ustxtxb_obs_1968_11_01_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

vice president in Austin. \(Incidentally, student demonstrators booed most all conservative state officials and party workers who were introduced in Austin, but they saved their loudest catcalls for Smith. The overwhelmingly pro-Humphrey crowd was able to drown out the dissenters in every caseexcept when goo Connally finally broke his silence about Humphrey in Fort Worth, praising him as “a man of candor … a man of courage … a man who is a fighter … a man who speaks his convictions even though they may be unpopular.” g/ The vice president along with Frank Sinatra and other biggies, will be in Houston again Nov. 3 for a final campaign bash at the Astrodome. Bringing the great debate issue to Texas, Roy Hofreinz asked both Humphrey and Nixon to appear in his massive pleasure dome. Predictably enough, Nixon refused. Sen. Strom Thurmond, campaigning for Nixon in Houston, pointed out that Hofheinz’ son, Fred, is Harris county chairman for the Humphrey campaign. The GOP Drive Thurmond, dispatched to East Texas to woo the racist right, drew rather disappointing crowds. Despite the attractions of free barbecue and Mr. and Mrs. Tex Ritter, the South Carolina senator gathered a crowd of only a few hundred at the Aldine High School stadium, fifteen miles north of Houston. About 25 persons wearing W a 1 lace stickers marched out of the stadium as Thurmond began to speak. Thurmond, who ran for president on the Dixiecrat ticket in 1948, told the crowd that this year’s “third party candidate is saying many things that we believe. I have no quarrel with the third party candidate,” he said, never mentioning Wallace by name. But, Thurmond argued, unlike 1948 when Americans “had no choice between Truman and Dewey,” Americans “have a tremendous choice” between Humphrey and Nixon. He warned that “a vote other than for Richard Nixon is a vote for Hubert Humphrey.” g/ Richard Nixon’s recent visit to Dal las caused an angry stir at Southern Methodist University when some of those wishing to attend his speech on the campus were turned away by members of the Young Republicans and the Young Businessmen for Nixon. Hood Cheney, an SMU student and vice-president of the Texas YR’s, said the turn-aways were made to prevent demonstrations during the candidate’s talk. The policy, he said, was to repel known members of the Students for a Democratic Society or Young Democrats, as well as persons wearing dissenting buttons or carrying anti-Nixon signs. Others denied entrance wore sideburns too long or were judged otherwise unsuitable in appearance to attend by those watching the doors. 6 The Texas Observer The speech had been advertised as open to the public. Moreover, the university had turned over, at no cost, the use of its coliseum for the Nixon appearance. And university officials had urged attendance and called for teachers not to penalize students who were absent from classes in order to attend the speech. On the platform were the chairman of the SMU board of governors, William P. Clements, Jr., who served as emcee, and the university president, Dr. Willis M. Tate. Clements, after Nixon finished speaking, told students to call Tate if they received complants from their professors for being late to class. SMU officials had, on one week’s notice, cancelled a previously \(by several seum of some 1,000 Texas journalism students. 1/ It was estimated that some 150 to 200 persons were denied admission. The secretary of the Texas YD’s said more than 100 YD’s had been turned away. An SMU journalism teacher says one of his students was denied admission because he wore a McCarthy button; the student was told, his teacher says, that if the button were removed, still the student would not have been let in. Another Juxtaposition Two signs on a two-story building near the Capitol in Austin read, on the top floor: “Headquarters, Preston Smith for Governor”; and, bottom floor: “Big Wig Sale.” student of the same teacher attended the rally as a participant in the journalism delegates were invited by Republicans to attend. Even though the student wore the official press pass distributed by the Republicans, a uniformed officer insisted on an inspection of his notebooks before allowing him to enter. g/ Among those accosted at the door was an SMU government professor, Dr. Virginia Curry, who was wearing a Humphrey button. She was stopped by Republican State Rep. John Lowrance, who, she said, told her, “You can’t go in.” Assured by the SMU vice-provost, who was himself just entering, that Dr. Curry was a faculty member, Lowrance let her in, first requiring her to remove the Humphrey button. Dr. Curry, afterwards, in a letter to several editors, complained of “police-state tactics at the door,” which, she said, were “unforgiveable.” “Now we know why there have been no hecklers at Nixon rallies,” she said. “Moreover, let us not be put off by the ‘security’ rationalization. The careful partisan screening tactics we experienced is the Madison Ave. device of producing a middle-class bandwagon effect for the impression ‘See, here is the one who can produce unity’.” Afterwards, SMU Vice President Richard Rubottorn said the coliseum had been donated on the understanding it would be open to all students. He said the situation would “never happen again.” “We regret that so many students were excluded,” he said. I/ Nixon will make a last campaign trip to Texas Nov. 1 and 2. The Wallaceites Bard Logan, the Texas campaign manager for Wallace’s American party, admitted to the Washington Post \(Oct. asked to resign his position by Wallace’s national headquarters because of his role in the Birchite takeover of the Texas campaign. The Post revealed that Mrs. Margaret Bacon of Austin, a key party worker fired by Logan for opposing the distribution of Birch Society material in party offices, received obscene and abusive calls after her removal. One night, she said, an anonymous caller threatened, “If you don’t quit stirring the pot, you’re going to take a swim in the Colorado with concrete boots on.” Logan soft-pedaled the Birch contro’ versy, pointing out rather fatuously, “The only objections to Birch Society members are from the non-Birchers.” Tom Turnipseed, Wallace’s campaign coordinator dismissed the Texas situation as a “personality quarrel.” He told the Post, “We believe in local control and letting them run their own party. We couldn’t fire anyone even if we wanted to. As far as the Birch angle is involved, most of the Birchers I know are pretty levelheaded people.” I/ Wallace was forced off the stage by hecklers in El Paso during his most recent trip to Texas. His receptions in Fort Worth and Longview were more cordial. g/ The closest thing the Observer has seen to a Wallace endorsement was in the Valley Morning Star. The newspaper complimented Wallace on his handling of hecklers. “Wallace’s demonstrated ability on tour doesn’t prove everything, of course,” the Star wrote. “It does show he can handle troublemakers and that seems to be one qualification in high demand at the present hour. We don’t believe any politician can save the country, but it may be possible that the right man can slow down the damage until the people come to their senses. 1/ Nixon still leads in the number of Texas newspaper endorsements re ceived. They include the Dallas Morning NeWS, El Paso Herald-Post, Gainesville Register, Beaumont Enterprise and Jour nal, Victoria Advocate, Lubbock Avalan che-Journal, Dallas Times Herald, Hous ton Post, Fort Worth Press, San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle. Among the newspapers endorsing Hum phrey are the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Temple Telegram, Sherman Democrat, Killeen Herald. Galveston News, Taylor Press, Wichita Falls Times and Record