I Liberals and Democrats
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The one great rule We will serve no group or party but of composition is to will hew hard to speak the truth. the truth as we find it and the right as —Thoreau .04r Trxto!, we see it. An Indeper 040 e wspaper Vol. 48 10c per copy No. 4 r\NP s`k Q-3 Nck Sio 1T;tA Shivers Panel i‘ept; Liberals Named DALLAS Dallas, backed Johnson on his decision The Democratic Party of Texas Johnson Wins Strong Endorsement to leave the executive committee in has decided to "go all the way" with office. The delegate vote was 1,306 to Senator Lyndon Johnson as favorite But Fails to Stop Mrs. Randolph 524. son, presidential candidate, but it Throughout the debate members of the executive committee were conspic- gale his leadership a bad jolt at the motion that convention business cease Kambacher said he had approached until the rightful Dallas County dele- the chair to present an amendment to uous by their absence. The front rows same time. of seats in the convention hall that Delegates to the state convention gation is seated. There's people who seat the Johnson-supporting Dallas have been sitting outside in the hot group, but the chairman had told him had been reserved for them were va- here promised him support as long as cant. he is a candidate ; accepted his request sun all day long while a bunch of Re- to go to the microphone on the con- to leave the State Democratic Execu- publicans from Dallas have been sit- vention floor where he would consider ABOUT 6 p.m., four hours tive committee intact, and elected By- ting in here where good Democrats giving him recognition. before the convention action in which ron Skelton as national committee- oughta be. This is what I call carrying But Kambacher was delayed from the convention chose Mrs. Randolph man. harmony too far. I demand that the getting the floor until the question of committeewoman, Johnson, his wife, But it handed him one crushing de- rightful delegation be seated. These adopting the temporary order was and his mother, appeared at the hall feat. Despite his opposition, delegates folks. have worked as hard as anyone disposed of., to present a victory speech. His arri- nominated Mrs. R. D. Randolph, sil- for Lyndon Johnson." It was after 8 o'clock . Tuesday night val touched off the second frenetic, verhaired strategist of the liberal Har- Chairman Raymond Buck of Fort when the convention voted to seat the enthusiastic brass - band - led demon- ris County delegation, as the national Worth at first said the motion was contested loyalist delegations from stration of the day. Delegates paraded committeewoman. The Johnson-fa- out of order, but Hardin had stirred Dallas, Anderson, and Smith counties around the auditorium for 30 minutes vored candidate, Mrs. Lloyd Bentsen, strong support through the crowd. and the pro-Parr loyalist delegation carrying Johnson for President plac- withdrew. When the motion was seconded, Buck from Duval County. ards while the band played "The Eyes Some political observers viewed submitted it to vote and it carried by However, even had Dallas and the of Texas." Mrs. Randolph's election in the teeth a large margin. It ended a delaying other county delegations been seated Johnson declared : action which had been underway since from the start, it appeared unlikely "We are meeting today to dedicate mid-morning, when Conrad Kam- that there would have been much ourselves to victory. Four years ago bacher of Fort Worth had been change in convention decisions. we were a party on the verge of de- Bob Bray thwarted in an effort to get a conven- Two hundred and 13 counties, vir- feat. Our ranks were disunited and tion vote on seating the Dallas delega- tually every one of the state's sparsely our future was unpredictable. And in of Johnson opposition and pressure as tion. populated ones and San Antonio and (Continued on Page 8) an indication that the Johnson-Ray- burn leadership of the Texas Demo- crats is in for serious challenges at the State and national levels hereafter. Cities Left Lyndon on Key Test . Until the nomination of Mrs. Raiv- dolph, which was the'final action of the convention, Johnson had been suc-- DALLAS Caucusing Started Sunday; as the unopposed candidate for the cessful in running things the way he It certainly was a spirited kind of committeemanship. Mrs. Randolph told the committee felt they should be handled. As an harmony the Democrats had at Dal- 'They've Got Us'— Sellers early order of business, his supporters las. that it was "a great day" and that she then it became generally known that was interested in "the workers who had overwhelmingly blasted the effort Lyndon Johnson's forces won a Mrs. Kathleen Voigt, who was. unani- of the Harris County delegation and thwacking victory by retaining the -brought it about." Mrs. Voigt, stating mously nominated by her Bexar she was not an active candidate but other liberals to oust the executive pro-Shivers state executive commit- County delegation for the committee- committee. tee, but they took a serious defeat would serve the party any way she womanship, would support Mrs. Ran- could, said that the Democrats are Johnson's backers in firm control when they failed after days of maneu- dolph against Mrs. Bentsen, of the convention proceeded with con- defeat Mrs. R. D. Randolph now well-organized in the Plains, the vering to - Panhandle, and West Texas as well as vention business all day without decid- as national committeewoman. In mid-afternoon Grover Sellers, ing the contested delegations. This had All day Tuesday at the state con- the former attorney general from Sul- elsewhere in the state. the effect of permitting Shivers-con- phur Springs,_ convened the committee The group questioned former Con- vention, rumors flew that the senator gressman Lloyd Bentsen closely. He trolled delegations which were later was using all his power and prestige on the issue in a dinky off-stage dress- unseated—especially the Dallas dele- ing room. Pipes were exposed near assured them he had always voted to persuade the big city delegations to Democratic and scored "unsigned cin, gation—to vote with Johnson against. vote for Mrs. Lloyd Bentsen of Mc- the ceiling ; two naked light globes unseating the executive committee. Allen. He called in several leaders of burned down on the committee mem- But for the "out of order" debate of the Harris County delegation and both bers and reporters. Began Sellers:. Ronnie Dugger leather - lunged former legislator demanded that Mrs. Randolph with- "Most of us have been pretty well ad- Doss Hardin of Ellis County, John- draw and sent word that other honors vised on what the leadership would son's Dallas County delegation of 135. would be available to her if she would like to have done." culars" that reproduced a clipping to votes would have waited outside even do so. Byron Skelton of Temple appeared, the contrary. He said he now has no longer. Blasted Hardin through. a mi- It was assumed on the floor that attested to his party loyalty, assured relationship with Governor Shivers crophone (which he really didn't Johnson's better than two-to-one vic- the group that he was not "a radical" politically—he supported Johnson in need) : tory on the executive committee issue (as Governor Shivers had suggested, the recent contest—although he just . "I demand recognition to matte the assured Mrs. Randolph's defeat. But he said), and was accepted, in effect, lives five miles from the Governor. He conceded he had had "varying de- grees of enthusiasm for the various candidates, but we're all guilty of that Church Divided on Race Issue sometimes." He cited the tidelands is- sue as the reason for his lack of en- (Second of three articles on welcomed by the congregation without because of the Negro children. She sat thusiasm for Stevenson. He empha- one of the feW integrated Prot- incident. in front of the church with the boy in sized that he had been asked and had estant churches in Texas.—Ed.) In the summer of 1955, Augustana the car. When the Negro youngsters refused to crossfile in 1952. held its first interracial vacation Bible arrived, she drove away. HOUSTON Mrs. Bentsen said she had worked school. Some 70 children attended, Augustana members who could not in her husband's campaigns and had . Upon invitation of an Augustana and approximately half of them were "meet the challenge of integration," worked on benefit programs for the parish worker, on March 27, 1955, Negroes. "Although they had been in- Rev. Seastrand said, at one time advo- Women's National Democratic Club two Negro women, a Mrs.. Johnson vited, the Negro children came the cated a called meeting of the congre- in Washington but had not engaged in and Mrs. Williams (no relation to first morning with reticence and res- gation to discuss and vote on the issue party organization work. the family which joined the church ervations. When nine had arrived I of whether Negroes should be per- The committee, it is understood, di- recently), attended the morning looked down the street and could see mitted to come in the church. vided 17 votes for Mrs. Bentsen, five worship service. They were politely other youngsters, all dressed up, but "It was my contention, and this was for Mrs. Randolph, and one for. Mrs. standing in their front yards to see received, but their attendance in consultation with the leaders of our Voigt.