ustxtxb_obs_1967_03_03_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

Pool would have little influence on the committee, so will try to win a spot on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. too So far as can be determined, Cong. Bob Eckhardt, Houston, was the only Texan who voted in favor of the Democratic caucus going on record in support of abolishing the H.U.A.C. The proposal was voted down, 128 to 63, in January but the vote was not recorded. V Eckhardt says he plans to bring ex perts to Washington for brief periods to study issues in which he is interested. The plan is unique among Congressrrien. V Cong. Jim Wright addressed a group in flawless Spanish during a cere mony in Mexico, thanking the people of Oaxaca state for their recent hospitality to a contingent of U.S. officials. Wright studied Spanish two years ago, presum ably in preparation for a statewide race. V Cong. Clark Fisher, San Angelo, called the cancelling of shore leave for U.S. . sailors docked at Cape Town, South Africa, “one of the momentual bloopers of U.S. diplomatic history.” The action was taken because of South Africa’s official policy of segregation. Fisher is also concerned that the Equal Employment Opportunity Cmsn. has the power to issue “cease and desist” orders. Congs. Fisher, Cabell, and Pool have reasserted their opposition to an open housing law. Let Us Pray v Cong. Price has introduced a school prayer measure as a proposed amendment to the Constitution. He says, in his newsletter, that “Contrary to the belief of many people the Supreme Court decision of several years ago did not outlaw prayer in schools. The justices stated that school officials could not give the students a prepared prayer to recite. . . . I will fight for passage of this amendment to make sure that some future court does not prohibit all prayer, in public buildings.” The Supreme Court ban on nonvoluntary prayer is being ignored by 70% of Texas’ secondary schools, says D1. G. T. Gifford, of the Texas Council of Churches. V Price has also introduced a Human Investment Act, which would provide tax credit for industries which have employee training programs. V The prospects for Sen. Ralph. Yar borough’s Big Thicket National Park Bill would be brightened with the support of Cong. John Dowdy, Athens, whose district includes much of the area in question, and of the Interior Dept. A Senate committee hearing awaits completion of a Park Service study. V Yarborough says he’ll try to raise the appropriation for adult basic education by $10 million in the coming fiscal year. V The Senator’s son, Richard, is paid $22,000 annually for working as a leg islative assistant for his father. Two other Texas members of Congress have relatives on their payrollsCong. John Dowdy, Athens, whose wife is paid $13,650, and Cong. Jack Brooks, Beaumont, whose wife receives $7,452. Yarborough’s son is, according to a Washington press corps compilation, the highest paid relative working on Capitol Hill for a legislator. CYD’s and YD’s V The Washington Star reports that “a close friend” of White House aide Marvin Watson has been given the task of handling activities of the National Democratic Committee’s newly-formed youth division. He is R. Spencer Oliver, 29, formerly of Fort Worth, who while attending T.C.U. was active in Texas Young Democratic circles. The Star says the Oliver has been and is “leading a move to crack down on the college arm of the national Y.D.s. The college unit passed a resolution . in September sharply critical of President Johnson for the bombing of North Vietnam and asking for an immediate suspension. Oliver has urged that the college group be integrated into the national Y.D. organization, the Star reports thus ending the College Y.D.’s semi-independent status. The youth division is headed by former Georgia Cong. Charles Weltner and was established after the dispute broke out between national Demo committee officials and the College Y.D.’s over the Vietnam resolution. The aim of the new youth division is to improve President Johnson’s standing among young people. goof A University of Texas student who is active in Y.D. activities in this state says, requesting anonymity, that Oliver is not a liberal. The U.T. student says that Watson and Oliver have known each other since the days when Watson was on the State Democratic Executive Committee and Oliver was in the Texas Y.D.’s, but are not close friends, as the Washington Star reports. This student also says that troubles existed between the college Y.D.’s and the national Y.D.s before the Vietnam statement. V W. W. Heath, Austin attorney and University of Texas regent, may get an ambassadorship to a Scandinavian country. V Everett Hutchinson, a Texan, has been sworn in as undersecretary of the new Transportation Dept. V Jack Valenti, former LBJ aide who is now head of the movie industry, is critical of a move by U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith to require “adult, movies” to be so labelled. “There are only two people,” Valenti says, “who can tell a child what he should see or hear or read, and those two are his parents. This is a right and privilege which is not transferable to others. How arrogant -it is to think of someone outside the family determining what a child shall see.” Looking to 1968 LBJ will run again in 1968, columnist Leslie Carpenter assures his readers. The Gallup poll, for the first time in the memory of its founder, George Gallup, has withdrawn plans for publica tion of a survey. The poll showed that Richard Nixon has moved ahead of George Romney in the preference of Republican and independent voters. Gallup explained that questions asked in the two polls did not compare, though they were similar. The withdrawn poll showed that Nelson Rockefeller had moved into third place, ahead of Ronald Reagan, who dropped to fourth. Copies of the purged poll were distributed to. U.S. news media by one John Davis Lodge of Westport, Conn., who said he doesn’t like polls much. V A Romney backer in San Antonio, Norm Gustafson, has reportedly received the word to proceed lining up other supporters in Bexar County for the Michigan governor’s 1968 presidential campaign. Nixon is believed to be the choice of most San Antonio Republicans, the San Antonio Express-News advises. V John Tower is still hewing hard to his neutral role in the 1968 G.O.P. presidential race; he can support any of the leading nominees, he says. “Party members must subordinate their differences if the G.O.P. is to win in 1968,” he told Young Republicans in Washington. Tower made four speeches in Southern California during five days in February. In the months ahead it is reported that he will be speaking in Texas almost as many weekends as during his reelection campaign. V The city that gets one national poli tical convention in 1968 may get both; the TV networks are plugging hard for both gatherings to be held in one locale, as this would save money. Houston is pushing hard to be that city, pointing to the Astrodome as its main attraction. Some party officials have expressed concern about how it would look when 30,000 are on hand for their conventiononly half filling the Dome. Houstonians reply that tourists will fill out the galleries. Texas Republicans are hoping that LBJ may push the Democrats into Houston in ’68 and thus bring the G.O.P. extravaganza to the state. Houston is said to be among the two or three cities in top contention, along with Miami Beach and Chicago. V Republican candidates in Texas will receive votes in 1968 from conservative Democrats who are tiring of the conflict between liberals and conservatives. So said State Cen. Henry C. Grover, Houston, to the U.T. Young Republicans. V A Texas Republican committee has been named to direct studies of state problems and produce material for G.O.P. candidates to use in races next year. A Choice Made v Gov. John Connally evidently wants State Sen. Ralph Hall, Rockwall, as a running mate in 1968. Hall has made known his desire to run for lieutenant governor. Since Lt. Gov. Preston Smith intends to run for governor in 1968 he clearly doesn’t fit into Connally’s plans. Connally went out of his way to praise Hall’s “tremendous leadership” in pushing the emergency HemisFair appropriation bill through a hostile Senate. March 3, 1967