ustxtxb_obs_1963_05_16_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

tive. An S.M.U. law student came within 600 votes of beating Tunnell before, even though friends had filed the student’s name and he made only one appearance in Tyler in his own behalf. g# Speaker Tunnell has lobbied personally for a new threejudge court of civil appeals in his home town, Tyler. This bill passed the House. In Tyler it is thought that Tunnell wants Dist. Judge Otis Dunagan to move up to the appellate court and Tunnell’s close buddy, Judge Harry Loftis, to move to Dunagan’s present place. V East Texas customs are chang ing on the subject of Negroes and politics. When Ralph Yarborough held a banquet in Tyler, attended by more than 500, some Negroes seated themselves at one of the tables, and whites joined them; there was no comment. Before the Tunnell parade in Tyler, a Negro woman approached Gov: Connally, who was seated in a car, and spoke to him. Connally shook her hand and said it was nice to see her. Some Negroes attended a Tyler barbecue for Tunnell. . . . On the other hand, some probings about prospects for school and restaurant integration in Tyler have been rebuffed. Vagrancy charges pend against four white University of Texas students associated with efforts to begin demonstrations in the city. The F.B.I. is reported investigating charges that one of the students, George Goss of Alice, was blackjacked by an officer while being held in custody more than a week without being permitted to make a phone call. V The retirement of Houston’s Cong. Albert Thomas for reasons of health next year has flushed a covey of prospective candidates for his place, including all-but-certaincandidate Rep. Bob Eckhardt and Paul Floyd and J. C. Whitfield of the House from Houston, Cty. Judge Bill Elliott, Dist. Atty. Frank Briscoe, and others. V Don Yarborough is taking an uncommitted position as to the congressional race. It is obvious to most observers that he wants to run for governor against Connally in 1964. Sen. Yarborough’s wishes in the matter could have a strong effect on the other Yarborough’s plans. V Sen. Yarborough has had large turnouts at appreciation dinners in Houston, Waco, Amarillo, McAllen. Although Allan Shivers, asked pointblank in Washington if he might op pose Yarborough, grinned and replied, “Now I just might do that,” a general doubt prevails in Texas that he will. A Washington Post story listing Yarborough as one of ten senators with hard election contests in 1964 evoked a reply from Sen. Frank Church, Idaho, that Yarborough “may not even be challenged” in the primary. Evidence of the kind of local coalitioning that strengthens Yarborough’s hand: the Harris County Democrats announced a 25-member executive committee including prominent liberal people who differed sharply over the governor’s race last November. Sen. Tower believes Jack Cox may run on the G.O.P. ticket against Sen. Yarborough. go/ Looking ahead to Tower’s re election contest in 1966, some Dallas’ liberals \(obviously not moved by Connally or Jim Wright as prosSarah Hughes as a candidate against Tower ; it is said she is not unreceptive to the idea. V The Dallas Times-Herald asked Democratic county chairmen whom they favor as the 1964 presidential nominee and whether they want Johnson to run for vice-president or for the U.S. Senate \(against president, Kennedy, 82%, Johnson, 6%, against Kennedy, 4%; as to Johnson, run for vice-president, 80%, for the Senate, 13%, anti-Johnson, 4%. V In an interview, Johnson noted that about a third of the vice presidents have become presidents; he said the ofice is neither a barrier nor a stepping stone to the presidency. The speculation about dumping Johnson for V.P. was apparently scotched by Democratic national chairman John Bailey, who called for re-election of Kennedy-Johnson, and Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, who said in Atlanta that Johnson would be on the ticket again, “without any question.” With Connally governor, and Eugene Locke, another Johnson friend, state Democratic chairman, the vice-president can be assured a pro-Johnson set-up at the 1964 Texas Deinocratic convention. Johnson has made it explicit he will not run against Sen. Yarborough and wants renomination as vice-president. V Johnson’s two new ranchesthe Lewis place and the Scharnhorst placeare attracting attention. Mrs. Johnson told a Washington Post so ciety writer that Johnson bought them because he wanted to give them eventually to each of the two Johnson daughters. . . . The second company to receive a cable TV permit in Austin, John Campbell’s TV Cable, announces installation of 18 miles of cable in the city, indicating that the operation which the LBJ Co. is interested in will have some competition. V It is hardly a secret now: the “top government official” who gave out criticism about the fact that the Texas congressional delegation has not defended the award of the TFX contract to General Dynamics was the vice-president. Yarborough answered the charge, saying that politicians claiming credit for the contract would be tantamount to admitting that string-pulling got the contract. V The Goldwater for president boom, predicted here and started on schedule by Peter O’Donnell, the state G.O.P. chairman, is now being gunned in large part from Texas. Dudley Sharp, state Republican finance committee chairman, sent out a letter in effect endorsing the Goldwater movement in the name of the committee. V H. L. Hunt, the Dallas oil bil lionaire, was reported by the Dallas Times-Herald to favor his own presidential can d i d a t e, evangelist Billy Graham, on the Republican ticket. V In Washington, Sen. Tower led the G.O.P. fight against the Democrats’ mass transit bill, which passed the Senate handily, faces hard going in the House. Sen. Yarborough spoke and voted for the youth conservation corps bill, which also passed offered anti-discrimination amendments the Democrats beat back as scuttlers of the bill. Tower and Yarborough agreed in statements that foreign aid should be cut. V When he was attorney general, Will Wilson accepted, on behalf of the state, large contributions from major oil companies to finance the state’s slant-hole oil prosecutions. Answering whispers that he has now, as a private attorney, accepted a retainer from Humble Oil & Refining Co., Wilson tells the Observer that while he has handled “one piece of work” for Humble, he is not retained by that firm. May 16, 1963 9