The Charlotte News
Wednesday, April 15, 1959
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Augusta, Ga., that the President, his voice choking with emotion, had this date sadly announced the resignation of cancer-stricken Secretary of State Dulles. At a dramatic press conference at his vacation headquarters, the President said that Mr. Dulles now was "absolutely incapacitated" in his ability to carry out the administrative burden of his office and make policy as well. The President said that he had made no final decision on a successor, and gave newsmen the impression that he might pick someone other than Undersecretary and Acting Secretary Christian Herter. But he had not ruled out Mr. Herter. Mr. Dulles, according to the President, would continue to serve as a foreign policy consultant. There had been a trace of tears in the President's eyes as he announced the decision of the 71-year old Secretary to step down. Later, an aide to the President said that he had not intended to use the word "absolutely" in reference to the incapacitation of the Secretary for the administrative burden of the job. White House press secretary James Hagerty asked newsmen to delete that word and the official White House transcript had eliminated it. Asked whether he had someone other than Mr. Herter in mind, the President said that there were "all kinds of considerations" to take into account, adding that there were "a number of people with particular talents" who could fill the top foreign policy post. The President's emotion regarding the turn for the worse of Mr. Dulles had become increasingly apparent as he talked. The President reported that he had talked to Mr. Dulles by telephone earlier in the morning and that based on the doctors' latest findings, the Secretary had decided definitely to submit his resignation. The President said he wanted to make clear that Mr. Dulles was not helpless.
Acting Secretary of State Herter, who was regarded as the most likely successor to Mr. Dulles, was meeting with his staff this date when the President had announced the resignation of Mr. Dulles. The Paris-born, 64-year old Mr. Herter was understood to have been aware of the President's intention of announcing the resignation of Mr. Dulles. A former Republican Congressman and former Governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Herter was known to have been the choice of Mr. Dulles as his successor. Mr. Herter was held in high regard by many influential Democratic as well as Republican Senators. He was also reported to have displayed an ability to work well with the President during the illness of Mr. Dulles. Mr. Herter was afflicted with arthritis of the hips, which gave him pain if he walked more than 10 to 20 yards, or when he had to stand for any length of time. But that physical limitation had never caused him to miss a day of work. Mr. Herter frequently used lightweight metal arm crutches. His physicians reported that he had no arthritis anywhere else in his body and was perfectly comfortable sitting or lying down or walking short distances. C. Douglas Dillon, 49, Undersecretary of State for economic affairs, who had been mentioned as another potential successor to Mr. Dulles, was in the Philippines when the President made his announcement. A wealthy investment banker, Mr. Dillon—who would become Secretary of the Treasury under President Kennedy—had been born in Switzerland of American parents and for the previous two years had been the State Department's top officer in charge of economic policy. Mr. Dillon had stopped off in the Philippines after attending the Southeast Asia Treaty group's annual meeting and was set to return to Washington the following Sunday.
In Groton, Conn., the vice-chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Russell, said this date that the U.S. Navy was "far ahead of any other country in the development and use of atomic power as a means of ship propulsion." He did not amplify that statement in his prepared speech at the commissioning of the atomic submarine U.S.S. Skipjack. Unofficially, however, the Russians had been reported to be experimenting with atomic energy as a source of power in their submarines. Admiral Russell described the 252-foot, 2,830-ton Skipjack, which had gone faster and deeper than any known submarine, as the "forerunner of a new generation of submarines." It was the first of a new class of attack vessels and the sixth atomic submarine to join the Navy's fleet. The Admiral was lavish in his praise of Vice-Admiral Hyman Rickover, often called the "father of the atomic submarine", and the builder, the electric boat division of General Dynamics Corp. Another speaker, Earl Johnson, executive vice-president of General Dynamics, said that he could not help but feel "that perhaps someday men will rank the commissioning of the Skipjack with the commissioning of the Holland", the latter having been the Navy's first submarine, built in Groton in 1900. Mr. Johnson said that the commissioning of the Holland had symbolized the beginning of man's conquest of the undersea and that this date's commissioning symbolized the beginning of "total conquest, for it is a ship truly at home in the depths, a blending of steel and atomic power whose natural element is the world's oceans." Cmdr. William Behrens of Harrisburg, Pa., had officially taken charge as the vessel's first commanding officer. The ceremonies had taken place on a building platform which saddled the hull of the Skipjack while the crew stood alongside the dock. There was no room for standing topside, as the Skipjack had no decks. One crewman ran up the flags during the ceremonies as he stood aboard, aided by a safety belt attached to a track running along the center line of the submarine.
At Alpha Two, in the Arctic Ocean, Ice Skate, a cold weather scientific mission with strong military overtones, had been launched the previous day on the tiny block of ice in the barren Arctic. Two C-124 four-engine Globemaster planes had parachuted 22 tons of equipment, food and shelter to a small contingent of intrepid Air Force men and Navy scientists from California, who would study meteorology, hydrology, oceanography and the animal and fish life there. The three-mile by two-mile island was along the Arctic route traveled by the nuclear submarines U.S.S. Nautilus and Skate. The Russians had two similar stations and were landing a third within 100 miles of Alpha Two, successor to Alpha One, the latter an ice island which had broken up the prior November and had to be evacuated. Maj. Harry Brittenham of Houston, the Ice Skate project officer, had pointed out that although the operation was primarily scientific, "underwater soundings will be taken and we'll certainly use what information we obtain." The venture would be carried on jointly by the Air Force and the Navy. Alpha Two was 233 miles north of Point Barrow, the northernmost part of the U.S., as well as of North America. The island was about 900 miles south of the North Pole, and moved slowly around it. Alpha One, which had operated in conjunction with the International Geophysical Year, which had just concluded, had broken up after being occupied for 20 months. The Air Force had another one, T-3, operating off Newfoundland. The new Alpha radio code name was "Nowhere". It was presently spring in the north with sunshine so bright that pilots experienced "whiteouts", the same as a blackout, except that the person saw only white, with no horizons—similar to John Lennon's eventual "Nowhere Man" or the Trumpers, take your pick. The thermometer had registered 20 below the previous day and in the summer it would rise to freezing, in winter, fall to 45 below.
In Mexico City, it was reported that the country had given the bum's rush this date to a flying American bank robber on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Two immigration agents had been driving the fast-traveling, fast-talking hold-up artist to the U.S.-Mexican border to hand him over to American authorities. He had been captured the prior Monday as he was fishing off the Yucatán coast, and in less than 24 hours, had been ordered deported for entering Mexico illegally. He was then flown to Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon and transferred to a car for the drive north. The 29-year old bandit was wanted for robbing a bank in Hamilton, O., of $29,955, for the $1,490 hold-up of an Akron café, and for a series of other crimes in the United States and Canada, Ohio having been his chief theater of operations. Wreckage of a plane, one of several which the robber had used to elude police, had led to his capture. Mexican police had traced to him a Piper Pacer which had cracked up while landing early in April on the Gulf Coast north of Veracruz. The police had tracked him to the Yucatán island resort of Cozumel and nabbed him as he was fishing in the Caribbean. He was posing as a prosperous U.S. highway engineer, one of several roles he had adopted in his year of flight.
In Los Angeles, it was reported that a couple had been jailed on suspicion of child beating on Tuesday after their seven-year old son had accused the father of mistreating him, including pouring whiskey down his throat for refusing to eat. The youngster had been taken to a hospital where doctors pumped his stomach and treated bruises on his face and neck. He told police that his father had shaken him furiously because he would not eat, and then forced a half pint of whiskey down his throat. The father, 40, was jailed with his wife, 43, both having denied the charges, the mother telling police that they had five kids and they all loved her.
The multi-million dollar peach crop in the Carolinas was safe this date, thanks to an unexpected flow of warm air. The temperature, which had been expected to drop to the low 30's in some areas, had remained in the 40's in the peach-growing country, although some lower readings had been reported elsewhere. In Spartanburg, S.C., heart of the peach country, the official low was 35, but there was no frost reported. One happy grower in the North Carolina Sandhills country said that it looked like they had made it, as the low there had been around 40 with no frost. The danger appeared to be over, as the temperature was on the rise and there was no threat of frost the following morning. It had been 39 during the current morning, but thanks to a cheerful sun, the temperature quickly rose into the 50's. A high of 72 was predicted for the current afternoon, with a low of 44 the following morning and the high of 78 in the afternoon. The coldest city in the Carolinas during the morning had been Asheville, with a low of 34. It had been 36 in Raleigh and Columbia, S.C., and 35 in Augusta, Ga.
Bob Slough of The News, in the second of a series of reports on unmarried mothers in Mecklenburg County, indicates that unwed mothers could be girls from any social level, with varying educational and employment background. Of the 205 girls at Florence Crittenton Home in Charlotte the previous year, 62 had been students, most of them high school students. The student group had been the largest single group at the Home. Of the unmarried mothers, 44 had been office workers, 19, waitresses, 17, factory workers, and 14, salespersons. Others had included three babysitters, six beauticians, one cashier, five domestics, five nurses or aides, two teachers, six telephone operators, two skilled workers, 11 unemployed and seven others. The educational background ranged from the holder of a graduate degree to those who had completed partial grades. One girl at the Home in 1958 held a graduate degree, three had been college graduates, 20 had attended some college and seven had taken social studies after high school graduation. Of the number, 63 had been high school graduates in 1958, and 87 had attended high school, with 14 having gone through the eighth grade and ten having attended some school. Most of the girls going to the Home were from out of the county, with only 26 of the 205 girls at the Home the previous year having been Mecklenburg County girls, some being from out of the state. But the number of Mecklenburg County girls going to other counties was about the same as those coming into the county. A total of 139 unmarried mothers had come from other counties to have their babies in Charlotte and 40 had come from outside the state, one from as far away as California. A local doctor had provided some of the reasons why teenage girls became unmarried mothers, starting with the idea that most young people did not know what sex, love and marriage meant, with the rest being on an inside page.
Julian Scheer of The News indicates that he had received a phone call asking him to put a picture of the speaker's teacher in the newspaper because she was "such a good teacher that I just want to." He responded that they could not just put a picture in the newspaper, and the caller then asked how much it would cost, that she had little money. Mr. Scheer indicated it would cost a lot, to which the caller responded, "Oh, gosh." The caller said that she was in the eighth grade at Hawthorne Junior High School and that her teacher was just about the best in the world, her name being Mrs. Lowery. The previous day, a reporter and a photographer had gone to the junior high, and the school secretary had then summoned the student to the office, whereupon the secretary asked her what she had done, as the men were there to see her. The student then started crying. Mrs. Lowery, a 24-year old native of Peachland, was surprised. It was her second year of teaching at the school and she taught the student in both American history and typing. She was informed of the reason why they had come to take her picture, saying she did not know what to say. Neither did the student. The student explained that they had a fruit shower for the teacher and that everyone said she was "so pretty she ought to go to Hollywood. She's the best teacher in the world and other teachers sometimes have pictures in the paper, so I thought if she had her picture in the paper it would be nice—and maybe someone would call her to come to Hollywood." The student was told that the picture would appear in this date's newspaper on the front page, at which point her face had lit up, but then dimmed a bit, asking the anxious question: "Gosh—how much will it cost?" She was told that it would not cost anything, as they also thought that the teacher was so pretty she ought to go to Hollywood, or at least have her picture in the newspaper. Her picture appears along with the piece.
That is all nice and well and good, but some of this stuff, it seems to us, more properly belongs on the feature pages of the newspaper, inside, rather than on the front page, normally reserved for major news. Quite candidly, 67 years on, some of this fluffy stuff gets a bit tiring to recount—and if it continues, we may just stop recounting it. After all, we are nearly through kindergarten, now, with only a couple of days left before we depart for Shelby for the summer, as our grandmother recently suffered a heart attack and our mama needs to go there to take care of her, given our grandfather's advanced age. We want to learn to read of serious news, not fluff, which we can get in the coloring books, which we soon will be retiring in favor of Alice and Jerry and their friends.
In Louisville, Ky., a widower had figured that the best way to celebrate his first hundred years was to remarry and so this date marked his 105th birthday and his fifth wedding anniversary. Ice cream had been the main refreshment. He said, "I was never drunk in my life and I've been chewin' tobacco since I was eight." His 74-year old wife, who had been a widow before the marriage five years earlier, said that her husband would eat half a gallon of ice cream if they did not watch him. He was a healthy retired farmer and had been a boy of 11 in Spencer County, Ind., at the end of the Civil War. He formerly had worked as a tipper for the city sanitation department and at age 99, said, "Anything anyone else could throw up on that truck, I could, too." He perhaps ought fly out to Lincoln, Neb., and counsel Charles Starkweather in his last days, to let him know that on which he would miss out as a career garbage-thrower.
On the editorial page, "Here's a Reasonable Route to Reform" finds that in the day-to-day pattern of progress for metropolitan Mecklenburg County, there had been a reasonable note this date in a plan perfected by State Representative Frank Snepp for an orderly transition to a county manager plan of government. His formula was not foolproof, had a number of loopholes, and would unfortunately make 1962 the earliest possible date when a changeover could be made. But it nevertheless finds it superior to any other ideas being offered.
The proposed legislation placed the responsibility for action on the Board of County Commissioners, and at the same time, would allow the public an opportunity to express itself on the question. The plan was that the County Commission would be authorized in 1961 or in any later odd-numbered year to adopt a county manager plan, to become effective in the December of the following even-numbered year when a new Board would take office. The newly elected commissioners would be empowered to name a county manager, set the person's salary and elect a Commission chairman from its own ranks. The timetable would provide an opportunity for 1960 candidates for the Board of County Commissioners to state their positions on a county manager plan and act accordingly following the election. In that way, the voters could decide for or against the plan. A successful candidate could not be bound legally to his campaign platform, but the moral obligation would be strong.
It finds that Representative Snepp had rendered a reasonable solution to a difficult problem and that it deserved the Mecklenburg legislative delegation's favorable consideration
"The Legislature Needs an Alarm Clock" finds that the General Assembly had pointedly ignored urgent court reform legislation, that the proposed measures had been in committee for weeks, virtually undisturbed, receiving no formal debate. Yet, it was one of the most important legislative packages which the Legislature had received in years and had the enthusiastic support of distinguished lawyers and laymen alike across the state. It was custom-tailored to fit the peculiar needs of a state judicial system which had outgrown its 19th Century administrative framework. It deserved all of the sensitive attention and critical study which the General Assembly could give it.
It finds that the citizens of the state had waited too long for a comprehensive plan for a unified system of justice for it to be allowed to die of political suffocation, and that consideration should neither be postponed until another session, even a special session, as the need was immediate.
The evidence for it had been gathered by a special North Carolina Bar Association committee headed by Mecklenburg County Senator J. Spencer Bell, and there was no logical reason to put off its consideration.
It finds that an alarm clock might do the trick to get the Legislature to recognize the urgency of the momentous question.
"Ready the Computers, This Is T-Day" finds it to be tax day, and that it was only a matter of hours before the last mail train left for Nowheresville, the hideout of the IRS.
It finds it of interest that if one could claim to be 65 years of age, the person could gain an extra $600 exemption, suggesting that a person inquire of the Little Theater makeup department for help in case a tax examiner called to check out the age of the filer, that regarding birth certificates, if a fake one were offered, "(a) all others enter 10 percent of line 1, or $1,000, whichever is smaller. Enter here and on line 12, page 1."
And so on and so forth, closing with the advice to figure it out for one's self.
"Inland Waterways" quotes from Jay Jenkins in a report from Raleigh: "And a Senate committee on banks set a record for speed on a measure which would have required all banks to clear creeks without charge. Introduced on Monday, the bill was killed in committee on Thursday."
It finds it to have been a good thing, as it was the job only for branch banks.
A piece from the Greensboro Daily News, titled "A Complete Political Glossary", indicates that Senator Kenneth Keating of New York was a Republican with a sense of humor, worth a good deal in such sad times for the Republicans. At a dinner given by the Women's National Press Club recently in Washington, the Senator had provided his own glossary of Democratic presidential hopefuls.
He said of Senator Lyndon Johnson: "The first man to try to turn outer space into a Congressional district. (He) figures the best road to the White House is the Milky Way."
Regarding Adlai Stevenson, he had said that his continued popularity in polls showed Democrats had "no desire to ruin the sport of the thing by any compulsive urge to win."
As to Senator Hubert Humphrey, he had said: "The first man to run for president on the platform of spending eight hours to answer a simple question… We're really all indebted to Hubert for backing Khrushchev into a corner… That will make the fellow think twice about ever visiting this country."
Anent Senator Stuart Symington, he had said: "If Stu is elected, every back yard will have a Nike missile battalion and every closed school will have a B-58 to hold recess in."
It finds Senator Keating's glossary to be one-sided and so adds entries for the Republicans. Regarding Vice-President Nixon: "The only candidate for President who favors more spending—but only when it's done by Republicans." As to Governor Nelson Rockefeller: "A kindly Democratic millionaire running under the Republican banner who won't solicit a single campaign contribution and may lend a helping hand to needy Democrats."
it indicates that its additions were short simply because there were no other Republican presidential hopefuls in view, but that it would gladly assist Senator Keating again when, and if, they were to appear.
Drew Pearson indicates that the selection of a Republican national chairman sometimes began a long way back, that in the case of the likable Senator Thruston Morton of Louisville, it had dated to 1956 when he had been staging an uphill battle against incumbent Senator Earle Clements, a former Governor of Kentucky. Mr. Morton, then a young Congressman, had been given little chance of defeating Senator Clements as an unknown running against a thoroughbred. Governor Happy Chandler, however, nominally a Democrat, had made a deal with the Republicans to swing votes away from Senator Clements, and by the slender margin of 6,000 votes, Mr. Morton had won. Governor Chandler had not hesitated to remind Kentucky Republicans of their debt to him. Once, during a tight budget battle, he had appeared personally before a Republican secret caucus and reminded them that they had to support him out of that caucus because he had given them two Republican Senators and that if it had not been for him, Senator Morton would not have been in that body. Reminded of their debt to him, Republicans had voted down the line for the "Democratic" Governor. One of the most important parts of the debt, however, still remained unpaid, it having been agreed that when Governor Chandler finished his term, the Republicans would open up a place for him in the Senate. That was the inside reason for Senator Morton's promotion to RNC chairman. Mr. Pearson suggests that Senator Morton would resign from the Senate so that Governor Chandler could have himself appointed.
Some of the business friends of Admiral Lewis Strauss, plus Arthur Krock of the New York Times, had been needling newspapers to demand an early confirmation of the Admiral as Secretary of Commerce, presently sitting as a recess appointment. Members of the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, however, had experienced a sad time with quick confirmations of important Eisenhower appointees, only to have them backfire, including former Federal Communications Commission member Richard Mack, whose early confirmation the White House had urged, with which Senators George Smathers and Spessard Holland of Florida had obligingly gone along, with the result that Mr. Mack was presently under indictment for accepting money regarding the award of a television channel in Miami. This time, Senator Smathers, member of the Commerce Committee, had told friends that he wanted the Committee to look before it leaped regarding Admiral Strauss. Another such appointment had been of FCC commissioner George McConnaughey, who had worked for the Bell Telephone Co. in Ohio, but was nominated nevertheless to a Commission on which he would regulate the telephone company. Senator Mike Monroney of Oklahoma had given him a cursory cross-examination before confirmation, but had not probed very deeply. Later, Mr. McConnaughey was mixed up in various questionable TV cases, having failed of reappointment and having been under investigation since. On this occasion with Admiral Strauss, Senator Monroney wanted to act more carefully.
Marquis Childs indicates that members of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy had been told about a study in the Pentagon examining a 60-megaton hydrogen bomb, its destructiveness being almost impossible to convey. A megaton was the equivalent of a million tons of conventional TNT. The bomb which had leveled Hiroshima, a city of 343,000 in August, 1945, had been a 15 kiloton bomb. Whether designed and built or not, the 60 million ton giant hydrogen bomb signified to some Committee members that the policy of massive retaliation in recent years was being pushed to its ultimate limits, characterized by former Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson as "a bigger bang for the buck."
Increasingly, U.S. military budgets had gone into the nuclear deterrent, one and five-megaton bombs. As the President had said at a recent press conference, the U.S. could not fight a ground war in Western Europe, but, as he had also said, the destructiveness of a nuclear war would be so vast that as a force to bring order and justice, it would be completely self-defeating. The destruction would be worldwide as the Russians also had in their arsenal a large number of megaton bombs.
Yet the public, in the view of those who had given serious consideration to such matters, had little awareness of what a nuclear war would mean, requiring a frank public inquiry to appraise the consequences of nuclear war, to be held possibly in the near future.
Thomas Murray, who had been a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, had pushed hard for such a study and had been dismayed to discover that no effort had been made to describe what a nuclear war would mean in death and destruction. He had come to believe that if the concentration was increasingly on massive retaliation with megaton bombs, then the choice would be between suicide and seeing the Communists chip away through small wars at the non-Communist world.
Two years earlier, shortly prior to his term on the AEC ended, he had written a courageous article in Life Magazine seeking to make evident the appalling dangers of reliance on the hydrogen bomb. Advocating development of small atomic weapons for middle-sized wars, he admitted that it would be more costly, and thus contrary to the "bigger bang for the buck" view dominating the Eisenhower Administration. He had said in the article, which Mr. Childs regards as being more valid at present than when Mr. Murray had written it, that weapons technology had run away with policy, that an ever-bigger bang in an ever-smaller package had become the means of technological development, and in the absence of any strategy other than massive retaliation, the technicians had gotten their way. Recounting the "conditions of unimaginable horror" in a war in which each side would explode about 3,500 megaton bombs, Mr. Murray had written: "The inherent absurdity of a multi-megaton war sets limits to the military usefulness of immense thermonuclear weapons. In consequence, limits are also set to the validity of the strategy based on these weapons. Deterrence—retaliation may, if you wish, be called a strategy of survival—but only as long as the deterrence works, as long as it sustains the nuclear stalemate."
Few with official knowledge talked about those things publicly. Lt. General James Gavin, in testimony before Congress, had spoken of "current planning" estimating casualties in an attack on Russia in the hundreds of millions. That disclosure had brought the Pentagon down on General Gavin's head.
On the coming May 4, the subcommittee on the effects of radioactive fallout from bomb tests, chaired by Representative Chet Holifield of California, would begin hearings covering the fallout hazard of the previous two years. Those hearings could be expanded later to cover the consequences of nuclear war.
Mr. Murray, an adviser to the Joint Congressional Committee, would have a part in furthering a study which he had long believed essential to an understanding of the tremendous peril of the times.
Doris Fleeson finds that, regarding the prospects for the 1960 presidential election, the Republican candidate had to carry his party to victory, that the Democratic candidate had to depend on the demonstrated strength of his party to see him through, that in Vice-President Nixon and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Republicans unquestionably had the two best-known political figures in the nation after the President, himself, and that Democrats, despite having 35 governors and top-heavy Congressional majorities, had no such standouts presently running.
She finds that there was nothing in sight at present to interfere with the notion that the next presidential race would take place in actuality between a Republican personality and the Democratic Party. Those workings of the law of compensation were privately acknowledged by professionals in both parties and their actions reflected them, no matter what they said in public. Republicans had borne it out the previous weekend, when they had chosen as national chairman an agreeable Kentuckian, Senator Thruston Morton, who had demonstrated in his border state his ability to win a majority of the voters while running under the minority party banner. A self-described moderate, Senator Morton would be so gentle in his role that the Republican factions could whoop it up for either the more conservative Mr. Nixon or the more liberal Mr. Rockefeller, whoever seemed indicated when the national convention would occur in Chicago the following summer.
At the same time, the hustings practically everywhere had been resounding to the voices of Democratic hopefuls bent on winning friends in the party organizations and pleasing the people of key states. Senators Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts were taking pre-primary swings around the country, and Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, a dark horse, had emerged in Kansas.
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, only a few days earlier, had felt compelled to plead with fellow Texans to cooperate with his strategy of waiting for the front-runners to exhaust themselves, thinking, he told them, only of being a good legislator. An organization waiting for Johnson-Day was, however, building quietly.
She regards it as tacit admission that the greatly prized Democratic nomination could, as of the present, go to one of many candidates, including some just beginning to be discussed. Democrats saw no way to avoid the family struggle thus in prospect. They had accepted the grim prospect of the bruising presidential preference primaries, though not without hope that they would somehow not materialize. Yet, they knew that their candidates had to come forward and establish their public renown in whatever ways were available.
Not only were Vice-President Nixon and Governor Rockefeller presently well known, but for various reasons, including the Republican bias of major news media, they would become better known as time moved on toward November, 1960.
A letter writer from Cheraw, S.C., indicates that the people of the country ought face the facts of what was happening in the Western Hemisphere and act while they had the upper hand. He wants to call attention to the conditions in the Caribbean, the Panama Canal Zone and in Mexico. He questions whether the U.S. was going to be forced to give up to a Communist-inspired government in those areas. He finds the situation in Cuba to be the start of trouble for the U.S. among the small nations in the Western Hemisphere. He thinks it imperative to inform all to keep their hands off the Panama Canal and that the U.S. would not tolerate interference in its agreements with other nations of the world, and that it ought not lend aid to any nation which would do away with the American way of life. He prays that one day the nation would refrain from letting satellite nations have aid money to destroy free nations.
A letter from J. R. Cherry, Jr., responds to the editorial tribute to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, finding it commendable. But he also finds that it remained to be seen whether his stepping down from the chancellorship would, as the editorial suggested, "permit a greater degree of flexibility in negotiating with the Soviet Union…" He hopes it would not. The man who would succeed him, Ludwig Erhard, he regards as no fool, says that he knew the evil, cunning Communist mind well, and, like Chancellor Adenauer, would command the respect and admiration of free men if he did "not contract the popular egghead disease of 'flexibility' when dealing with Communists, murderers and crooks." He finds that, the views of columnist "Walter 'Flexible' Lippmann" notwithstanding, libertarians knew that the dogged anti-Communist course which Chancellor Adenauer had charted for West Germany was more conducive to the ends of unity and freedom than any course which Mr. Lippmann had ever dreamed of, even in his most Freudian moments. He says "long live Konrad Adenauer, a man with high and mature principles, and a will strong enough to give those principles noble meaning" in an age which seemed to spotlight, in all its ugliness, the moral, cultural, political, and economic decay to which Western civilization tended.
Mr. Cherry, even in one of his rare moments of semi-lucidity, in agreement for a change with a News editorial, seems to imply at the end, by process of quick elimination, that the East was not so decadent as the West, a logical dilemma of limited alternatives so often encountered existentially by such former followers of the Joseph McCarthy black-and-white world viewpoint, either fer Amurica and its allies or agin it, with no middle ground of compromise tolerable to avoid the worst—even if making exception on occasion, as did the Senator, when confronted by the offended sensibilities of Wisconsin constituents of German heritage, showing tenderness for the former German soldiers, "coerced" by U.S. cross-examiners into their confessions of wrongdoing regarding the Malmedy massacre in 1944—, the response inevitably therefore constrained to be to Mr. Khrushchev's "we will bury you" that "we will bury you, first", not letting such unschooled emotions cool, finding a way to instruct the peasants and their "let's get to it, then" mentality, that a statement of that sort, if realized, was ultimately destructive of all, both sides, when posited in a world of mutually assured destruction.
A letter writer expresses surprise that Representative Charles Jonas was thinking of not running again for Congress in 1960, that many of his supporters and loyal friends would be very disappointed. He indicates that he did not believe Mr. Jonas would let them down and that he ought stand for re-election until he was defeated. He says that as a loyal friend and supporter of Mr. Jonas, he was asking him to fulfill his promise, as he saw no defeat for him in 1960.
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