ustxtxb_obs_1963_10_18_50_00007-00000_000.pdf

V Peter O’Donnell of Dallas, state GOP chairman and draft Goldwater leader, says, “It’s not what you’d call a bandwagon yet, but the idea is prevalent that he will be nominated and it’s a good idea to get with it.” O’Donnell says Sen. John Tower is “a little more” than a liaison between Goldwater and the draft Goldwater movement, leaving one free to Tower infer that Tower to some extent influences that movement as Goldwater’s unofficially authorized spokesman. JFK in Texas the Lampasas program that says the state’s official education agency and many statesupported colleges cooperate in it. Oct. 1, a free meal was served to teachers from 22 public schools in 16 counties of the Trans-Pecos area at the Sul Ross State College main auditorium. Speaker was Dr. Eduard Taborsky, professor of government at the University of Texas. Dr. L. Harlan Ford, dean at Sul Ross, said in advance of this function that “it is considered imperative that every interested educator attend this session.” Then, on Oct. 3, in Abilene, a retired naval aviator, Leon B, Blair, addressed the West Texas Schools American Heritage Project dinner in the cafeteria of Abilene $5,000 to Barry l o or Marvin Collins, state director for the Republicans, tells the Observer that while his party has no “secret weapon,” several hundred Republicans met behind closed doors in Austin to work out a co herent program for getting Republican voters registered that can be described as combing residential areas with “lots of volunteer muscle.” \(Naturally this means combing the higher income areas most in Collins says, “We want as large a Republican primary as we can get,” with primaries in all the counties \(compared to Collins thinks will increase \(over 1962’s possibly 400,000. “It’s gonna be at least 200,000, I don’t think there’s any doubt of that,” Collins says. V Had 84,000 more Texans voted Re publican in May, 196140John Connally might well have lost the Democratic nomination to Don Yarborough, who came within 26,000 votes of winning it. V The Texas Republican Finance Cmte. has published a handsome “Texas government almanac and business guide for 1963” at $3. It is full of political information broken down by counties that is useful to advocates of a two-party system. V GOP dignitaries will be in Texas throughout the month. Sen. Dominick, R.-Colo., toured Houston, El Paso, and Harlingen the past week ; national GOP chairman William E. Miller is to be in Fort Worth and Houston Oct. 27-28; and Sen. Hruska,,,,R.-Neb., is in Dallas Oct. 18. V Hundreds turned out for a Goldwater rally in Harris County, near Tomball, heard Jack Cox say Goldwater “is the man to lead us out of the wilderness,” and learned that Houston fans of Goldwater have sent $5000 to the national draft Goldwater headquarters. ci V The President’s two-day Texas tour Nov. 21-22 will be a delicate affair, it’s now clear. John F. Kennedy dropping in on Texas Democrats next month will be like a general dropping in on a crap game among his junior officers. They don’t like to get caught breathin’ and cussin’ on the diceand even if the general turns out to be okay, but bets with one player or another, he runs the risk he’ll lose the battle in the morning. Lyndon B. Johnson was in Texas weekend before last, and from Austin, where he happened to be at the time, there emanated an intrigueing newspaper story that Kennedy would visit Texas, Johnson would attend him, and Ralph Yarborough would not. The very next day, in Washington, the senior senator issued a 21-word communique, “I have accepted an invitation from the White House to accompany President Kennedy on his trip to Texas in late November”a fact that the President’s aides confirmed, on inquiry, without elaboration. When John Connally subsequently went to Washington, he let the President know he would be there, and would be glad to drop by. Kennedy’s aides at first said it had not been decided whether Connally’s visit would be on the record or off \(in the latter case, the visitor just slips in and out, was decided it would be on. For the Texas political crap garrie, the most important fact about what the governor said when he left the President after an hour was that the President’s trip would not necessarily be political, and might be non-political. Connally was hoping that the President had not really decided to bet on Ralph Yarborough in the Texas Democratic primary. What happens next could depend on the President, or on the way the dice roll; but as it stands, the President has bet on Yarborough. His first day in Washington, Connally breakfasted with the Texas delegation, lunched with Johnson, conferred with Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall on oil imports and the Guadalupe Peak park area. He said he told the congressmen he did not want to call a special sesion on re-districting and would like the legislature to redistrict in 1965, but that the facts of life would have to be faced then. He conferred with Agriculture Secy. Orville Freeman about Toledo Bend dam; he visited Defense Secy. McNamaira and Deputy Secy. Gilpatric. The President and he did not discuss the Texas Senate race, he told the Washington press. When the President said he had not heard much about civil rights troubles in Texas, he told him the state had been fortunate and had made advances, “because we worked at it at the city, state, and local levels.” Civil rights, the governor told him, would not be a controlling factor in Texas next year \(there will not be much to choose between the parties, he told reKennedy, will win Texas again, but in a hard race; to reporters he said that Goldwater has “considerable strength” in Texas, but that Kennedy leads him “by substantial margins,” and that Goldwater’s image will be damaged when people start cutting at him in a campaign. Back in Dallas, Connally said Kennedy asked him to submit a suggested schedule, and that he, the governor, would like it to be a non-political trip so the President could see and do things he couldn’t otherwise, such as look at the economy and industrial potential of the state. V Discussing the President’s visit, Cong. Alger, Dallas, said “We should welcome him if he’s prepared to answer questions and get away from pious platitudes.” Cong. Wright, Fort Worth, said he’s “extremely welcome” in Fort Worth; Cong.at-large Pool said he disagrees with !Kennedy on “much legislation,” but Texas will give him “a courteous reception,” as distinct from Johnson’s raucous 1960 reception in Dallas. Divided or Not? V All is well, says Eugene Locke, state Democratic chairman. “There is no major movement to [the Republicans] even though many conservative Democrats October 18, 1963 7 Christian College. “Make no mistake,” he said to the teachers. “The ultimate Soviet objective is political domination of the world and that hasn’t changed. Be not deceived by reports of dissension in the communist camp.” R. H. Lawrence, director of the private T.B.E.U., introduced Blair. A. E. Wells, superintendent of Abilene’s public schools, closed the program by leading a reported 400 teachers and administrators from ten counties in the national anthem. Meanwhile, the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom of Howard Payne [Baptist] College is getting under way in Brownwood with the same kinds of purposes and an initial outlay for buildings of $594,000. Political Intelligence