Mikoyan promised that the Kremlin would now try to be
more tolerant.
Joseph Alsop, at Offutt Air Force
Base in Omaha, indicates that if the national intelligence estimates
were no more than normally wrong, the country might soon be exposed
to something infinitely worse than Pearl Harbor. Only one immediate
measure could be taken to reduce the risk, that being that the
Strategic Air Command could be ordered to mount an immediate, maximum
airborne alert. SAC's commander, General Thomas Power, had already
begged the authorities in Washington to put SAC on an airborne alert
status, but mounting a continual airborne alert would cost money and
thus General Power had been turned down for the usual budgetary
reasons.
Mr. Alsop indicates that those
terrible facts had been burned into his mind during his time at
Offutt, in the headquarters of SAC. First, SAC was already
maintaining a 15-minute ground alert of a third of its aircraft, but
the existing warning system did not pick up missiles. The new
missile-seeing radars would not be in position until 1961, based on
present projections. Thus, SAC presently had no warning against a
Soviet surprise attack with ballistic missiles. Under those
circumstances, the whole SAC force could be surprised on the ground
if the Soviets had the missiles to do the job.
Second, the Pentagon leaders had
admitted in their recent testimony that the Soviets might well have
enough medium range ballistic missiles to destroy all of SAC's
overseas bases.
Third, the only remaining question
was whether SAC's bases in the Western hemisphere were equally
vulnerable. The number of Soviet ICBM's needed to strike at the
Western hemisphere was proportional to the target system. Most
probably, the Soviets would want their first strike to destroy all of
SAC's 30-odd bases on this side of the Atlantic, plus the national
command post in Washington and the main nodes of the communications
net of the American Air Defense Command, which would clear the way
for a potential second strike with aircraft. That would provide a
total of approximately 50 targets, all of them completely "soft".
Assuming one-third reliability for the Soviet ICBM, a stock of 150
missiles would be enough for the purpose.
On the basis of the national
intelligence estimates, the President and the Pentagon leaders
asserted that the Soviets did not have that stock of ICBM's at
present. But based on the known facts, the arguments for that
estimate appeared less strong than the arguments against it. For
example, the only sensible explanation for the shutdown of output of
the Bison bomber was the conversion of the Soviet's heavy bomber
factories to ICBM production. In addition, there was the persistent
optimistic errors in previous national estimates.
The rightness or wrongness of the
estimates did not need to be argued, as the whole American future was
presently being gambled on a guess that the Soviets did not have a
few score weapons, when they had the means to produce them and had
been working desperately hard to produce them. Whether the guess was
good or bad, it was a criminal gamble and only the same psychology
which had led to the attack on Pearl Harbor would permit such a
gamble, especially after the country had received the clearest kind
of strategic warning at Berlin.
With the country without any
tactical warning and no missiles of its own on hard pads, there was
only one way to reduce the gamble. The maximum feasible percentage of
SAC's great force had to be kept in the air, with targets assigned,
bombs aboard and ready to go. The word "maximum", he
indicates, needed to be emphasized because the much easier and
cheaper kind of air alert, confined to SAC's B-52 squadrons, would
provide no more than "minimum deterrence", which was not
real deterrence. The cost, though considerable, would be under a
billion dollars per year, but intense efforts would also be needed to
increase the flow to SAC's stock of replacement parts, spare crews
and jet tankers to improve the B-47's capability.
He finds it a small price to pay
when remembering the remark of General Powers that "Pearl
Harbor, though a highly successful surprise, was really like stamping
on a strong man's little finger." The surprise presently being
risked would not just mean the beginning of an ultimately victorious
war, but the end of the United States.
A letter writer responds to another
letter indicating that a previous letter was out of proportion with
the facts and policy of the newspaper. It had caused him to recall
reporter John Kilgo's interviews with Charlotte police officers the
previous month, when the reporter had written that one police officer
said: "If we ever find out who those two guys are that are
filing suit, we'll run 'em out of town." There had been no
protest from the chief of police, the mayor, members of the City
Council, the Chamber of Commerce public affairs committee or E. S.
Dillard, who labored hard for law and order and the welfare of the
working people, despite the officer's statement being against his
oath to uphold the law. He indicates that the editorial columns had
not responded to the officer's statement as to whether it approved or
disapproved, but while indicating that the previous letter writer's
letter was "absurd", the letter had still served to stir
the conscience of many people who were concerned that law and order
applied to all, even to a policeman.
A letter writer indicates that it
was an exciting prospect that the nation was beginning to re-examine
its whole approach to international relations. The Russian satellites
had jolted the nation's complacency, not only as to its military
position but also regarding its whole foreign policy. She indicates
that if the country believed in itself and the things which Western
civilization stood for, it could find a solution, as the values and
institutions gave it potentially a decisive advantage over Communism.
She finds the problem to be one of reorientation of attitudes, of
finding fresh approaches to old problems, facing up to the nation's
responsibilities, moral and material, in a world in which three
quarters of its peoples consumed only 30 percent of its goods.
A letter writer indicates that he
was a student in the seventh grade in Catholic school in Charlotte,
responds to a letter in the Friday issue, which had indicated that
the United States was a Protestant country where men had come to be
"free of the chains of Catholicism". He feels it his duty
to inform the writer about his religion. He indicates that
Protestants did not come to America to be free from Catholicism but
rather to be free from the tyranny of the Church of England and from
political persecutions. The Protestants had founded colonies where
the people were forced to attend one particular church. In no colony
where Catholics were in control of the legislature had freedom of
religion been forbidden. In 1649, the Toleration Act had been passed
in Maryland by a legislature made up primarily of Catholics, with
some Protestant members. The act stated that no person "professing
to believe in Jesus Christ" should in any way be persecuted for
religious beliefs. In 1650, the Puritans rebelled and seized the
government. The first thing they had done was to repeal the
Toleration Act. He indicates that the founders believed that any
and all men could have the chance of obtaining the position of the
presidency, not restricting it to a person of a particular religion.
"All men, rich or poor, Catholic or Protestant, have the same
chance to become president. According to my principles, the founders
of our country were very fair and wise men."
It is a sad commentary that a
seventh grader had to instruct presumably an adult on the history of
the country and its Constitution. But such was the state of things in
1959. Framed Edition
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