NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LXIII No. 7 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1961Per Copy 15^
Ike Reviews His
Past Eight-Year
Period to Newsmen
By Marvin L. Arrowsmith
WASHINGTON UP) — President
Eisenhower said today he con
siders the greatest achievement of
his eight years in office was the
preservation of peace in an era
when weakness would almost cer
tainly have brought disastrous
war.
Eisenhower gave this appraisal
in his last Presidential news con
ference, attended by 280 report
ers who crowded into the ornate
Indian Treaty Room of the old
State Department Building.
The 70-year-old Soldier-Presi
dent dealt quickly, smilingly and
emphatically with questions con
cerned with foreign and domes
tic problems. He spoke most feel
ingly when asked what he con
sidered his most satisfying
achievement and most heart
breaking failure.
His great disappointment, Ei
senhower said, was that the na
tion could not be brought to the
place it could be said that peace
with justice was in sight.
As for achievements, Eisen
hower went on, the eight years
spanned a period in which the
Russian achieved the Hydrogen
Bomb, built an arsenal of nuclear
weapons, and supported the war
like threats of the Red Chinese—
a period in which this country
was fighting a war in Korea and
there was grave danger it would
spread.
This government showed the
understanding, firmness and will
ingness to take risks in support
of policies which prevented the
great war from coming, the Pres
ident said.
Had there been weakness in
that time, Eisenhower continued,
he is convinced there would have
been a war that would have been
disastrous to all the earth.
After this grave speech — the
longest of the news conference—
Eisenhower suddenly grinned and
said that Nov. 8 was another great
disappointment.
Apart from this rueful com
ment, and despite the many prod
ding questions, Eisenhower de
clined to give his version of what
went wrong in the Presidential
election which cost the Republi
can Party control of the White
House.
B52 Bombers Stay in
The Air Around the Clock
OMAHA </Pl — The Strategic
Air Command announced today
that U. S. heavy bombers now are
in the air around the clock.
Gen. Thomas S. Power, SAC
Commander-in-Chief, said an un
specified number of B52s are in
the air at all times. About two
dozen bases are involved, he said.
Power said the indoctrination
phase of the airborne alert train
ing program has been completed
and now all combat-ready B52
bomber crews are participating
in airborne alert training mis
sions under realistic conditions.
He said the program is in
keeping with the U. S. policy of
being prepared, and is designed
“to reduce to an absolute mini
mum the time required by SAC
bombers to respond to any hostile
action by an agressor.”
During an airborne alert train
ing mission the bomber remains
in the air for a 24-hour period
and is refueled by KC-135 jet
Stratotankers.
/
Local Inaugural Ball
Will Be a Colorful Event
| Two more days is all the time
you have left to make plans to
attend Name’s first Presidential
i Inaugural Ball at the new Na
tional Guard Armory.
Nine o’clock Friday evening is
when the doors will open to the
first public event in this new
building, and an opportunity for
many of Nome’s citizens to see
it for the first time.
Tickets are being sold now by
various merchants throughout the
town at $1.00 each, with net pro
ceeds going to the New March of
Dimes.
Admission will be limited to
those 16 years of age and over.
At eleven o’clock there will be
brief ceremonies by the Nome
Civil Air Patrol Color Guard and
singing of the National Anthem
by Maybelle Lenert. Several short
talks will be given by visiting
guests, including Col. Edwards of
Fort Wainwright and Nome’s
Mayor Steffen Andersen and
Judge Hugh Gilbert. Refresh
ments will be available through
out the evening.
The combo from Fort Richard
son, headed by Sp4 Paul Blair,
promises to provide more of the
excellent music Nome has en
joyed in the past from visiting
military orchestras.
Again it is reminded that this
is a non-partisan function intend
ed to provide the public an op
portunity to welcome in spirit the
inauguration of John F. Ken
nedy.
Be sure and keep that date open
—Friday, Jan. 20—for Nome’s
first Presidential Inaugural Ball.
Soviet Tracking Ships
Bring Speculation of a
Spectacular Space Shot
WASHINGTON UP — Four So
viet missile tracking ships stand
ing by in the Pacific brought new
speculation today that the Soviet
Union was preparing for a spec
tacular space shot.
Navy patrol aircraft spotted the
fourth ship, the Suchan, Tuesday
in the North Pacific, 1,000 miles
due south of the Aleutian Island
of Attu. It was moving slowly
on a southeast course.
The other three missile track
ing ships appear to be stationed
in a loose triangle near the tar
get area used by the Soviets for
missile tests last year. One is only
600 miles southwest of Honolulu.
U. S. officials expect the So
viets to use the space shot, if it
is successful, as a propaganda
stunt timed to coincide with the
inauguration Friday of President
elect John F. Kennedy.
REPORT FIREBALL IN SKY
OVER CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES UP) — A bril
liant fireball, variously des
cribed as blue, red,' green or
white, flashed across California
skies at dusk Monday.
Mt. Wilson astronomers said
the object probably was one of a
shower of meteors which orbit
the sun at this time of year.
Observers reported a bluish
fireball over northern California
and southern Oregon.
Republicans Stage Lincoln Day
Dinner at Hotel Robert E. Lee
WINSTON-SALEM, N. C. UP)—
The young Republicans here
voted Tuesday to stage a Lincoln
Day dinner on Washington’s
Birthday at the Hotel Robert E.
Lee.
Lutheran Director
Takes Issue Against
Cardinal Spellman
NEW YORK UPl — A Protest
ant spokesman today took issue
with Francis Cardinal Spellman’s
attack on proposals by President
elect John F. Kennedy’s task
force on education for federal aid
to public schools.
The Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffman,
Public Relations Director of the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,
which operates the largest system
of Protestant elementary schools
in the country, said:
“Let Cardinal Spellman speak
for himself. He does not speak
for us Lutherans.”
Cardinal Spellman, Roman
Catholic Archbishop of New York,
charged yesterday that limiting
the proposed $5.8-billion aid to
public schools would be unfair
to parochial and private school
puoils.
“I cannot believe,” he said,
“that Congress would discrimin
ate against Lutheran, Baptist,
Catholic or Jewish parents —
Americans all — in the allocation
of federal funds.”
Dr. Hoffman replied:
“As Americans who accept the
traditional American policy of
church-state separation, we Lu
therans would not feel discrimin
ated against if federal funds were
appropriated for public schools
only.”
Kennedy, who arrived here last
night for a short stay, said he
had no comment on the Cardinal’s
remarks.
About 149,201 pupils are en
rolled in the 1,293 full-time
schools operated by the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.
Roman Catholics operate 9,897
elementary schools, with 4,195,781
pupils.
Kennedy, a Roman Catholic,
has repeatedly put himself on
record against federal aid to
either parochial or private schools.
GOP Colleagues Assure
Nixon of Future
National Service
WASHINGTON UD — Vice Pres
ident Richard Nixon packed to
day for his departure from Wash
ington with the assurances of GOP
colleagues that future national
service awaits him.
Nixon was said by aides to be
undecided yet on which of sev
eral offers he will accept from
law firms in California.
The Nixon home in a fashion
able residential district is up for
sale.
Several of his Republican sen
atorial colleagues told Nixon yes
terday that though he may be
leaving office Friday because of
his narrow defeat in the Presi
dential race, they expect him to
be back in harness again.
Nixon is regarded as one of the
likely contenders for the 1964 Re
publican Presidential nomination.
He has indicated he does not plan
to run in 1962 for any California
office.
Nixon touched off a 75-minute
series of tributes — including
some from Democrats — when he
said goodby to the Senate yester
day.
Senate Republican Leader Ever
ett Dirksen praised Nixon as “one
of the most distinguished Vice
Pr&sidents of this country.”
Nixon sat quietly, twisting a
ball of paper in his hand as others
joined in tributes.
Chuck Reader Appointed
To Serve on Utility Board
Chuck Reader was appointed
by the Nome Utility Board last
night to the seat left vacant by
the resignation of Pearse Walsh.
Walsh had resigned from the
Utility Board when he was ap
pointed to the Senate seat of Wm.
E. Beltz. Reader will serve until
the municipal election is held in
April.
At the last meeting Barrow
Morgan had been appointed to
fill the vacancy created with the
departure of Chuck West, who
in turn had been appointed after
the resignation of Bill Haley last
spring.
The Utility Board is now made
up of Les Keller, president; Bar
row Morgan, secretary; Tommy
Johnson, vice president, and Al
bert Johnson and Chuck Reader.
The Board approved a contract
with Robert Retherford & As
sociates of Anchorage for an en
gineering study of the Nome Light
and Power System. Nome’s agree
ment with the bonding company
calls for such a study to be made
every five years. The base con
tract is for $3,500 but with travel
and other expenses, it is ex
pected to cost about $5,000.
In other Board action Tuesday
evening the Board reviewed de
linquent accounts.
Polly Spangler Named
National March of Dimes
Mother of the Year
NEW YORK UR — Polly Spang
ler, 31, a polio-crippled house
wife from California — who runs
her household from an unusual
motorized wheelchair — today
was named 1961 National March
of Dimes Mother of the Year.
Mrs. Spangler of Tustin, Calif.,
was stricken in 1954 with both
bulbar and spinal paralytic polio.
She made a comeback from an
iron lung and total disability.
The National Foundation, which
presented Mrs. Spangler with a
scroll, said she capably manages
her own home, cares for her hu
band, Jerrold, and their two chil
dren, Caryn, 10, and Mike, 9.
Spangler built a battery-oper
ated wheelchair for his wife.
Mrs. Spangler also was named
honorary chairman of the 1961
Mothers March for Funds, which
begins at the end of January.
25 Indian Tribes Will
Participate in Kennedy’s
Inaugural Parade
WASHINGTON UR — More than
200 Indians representing 25 tribes
in 13 states will participate in
the Inaugural Parade Friday.
A special Indian section of the
parade will have five floats de
picting Indian ceremonials and
dancing and the contribution of
the first Americans to govern
ment, industry and the folk lore
of the United States.
Indian participation in the pa
rade was arranged by a special
Indian committee working through
the National Congress of Ameri
can Indians.
There will be a Navajo Indian
band, augmented to about 60
pieces through invitation to mu
sicians of a half-dozen other In
dian tribes of Arizona and New
Mexico.
Another unit of 80 parka-clad
Eskimos will march as a National
Guard Scout unit from Alaska.
One float will feature Sioux
Indians from South Dakota
demonstrating the dancing of the
plains Indians.
Demos Do Not
Spare the Horses
For JFK’s Parade
By Arthur E dson
WASHINGTON UPl — Every
thing seems about ready for John
F. Kennedy’s big Presidential In
auguration Friday, including 275
horses, 22 mules and one burro.
This livestock statistic was
hurled out today by a breathless
inaugural committee.
Many of its earlier tidbits dealt
with the latest formidable weap
ons the Armed Forces will dis
play, and with the electronic
gadgetry aimed at keeping the
parade on time.
But in News Release No. 185,
issued today, the committee did
a complete about face.
“In no other parade,” the com
mittee proudly reported, “have
there been so many horses.”
This seems surprising since
horses were standard presidential
locomotion in the old days and
Warren G. Harding was the first
to forsake them and ride to his
inauguration in an automobile.
But admittedly 275 adds up to
a lot of horse flesh, and of course
the Army is prepared. Two horse
ambulances, each with a veterin
arian and an assistant, will be
parked along the parade route to
assist any beast needing first aid.
The mules wear miniature
fezzes between their ears. Their
sponsors are the Colorado Springs,
Colo., A1 Kaly Temple of Shrin
ers. The burro, symbol of the
Democratic Party, will pull a
miniature float preceding the mule
train.
What started out as on inaugu
ral ball Friday night has now
branched out into five. Two more
were added yesterday, which will
I give dancers room for whirling,
or watching, away in four hotel
ballrooms and the National Guard
Armory.
No one seems to have paused
long enough to count the tickets
sold, but the figure usually used
is 25,000, a fair-sized crowd when
you remember that the cheapest
ticket costs $25 and that a box
seating of eight brings in $320.
Democrats Hope to
Break Coalition’s Grip
On Rules Committee
WASHINGTON UPl — House
Democrats at a harmonious cau
cus today approved an increase
in Rules Committee membership
to break a coalition’s grip on that
committee.
They shouted approval of a
resolution by Speaker Sam Ray
burn of Texas to increase the
membership to 15 from 12, with
10 Democrats and 5 Republicans.
It was one of the briefest cau
cuses in party history, lasting
only about 15 minutes.
The action, subject to House
approval probably next week,
represented an initial victory for
Rayburn in his drive to crack
the Rules Committee control held
in the past by a coalition of four
Republicans and two Southern
Democrats.
Northern Democrats had pre
dicted in advance that the cau
cus would approve the change.
They were less confident about
how the plan will fare on the
House floor, where Republicans
and Southern Democrats have
combined in the past to have a
dominant voice in the House.
The final outcome could have
a great bearing on the success of
President-elect John F. Kennedy’s
legislative program.