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Sidewalks
Corruption
00 your
Slippery
And Democracy
Gulch
By CARL GASTON
NEW YORK POST, TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1960
QUESTION: The State Direc-
By Max Lerner
tor of Transportation suggests
By Murray Kempton
car tolls in the Holland and
Lincoln Tunnels be increased to
$1.50. What do you think?
There seems be common agreement among the more
Chandigarh, India.
PLACE: Lower Manhattan.
perceptive observers, whether they come to praise or blame him,
The big news of the week-end has been the conference of the
ruling Congress Party, held this year at Bangalore. Congress in
GEORGE KANAKARIS, en-
that Richard Nixon's style was formed in college as the champion
gineer, Manhattan If New
debater of Southern California.
India means not a parliament but a party-the one that gained
York State is
But Nixon learned the arts of persuasion for hire when he
freedom for the nation and power for itself, and is still less a
party with grass-roots organization than a loose tent-covering
trying to dis-
was younger still.
for the power elite and the mass-following of Nehru.
courage people
Earl Mazo tells us that, when he was only 14, the Vice
from coming to
President of the U. S. served "two stints of three weeks each as
No party like the Congress exists, still in power, anywhere
our city, in-
barker for the wheel of chance at the 'Slippery Gulch Rodeo'
in the world. The Moslem League in Pakistan has been buried
creasing the
in Prescott, Ariz.
by Ayub Khan, while in Burma the overall Anti-Fascist League
tunnel tolls to
"Nixon barked for the legal front of the concession, where
which inherited power from the revolution has been split into
$1.50 is a won-
the prizes were hams and sides of bacon, which was a 'come on'
the "Clean" and "Stabile" factions of U Nu and U Ba Swe. In
derful way of
for a back room featuring poker and dice. Pay was based on
Indonesia the Nationalist Party, which also inherited a revolution,
doing it. It
total concession earnings, front and back. Nixon earned $1 an
is being outstripped in growth by the Communists, SO that
should also dis-
hour the first year, quite a windfall for a 14-year-old. The next
Sukarno must govern by his personal appeal along with General
courage a lot of people from do-
Nasution's army.
ing business with us. I can't
was a depression year and his pay fell to 50 cents."
Set aside all Baptist moralities about children who start in
MAGAZINE PAGE FOUR
The Congress Party alone, of all the parties that won their
see anyone paying the increased
tolls without protest.
life steering for crap games. The issue is not what Nixon sold
revolutions in Asia, still is strong and stable, and still governs by
but the way he sold it. What is important is that he was a
the methods of a parliamentary democracy.
E. J. O'CONNOR, ticket ex-
teenage pitchman.
+
+
+
aminer, Newark-This would
*
Nehru holds a monthly press conference, usually during the
benefit the com-
muter railroads
Serious sociological research into the character of the pitch-
first week of the month, in a biggish auditorium, where he
mounts a teacher's platform in a classroom atmosphere. He first
connecting New
man is consequently necessary to any judgment of the future
York with New
of the republic. It is research hard to come by. The pitchman
asks for the topics on which the students-I mean the newsmen
It
has been so diffused through our society that in pure form he
-have some questions, and having jotted them down on a pad,
would also re-
has almost disappeared.
he takes them up in succession, with interruptions for more
lieve the traffic
The closest specimen immediately available is Charles
questions on the same topic. Unlike the American President's
congestion in
Kasher, who was an ornament for nearly 15 years at the
conference, with its rapid-fire questions and brief answers, Nehru
the city and
Canadian National Exposition, which remains to the pitchman
sometimes delivers a lecture on some theme.
help the park-
what the Palace was to vaudeville. Kasher withdrew from the
In this month's conference his main theme was a defense
ing situation. I
of his government and his party against the charges of nepotism
believe it would be an interest-
struggle for a sedentary and successful life in direct mail adver-
and corruption. Since Nehru was talking just before the Banga-
ing experiment which might
tising and as an off-Broadway producer.
pay dividends in the long run.
"Now the first thing to remember about the pitchman," says
lore conference, his remarks had added point. Not only have
Kasher, "is that it doesn't matter to him what he sells. The
there been the usual crop of charges and stories about corrup
JACK ROTHSTEIN, cab own-
essence of the art is to sell the least for the most money. The
tion, but also a protracted fight about conditions in the Punjab
er-driver, The Bronx-What are
less you gave and the more you got-that was the measure.
state government, from whose new capital of Chandigarh I am
they trying to
do to the motor-
The bad ones got stuck to sell things of value."
writing. It had been thought that the party leaders might be
forced to take some housecleaning action to meet the criticism.
ist? Isn't he
By such a standard, you begin to appreciate Richard Nixon's
*
+
paying enough
early promise. If he hadn't been good, even at 14, they wouldn't
now as it is? I
have stuck him outside. Anybody can sell a crap game; moving
The leaders were presented with a troublesome concrete
hope all car
hams takes talent.
challenge. A man of great prestige in India-C. D. Deshmukh, of
owners will
"Now what you got to do is to stop 500 people standing on
the Universities Grants Commission-proposed a small high-level
band together
their feet in a noisy, upsetting fair. So, in making a pitch, you
tribunal to sift corruption charges against government officials,
and fight this
got to make everything focus. For instance, that's why most of
and force their resignation or dismissal if the evidence against
suggestion.
the good ones can make every disease emerge from constipation.
them was incriminating.
Why can't they
They cure everything for everybody. I was a little embarrassed
It was known that the powerful Congress Working Com-
think of other ways of getting
by constipation SO I used to blame everything on lack of vitamins
mittee, which not only runs the party but also makes many of
revenue than always taxing the
the important government decisions, had voted against the tri-
motorist? Let's put a stop to
and minerals in the blood. But you always have to sell a cure-all.
this before it gets any further.
"Nixon's Checkers speech was a typical pitchman's perform-
bunal idea and that it was as good as dead. Hence Nehru's little
ance. You have to start by saying that if two and two makes four
speech was mainly important in giving the thinking behind the
RALPH HARARY, novelty
what I am going to say makes sense. You start people where
action of the Working Committee.
shop owner, Brooklyn- As a
they live, with a wife and a dog. You never let them know
His reasoning was persuasive. The charges, even when they
solution to the
city's traffic and
they're being carried along. And then, when you get them on
were not simply rumors, were hard to prove under the rules of
parking prob-
your side, you very quietly sneak your pitch into your talk."
evidence. You could of course cut across the judicial safeguards
lem it may not
Admiration was sneaking into Kasher's tone.
and get action, as the tribunals are doing in Pakistan, but that
be a bad idea.
"We used to say that Franklin Roosevelt was the greatest
would smell strongly of dictatorship.
It certainly
pitchman of them all. He even had that high sort of nasal tone
If you set up a watchdog group on the theory that even
would discour-
you need to cut through the noise of the fairgrounds. You've
ministers could not be trusted, who would watch the watchdogs?
age many mo-
got to reduce every problem to one simple thing. Isn't that what
The whole atmosphere would become one of suspicion, and a
torists fr
Eisenhower did when he said, 'I'll go to Korea'?"
premium would be put on the hurling of charges, in the hope
using their
*
that some might stick. The business of government would be
cars when com-
Richard Nixon has said that he doesn't mind speaking to
hurt, not helped, because every administrator would try to play
ing to the city from New Jer-
audiences, but that he could never go to a man face to face and
it safe, and none would assume any risk or responsibility.
sey. It would also help the
try to sell him something.
+
commuter railroads. Many peo-
This is persuasive but doesn't cut very far under the surface
ple would rebel at such a price
"I guess in a way we were all misfits," says Kasher. "When I
for use of the tunnels.
was young I could never have been a salesman and worked with
of what ails the new governments of Asia, with their undeveloped
individuals. I was even uncomfortable when there were only
economies, their hunger for the spoils of office, and their newness
IRVING RUDERMAN, cab
owner-driver, The Bronx-This
four or five people around at the beginning, but, when the
to democratic habits. There are three prime questions each of
would drive all
crowd got bigger, the whole thing became impersonal and then
these governments must face: How can you get things done?
the motorists
I became strong and powerful. Television's even better; it's even
How can you get them done honestly? How can you draw the
to the George
more impersonal. Later on, when people began to walk away,
people into helping get them done?
Washington
I was SO convinced myself that I used to wonder how anybody
The first is the question of efficiency, the second of clean
Bridge and we
could walk away from these pearls of wisdom. When you are
government, the third of a grass-roots democracy. The Pakistanis,
would have the
pitching you believe it. You don't have to be persuaded except
under President Ayub Khan, are impressing observers and visitors
biggest traffic
when you're doing it. You don't have to believe it later.
with their progress in the first, and Ayub's military elite is also
tieup in our
"It doesn't make much real difference, if you believe enough,
setting new standards in fighting the entrenched corruption. On
history. If New
where you take them. I used to knock the doctors and let nature
both scores Pakistan is getting under the skins of Nehru and
York City
do it. Remember Bernarr MacFadden; he'd outlived all the
the Congress leaders. Hence Nehru's anxiety to point out that
wants to lose
a lot of business, this is the
doctors. I'd tell them that what I was selling was not medicine;
Pakistan is a dictatorship, while India remains a democracy.
way to do it. I can't see any
this is food. And still they'd come up afterwards and say, 'I'll
But does this solve the malaise in India? Nehru is probably
sense in the idea at all. It
have a bottle of your medicine, Doc.' What we were practicing,
right in rejecting the Catonian tribunal of Deshmukh, but does
would be bad for all concerned.
I suppose, was mass hypnosis."
the rejection help to achieve either a more efficient or a more
That was a formidable prep school of Dick Nixon's.
honest administration? If not, then one may be sure that some-
thing deep in the ancestral cónsciousness of India will respond
The Cheerful Cherub
to the ever-increasing charges that Western-model democracy
is a failure in Asia.
IF I could only free
Surprise
my mind
James Aldridge, quoted in "Captain Cousteau's Underwater
Didn't Choose to Serve
From wanting foolish
Treasury," edited by Jacques:Yves Cousteau and James Dugan,
things I see
(Harper, $5.95).
The sea is full of debris, all of it fascinating, some of 11
From "The Anatomy of Freedom," by Judge Harold R. Medina
My thoughts, exploring
embarrassing. Also informative. I was lying on my stomach in
(Holt, $3.50).
unrestrained,
the shallows one day, reading an abandoned newspaper which
When I presided over the trial of the 11 Communist leaders
we had a panel of some 300 odd jurors to pick from. The first
Might bring more
lay on the bottom. It was an article on the ancient Minoan water
lasting things
systems. I had to dive to read the small print. I was called
thing I did was to ask those who did not wish to serve to give
to me.
away before I had finished the article. Next day I returned to
their excuses. The result was that every single business man or
RM-CANCE
pick up where I had left off, but the paper was gone with the
woman or person with a position of responsibility asked to be
sea. I spent a little time looking for it, diving on every scrap
excused. I was positively ashamed. True, it was likely to be a
of paper in the area. I didn't find it: but thereafter in that
long trial, but in a democracy such as ours we must all make
area I could never see a sheet of newspaper below without div-
some sacrifices.
ing to see if it was my unfinished article.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
32
Sidewalks
Loser's Share
of NewYork
Boredom
NEW YORK POST, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1960
By CARL GASTON
QUESTION: Carl Sandburg
By William V. Shannon
dedicated a school and said it
By Murray Kempton
had dangerous rivals-including
movies, radio and television.
Washington.
What do you think?.
The Democrats will hold their Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner
Although the Democratic liberals in the Senate lost by an
HERB MERKSAMER, stu-
under circumstances unfamiliar to habitual attendants at these
overwhelming margin in their party caucus last week, they have
dent, Huntington, L. I.-I agree.
been reaping some substantial concessions. Sen. Johnson (D-Tex.),
When I at-
feasts. Lyndon Johnson will be the main attraction and, by
George Meany's personal decision, there will be none of those old
the majority leader, picked up all the glittering headlines after
tended high
school I found
familiar faces from the labor political leagues.
the caucus rejected the proposed liberal reforms but he has
it hard to study
quietly yielded part of what his critics demanded.
Meany has told James McDevitt, director of the AFL-CIO's
properly and
Committee on Political Education, that, even if the spirit should
There are to be many more party caucuses. The first in the
found the radio
move him to spend his own money, he must not go to the Demo-
new series was held yesterday to discuss the aid-to-education
or television
cratic dinner.
issue. Previously, Johnson had held only one caucus a year, to
very distract-
deliver his personal "State of the Union message" at the begin-
ing. Now that
Meany's decision not to grant the union label to the Demo-
ning of the session.
I'm in college
crats this month-it would be hyperbole to call his action a boy-
Secondly, Johnson has tacitly instituted a significant change
my mother
cott, but a boycott it will be called-lends support to the mount-
puts me down in the cellar to
in the makeup of the Democratic Policy Committee. This group
ing current of Washington opinion that Meany is resigned to the
study, making sure nothing dis-
was the object of the liberal reform proposal which, if it had
turbs me.
election of Richard Nixon in 1960 and will ride with it by indors-
ing no candidate.
been adopted, would have expanded the policy unit from 9 to 15
HAL RAPAPORT, account-
MAGAZINE PAGE FOUR
members and made them elective, rather than appointed by the
ant, Queens-That is a danger-
*
+
majority leader.
ous half-truth.
Johnson's prominence at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner
The big change has consisted of adding the three members
The movies, ra-
will also be owing to a mounting current of Washington opinion
of the Calendar Committee to the Policy Committee.
dio and televi-
sion are actual-
that he is not only a serious candidate for the Presidency of the
*
*
*
ly allies of edu-
United States-who, after all, isn't?-but a likely one.
To understand the significance of that change one has to go
cation. More
A major recruit to this view is Richard Nixon who is re-
back to immediately after the November, 1958, elections which
people know
ported saying privately that he expects that he will have to de-
brought the biggest Democratic majority in the Senate since
more about
fend America against a Johnson-Kennedy ticket, which he be-
New Deal days. Sen. Clark (D-Pa.), the sparkplug of the liberal
what's going on
lieves will be very good for the country. I should expect Nixon to
in the world to-
drive, proposed to Johnson then that the new facts of life be
day than ever
believe that what is good for Richard Nixon is good for America,
recognized and the Policy Committee revamped to reflect the
this being the corporation closest to his heart.
before. I think these media are
increased Northern, Liberal strength.
too important in our shrinking
Nixon's judgment in these matters is universally accepted,
Johnson brusquely rejected Clark's request.
world to be dismissed this way.
because everyone knows that he is an intense political scientist.
When Sen. Proxmire (D-Wis.) subsequently took up the cry
CONSTANTINE KOUSOU-
But he also suffers from the occupational hazard of political sci-
for more caucuses and a larger, democratically-elected Policy
LAS, student, Queens-I agree
entists, which is reading newspaper columnists too closely. He
Committee, he was told by Sen. Mansfield (D-Mont.), the party
to a certain ex-
tent. One must
information. gets it from them and then hands it back; it thus becomes inside
whip and Johnson's loyal adjutant, that it would take a change
consider that
in the Congressional Reorganization Act of 1946 to increase the
relaxation is al-
The prevailing mood in Washington is that of the girl who,
size of the committee. Nevertheless, Johnson began having the
SO very impor-
having accepted one too many propositions, begins to ask herself,
three members of the Calendar Committee meet with the policy
tant to the
group. The function of the three members of this obscure com-
"Why not?" at even the less appetizing ones. Having said, "Why
mind. I have
not Nixon?" the city has passed to "Why not Lyndon Johnson?"
mittee is to serve as watchdogs for the party when the calendar
found that soft
These, of course, are questions asked out of boredom. Boredom is
of pending bills is called and object, when necessary, to prevent
music on the
the key to the Washington mood; George Meany is bored like
the other party from slipping through obnoxious bills. This is
radio has
the rest of us; it is hard to blame him if he refuses to face the
a minor, tedious chore, traditionally assigned to freshmen
helped me to
Senators to help them learn the ropes. Clark served on this com-
study and to absorb much more
moment when he will, according to habit, vote Democratic, and
mittee in 1957-58.
easily what I read. However, I
therefore lets informed opinion guess that he may not vote at all.
The three members currently are Sens. Hart (Mich.), Engle
wouldn't recommend viewing
TV if a college student really
(Cal.) and Bartlett (Alaska). They occasionally met with the
wants to keep his mind on his
Someone was saying yesterday that the problem of the Dem-
Policy Committee last year but did not have a vote.
work.
ocrats is to find a candidate who can promise to do what the
GERALD BUCHMAN, ac-
Democrats have not done for the last six years and make people
*
*
*
countant, Brooklyn I can't
believe it. Since Lyndon Johnson has been majority leader of the
On Monday, Jan. 18, less than a week after Johnson's
quite agree. Be-
Senate for the last six years, he is therefore personally respon-
highly-touted victory over the liberal reformers, Mansfield told
cause of these
sible for what everyone agrees has been a miserable Democratic
the Senate that the members of the Calendar Committee did have
media, most
record and thus the worst possible man to make such a promise.
a vote and should henceforth be considered part of the Policy
people are well
If you lived in a city where the insiders increasingly agree that
Committee.
up on current
Johnson will be rewarded for these services with the Democratic
"He (Johnson) has given them the same privileges a regular
events and
world
nomination for President, you might vote for him but you cer-
member on the committee has. So what we have in effect at the
issues affecting
tainly wouldn't send your subordinates to a Democratic dinner.
present time is a 12-man committee," Mansfield said.
our everyday
But the insiders, as usual, are probably wrong. Johnson prob-
This interesting disclosure came in a colloquy between Mans-
lives. This in
ably won't get the Democratic nomination and the AFL-CIO will
field and Proxmire. It represented quite a change from the
itself is a form
indorse whoever does, listlessly and negatively, which is how
official line Mansfield was expounding a year ago.
of important education which
they worked for Harry Truman, who was their last national win-
Johnson doubtless enjoyed his press clippings about the
cannot be ignored. Unfortunate-
ly, radio and TV don't give
ner. Most people, after all, vote by habit, politics being personal;
"smashing rout" of the liberals, but without losing face or contra-
dicting the fanfare he has tried to meet the liberals at least
enough time to educational pro-
and labor leaders are habitual Democrats, the way corporation
presidents are habitual Republicans.
grams which would further ben-
part way.
efit the people.
*
*
Two of the three newcomers, Hart and Engle, are firm on
CHARLES TESORIERO, stu-
Still, it is all terribly sad. What must it be to really believe
the key issue of civil rights.
dent, Brooklyn-Most of the pro-
in something in the United States and still be politically active,
*
grams on TV
*
+
which means being a Republican and going to national dinners to
are trash and
The liberals have not, of course, won all they seek. The
a student
hear Nixon or being a Democrat and going to your party's most
committee is still appointed, not eiected. And the Steering
shouldn't waste
sacred fiesta to hear Lyndon Johnson? Under these circum-
Committee, which assigns members to legislative committees, is
his time with
stances it is not a political but an esthetic act to stay away.
still wholly under Johnson's control. There is also the problem
them. Those
Presumably something is struggling to be born in American
of unequal regional representation. The Policy Committee is
educational
politics. But the fact is that right now the inside story is simply
top-heavy with Southerners and Westerners. The Atlantic Sea-
programs that
that everyone is at once bored himself and compelled to seek sig-
board and the industrialized Midwest are badly under-represented.
do appear on
nificance in the actions of others who are simply bored too.
TV are present-
Clark has pointed out that the states north of Alabama and
ed too carly in
East of the Mississippi River contain 58 per cent of the national
the morning for us college stu-
population, have 23 of the 65 Democratic senators, and 297 of
dents, who study late into the
the 537 electoral votes, but they have only two of the 12 seats
night. As for radio and movies,
The Artist
on the Policy Committee.
they can be helpful culturally if
you do your selecting carefully.
From "Adventures of a Biographer" by Catherine Drinker Bowen
*
*
*
(Atlantic-Little, Brown, $4).
The first of the new party caucuses held yesterday was
The Cheerful Cherub
By evil men, I do not mean those who were merely self-
fairly well attended; 33, or about half the members, were present.
Regretting failures in
indulgent or a trifle perverse in their habits. Tchaikovsky was
The question under discussion was legislative strategy on
a homosexual; after my book "Beloved Friend" appeared, I think
the education bill. The Senate Labor Committee has reported out
the past
every deviate in the state of Pennsylvania looked on me as his
a bill by Sen. McNamara (D-Mich.) which would provide $500,000,
Will never help me
champion; they came and told me their hearts until I was al-
000 a year for two years exclusively for school construction.
together surfeited.
McNamara favors the more ambitious Murray-Metcalf bill
anyway
which would also provide funds for teacher salaries, but he
But only steal my time
But Tchaikovsky was first of all an artist, who did not let
and thought
love or terror block his work. In mortal fear of exposure, tor-
believes his own bill is the only one that can be passed as long as
Eisenhower is in the White House.
And keep me from
tured by a marriage undertaken to silence scandal, Tchaikovsky
put all fear and all torment of frustration into his art.
Sen. Hill (D-Ala.), the committee chairman, indorsed Mc-
success today.
Namara's position.
RMCANN
Whether or not his symphonies are to one's taste, no
Clark spoke for the opposing view, which is to amend the bill
orchestral music ever gave back more intimately the image of
to include salaries. Johnson spoke but did not commit himself.
the composer. In such a man the struggle assumed heroic
No binding decision was reached and none was expected.
proportions. Inexhaustible musical talent on the one hand,
unremitting temptation and fear on the other, and over all the
But the caucus performed the preliminary function of clarify-
ing the alternatives and eliciting rank-and-file opinions.
A
courage to surmount-this was "plot" enough for any biographer.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
NEW YORK POST, SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 1960
MAGAZINE PAGE ELEVEN
The Latest Nixon
Paperbacks
Evergreen Review No. 12
Weekly BOOK Reviews
THE REAL NIXON: An Inti-
was plain fortunate. Pat has
(Grove Press, $1) This
mate Biography. By Bela Kor-
been a tremendous help to me.
issue includes Albert Camus'
nitzer. Rand McNally. 353 pp.
Even my critics agree that she
"Reflections on the Guillo-
has done a thorough job with
$3.95
tine," first published by
both her family and her official
Evergreen Review in 1957.
MURRAY KEMPTON
responsibilities."
Talking of Books
The Story of Psychoanalysis
This
is
a
book
He is talking about the wom-
-Lucy Freeman and Mar-
written in the style of a lackey,
on he loves; and the tone would
vin Small (Cardinal Origi-
By MARTHA MacGREGOR
"It's particularly important
which I should define as un-
seem cold in a U. S. Steel report
nal, 50c)-Simple, nontech-
"You'll find me poor copy,"
to give something up when
American if it were not SO gen-
about the Morristown plant.
nical presentation of key
said Clifton Fadiman. "Wife,
you find you can do it, unless
erally the style of American
*
+
+
figures: Mesmer, Piner,
children, happy home, hobby-
you absolutely need the job for
campaign biographies.
And yet he was a good boy
Charcot, Breuer, Freud,
wines. Nothing to interest
bread and butter.
Kornitzer seeks the riddle of
and helped around the home,
Jung, Adler, Rank, Jones
readers."
"When you have solved the
and in the beginning loved his
and others.
Nixon in his childhood in Yorba
Outside the sun shone on an
problem it's a good time to stop.
Linda, California, in his family
family. There is even a school
expansive exurbanite lawn, in-
That's why I've never kept any
and in his Quaker upbringing.
paper he wrote about his little
side on a big glass-walled study.
job. I'm just an employe of
that is a spontaneous
act
and
This search seems to me largely
brother who died young; it is a
Dressed in baggy country
whoever wants to employ me.
a brief one.
irrelevant for two reasons, one
genuinely moving document.
clothes, Fadiman, publisher,
Intellectual vagabondage suits
*
*
+
editor, teacher, critic, radio and
me."
of Nixonry and one of America.
Mr. Kornitzer does us all no
The irrelevancy produced by
favor by printing the full text of
This thing goes on and on
TV personality, talked with the
*
Nixonry is the family Quaker-
this and then following it with
according to plan: parodying
humility only the successful
At the moment, this. Vaga.
ism, a theme which runs
the most sacred notions by
dare show.
the entire Checkers speech.
bond King's employers include
through Kornitzer's chronicle.
"My message to the American
which Americans once lived, de-
"My pattern is simple to the
the Encyclopedia Britannica,
Now the Society of Friends is a
people: exposing this adminis-
filing the combat soldier by
point of banality. I do some-
Holiday and the Book-of-the-
free church, but it is not one
tration, the corruption in it,
mock-modest self-comparison,
thing until I find out I either
Month Club.
without doctrine.
the communism in it I went
invoking the name of God to
can or can't do it. In either
His wife, the former Annalee
In the last three weeks, Rich-
to the South Pacific area
I
run for office, dragging the
case I give it up.
Jacoby, says a large share of
ard Nixon has made two state-
got a couple of letters of com-
speaker's wife through a pub-
his enthusiasm these days goes
ments of policy. He has come
mendation, but I was just there
lic place. And yet the man who
to educational TV "He's been
out in favor of capital punish-
when the bombs were falling
delivered it was the boy who
working with the Ford Fund
ment and he has blessed Harry
I believe it's five that a man
could write an honest piece
for the Advancement of Educa-
Truman for dropping the atom
like Governor Stevenson, who
about his brother dead.
tion" and Fadiman himself
bomb on Hiroshima.
inherited a fortune from his
I cannot consider that his
wants people to read his newest
If these views reflect his early
father, can run for President
parents have anything to do
book, "The Lifetime Reading
training in Quakerism, then I
I'm not a quitter. And Pat's
with that man; he has out-
Plan" (World, $3.75), a guide
am the Pope in Rome.
not a quitter. After all, her
grown them and is simply an
to 100 books and authors from
*
*
*
name was Patricia Ryan and
American success story.
Homer to Faulkner.
The second irrelevancy is
she was born on St. Patrick's
I do not trust these Hungar-
"My book is aimed to get
American. Kornitzer does not
Day, and you know the Irish
ians. Kornitzer pretends to be
people into the bookstores and
never quit."
a fool but his game is clear. He
the libraries. I hope it will act
I should say, reading it
is not only anti-Nixon; he is
as a spark.
afresh, that this is the most
anti-American. Both those at-
"People start new habits at
disgusting speech delivered by
titudes are his privilege, but
80. You never can tell-someone
a political figure in my life-
his technique seems to me be-
who has never opened a book
time.
low the belt.
may try mine and say, I'll give
It is disgusting because it is
It is simply not fair to em-
this crazy guy a chance."
contrived and because it is SO
ploy the style of a writer for
*
+
*
long; Jim Eastland may belch
Screen Guide and use it to de-
Should people read so many
on the floor of the Senate but
fame the republic.
CLIFTON FADIMAN
pages a day? "No, not unless
they're systematic people. Make
a regular habit of reading over
A New Kind of TV Novel
a long period of time. Dr. Eliot
used to talk about 15 minutes
a day. That's just hooey."
How about Fadiman's own
GOLK.
By
Richard
Stern.
Cri-
to
confine
it
within
simple-
-and makes of it an all-purpose
reading? "It depends on what
terion. 221 pp. $3.95.
minded morality fables.
term and a household word.
I happen to be interested in. I
The truth is that television
A golk is an unrehearsed real-
always try to put aside a couple
By DAVID BOROFF
life situation with the camera
the whole new wave of technol-
hours a day for books that I
The standard novel about tele-
ogy, in fact is a garish and
eye trained on people caught up
have no practical reason to read
zany new frontier for which the
in unpremeditated drama. It is
vision is likely to have a preda-
-not review books.
tory central character riding
old vocabularies are unsuitable.
an henest This Is Your Life.
"Once I spent some time try-
Golk has an irresistible im-
herd over his subordinates, some
+
*
*
ing to learn Welsh. One year I
pudence in setting up situations
got interested in medieval his-
RICHARD NIXON
of whom, at least have a linger-
"Golk" is the first book to
but also a true artist's sensitiv-
tory."
ing decency.
come along to have some sense
ity to human nuance, as he mis-
*
*
seem to understand the essential
It is a world of voracious ap-
of these new dimensions. There
chievously exposes other peo-
petites, careening egos, dirty in-
are no virtuous heroes, no crass
At this point Kim, nine, and
that Americans are parricides,
ple's discomfiture.
tycoons stifling creativity. In-
Anne, going on seven, appeared.
in a nice way of course. They
fighting, and tireless tumbling
(The camera is always hid-
"Are you children here for a
advance by so eliminating the
in and out of bed. (Al Morgan's
stead, there is a curiously amor-
den, and at the end of each
image of their parents as to
"The Great Man" is perhaps the
al world, dominated by the huge
purpose?" said Fadiman.
golk, the unlucky victim is in-
"Mommy won't let me use
make it unrecognizable in them-
best of the lot.)
electronic eye and an oddly self-
formed that he is "on camera.")
selves.
+
+
And, of course, it has only an
mocking Faustian itch.
*
the power drill," said Kim.
accidental relationship to the
Golk cunningly arranges
After backing Mommy up,
You can meet an Italian or
Golk himself is a mad genius
truth. What it leaves out of the
whose bald head bobs to the sur-
golks which show up public fig-
Fadiman said he thought Kim's
Englishman and tell by looking
at him who his father was; this
face in the swirling currents of
ures for what they are. A gov-
question largely rhetorical. "But
picture is the sheer entrepre-
is impossible with Americans of
neurial magic of TV and the
the new television era. He as-
ernment official shoots his
he may know how to use it-
sumes the name Golk-his real
mouth off about the electorate.
they do know the darndest
the Nixon type.
impassioned energies of its
They get ahead by obliterating
name is a drab Sydney Pomeroy
("Yes, the rotten meat draws
things, continually surprising to
imagination. We do it violence
their own background; whether
the pack.")
an old gentleman like myself."
Yorba Linda is in California,
A union leader, flattered by
The reference to his age was
being invited to lunch on a
rhetorical, too; Fadiman will be
North Carolina or Michigan,
when its sons get to the big
Perle: Political Party Girl
yacht, leaks indiscretions.
56 on May 15.
*
*
"Very domestic household
towns, they are indistinguishable
from one another.
PERLE-MY STORY. By Perle
Saul Bellow, in a warm en-
here," he said. "The children
one knows, she became Tru-
Such men have mothers, of
dorsement of the novel, salutes
walk in and out as I work. If
Mesta with Robert Cahn.
man's Minister to Luxembourg.
a journalist can't work under
course; but their mothers are
This is a warm, happy, comfort-
Stern as one of the writers "who
not the best of witnesses be-
McGraw-Hill. 241 pp. $4.50.
are not repelled by the world and
these conditions he should cas-
able book which makes light,
cause their sons are strangers.
Perle Mesta is noted for her
pleasant, but not very exciting
have kept an appetite for exper-
trate himself."
reading. M. M.
ience."
*
*
*
Kornitzer spent a long time with
charm, which dazzles nobodies
True enough-but there is a
Nixon's mother, who seems to
Clifton Fadiman speaks of
as well as notables. One of the
be a lady of substance, but I am
kind of sophisticated moral an-
himself as a journalist and says
afraid she is irrelevant on the
nicest things people say about
archy about the novel that ulti-
he has been influenced by Men-
the hostess with the mostest is
mately subverts it.
evidence of her son's letters,
cken-"not appreciated now as
It offers a dazzling display of
which are reprinted here and in-
he should be." Fadiman began
that she looks after strays at
variably begin: "Dear Mother
pyrotechnics, but does the read-
reviewing books for the Nation
her parties.
er care? One wonders whether
(colon)" and almost cry out,
while at Columbia and for The
"Dictated but not read."
Does the charm come
the American novel can really
New Yorker while an editor for
+
+
*
through in this autobiography?
survive the collapse of ideology,
Simon and Schuster. He now
and that is what we are witness-
Under such circumstances the
To some extent, but the book
does a book column for Holiday.
ing now.
word "intimate" seems especially
has two disadvantages. First,
"Whatever came my way I said
Stern is as talented a young
inappropriate in any study of
TV and the press have already
yes to.
writer as any who have come
Nixon. The problem, I'm afraid,
publicized most of the events
"I wanted to see what things
along. The prose is marvelously
is one of simple emotional
of her life. Second, Perle Mesta
were like. I still do. I've found
is too kindhearted to write a
tangy; he has an extraordinary
poverty.
it worthwhile to take chances. I
sense of the comic curlicues in
This, for example, is what
really amusing book. There's
everyday experience.
tried short stories, was unsuc-
Nixon says of his marriage: "It
scarcely a mean word in the
But the direction of the novel
cessful, gave it up.
entire 200-odd pages.
can be seen in the lowering of
"I tried verse, sold it to The
Daughter of an Oklahoma oil
the word golk. Initially, it is
New Yorker, read some good
Mysteries
promoter and hotel man, she
defined "as to look with a criti-
verse by E. B. White, gave that
married Pittsburgh C n
cal eye."
up. It's important to recognize
The Schultz Money-Malcolm
George Mesta, was a World
But Golk, when he is cast out
your limitations-don't waste
Gair-GOOD
War I hostess in Washington,
from his creative Eden, lets
time."
The Man in the Cage-John
where her husband served as a
on that the word really means
"My own limitations are quite
Holbrook Vance-FAIR
dollar-a-year-man, and as, every-
PERLE MESTA
a fool. "Golk" chills as much
wide," said Fadiman, a very
as it charms.
modest man.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
NEW YORK POST, THURSDAY, MAY 5. 1960
51
The Trophy
MURRAY KEMPTON
Nicely, nicely, poor Richard Nixon was pushed and shoved-
the only victim forbidden by protocol to complain-about the
New York World Trade Fair in the Coliseum yesterday.
He shook the extended palms of all the world-from Bulgaria
to South Korea-with the firm, non-partisan grip of salesman
to salesman. He took home an Indian tea kettle-his wife is a
collector; a stuffed black dog from West Germany--his daugh-
ter is about to be a collector; a large Benelux bowl of blue
transparent glass; a volume of Israeli photographs of Biblical
landscapes; a thing that looked like a lute with hangman's ropes
attached from South Korea; and a cluster of flags from the
European common market.
He told an Indian that the new agricultural program was a
"stabilizing, ahhh"; he told a Brazillan that his new capital was
like Washington, D.C., and built from the ground up and the
President agrees; he told the European common market that it
was a great stride forward; he told Israel that it too was a great
stride forward; he told the Austrians that it was a thorn in his
flesh that only 5 per cent of the tourists who went to Paris
went on to Vienna; he told the Sicilians that there would have
been no California without the Di Giorgio farms; he didn't men-
tion the Di Giorgios to the Mexicans but he told them that they
were friendly and had pyramids older than Egypt's and also
the shrine at Guadalupe; he told the Poles that his grandmother
had a feather bed; he told the Bulgarians that theirs was one
country where he and his wife had never been but that, by all
evidence, it had pretty girls; he told the Aubusson tapestry
industry-behind its back-that its designs were a little over
his head but certainly striking; and he told the South Koreans
that he had gone to school with a Korean boy and that he and
Pat would never forget, etc.
*
¥
%
And through it all he was steamed and baked and crushed
by the animal flesh of scribes from the prints and the Pharisees
from the Coliseum management-"I started to hit one of those
reporters, but I figured he was too important"-and tripped by
television wires, and pushed into artificial flowers-"Clear out
Israel; we're taking him there"-and through it all he remained
pleasant, informing, and anxious to please, a single agreeable
island in a sea raging with the unpleasant.
He ended his journey inspecting a detailed relief map of
New York and environs provided by the New York Port Authority,
with light-ups of its installations and a battery of telephones
which the intellectually curious might pick up to hear a recorded
description of the tentacles of that octopus. The Vice President
of the United States picked up the phone and nodded his head
and heard the description all the way through. When it was
finished he hung up. Thank heaven, there is one limitation to
Richard Nixon's manners: he does not say "Thank you" to a
recorded announcement.
"This is the way you teach "people," he told the Port Author-
ity's attendant. "They see the phone and they pick it up because
they're curious and then they listen because they're interested."
He tried to heist the telephone. It was anchored to its place, an
example of the abiding faith his servants have in the common
man. "I see," he said, "you have them all nailed down."
A policeman was following him carrying his presents. The
Vice President asked his bearer how long he had been on the
force. Three months, the policeman answered. "That's what it is
to be a recruit," said Mr. Nixon. "You have to carry the loot."
He was through it all a mine of information. He has been
everywhere except Bulgaria. He knows the population of the
European common market; he knows the percentage of tourists
who go on from Paris to Vienna; he knows that in other Asiatic
nations besides India you greet a voter by putting your hands
together and inclining the forehead forward; he appreciates
Polish hams.
He could even ask the Mexicans about a friend of his named
Sierra. "We used to go to parties together. Does he still do those
dances? No, I guess he doesn't. He has to be dignified, I guess."
*
*
How dreary it is to be Richard Nixon. There must have been
a little fun in Mexico-hower ceremonial and hollow-and now
2-1
the man's been promoted and is only a memory as jackanapes.
m
There are left just the maps and the figures on the Indian five-
is
year plan. What must it be like to be an American tourist and
never get to see the "Folies Bergeres,' which you would have had
o
the taste not to like, of course, but could at least have talked
n
about as though you liked it as any other tourist can? There is
n
left only the world in the form of small talk.
i.
God, how Nixon must envy Khrushchev, who can drink
Pepsi-Cola and spit it out in public disgust. What a terrible
S
curse it is to embody America as a constant apology to the world.
But then there is the expense account and there are the
trophies. I think of the Nixons in their golden years, the Vice
e
Presidential family emeritus of the United States, with Mr. Nixon
saying in the long winter evenings in San Luis Obispo, "Pat,
show me that thing the South Koreans gave us before the night
e
fell." He at the Dutch Treat Club. I bet it was
S
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Dutch treat.
NEW YORK POST, SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 1960
MAGAZINE PAGE ELEVEN
The Latest Nixon
Paperbacks
THE REAL NIXON: An Inti-
Evergreen Review No. 12
was plain fortunate. Pat has
Weekly BOOK Reviews
(Grove Press, $1) This
Biography By Bela Kor-
been a tremendous help to me.
issue includes Albert Camus'
nitzer. Rand McNally 353 PP
Even my critics agree that she
"Reflections on the Guillo-
$3.95.
has done a thorough job with
both her family and her official
tine," first published by
Evergreen Review in 1957.
By MURRAY KEMPTON
responsibilities."
The Story of Psychoanalysis
Talking of Books
This is a terribly soggy book
He is talking about the wom-
-Lucy Freeman and Mar-
in the style of a lackev
on he loves; and the tone would
vin Small (Cardinal Origi-
By MARTHA MacGREGOR
which should define as
seem cold in a U. S. Steel report
"It's particularly important
nal, 50c)-Simple, nontech-
about the Morristown plant.
"You'll find me poor copy,"
to give something up when
American it were so gen-
nical presentation of
key
said Clifton Fadiman. "Wife,
you find you can do it, unless
erally the style of American
*
*
*
figures: Mesmer,
Piner,
children, happy home, hobby-
you absolutely need the job for
campaign biographies.
And yet he was a good boy
Charcot, Breuer,
Freud,
wines. Nothing to interest
bread and butter.
Kornitzer seeks the riddle of
and helped around the home,
Jung, Adler, Rank, Jones
readers."
"When you have solved the
Nixon in his childhood in Yorba
and in the beginning loved his
and others.
Outside the sun shone on an
problem it's a good time to stop.
Linda, California, in his family
family. There is even a school
expansive exurbanite lawn, in-
That's why I've never kept any
and in his Quaker upbringing.
paper he wrote about his little
side on a big glass-walled study.
job. I'm just an employe of
This search seems to me largely
brother who died young; it is a
that is a spontaneous act and
genuinely moving document.
a brief one.
Dressed in baggy country
whoever wants to employ me.
irrelevant for two reasons, one
clothes, Fadiman, publisher,
Intellectual vagabondage suits
of Nixonry and one of America.
Mr. Kornitzer does us all no
*
editor, teacher, critic, radio and
me."
The irrelevancy produced by
favor by printing the full text of
This thing goes on and on
TV personality, talked with the
*
*
*
Nixonry is the family Quaker-
this and then following it with
according to plan: parodying
humility only the successful
ism, a which runs
the entire Checkers speech.
the most sacred notions by
dare show.
At the moment, this Vaga-
through Kornitzer's chronicle.
bond King's employers include
"My message to the American
which Americans once lived, de-
"My pattern is simple to the
Now the Society of Friends is a
people: exposing this adminis-
filing the combat soldier by
point of banality. I do some-
the Encyclopedia Britannica,
free church, but it is not one
Holiday and the Book-of-the-
tration, the corruption in it,
mock-modest self-comparison,
thing until I find out I either
Month Club.
without doctrine.
the communism in it
I
went
invoking the name of God to
can or can't do it. In either
In the last three weeks, Rich-
His wife, the former Annalee
to the South Pacific area
I
run for office, dragging the
case I give it up.
ard Nixon has made two state-
speaker's wife through a pub-
Jacoby, says a large share of
got a couple of letters of com-
ments of policy. He has come
mendation, but I was just there
lic place. And yet the man who
his enthusiasm these days goes
out in favor of capital punish-
when the bombs were falling
delivered it was the boy who
to educational TV "He's been
I believe it's five that a man
could write an honest piece
working with the Ford Fund
ment and he has blessed Harry
like Governor Stevenson, who
about his brother dead.
for the Advancement of Educa-
Truman for dropping the atom
tion" and Fadiman himself
bomb on Hiroshima.
inherited a fortune from his
I cannot consider that his
wants people to read his newest
If these views reflect his early
father, can run for President
parents have anything to do
training in Quakerism, then I
book, "The Lifetime Reading
I'm not a quitter. And Pat's
with that man; he has out-
am the Pope in Rome.
Plan" (World, $3.75), a guide
not a quitter. After all, her
grown them and is simply an
to 100 books and authors from
*
name was Patricia Ryan and
American success story.
Homer to Faulkner.
The second irrelevancy is
she was born on St. Patrick's
I do not trust these Hungar-
"My book is aimed to get
American. Kornitzer does not
Day, and you know the Irish
ians. Kornitzer pretends to be
people into the bookstores and
never quit.'
a fool but his game is clear. He
the libraries. I hope it will act
I should say, reading it
is not only anti-Nixon; he is
as a spark.
afresh, that this is the most
anti-American. Both those at-
"People start new habits at
disgusting speech delivered by
titudes are his privilege, but
80. You never can tell-someone
a political figure in my life-
his technique seems to me be-
who has never opened a book
time.
low the belt.
may try mine and say, I'll give
It is disgusting beçause it is
It is simply not fair to em-
this crazy guy a chance."
contrived and because it is SO
ploy the style of a writer for
*
+
+
long; Jim Eastland may belch
Screen Guide and use it to de-
on the floor of the Senate but
fame the republic.
CLIFTON FADIMAN
Should people read SO many
pages a day? "No, not unless
they're systematic people. Make
a regular habit of reading over
A New Kind of TV Novel
a long period of time. Dr. Eliot
used to talk about 15 minutes
a day. That's just hooey."
within
How about Fadiman's own
GOLK. By Richard Stern. Cri-
to
confine
it
simple-
-and makes of it an all-purpose
reading? It depends what
terion. 221 pp. $3.95.
minded morality fables.
term and a household word.
I happen to be interested in. I
The truth is that television-
A golk is an unrehearsed real-
By DAVID BOROFF
the whole new wave of technol-
life situation with the camera
always try to put aside a couple
hours a day for books that I
The standard novel about tele-
ogy, in fact is a garish and
eye trained on people caught up
have no practical reason to read
vision is likely to have a preda-
zany new frontier for which the
in unpremeditated drama. It is
-not review books.
tory central character riding
old vocabularies are unsuitable.
an honest This Is Your Life.
"Once I spent some time try-
*
Golk has an irresistible im-
herd over his subordinates, some
*
+
ing to learn Welsh. One year I
pudence in setting up situations
RICHARD NIXON
of whom, at least have a linger-
"Golk" is the first book to
got interested in medieval his-
but also a true artist's sensitiv-
ing decency.
come along to have some sense
tory."
ity to human nuance, as he mis-
seem to understand the essential
*
+
*
It is a world of voracious ap-
of these new dimensions. There
that Americans are parricides,
chievously exposes other peo-
petites, careening egos, dirty in-
are no virtuous heroes, no crass
ple's discomfiture.
At this point Kim, nine, and
in a nice way of course. They
fighting, and tireless tumbling
tycoons stifling creativity. In-
(The camera is always hid-
Anne, going on seven, appeared.
advance by so eliminating the
in and out of bed (Al Morgan's
stead, there is a curiously amor-
den, and at the end of each
"Are you children here for a
image of their parents as to
"The Great Man" is perhaps the
al world, dominated by the huge
golk, the unlucky victim is in-
purpose?' said Fadiman.
make it unrecognizable in them-
best of the lot.)
electronic eye and an oddly self-
formed that he is "on camera.")
"Mommy won't let me use
selves.
You can meet an Italian or
And, of course, it has only an
mocking Faustian itch.
*
*
+
the power drill," said Kim.
Englishman and tell by looking
accidental relationship to the
Golk himself is a mad genius
Golk cunningly arranges
After backing Mommy up,
truth. What it leaves out of the
whose bald head bobs to the sur-
golks which show up public fig-
Fadiman said he thought Kim's
at him who his father was; this
is impossible with Americans of
picture is the sheer entrepre-
face in the swirling currents of
ures for what they are. A gov-
question largely rhetorical. "But
neurial magic of TV and the
the new television era. He as-
ernment official shoots his
he may know how to use it-
the Nixon type.
impassioned energies of its
mouth off about the electorate.
they do know the darndest
sumes the name Golk-his real
They get ahead by obliterating
imagination. We do it violence
name is a drab Sydney Pomeroy
("Yes, the rotten meat draws
things, continually surprising to
their own background; whether
the pack.")
an old gentleman like myself."
Yorba Linda is in California,
A union leader, flattered by
The reference to his age was
North Carolina or Michigan,
being invited to lunch on a
rhetorical, too; Fadiman will be
when its sons get to the big
Perle: Political Party Girl
yacht, leaks indiscretions.
56 on May 15.
towns, they are indistinguishable
+
¥
+
"Very domestic household
from one another.
PERLE-MY STORY. By Perle
one knows, she became Tru-
Saul Bellow, in a warm en-
here," he said. "The children
Such men have mothers, of
Mesta with Robert Cahn.
man's Minister to Luxembourg.
dorsement of the novel, salutes
walk in and out as I work. If
course; but their mothers are
McGraw-Hill. 241 pp. $4.50.
This is a warm, happy, comfort-
Stern as one of the writers "who
a journalist can't work under
not the best of witnesses be-
able book which makes light,
are not repelled by the world and
these conditions he should cas-
cause their sons are strangers.
Perle Mesta is noted for her
pleasant, but not very exciting
have kept an appetite for exper-
trate himself."
Kornitzer spent a long time with
reading. M. M.
ience."
*
+
Nixon's mother, who seems to
charm, which dazzles nobodies
True enough-but there is a
as well as notables. One of the
Clifton Fadiman speaks of
be a lady of substance, but I am
kind of sophisticated moral an-
himself as a journalist and says
afraid she is irrelevant on the
nicest things people say about
archy about the novel that ulti-
he has been influenced by Men-
evidence of her son's letters,
the hostess with the mostest is
mately subverts it.
cken-"not appreciated now as
which are reprinted here and in-
variably begin: "Dear Mother
that she looks after strays at
It offers a dazzling display of
he should be." Fadiman began
pyrotechnics, but does the read-
her parties.
reviewing books for the Nation
(colon)" and almost cry out,
er care? One wonders whether
while at Columbia and for The
"Dictated but not read."
Does the charm come
the American novel can really
New Yorker while an editor for
*
*
*
through in this autobiography?
survive the collapse of ideology,
To some extent, but the book
and that is what we are witness-
Simon and Schuster. He now
Under such circumstances the
has two disadvantages. First,
ing now.
does a book column for Holiday.
word "intimate" seems especially
TV and the press have already
Stern is as talented a young
"Whatever came my way I said
inappropriate in any study of
Nixon. The problem, I'm afraid,
publicized most of the events
writer as any who have come
yes to.
is one of simple emotional
of her life. Second, Perle Mesta
along. The prose is marvelously
"I wanted to see what things
poverty.
tangy; he has an extraordinary
were like. I still do. I've found
is too kindhearted to write a
sense of the comic curlicues in
it worthwhile to take chances. I
This, for example, is what
really amusing book. There's
Nixon says of his marriage: "It
scarcely a mean word in the
everyday experience.
tried short stories, was unsuc-
entire 200-odd pages.
But the direction of the novel
cessful, gave it up.
can be seen in the lowering of
"I tried verse, sold it to The
Daughter of an Oklahoma oil
Mysteries
the word golk. Initially, it is
New Yorker, read some good
promoter and hotel man, she
defined "as to look with a criti-
verse by E. B. White, gave that
married Pittsburgh tycoon
The Schultz Money-Malcolm
cal eye."
up. It's important to recognize
George Mesta, was a World
Gair-GOOD
But Golk, when he is cast out
your limitations-don't waste
War I hostess in Washington.
The Man in the Cage-John
from his creative Eden, lets
time."
where her husband served as a
Holbrook Vance-FAIR
on that the word really means
"My own limitations are quite
dollar-a-year-man, and as, every-
PERLE MESTA
a fool. "Golk" chills as much
wide," sald Fadiman, a very
as it charms.
modest man.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Slippery
Gulch
rec-
ests
By Murray Kempton,
and
to
The
seems to be common ag eement among the more
1.
perceptive whether they ome to praise or blame him,
en-
that Richard Nixon's style was formed in college as the champion
ew
debater of Southern California.
is
But Nixon learned the arts of persuasion for hire when he
S
was younger still.
ple
Earl Mazo tells us that, when he was only 14, the Vice
to
President of the U. S. served "two stints of three weeks each as
in-
barker for the wheel of chance at the 'Slippery Gulch Rodeo'
he
in Prescott, Ariz.
to
"Nixon barked for the legal front of the concession, where
on-
the prizes were hams and sides of bacon, which was a 'come on'
of
It
for a back room featuring poker and dice. Pay was based on
is-
total concession earnings, front and back. Nixon earned $1 an
do-
hour the first year, quite a windfall for a 14-year-old. The next
n't
was a depression year and his pay fell to 50 cents."
ed
Set aside all Baptist moralities about children who start in
life steering for crap games. The issue is not what Nixon sold
but the way he sold it. What is important is that he was a
X-
ld
teenage pitchman.
%
*
%
Serious sociological research into the character of the pitch-
man is consequently necessary to any judgment of the future
of the republic. It is research hard to come by. The pitchman
has been so diffused through our society that in pure form he
has almost disappeared.
The closest specimen immediately available is Charles
Casher, who was an ornament for nearly 15 years at the
Canadian National Exposition, which remains to the pitchman
what the Palace was to vaudeville. Casher withdrew from the
struggle for a sedentary and successful life in direct mail adver-
tising and as an off-Broadway producer.
1.
"Now the first thing to remember about the pitchman," says
Casher, "is that it doesn't matter to him what he sells. The
essence of the art is to sell the least for the most money. The
e
less you gave and the more you got-that was the measure.
The bad ones got stuck to sell things of value."
By such a standard, you begin to appreciate Richard Nixon's
early promise. If he hadn't been good, even at 14, they wouldn't
have stuck him outside. Anybody can sell a crap game; moving
hams takes talent.
"Now what you got to do is to stop 500 people standing on
their feet in a noisy, upsetting fair. So, in making a pitch, you
got to make everything focus. For instance, that's why most of
the good ones can make every disease emerge from constipation.
They cure everything for everybody. I was a little embarrassed
by constipation so I used to blame everything on lack of vitamins
and minerals in the blood. But you always have to sell a cure-all.
"Nixon's Checkers speech was a typical pitchman's perform-
ance. You have to start by saying that if two and two makes four
what I am going to say makes sense. You start people where
they live, with a wife and a dog. You never let them know
they're being carried along. And then, when you get them on
your side, you very quietly sneak your pitch into your talk."
Admiration was sneaking into Casher's tone.
"We used to say that Franklin Roosevelt was the greatest
pitchman of them all. He even had that high sort of nasal tone
you need to cut through the noise of the fairgrounds. You've
got to reduce every problem to one simple thing. Isn't that what
Eisenhower did when he said, 'I'll go to Korea?''
+
+
+
Richard Nixon has said that he doesn't mind speaking to
audiences, but that he could never go to a man face to face and
try to sell him something.
"I guess in a way we were all misfits," says Casher. "When
I was young I could never have been a salesman and work with
individuals. I was even uncomfortable when there were only
four or five people around at the beginning, but, when the
crowd got bigger, the whole thing became impersonal and then
I became strong and powerful. Television's even better; it's even
more impersonal. Later on, when people began to walk away,
I was so convinced myself that I used to wonder how anybody
could walk away from these pearls of wisdom. When you are
pitching you believe it. You don't have to be persuaded except
when you're doing it. You don't have to believe it later.
"It doesn't make much real difference, if you belieye enough,
where you take them. I used to knock the doctors and let nature
do it. Remember Bernarr MacFadden: he'd outlived all the
doctors. I'd tell them that what I was selling was not medicine;
this is food. And still they'd come up afterwards and say, 'I'll
have a bottle of your medicine, Doc.' What we were practicing,
I suppose, was mass hypnosis."
That was a formidable prep school of Dick Nixon's
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
lost
Don't
Call Me
re-
By Murray Kempton
Bene-
When the steel strike was over, Richard Nixon went virtuously
rook-
into the shadows. There remained, however, one small duty to the
country he had served so well and SO modestly.
INA,
He had to brief the prints.
a
And so the Secretary of Labor of the United States of America
tory.
sat down with the Vice President of the United States to divide up
one
the high governmental duty of calling the magazines and giving
is
them the inside story of Mr. Nixon's part in the settlement.
they
It is reported that Mr. Nixon immediately took on the assign-
arry
the
ment of calling Elliott V. Bell, publisher of Business Week. The
h
conference proceeded to United States News and World Report.
ey
mble
Secretary Mitchell was modest about his standing with David
give
Lawrence, and it was thus duly decided that Vice President Nixon
for
was the best man to represent the firm here.
h e
And so we have Richard Nixon himself to thank for the
hing
flowering of "Inside the Steel Settlement" this week on the cover
of Business Week, in the bowels of Newsweek, ("The Facts of
ook-
Life by R. Nixon"), in the middle of United States News ("The
too
Inside Story of What Happened in Steel"). This way, no one got
beat but the Nation.
*
Get this fellow workers, you're free. Richard Nixon has
invented the greatest thing for tired journalists since the wire
service. It'll be him in the White House and us in the Press Club
bar. No one will have to work except the publishers, who will sit
in their offices waiting for the phone to ring. Considine will have
to stick around to help Hearst with his syntax, but then he's
always worked harder than the rest of us anyway.
There will be no more White House press conference; there
iss
won't even be press releases. Richard Nixon will have found that
eel-
national purpose that everyone was so worried about; in him the
ain
Voice of America will speak loud and clear: "Don't call me;
I'll call you."
Newsweek starts off its inside story this way:
"The Vice President of the United States stood up before the
ict
10 top leaders of the nation's steel industry, the Steel Companies
to
Coordinating Committee. His tone was quiet and friendly but firm
vn
as a girder. 'I just want to tell you gentlemen some of the facts
ld
of life,' he said.
ed
The assumption-or at least the hope is-that the leg man in
e-
this case was not the Vice President but the Secretary of Labor.
y.
There then comes to mind this dialogue, assuming that Malcolm
n-
is
Muir, Sr., editor-in-chief of Newsweek, was on the desk when
e
Mitchell called up:
S
The Secretary of Labor; "First a quote and then the color,
0 O.K.?"
a
Muir, "O.K., but fast, huh?"
a
The Secretary of Labor: "O.K., O.K., Nixon said, my notes
aren't very good but make it 'Gentlemen' and then-yes this is
clear-'I just want to tell you gentlemen some of the facts of life.'
He was very quiet about it, quiet but I'd say friendly but firm,
very firm, firm as a girder."
Muir: "All right, all right, go ahead."
*
*
*
There will be those, there always are, who do not consider this
an entirely wholesome trend. For one thing, the inside story seems
in every case to come from one of two parties, the Vice President
of the United States and stringer for McGraw Hill or the Secretary
of Labor and stringer for Newsweek. The other parties were less
accommodating; no one for instance seems to have remembered
what Roger Blough said when stringer Nixon began explaining
that there were the birds and, on the other hand, there were
the bees.
What we have, in short, is the government's version of events.
It is a wonderfully delusive prospect Richard Nixon holds out
before us; from whom could one gather the real inside inside story
of the Vice President of the United States better than from the
Vice President of the United States? Lie down, boys, and relax in
peace; Big Brother will fill you in.
Rep oduce he Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
MAGAZINE PAGE FIVE
NEW YORK POST, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER I, 1960
43
Brains Race
MAX LERNER
While most Americans are focusing on two men in the
EVERYTHINGS
Presidential election campaign, they are in danger of forgetting
that their choice will carry with it much more than the choice of
FINE!
the man. It also carries the traditions and future direction of his
party.
VOTE
Richard Nixon is obviously gunning for the "independent
FOR
voter" whose party ties are slight, and for the marginal Demo-
NIXON
crat who might be wooed away from his party. Hence he stays
away from his own Republican party links, attaching himself to
President Eisenhower as a person but not to the Republican
party. It is a smart tactic, and may work.
But it is worth saying that party government has some point
USIA
to it, and party attachments have meaning if they are not fol-
REPORT
lowed blindly. The party system in America keeps the mass of
GAITHER
voters from becoming merely a collection of stray unattached
PRESTIGE
atoms whirling about in the void. The two major parties in
REPORT
America are like polar magnets. Each has traditionally attracted
ON
STANFORD
its own kind of loyalties, its own brand of leaders and members
DEFENSE
and interest groups.
*
*
The other day a New York morning tabloid attacked Kennedy
for "the company he keeps," singling out J. K. Galbraith and
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. for specially derisive treatment. It is a
dangerous kind of argument, since it draws attention to the fact
ROCKEFELLER
that the Presidential candidates are not isolated men, but that
each belongs to a particular party and a particular intellectual
climate. When you choose one of the two men, the party climate
₦
and territory go with him.
DEFENSE
For the past half century, since Woodrow Wilson's eléction,
the Democratic party has served as a magnet for labor and the
liberals, for Negroes and Jews and Catholics and other minorities,
for school teachers and university faculty, for writers and artists,
for intellectuals of every category.
The current attacks on Galbraith and Schlesinger remind me
of the similar attacks on Franklin Roosevelt for the college
professors who flocked to his standard and became parts of his
"brain trust." If I were a Republican strategist I would stay
HERE LIES
clear of this kind of approach. To attack the intellectuals around
Kennedy is to spread the word that the intellectuals are in fact
drawn to him. It is to broadcast the tidings that his administra-
tion might be one of brains.
Surely it is too late in American history to continue with
the shabby and suicidal anti-intellectualism of past Presidential
campaigns. The race between the world democratic bloc and the
Red-Dogging
world communist bloc is as much a brains race as it is anything
else. Whether America will survive or perish in the long struggle
ahead will depend on how effectively it organizes its intelligence,
both scientific and social. To fall behind in the mobilization of
intelligence is to lose the race and lose the world.
MURRAY
KEMPTON
Sen. Kennedy has the quality of urgency in him. He is telling
whoever listens that it is later than they think. He advocates
En Route With Kennedy.
plauding at prop intervals; they do not screech
an ambitious program of social welfare. When his opponents ask
John F. Kennedy's open convertible, its floor
and moan in isolation; they run after him with
what he plans to use for money, he answers in effect that it
fetlock deep in soggy confetti, prowled the
a continual universal roar. They sound like foot-
is better to have increasing expenditures which will be met and
streets of Philadelphia yesterday like a vacuum
ball crowds in the last quarter when the home
covered by increasing national income than to have a shrinking
cleaner.
team, the short ender, has gone two touchdowns
national income which will not meet or cover even the current
He made six speeches during the day; their
in front.
expenditures.
running time was a grand total of 42 minutes.
Yesterday when Kennedy was introduced-at
But there is a more important question to ask Sen. Kennedy.
But he was on the streets nearly six hours, back-
Temple, the crowd set up a sudden chant of
Not "what are you going to use for money?" but "whom are you
tracking enough so that a Kennedy cultist could
"We want Jack" over and over: his voice came
going to use for people?"
choose his corners and see him pass at least five
back, clipped and slightly impatient, "Thank you,
*
*
times.
thank you, thank you." He held his hands, too,
It is too easy to forget that the wealth of nations is their
But wherever he lit, his crowds were im-
like a defensive captain telling the customers to
human material and that the motive power of nations is their
mense; his main open air rally at Reyburn Park
keep quiet so the line can hear the signals.
organized brainpower. The Presidency, as Jefferson said in one
downtown drew the sort of throng which is cus-
He taunts the few hecklers he gets in a tone
of his letters even before he attained it, is a "splendid misery."
tomarily overestimated at 50,000; some of its
of command in extraordinary contrast with Rich-
If it gets isolated from the talented and resourceful people, as
members had stood more than an hour; he gave
ard Nixon's tone of grievance. Yesterday, outside
Eisenhower's Presidency got isolated; it can become an intolerable
them a six-minute speech.
a Negro housing project, some brave conscripts
and ineffectual misery.
He went through safe precincts and doubtful
held up a "For Peace and Prosperity, Vote for
This is what gives meaning to the recent full-page ad listing
ones; he had one mile's progress through an
Nixon and Lodge" sign. Kennedy announced that
the lawyers, writers, artists, historians, and social scientists who
area so monolithically Democratic that its chil-
he had a thing to tell these friends of Mr.
have repaired to the standard raised by Kennedy. Among the
dren, when they go out on trick-or-treat night,
Nixon's.
most meaningful is a list of specialists in foreign policy and
write "Kennedy" in soap on the store windows.
Pointing that lean brown finger, he said, "Mr.
world politics. These are the men who have spent their lives
*
**
*
Nixon calls a $1.25 minimum wage extreme and
studying politics among nations, political and psychological war-
His speeches were as short, simple and brutal
they wave a sign about prosperity."
fare, the aid race, the undeveloped countries, and the communist
as a blackjack. The Kennedys play the game
He went on to say that the Republican Party
societies themselves. Their suffrage should carry the weight that
like the pros; ahead in the last quarter and the
is against civil rights (which is, of course, why
attachès to their knowledge.
other team gets the ball, they red-dog the passer.
Jim Eastland votes Republican).
America needs not only a new program of domestic and
Yesterday, standing in the rain outside Tem-
*
*
foreign policies. It needs men with enough talent and dedication
ple University, Jack Kennedy even dared red-
This is harsh and extreme and oversimple
to carry them out. The brains race will not wait. I am convinced
dog President Eisenhower, the coach and a sacred
stuff, but it is the tone of the winning side in
that Kennedy, himself something of an impllectual, will gather
subject until now.
most elections.
around him the most brilliant group of brain trusters since
"I'm going to make Mr. Nixon an offer," he
It is in fact the language winners habitually
Franklin Roosevelt.
said. "Let President Eisenhower come with him
speak, and a political barometer as indicative as
to the fifth debate."
the eggs that were thrown at Nixon.
Make no mistake, he went on; Eisenhower
I remember in 1956 seeing one poor Steven-
isn't on the ballot this year.
son leaflet bearer beaten to the ground by Re-
Play Now, Pay Later
"It's Nixon versus Kennedy and I look to the
publicans outside Independence Hall when Nixon
From "The Crisis We Face: Automation and the Cold War,"
future with some degree of hope."
was visiting there. Coming home, a man on the
by George Steele and Paul Kircher (McGraw-Hill, $4.95).
He has nervous feet and nervous hands: he
bus I had not seen before and have not seen
The Russians are not so well off as we are, and they know
seems to pant a little. The nerves have nothing
since-the Devil, I suppose-said that his experi-
it. Their slogans promise them that they will live better if they
to do with confidence; he is the most confident
ence had been that the side that plays rough is
work harder, and their standard of living gradually has been
political candidate I have ever seen. They have
the side that wins. "Show me a candidate hit
granted slow increase. They are urged that it is noble to make
something to do with personal, almost boyish
with an egg," he said, "and I'll show you a loser."
sacrifices SO that their country can be independent and powerful.
superstition; you do not, on peril of the wrath
You can look it up; it's true. A man was saying
In contrast, what are we told? That the good things of
of God, relax when you're ahead
yesterday that, after all, the professional foot-
life are already here, that a credit card will get you anything
+
*
ball team that draws the most penalties wins the
you want before you are old enough to vote. Pay later.
There is now something different in his
most games. Something to do with keeping your
We probably shall. Every other major civilization has.
crowds. They do not stand and look at him ap-
mind on the business.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
COPY
December 3, 1957
Personal
Dear Murray:
This is just a note to say that I have just had
the opportunity of reading your column of November 15
concerning the actions of the President's Committee on
Government Contracts,
I think you would probably agree that this column
particular cases, and the purpose of my writing you is to
let you know that I have been assured by Mr. Jacob Seidenberg
that his Committee would be more than willing to provide you
X - President's Committee on Govt. Contracts
Kempton, Murray - folder
contained something less than the complete facts about these
with the complete facts about these cases or any other
matters with which they are concerned in the future.
The next time you are in town I would be most
happy to discuss this further with you.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
Charles K. McWhorter
Legislative Assistant
to the Vice President
CMcW/amk
Mr. Murray Kempton
New York Post
New York, New York
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
November19, 1957
Memorandum
To:RN
From: KAND
Your old friend Murray Kempton is back in action!!!
check
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
NYPost 1957
Modesty
By Murray Kempton
There is a mounting conviction among informed observers
that Richard Nixon is currently more popular with Negro voters
than any other politician.
I cannot quarrel with their findings, since I can't think of any
politicians who deserve the faith and trust of Negro voters any
more than Richard Nixon, or of anything worse to say about poli-
ticians than that.
Nixon is chairman of the President's Committee on Govern-
ment Contracts, the body set up by Harry Truman and continued
by Dwight D. Eisenhower to supervise enforcement of that clause
in defense contracts which bans discrimination against Negroes.
The Vice President is generally represented as feeling that
this is a position at once too important and too sensitive to be used
for his own political profit, and is loath therefore to talk about it
publicly. He only breaks that rule at campaign meetings largely
populated by Negroes; on such occasions, he lowers his head and
stammers modestly that nothing is nearer his heart or more con-
sumptive of his energies than the work of the President's Commit-
tee on Defense Contracts.
On April 20, 1955, Herbert Hill of the National Assn. for the
Advancement of Colored People swore out a complaint to Nixon
against Esso Standard of Baton Rouge, Union Carbide and Carbon
of Texas City, Cities Service of Lake Charles, La., and other South-
ern refineries and the unions which represent them for flagrant,
persistent and indubitable discrimination against Negroes. The
heart of the complaint was that these companies hired Negroes
only as sweepers and janitors, let them work in higher grades only
on sweepers' pay, and barred them by custom and union contract
from advancement to skilled categories.
The bill of particulars assembled for the President's Commit-
tee by the NAACP was beyond argument. The system described
both in the paper of the union contracts and the affidavits of the
aggrieved Negro employes needs investigation about as much as
a washroom sign saying "White Only"; it is just that open.
Over the next two years, the NAACP received no word about
its complaint beyond a bare acknowledgement from Nixon's execu-
tive director. In the interim, Hill labored in other vineyards; with
the assistance of the CIO Oil Workers, the NAACP won valuable
improvements in two plants; thanks to the efforts of these private
bodies, as an instance, 40 Negroes have been promoted to the
skilled trades pool at Magnolia Petroleum in Houston. This is no
small thing; but in general the situation in the Southern refineries
remainReproducad at the Richard Nixon, Rresidential. Library and Museum
Last June, the NAACP wrote Nixon as chairman of the Presi-
dent's Committee on Government Contracts asking for some report
on the status of its 25-month-old complaint. On July 8, this reply
came back-signed, not by Nixon, but by Jacob Seidenberg, his
committee's executive director:
"In order to assure full compliance with your request of June
5, 1957, the Defense Department has been requested to review the
current hiring and employment practices of [here are listed the
corporations named in the complaint], and report their findings
to the committee.
"The Department of Defense has given the Committee's re-
quest the highest possible priority. You, of course, will be further
advised as soon as we have received the Department's report con-
cerning this matter.
Cordially yours, etc."
We have to assume that Seidenberg is writing the English
language. The inevitable conclusion from reading that letter with
that assumption is: (1) The committee did not even transmit the
April, 1957, complaint to the Defense Dept. and (2) The committee
has now transmitted to the Defense Dept. only the NAACP's letter
of inquiry, which was merely a summary, and the NAACP's
S
original complaint lies embalmed, unread in its files. And, what is
more, the NAACP has not heard a word from the President's
Committee in the five months since the Defense Dept. was sent in
passionate pursuit of this matter.
And the oil company case does not sleep alone in Richard
e
Nixon's files. In July, 1956, the NAACP filed a complaint of dis-
1
crimination against seven aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing
e
d
in Wichita and Lockheed in Marietta, Ga. The bill of particulars
spelled out a situation just as flagrant as in the oil refiineries.
After 15 months of silence from Nixon's committee, J. H. Cal-
1-
houn, president of the NAACP's Atlanta branch, wrote to find out
what progress could be reported from Lockheed in Marietta, Ga.
Calhoun got this answer from Seidenberg:
S
"You will recall that on April 24, 1957, we wrote to advise you
that the case had been referred back to the contracting agency for
further action. We have been following the matter closely, and
S
present indications are that we shall receive a report from the
agency by the middle of November.
"Please be assured that this complaint is under active con-
sideration, etc."
It is a dreadful mistake for a civil servant to depart from the
form letter composed for such occasions. Seidenberg's mistake
in so departing proclaims itself in the sentence: "We have been
following the matter closely."
For, in point of fact, NAACP's Hill and the International Assn.
of Machinists have together taken various steps at Lockheed which
have improved the situation measurably if not spectacularly. Ma-
rietta is one place where there has been progress. That is no
thanks to Nixon and Seidenberg, but I hardly think them exempt
from the habit public officials have of grabbing credit for other
people's achievements. The only possible reason for Seidenberg's
modesty about the improvement at Lockheed is that he doesn't
know about it.
The reason for Richard Nixon's modesty about his role as
chairman of the President's Committee on Government Contracts
is that, on the record, he could hardly be anything else.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
November 21, 1957
MEMORANDUM
To:
Charles McWhorter
Legislative Assistant
to the Vice President
From:
Jacob Seidenberg
Executive Director
In accordance with your request concerning
Murray Kempton's article in the New York Post, I am
enclosing for your information a chronological report
of our activities in the Boeing Aircraft and the
Lockheed case at Marietta, Georgia.
All that I can say is that whatever progress
has been made in these cases has been done as a re-
sult of the pressure the Committee has brought to
bear on these cases rather than what Mr. Herbert
Hill has done. Admittedly we have not released any-
thing about these cases because they have not been
disposed of and our Committee does not make any
statement about its complaint cases. It is the over-
all Committee policy not to make any statement or
release about complaint cases even when they are
satisfactorily resolved.
Encls.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
CHRONOLOGY OF COMMITTEE ACTION REGARDING THE OIL CASES
April 20, 1955 --
The Committee received from the NAACP complaints
alleging violations of the nondiscrimination
clause by the Esso Standard Oil Company, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Cities
Service Refining Corporation, Lake Charles, Louisiana; Lion Oil Company,
El Dorado, Arkansas; and Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company, Texas
City, Texas.
May 6, 1955 --
Vice President Nixon appointed a special subcommit-
tee headed by Mr. John Minor Wisdom to consider the
comppaints. Messrs. William P. Rogers, Thomas Pike and James Nabrit
were designated to serve with Mr. Wisdom. Subsequently, Secretary Mit-
chell was designated to serve as Consultant.
January 21, 1955 -- The special subcommittee agreed that the complaints
against the companies should be explored informally
and that Mr. Wisdom should institute negotiations with representatives
of the oil companies.
July 22, 1955 --
Mr. Wisdom advised the Executive Director by tele-
phone that he had had two conferences with repre-
sentatives of the Esso Standard Oil Company in Baton Rouge and conferences
with representatives of Cities Service Refining Corporation. Mr. Wisdom
further stated that these industry representatives said they were in sym-
pathy with the philosophy of the Committee and approved of its methods of
approach and that they would prefer to have the cases settled on a broad
basis rather than dealing with specific allegations of the complaints.
September 1, 1955 -- Mr. Wisdom reported that substantial progress was
being made with all of the companies cited in the
complaint with the exception of the Lion Oil Company. In this connection
it should be noted that at this time the Lion Oil Company had recently
merged with the Monsanto Chemical Company.
September 9, 1955 -- Mr. H. J. Voorhies of the Esso Standard Oil Company,
Oil
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, met with the Sub-Committee
on Review in order to advise them of his plans for the implementation of
nondiscriminatory employment at the Baton Rouge plant.
January 16, 1956 -- Mr. H. J. Voorhies advised Mr. Wisdom by letter --
(1) That the company had placed 25 Negro employees
into mechanical-helper jobs, and (2) That 296 Negro employees had applied
for consideration for transfer to mechanical-helper openings and that 55
of them made satisfactory scores. Thirty-two were considered the best
qualified and were offered transfers to the mechanical-helper classifica-
tion. Five elected to decline the transfers and two were subsequently re-
turned to their former jobs.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
Memorandum to Dr. Seidenberg
November 18, 1957
June 1956 --
The Executive Director attempted to get Mr. M. X.
Shannahan, of the Department of Defense, to inves-
tigate the complaints but negotiations for his services were never com-
pleted.
July 3, 1957 --
The Executive Director and Dr. Houchins discussed
with Mr. Bannerman the problem of processing the
complaints against the oil companies. Mr. Bannerman agreed to accept
the complaints for investigation and the full complaints were forwarded
to the Defense Department on July 8, 1957.
July 29, 1957 --
Captain C. L. Gilbert, the person assigned to the
complaints by the Department of Defense, met with
the Executive Director and Dr. Houchins for a full discussion of the com-
plaints and the action to be pursued during the investigation.
August 2, 1957 --
Detailed instructions for the conduct of the inves-
tigations were was sent Captain C. L. Gilbert.
October 25, 1957 -- The Committee received the investigative reports of
the complaints involving Cities Service Refining
Corporation, Esso Standard Oil Company, and the Lion Oil Company.
November 8, 1957 -- The Committee received the investigative report in=
volving the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company,
Texas City, Texas.
The complaints are now being analyzed.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
November 21, 1957
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Jacob Seidenberg
Executive Director
FROM:
Joseph R. Houchins
Director of Compliance
SUBJECT: Chronology of Committee Action Regarding Lockheed Air-
craft Corporation, Marietta, Georgia (File No. 298)
July 23, 1956 - The Committee received a complaint from the Atlanta
Branch of the NAACP alleging discrimination against
Negroes in regard to hiring, upgrading, training, and other incidence
of employment. (Similar complaints were filed by the Washington
Bureau NAACP and the Gate City Young Republican Club on August 3,
1956, and September 6, 1956, respectively).
July 23, 1957 - The complaint was transmitted to the Department of
Defense for investigation.
October 21, 1956 - The Committee received a report of investigation
from the Department of Defense. The report indi-
cated that a reinvestigation would be conducted at the corporation
during the first quarter of the Fiscal Year 1958.
November 19, 1956 - The case was presented to the Sub-Committee on
Review, which recommended that the Department of
Defense --
1. Make every possible effort to bring the cor-
poration into compliance with the provisions of the standard nondis-
crimination clause.
2. Supply, on a quarterly basis, reports showing --
a. Number of Negroes hired during the re-
porting period by occupations and departments.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
Memorandum to Dr. Seidenberg
November 21, 1957
b. Number of Negro upgrades and promotions
during the reporting period by occupations and
departments.
c. Number of Negro women hired during the
reporting period by occupations and departments.
3. Request the corporation to issue to the Atlanta
United States Employment Office and all company hiring and supervisory
personnel a statement of nondiscriminatory employment policy.
December 20, 1956 - The Committee received from Herbert Hill, Labor
Secretary of the NAACP a "Summary Report Re Status
of Negro Workers at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Plant, Marietta,
Georgia", which was transmitted to the Department of Defense as supple-
mental information to the complaint.
June 28, 1957 - A new complaint of discrimination was filed by Mr.
Bryant R. Britt, an employee of the company. The com-
plaint alleged that the company violated the provisions of the clause --
1. By restricting the employment of Negroes to certain
specified areas. Allegedly, approximately 90 percent of all Negro em-
ployees are in two departments.
m 2. By requiring Negro workers to use a separate cafe-
teria and segregated rest room dispensary and drinking facilities.
July 19, 1957 - A report of investigation conducted by the Department of
Defense was received by the Committee. A follow-up re-
port was not requested because of the receipt of the complaint mentioned
under the date of June 28, 1957 which had to be submitted to the Sub-
Committee on Review.
July 22, 1957 - The Sub-Committee on Review considered the matter of
whether the Committee had jurisdiction over the complaint
which alleged in part that the corporation violated the clause by requir-
ing Negroes to use a separate cafeteria and other segregated facilities.
Following a review of the complaint the Sub-Committee recommended that
the Department of Defense designate a top ranking civilian procurement
officer or military officer to meet with Mr. C. S. Gross, the corpora-
tion's President for the purpose of getting him to take action which
would result in the desegregation of facilities and the elimination of
other discriminatory employment practices at the Marietta plant.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 3 -
Memorandum to Dr. Seidenberg
November 21, 1957
July 26, 1957 - The Executive Director met with representatives of the
Defense Department to discuss the actions to be taken
by the agency relative to the Sub-Committee on Review's recommendations.
The contracting agency, after considerable discussion, agreed to comply
with the Committee's request.
August 8, 1957 - Dr. Seidenberg discussed with Mr. Max Golden, Deputy
for Procurement to the Assistant Secretary of the Air
Force, the Lockheed, Marietta, Georgia plant situation. He informed Mr.
Golden of the Sub-Committee on Review's feeling with regard to the com-
plaints and its recommended action. Mr. Golden's cooperation was soli-
cited in obtaining a top official to present the Air Force's position
to Lockheed's top management.
October 31, 1957 - Mr. Boris Shishkin informed the Committee that the
International Association of Machinists have orga-
nized the Lockheed plant and have integrated their "Jim Crow" local.
November 14, 1957 - A report of investigation of the complaint filed by
Mr. B. R. Britt (see June 28, 1957, above) was re-
ceived from the Department of Defense.
November 20, 1957 - The investigative report of the complaint filed by
Mr. Britt against the corporation was presented to
the Committee. Following a review and discussion of the case the Com-
mittee requested the Department of Defense --
1. To designate an appropriate official, at the
rank of Assistant Secretary or higher, to urge the corporation's Presi-
dent to initiate such action as will result in the desegregation of the
Marietta plant.
2. To instruct the corporation's President --
a. That segregated facilities in or apper-
taining to departments or areas where Government
work is performed violate the provisions of the
clause.
b. That contracts being performed at the
Marietta plant will not be renewed unless manage-
ment initiates such action as will result in the
desegregation of the plant facilities and work area.
3. To submit to the Committee within 60 days a re-
port on the action taken by the company.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
November 21, 1957
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Dr. Jacob Seidenberg
Executive Director
FROM:
Joseph R. Houchins
Director of Compliance
SUBJECT: Chronology of Committee Action Regarding Boeing
Aircraft Corporation, Withita, Kansas (File 269 - 282)
May 17, 1957 -- The Committee received from the NAACP complaints
alleging that the corporation had discriminated
against Negroes in regard to initial hiring, pre-induction train-
ing, transfer, promotion, and other aspects of employment. The
cases were referred to the Department of Defense for investigation.
October 9, 1957 -- The first investigative reports of the cases
were received by the Committee. These reports
were not complete, therefore, supplementary information is being
requested.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
November 21, 1957
MEMORANDUM
To:
Charles McWhorter
Legislative Assistant
to the Vice President
From: Jacob Seidenberg
Executive Director
In accordance with your request concerning
Murray Kempton's article in the New York Post, I am
enclosing for your information a chronological report
of our activities in the Boeing Aircraft and the
Lockheed case at Marietta, Georgia.
All that I can say is that whatever progress
has been made in these cases has been done as a re-
sult of the pressure the Committee has brought to
bear on these cases rather than what Mr. Herbert
Hill has done. Admittedly we have not released any-
thing about these cases because they have not been
disposed of and our Committee does not make any
statement about its complaint cases. It is the over-
all Committee policy not to make any statement or
release about complaint cases even when they are
satisfactorily resolved.
Encls.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
OFFICE OF THE vice president
WASHINGTON
7/29/57
MEMORANDUM
TO: RN
FROM: CKMc
0KM
W
I spent 50 minutes talking with Murray
Kempton of the New York Post this morning. He
was paying a "courtesy call" and covered a wide
area of topics, mostly related to the civil rights
controversy.
He volunteer some kind words about you
personally in connection with civil rights and also
about the Republican Party.
It will represent some sort of millenium
if we were ever to get Kempton to print something
which was favorable to you, which wasn't qualified
and full of reservations, but this sort of softening
up process should help him understand the integrity
and high purposeof your motivation in this area.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Dear Mr. Vice President:
There is a question DATE I'd like to ask you this afternoon; since it's
long-winded, I thought I8d just send it over early so it wouldn't consume too much
time in the asking.
It goes to our efforts to define the difference between the Eisenhower
Republicans and Harry Truman in dealing with the Communist menace:
(1) You said yesterday that, in voting for
Greek-Turkish aid in 1947,
Congressman Javits had passed the fundamental test of understanding the Communist
menace. In the same session, Javits also voted against an appropriation for the
work of the House Un-American Activities Committee. D If he had been in the majority
then, there would have been no Hiss case. Did he pass or flunk the test then ?
(2) You have said several times over the last few days that the President
would never underestimate the Communist menace here and abroad. On Junex2x 21
1955, at Geneva, the president was quoted by Elie Abel in the New York Times as
"stating his belief that the Soviet leaders were as earnestly desirous of peace
as their Western counterparts." Margaret Higgins reported in the Tribune that the
president said that he had personally talked to every nue member of the Russian
and was confident that every one of them wanted peace." Daxyauxthinkxthxt Do you
feel that in this case the president was underestimating or overestimating the
correctly
good faith of a government, which as yourself say has broken every promise it ever
ever made.
Thanks,
Murray Kempton
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum