ustxtxb_obs_1964_06_26_50_00014-00000_000.pdf

Texas’ Leading Liberal Newspaper’ Some recent references to the Observer in other periodicals: “The Texas Observer has stood . . . as a compliment and a rebuke to Texas. It is a compliment in that Texas is big enough for a publication devoted entirely to state issues, and a rebuke in that Texas is small enough to need such a publication. . . . The Texas , Observer well serves the state of mind known as Texas. . . .” St. Louis Post Dispatch, an editorial, November 16, 1962. “. . . the Texas Observer, an intelligent, old-fashioned, in-the-grain political journal. . . . For many liberals, the Observer gave more than the news, it was written proof of their very existence, and its office served as a social nucleus for this group.” Barbara Probst Solomon in Harper’s Magazine, November, 1963. “The state’s leading liberal newspaper, the biweekly Texas Observer. . . .” Sam Kinch, reporter, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 6, 1964. “The Observer . . . is recognized as the leading liberal organ in Texas.” A United Press International report, as published in the Dallas Morning News, March 6, 1964. “The Texas Observer, the Bible of the real Texas Democrat.” Archer Fullingim, editor, The Kountze News, April 23, 1964. The Observer “has long been the standard-bearer of the fight for liberalism in, Texas.” William V. Shannon, columnist, in the New York Post, May 12, 1964. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 504 West 24th Street Austin 5, Texas Enclosed is $5.00 for a one-year subscription to the Observer for: Name Address City, State This is a renewal. This is a new subscription. Goldwater Can Win Oracular liberal columnists and others steeped in political things continue to laugh off the thought of Goldwater winning the presidency. I think they’re wrong. Goldwater is vulnerable, but so is Johnson. American politics has become the business of projecting plastic images on the basis of political market analysis. Just as Johnson is no longer really held accountable, by the huge portion of the electorate that does not pay close attention, for anything before 1960, Goldwater will not really be held accountable for anything before 1964. How, ask the knowledgeable, can Goldwater possibly win when he has run with the Birchers, proposed the dismantlement of the UN, hinted at the atomic defoliation of Viet Nam, opposed the Negroes, sought the repeal of the income tax and even social security? Consider this analysis by James Reston in the New York Times: “He himself [Goldwater] is not antiNegro, anti-union, anti-British, antiFrench, anti-foreign aid, anti-Social Security. But the Negro-haters, and the unionbusters, the isolationists, the Birchers and the sons of Birchers and all the other pugnacious patriots will flock to him. “Goldwater knows this very well. He may not agree with them but he uses them. . . . “Barry will bring out the solid Republican vote. He will also get the sizable states’ rights and anti-civil rights vote Gov 14 The Texas Observer ernor Wallace discovered among Democrats as well as Republicans in the border states and the North. Governor Scranton of Pennsylvania will be put forward as the respectable ‘liberal’ vice-presidential nominee and this, it is assumed, will decontaminate the ticket and carry Pennsylvania. “Maybe it will work. . . . But it is a vicious strategy, planned or unplanned, and the cost may be very high. “For even if Goldwater does not plan it, and even if he disowns it, he will not be able to escape from it. He has trifled with very serious things and in a way he is trapped. He is regarded, even if he does not so regard himself, as a states’ rights man on the Negro question, as a supporter of foreign and defense policies that the allies will not tolerate, as an opponent of the whole trend toward ari accommodation with Moscow, as a critic of the policies that have produced our prosperity. “A campaign fought with such inflammable material is not the kind of thing that produces a happy summer. But the point is fairly clear: Barry did not create the problem. He merely put the torch to it. The whole primary campaign has been founded on the indifference of the majority, and we are just now beginning to see the consequences of that indifference.” Education as Indoctrination If you are under the misimpression that the right-wingers’ campaign to adulterate the independence of the Texas public schools has abated, you must read these excerpts from the “Superintendent’s Journal” of the public school district of the fourth largest city in the state, Fort. Worth. They appear under the by-line of . none other than “Elden B. Busby, Superintendent of Schools” in Fort Worth. Writes he: “In the Fort Worth schools, our modus operandi is to emphasize citizenship and Americanism in every subject, so that it is continuous throughout every pupil’s total school life. . . . “Pupils in Grades 1-3 learn about private enterprise and the many benefits provided by the capitalistic system. . . . “In Grade 6, the geography of the Eastern Hemisphere is introduced, permitting an excellent opportunity for comparing the American way with the ways of the countries of Europe, including those dominated by the communist influence. “. . . in junior high school. . . . Teachers . . . contrast competing ideologies clearly with our American way and show how they are inferior. “It is a fundamental principle of instruction in the Fort Worth Public Schools that the false and glittering promises of communism, socialism, and fascism are always and immediately exposed to the light of truth. .. . “. . . in the senior high school. . . . A serious study of world history and of Alfierican, English, and world literature provides additional opportunities to contrast American ideals with those of our competitors… “Each Fort Worth teacher . . . signs an oath that he is not and have never been, knowingly, a member of a subversive organization, as well as an oath that he will support and defend the constitutions of Texas and the United States. In addition, each teacher personally exemplifies the qualities of Americanism and good citizenship so important to his pupils.” These remarks by the man in charge of the education of the children in the public schools of Fort Worth merit careful reflection. Consider especially, merely for instance, the last sentence quoted. New Organizations On May second about ten young liberals who had been working their hearts out for one Yarborough or another in Austin decided they wanted to have an organization in the town to see if liberals can’t start winning here again. I’ve gone to most of their meetings and it’s been considerably more fun than politics usually is. They meet at Scholz’ beer garten, and there is an amateur ebullience about them that has convinced old hands who have sidled in to help that there’s something there Austin has not had recently. Wednesday night they tentatively considered naming themselves the Travis County Liberal Democrats and went over a draft constitution modeled, but not closely, after that of the Harris County Democrats. They want to be an open forum and political task force, both. Reece McGee, the University of Texas sociology professor whose article criticizing Dallas in the Nation stirred to maddened