ustxtxb_obs_1960_08_05_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Texas Observer, Ltd. BOOKSELLERS BOOK FINDERS In association with the 11 House of Books, Houston Buy All Your Books Through The Observer PROMPT DELIVERY Regular Retail Prices No Mail Charges We Suggest This Week: NIXON D. THE FACTS ABOUT NIX-ON, by New Republic’s Costello. A critical but balanced study of Nixon. Viking $1.45 NIXON AND ROCKEFELLER, A Double Portrait, by Stewart Alsop. Doubleday, $3.95. OTHE REAL NIXON, An Intimate Biography, by Bela Kornitzer, with 96 photographs and documents. A campaign biography; friendly. Rand McNally, $1.95. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY, by Harold J. Laski, OADVISE AND CONSENT, A Novel of American Politics, by Allen Drury. Pulitzer Prize Winner. Doubleday, $5.75. O1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, Presidents and the People, 1929-1959, by Walter J o h n s o n, history chairman at University of Chicago, and a friend of Paul Douglas and Stevenson. Little, Brown, $6. OENJOY, ENJOY! by Harry Golden. World, $4. Send your order for ANY book to DEPT. B, Texas Observer, 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. Over $133 Million Insurance In Force INSURANCE COMPANY P. 0. Box 8098 Houston, Texas HAROLD Z RILEY Vice-President and. Director of Agencies Assimmoi Constitutionalists in Search of a Hero DALLAS The Constitution Party got together in the Baker Hotel last weekend to nominate a president and a vice-president. They had nominated Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1952 and T. Coleman Andrews in 1956. This time they had made overtures to J. Edgar Hoover, but Hoover said he was not interested. The search was still on. In the Baker lobby a big sign decorated with an American flag advised: “Vote Constitution Party and Repeal the Income Tax.” Upstairs, in an air-conditioned ballroom, opulent-looking folks in clean-cut suits and handsome summer dresses wore buttons proclaiming eventual death for the income tax. Gen. MacArthur was listed as being on the reception committee. The General, however, was not there. Two nice ladies behind a table were distributing campaign literature. A big fellow in a blue suit advanced from the left flank and placed a yellow card in the coat pocket of a new arrival. It said: “Stop Federal Competition with Private Enterprise and Repeal Income Tax.” The backside proposed a 23rd Amendment which would “force the sale of land and facilities of federal corporate activities back to the American people from which they were taken, and thus cut the national debt more than $65 million.” A pamphlet bearing the Texas flag listed the platform of the party. The foreign policy plank, listed seventh, advocated: “That we immediately suspend all relations with Communist Russia and all Communist nations and satellites; withdraw the United States from the United Nations and its agencies immediately . . . discontinue all foreign aid to foreign nations . . .” Another pamphlet listed the Socialist platform, the DemocraticRepublican platform, and the Communist Manifesto, in that order. A mimeoggraphed sheet listed the votes in Texas for the Constitution Party in past elections: 730 for MacArthur in 1952, 14,591 for Andrews in ’56; for state offices, 6,283 in ’54, 26,583 in ’56, 26,656 in ’58. Two tabloids were distributed. A large cartoon in one, entitled “Tombstone to a Republic,’ showed a large, tough-looking fellow in hip-boots carrying a corpse labeled states’-rights to put in a grave labeled socialism, dug up by a shovel labeled complacency. The UN building loomed in the background, along with a hearse labeled World Court and marked with a hammer-andsickle. The corpse inside the hearse was not labeled. On the ground were several gravestones labeled Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Greenland, free speech, and religion. The other tabloid had a quote atop the front page saying: “The spirit of ’60Adopt the pansy as the national flower, replace the Eagle with a Mother Hen.” This paper told about Lyndon. Johnson’s contested election to a Senate seat in 1948. A cartoon on the back page showed Johnson pushing a baby-buggy with a little NegrO child inside. Eleanor Roose 7 velt is there, saying, “Congratulations, Lyndon. It’s the very image of you. But only the beginning.” The Negro baby says he “ain’t no cotton-pickin’ Southerner.” Both Johnson and Mrs. Roosevelt are portrayed as vulture-like creatures, Johnson with a long, pointed nose, Mrs. Roosevelt without a chin. The convention hall buzzed with separte discussions. A tall gentleman in a white suit was advising a short gentleman in glasses that Johnson should be chased out of Texas in a railroad car. A lady in a summer print dress was telling three gentlemen she had hesitations about nominating Sen. Goldwater. “He’s voted for federal money on mental health, and two civil rights bills” she said. She said she liked Strom Thurmond, Martin Dies, and Harry Byrd. “We’ve got a lot of good men,” she believed. “I don’t know if they’re lrusworthy or not, but I trust them.” E. Philip Eubank of San Antonio, the tall, distinguished figure of a man who is secretary of the state executive committee, was heard to say: “They’re loose constructionists, we’re strict constructionists.” The speakers’ rostrum was decorated with a gold eagle and an American flag. The delegates settled into their seats, and Eubank stepped to the microphone and said in a mocking tone: “Will the delegates please clear the aisles? Please clear the aisles.” “Damned Republican!” someone in the audience shouted. Dr. Charles Finley of Lubbock, a pleasant-looking man in grey, was introduced. “There are literally thousands of disgruntled Democrats in Texas today,” he said: “The radical, socialist element is in control of both major parties now. Our purpose is to give thinking men a chance to protest.” Illustrating the importance of third parties in elections, he said Stevenson carried Tennessee in 1952 with no third party on the ballot there. In 1956, with Andrews on the ballot, the state went to Eisenhower. He said a few more thousand votes for Dewey in California and Ohio in 1948 would have given him the election. He said there was not genuine two-party movement in Texas, since Republicans here are interested only in patronage. “There is no place to hate in any political organization trying to succeed,” Dr. Finley concluded. “We must build it on fairness to all, favoritism to none under the law.” Robert Nesmith, a construction company owner from Houston and party candidate for Congress, was to be the keynoter for the evening session. He got up be AUSTIN Meetings of Observer supporters are beginning in urban and university centers of the state. The Observer has been gratified by response to the announcement of its subscription and advertising campaign and its new system of patron subscriptions. Seven pledges of $100 “angel” subscriptions were received the first week of the new system. Thursday night at 8 p.m., Observer subscribers who can give some time to specific steps to expand the Observer’s circulation or advertising in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas will meet with Observer editor Ronnie Dugger in the Fort Worth home of John Wilson at 3309 Grady. The Wilsons are providing watermelon for those who come. Dugger hopes all subscribers concerned for the continuation of the Observer will Sattend. A meeting of Denton area subscribers is also to be held Friday night, Aug. 12, under the auspices of Wayne Murdock and the Denton Young Democrats. Saturday evening, Aug. 13, at 5 to 7, p.m., East Texas subscribers to the Observer are invited to an Observer dinner meeting in Longview. At all three of these meetings, Dugger will outline ‘steps and provide materials for expanding the Observer’s circulation in the areas. Jimmy Strong, Carthage attorney, and J. W. Barker, Longview union official, arranged the Longview meeting. Persons who want to help obtain subscriptions in surrounding East Texas counties are asked to call Barker for reservations for the dutch dinner, which will be held in the banquet hind the microphone and told a joke so TV cameramen could take some shots. He said one of his bricklayers had told him the Democratic convention reminded him “of a bunch of drunk Mexicans in a house of prostitution with a credit card.” Dr. Finley then suggested and accepted a motion endorsing the political activities of Rep. Bruce Alger. It passed unanimously, and was applauded. The various candidates for state offices, and U.S. Senate candidate Bard Logan of San Antonio, were introduced to the delegates and invited to say a few words if they wished. Dr. Dorothy Wyvell of Midland said, “All my life I have treated children, physically or mentally sick. I’ve given that up now, however, because I can see they’re gradually losing their heritage.” Louis Caston, of San Antonio, said he is convinced, after watchingthe two conventions, that the only person who’ could be elected president of the United States was “a Catholic nigger from Tennessee named Cohen.” \(Dr. Finley and other civil rights moderates in the party were disturbed by Caston’s joke and said they wanted it made clear that such Some of the former party chairmen were introduced, including room of the Longview Hotel. “Come with or without a reservation,” Strong said. OBSERVER MEETINGS ‘ Fort Worth-Dallas: Thursday, Aug. 11, 8 p.m., the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Wilson, Fort Worth; watermelon. Denton: Friday, Aug. 12, evening; for time and place, contact Wayne Murdock, secretary, Denton County Young Democrats. Longview: Saturday, Aug. 13, 5-7 p.m., banquet room, Longview Hotel; dutch supper. Arrangements are being made for other ‘subscriber meetings in the urban and university centers in August and September. On Aug. 16 San Antonio area subscribers will meet with Dugger in. San Antonio at the Granada lor B, at 8 p.m., Bill Sinkin and Complaints have been filed against 57 Houston men for filing false unemployment compensation claims; more charges are expected; and eight Texas Employment Commission employees are now checking on claimants full time. OThe Legislatiye Budget Board authorized an. injuiry to evaluate the prospect of increasing the number of entering students at the University of Texas medical. schools in Dallas and Galveston. OAt present, says Mayor Lewis Cutrer of Houston, public improvements costing $22 million are under construction in the city streets, buildings, bridges, grade separations, sewers, and citycounty health projects. OThe Texas Municipal League reported that 445 of 505 Texas’ cities reporting to the league have general obligation bonds. Sixty-one of the 445 cities have debts of more than $1 million; THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 August 5, 1960 Bard Logan, Glenn Florance, and Bunker Hill Castle. That night the convention heard Nesmith’s keynote speech. He said Americans who were not fighting for Americanism were without courage. “American businesSmen are operating under the old adage that silence is golden,” he said. “They have mettle confused with color. Any man who sits silently by while the country goes communistic is yellow.” He told interviewers that if the “trend of the government to the left is not stopped, we , will have communism American-made in this country in less than 20 years.” The delegates approved a resolution asking that the party be given equal television time with Democrats and Republicans. They requested a voice in the KennedyNixon debates. They did not, however, nominate a candidate, but chose to await developments from conservative groups in other states. They recessed until August 8. Spokesmen promised that by then they might have “something you have waited for for a long, long time.” They also hinted, however, that the Aug. 8 convention might be postponed, and that the candidate they were seeking was a. famous national figure. W.M. John Daniels, of ‘the San Antonio friends of the Observer announced. The Young Democrats of Dallas County have named as co-chairmen of an Observer subscription drive Mrs. Ann Richards and Miss Paulia Weaver. As part of their effort they took advertisements in the Dallas Times-Herald. Murdock said that his group has undertaken to sell Observer subscriptions on a commission basis, also. Carl Brannin of Dallas, an Observer supporter who is becoming an angel in the Observer’s patron system, suggested that subscribers at $100 be given certificates with one halo, $200 with two, $300 with three, and $400 with four, before arriving at the new cloud level for archangels at $500. We have not taken the idea up with our artist, but if he agrees, we do. seven of these 61 have populations of less than 10,000. OA meeting of a statewide com mittee to abolish capital punishment has been projected for Sept. 15 in Austin, Harold Kilpatrick, executive secretary of the Texas Council of Churches and chairman of a provisional committee, announced. OIn Austin, a subcommittee of the Governor’s finance study group reported Texas is 37th in the U. S. in taxation per capita