ustxtxb_obs_1960_05_13_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

LIBERALS MAY LOSE HOUSTON PRECINCT CONTROL \(Continued from Page conservatives, moderates, and lib erals. Support of even a modest majority of precincts representing this diversity would demonstrate Senator Johnson’s vote pulling appeal in the presidential race.” HOUSTON Alarm of Johnson forces about Harris County took two public forms: advertisements for Johnson in the dailies urging passage of a Johnson resolution, and a hot statement by John Singleton, vice chairman of the Johnson for President club there, against liberals opposing Johnson. This statement was well publicized just before the conventions. Singleton accused “self-appointed kingmakers” of “conspiring” to prevent the Johnson resolutions from being offered or to amend them, instead pledging to the nominees, whoever they might be. Singleton condemned “minority bosslets of the liberal element,” “back-room operators,” and “spite and power plotting.” 4 majority of the precincts in Houston defeated or did not consider Johnson resolutions. This ti majority includes both liberal and conservative precincts. Johnson forces were to call for a vote on Johnson Saturday hoping that uninstructed delegations would provide them a majority. The Johnson resolution carried in only two Negro precincts. Generally, precincts controlled by ultra-conservative Freedom in Action did not pledge to Johnson. Woodrow. Seals, liberal county chairman who was re-elected, 71,000 to 60,000, over conservative Ira Kohler, conceded the conservatives a thin majority on the county committee. Liberals hoped their better attendance would keep the issue of committee control in doubt. Tabulations in Houston dailies generally gave conservatives more than 1,800 votes, with 1,767 needed to control. About 1,450 were conceded to liberals. Kohler claimed conservative convention control. In the opinion of some Houston liberal leaders, the outcome turned on rumps in some precincts. The liberals control the executive committee which was to decide these rumps early Saturday morning. The Chronicle credited Walter Sterling, leader of the conservative precinct organization, with the outcome and said Mrs. Randolph, Jack Matthews, secretary of the county committee, Reps. Bob Eckhardt and Dean Johnston, and other liberal leaders would not be delegates Saturday. At mid-week, after two days of conferences, liberals in Houston evidently had agreed to insist that party officers and delegates be required to pledge to support the party’s eventual nominees. If rumps involving as many as 400 delegate seats do not result in liberal control, the loyalty issue could become the basis of a liberal bolt whichsince not likely to be acquiesced in at the state conventionwould carry all the way to Los Angeles. DALLAS Conservatives won firmly in the Dallas conventionsbut Johnson did not. Totals reaching the Observer Wednesday indicated that 33 of the 187 Dallas County precincts instructed for Mrs. Randolph; 45 instructed for Johnson. Many precincts adopted resolutions friendly to Johnson but did not instruct to him. The conservatives won the county committee, claiming a margin of 116 to 65. However, Joe Bailey Humphreys, loyalist leader who lost his race for county chairman against pro-Eisenhower Ed Drake in 1958 by 13,000 votes, came within 2,800 votes of Drake in last week’s voting. Reports indicated that the conservatives in control this Saturday would adopt states’ rights resolutions and compliment Johnson but might not instruct their delegates to vote for him at the state convention in Austin. This would leave them freer to bargain. Humphreys called on delegates to the county convention to require “all delegates to state and national conventions to pledge support of the party nominees.” He charged that “the Johnson club was taken in \(by Republican make a fight for the party loyalty issue.” He said the Johnson forces would “feel the pain” because “the Alger-Nixon people won’t support Johnson.” Many Dallas conservatives, including some associated with Freedom in Action, dislike Johnson. Evidently the resolution complimenting him but not instructing for him would be designed to avoid offending him Saturday while retaining leverage for the state convention. One Dallas precinct endorsed Adlai Stevenson and Mrs. Randolph. A conservative precinct in Highland Park voted down a Johnson resolution. One West Dallas precinct instructed its delegates to support any Democrat except Johnson. Several liberal precincts supported Johnson and Mrs. Randolph. In a Grand Prairie precinct, conservatives rejected the Johnson resolution 2925; then liberals rumped and supported Johnson, Mrs. Randolph, and a loyalty pledge. FORT WORTH Liberals in Fort Worth have not been opposing the Johnson favorite son resolution. Hunter McLean and other Johnson for President ‘club leaders in Tarrant County sought the passage of a Johnson resolution in every precinct. Daily newspapers did not tabulate results by precincts. Mrs. Margaret Carter, liberal leader, analyzed all minutes filed by the Tuesday night deadline. These covered about 150 precinct meet-, ings. Johnson resolutions were not introduced in 90 of the precincts, she said. I the two-fifths of the precincts in which they were, they were passed in 46 precincts and defeated in six. The resolutions pledged delegates to work ceaselessly for Johnson’s nomination. The loyal Democrats offered the intention to-support-the-nominees resolution in Tarrant County. It was passed in 56 precincts, defeated in 12, and disregarded in 74, Mrs. Carter said. Before the precinct meetings, Mrs. Carter discussed the possibility of a bolt if the loyalty intention for party delegates and nominees was not agreed to. Thursday this week, the question of a bolt on party loyalty was still being debated. Evidently the issue would turn on events Saturday. SAN ANTONIO Johnson was squeezed between both liberal and conservative opinion in San Antonio, where, out of 169 voting precincts, only 35 passed resolutions endorsing him, in the opinion of re-elected county chairman James Knight, a leading Johnson spokesman there. Some liberals disputed whether Johnson had won even 35: they said only five or six of the liberal precincts endorsed him. The situation in Bexar County this Saturday turned on the development of a coalition Knight was trying to put together for Johnson including Cmsr. Albert Pena, labor, and the non-Johnson liberals. Knight’s figures assert that this coalition won county committee seats in 85 of the 169 precincts. Knight estimated the coalition would have 600 of the 967 convention delegates. Wade Cameron, co-ordinator for the conservatives, claimed 428 delegates and victory in 43 precincts., The liberal-labor group claimed 69 precincts with 398 votes. Knight believed the county convention would adopt the Johnson resolution. The San Antonio Express reported, “Knight is a staunch Johnsonite and the senator pays half the rent on the Democratic headquarters.” Evidently a small pro-Stevenson group of 60 or 70 delegates might be “the swing.” They were being courted by Cameron and Knight. They were opposed to endorsing Johnson Saturday. AUSTIN In Travis County, a majority of the county convention votes were instructed for Johnson. The Johnson resolution passed in some liberal and conservative precincts and did not come up in others. Advocates of Adlai Stevenson in the county count about 111 of the 598 votes in the convention on their side or liberal and not instructed. They were assured a roll call vote on Stevenson if Stuart Long is elected chairman of the convention. John Kennedy was endorsed in one precinct with one convention vote. Loyal Democrats, in a coalition of those supporting Johnson and those not supporting him, hope to ‘control the convention and elect Long. They agreed on Long, selecting him over Dr. Joe Malik, in a caucus attended by about 200 Tuesday night this week. The Stevenson people agreed to be bound by the caucus only after ‘assured a roll call on Stevenson. The caucus also agreed, with applause and without a nay, to seek Mrs. Randolph’s re-election. Johnson people present offered no protest. The caucus agreed that all county convention officers and delegates must pledge to support the party’s eventual nominees. They designated Fagan Dickson their choice for the state Democratic executive committee. Jerry Holleman lost out on the first vote, obtaining 54 votes; on the runoff, Dickson obtained 113 votes to Creekmore Fath’s 99. Whether loyalists or those led by pro-Eisenhower county chairman Trueman O’Quinn control the . convention may turn on a challenge to the seating of a 22-vote delegation from a conservative precinct which failed to elect delegates to the county convention. Kenneth McCalla, Jr., the chairman, . adjourned . the . convention during an excited debate over abolishing the poll tax. He acknowledged the convention did not elect delegates. A slate of conservative delegates from the precinct was filed for seating Saturday. O’Quinn defeated Long for county chairman by 4,000 votes out of about 40,000 votes. Some participants in a convention in one of the “University precincts” protested what they said was “unfair undemocratic” procedure. They had defeated the Johnson resolution 26-16 and maintained that on a subsequent 19-19 division on a motion to send an uninstructed delegation, they were denied insistent motions for a recount. They asked the county convention to reprimand “those responsible.” In the precinct of Stevenson leaders Jean Lee and Fath, Fath said that at state party committee secretary Jake Jacobsen’s request, THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 May 13, 1960 Congressman Homer Thornberry was placed on the delegates’ list. These delegates were instructed to back Stevenson, 50-18. Conservative opposition to Johnson in Austin generally was muted. Dan Moody, Jr., presiding over one precinct, announced the vote on the Johnson resolution, “It is with regret that I announce that the ayes have it.” The Austin American said 20 of 29 precincts it covered went for Johnson, evidently including conservative ones. Somewhat less than 100 non-liberal convention votes seemed to be uninstructed. In the precinct of pro-Johnson Long, the Johnson resolution passed with the proviso that when and if Johnson is no longer before the national convention, Stevenson is to be favored. Charley Johnston, a member of Sen. Ralph Yarborough’s staff, won his precinct chairmanship. His precinct defeated the Johnson resolution but did not adopt one for Stevenson. He was named, a loyalist floor leader for Saturday. The precinct of S.D.E.C. member Mike Butler, a conservative, went for Johnson. CORPUS CHRISTI Of 102 precincts in Corpus Christi, 77 endorsed Johnson; 21 endorsed Mrs. Randolph. In some cases both were endorsed; in some cases, neither. Four precincts pledged loyalty to any Democratic presidential nominee. Two precincts identified with F.I.A. named uninstructed delegates. One voted 8-6 to oppose Johnson as the fa-. vorite son candidate from Texas. One voted 29-16 against Mrs. Randolph as committeewoman. Paul Nye was re-elected county chairman over two opponents, including ex-Sen. Bill Shireman. In El Paso, the Herald-Post said without elaboration, “both the conservative and liberal elements of the party united in either passing a resolution endorsing Johnson or pledging their support of nominees of the party.” Loyalists kept control of the county committee by a close margin. The Observer had no further information at press-time. In Abilene and surrounding counties, Johnson froces were firmly established by the precinct conventions. One precinct in Abilene sent an uninstructed delegation to the county convention; the rest pledged to. Johnson. An exception in the area was Shackelford County, where nine of ‘ten precincts sent uninstructed delegations to the county level. A novel situation developed in Jacksonville, Cherokee County. Precincts generally adopted Johnson resolutions, but’ at one precinct, loyalist forces, including the editor of the local daily, defeated conservatives and then adopted the Johnson resolution the conservatives also advocated. Conservatives won in Corsicana without backing Johnson. When Judge James ‘Sewell moved to pledge party officers to the eventual nominees, he lost, 56-41; the conservatives did not pass Johnson resolutions. Nine of 14 reporting precinct conventions in Victoria County endorsed Johnson, giving his forces county control. In Tyler, a Negro builder and designer beat out a white locomotive engineer for precinct chairman, 462-328, while a Negro minister running for a precinct chairmanship lost to a white farmer, 61-40. THE REPUBLICANS in their conventions generally endorsed Nixon for the presidential nomination. Some sentiment for Rockefeller for vice-president was reported in Austin; in Dallas, some precincts advocated Sen. Barry Goldwater for this position; and Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson also received scattered ‘backing for the No. 2 place. In Harris County, James Bertron, advocate of a two-party system, won the county GOP chairmanship. THE CONSTITUTION PARTY also held precinct conventions, generally adopting resolutions asking Eisenhower to stay away from the summit meeting and proposing severance of diplomatic r elations with all communist countries. A Quaker Appeal Sir: Thoughtful people everywhere would like to see an end to the burdensome and menacing ,arms race. Now is the time to act. The Summit Conference re-convenes May 16. If final agreement on a test ban treaty can be reached promptly,. the Senate will have time to act on it before adjournment. This would pave the way for more far-reaching steps toward general disarmament. But we must start at the beginning, and start now. If you want to help dispel the threat of nuclear annihilation, now is the time to write to the President and our two Senators, urging intensified American efforts at the coming Summit meeting. Each letter counts. Friends Meeting of Austin \(PrisSleeps Better Sir: My life-long friend, Hon. Wright Patman, knowing that I was interested in honest journalism, mailed me several copies of your wonderful paper, The Texas Observer, and I now sleep better at night, for your paper will help save America from communism and fascism, as’ you print the truth. I am an old man with one foot in the grave, and I have watched Congressman Patman work for honest money for years only to see the controlled press continue to fool the public for the benefit