ustxtxb_obs_1968_02_02_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

For the latest information on the growing Mexican-American revolution in Texas, subscribe to INFERNO NEWSPAPER 321 FRIO CITY RD. CA 7-7824 SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78207 “”410 i LA RAZA UNIDA! Good for ALL Organizations WINDOW DECALS QUALITY, 3-COLOR Ea.$1 6 for $S 13 for $10 SEND CHECK TO: INFERNO Proceeds Help Finance Newspaper 15 issues $2.50 eNFISKNO BUMPERSTRIPS AND LAPEL PINS McCARTHY PRESIDENT PEACE 1 for 25c 5 for $1 1,000 for $65 DISSENTING DEMOCRATS OF TEXAS 1505 Cloverleaf Austin, Texas 78723 Adams, Mrs. Randolph, and Iwho met now and again to look things over decided that the fact was, Mrs. Randolph was the mainstay, and this ought to be reflected in the structure of the paper. We changed it into a partnership then, Mrs. Randolph and me. In 1956, contrary to the declared wishes of Senator Lyndon Johnson, Speaker Sam Rayburn, and their people, the Texas Democrats elected Mrs. Randolph the Democratic National Committeewoman for four years. This happened at a wild, bitter state convention, and much has been written about it, and more will; but not just now. In her four years in that office, Mrs. Randolph sided with Adlai Stevenson and the national chairman, Paul Butler, who were trying to give some bite to the Democrats’ congressional program, trying to offset the Johnson-Rayburn leadership’s flaccid acceptance of Eisenhower as National Hero. Once, I am told, Senator Johnson invited Mrs. Randolph to a conference, with several others, in his hotel room during one of the conventions, and he turned to her and asked her, “Well, Mrs. Randolph, what can I do for you?” “Nothing,” she said. In 1960 she would have led a contesting delegation to Los Angeles, but Johnson had the situation in his hands by then. She was tired then for .a time, but regathering her strength, she resumed her work in the precincts. She has had periods when she has not been well, but she still does all that she is able to. While all this was going on, people now and again would try to get at me through her. Later she would tell me of some of these ‘attempts and what she had invariably told these people. “He runs the paper talk to him. I don’t tell him what to print.” That was the bargain we had driven, and that was the bargain she kept. MEETINGS THE THURSDAY CLUB of Dallas meets each the Downtown YMCA, 605 No. Ervay St., Dallas. Good discussion. You’re welcome. Informal, no dues. The TRAVIS COUNTY LIBERAL DEMO-CRATS meet at the Spanish Village, 802 Red River, at 8 p.m. on the first Thursday. You’re Invited. CENTRAL TEXAS ACLU luncheon meeting. 2nd Friday of every month. El Chico, Hancock Cen ter, Austin. From noon. Informal. All welcome. Once, when something I was writing criticized something she was involved in with the Harris County Democrats, and a second time, when she again believed deeply that I was wrong, she got mad as hell at me; each of these two times, she kept to the bargain. And this was so, too, the one time she and Willie Morris, who came in as editor with the same understanding, had a serious difference. She kept to the bargain. She believes and she has proved beyond any doubt that she believes that the working newspapermen should run the newspapers and the newspapers should be free. Greg Olds is editor now on that same bargain, and that is the way it is going to continue to be around here. Although some of her friends call her Frankie, giving no offense, I have never felt that I wanted to do this. To me she has always been Mrs. Randolph. She is a grand lady, utterly without pretense. She speaks plainly from her strong and unflagging capacity for moral feeling. She is a better judge of politicians than I am; on two or three test cases, where she has been skeptical and I have not, she has turned out right. She appreciates and stands by integrity, no matter her dislikes. That is what she looks for in a public man, integrity in the service of humanity. She knows she has found it in Ralph Yarborough, in Bob Eckhardt, in some whose names are not heard because they lost. When she sees it in others, especially in younger politicians, she is willing to give of herself to help. She knows the difference between words and work. I have never known a time when anyone’s rhetoric took her mind off the reality of poor people, and racial prejudice, injustice, unfairness, selfishness. She is as ready to consider any new idea for the reform of society as anyone, older or younger than thirty, I have known. She likes good Scotch, she smokes cigarettes, she works crossword puzzles, and she reads seriously and widely, and for relief from all of it, too. She is married to a gentleman who is thoughtful and reflective, and they have great community and happiness in their young ones. WHATEVER YOU have thought about what I have said about the community of the good, it is certainly the fact that but for Mrs. Randolph, the Observer would not be. She has sustained it; but for her it would have stopped, back along about, I’d say, late 1956 or 1957. Of course, I was the working man who, with the other working people in it, kept it going. And finally, a few years into the 1960’s, with some adjustments in concept and outlay, it became, I believe we can now say, secure. We may have some rough periods ahead, when we are going to have to say out to the community again, we need you to come and help us now. On the other hand, we may make some progress along lines that are exploratory, and not have to do that. But I cannot imagine the Observer going under. Now I am not going to say any more about Mrs. Randolph. I am not going to tell you what is in my heart now. It would be too difficult, and too public, and there would be a third thing wrong with doing it. There would be a kind of laying claim to her in it. She does not belong to me, she is ours, she has been the mother of our community of the good, and each of us is entitled to our privacy’ about her. R.D. I Observations I Report from Fat City Austin Our spy in the Texas Manufacturers’ Association has reported to us that he overheard a rich, fat gentleman addressing a group of rich, fat gentlemen at the River Oaks Country Club thusly: “Democracy in the Establishment! Gentlemen, we cannot permit this! If it ever gets started there’ll be no stopping it. We are the Men who Count, and the Man we Count On, who saved us from just this kind of corruption in 1962, has given them the word. If John Hill can’t take orders, so much the worse for him. Where does he think he’ll get the money for television? And that ass, Preston Smith!And Waggoner! “Well, let’s get down to Business and send McLendon back to radioing and Bris coe back to shearing mohair, or whatever it is they do with it. Let’s have another drink. And I’ll tell you this, Men, you can Feb. 2, 1968 15