m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 49 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1955 ' Per Copy—15^
Eisenhower Unveils Plan To Send
Atom Power Merchant Ship Around
World In Peaceful Demonstration
NEW YORK, <*> — President*
Eisenhower today unveiled plans I
to send a new atomic powered j
merchant ship around the globe
in a dramatic demonstration of
America’s determination to win
“a just and lasting peace.”
The new vessel, the President
said, will travel thousands of
miles without refueling and “will
demonstrate to people every
where this peace - time use of
atomic energy, harnessed for the
improvement of human living.”
Eisenhower disclosed his inten
tion to ask Congress for funds to
build the new ship in a speech
prepared for delivery at the
annual luncheon meeting of the
Associated Press at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel. About 1,300 of the
nation’s publishers and editors
were on hand for the start of
Newspaper Week in New York.
The President coupled his sur
prise announcement of plans for
the atomic-powered ship with a
new plea for congressional enact
ment of the administration pro
gram to cut tariffs 15 per cent
over the next three years.
Eisenhower made no direct
mention of Red China’s weekend
offer to negotiate with the United
States to relax tension in the For
mosa area. But in an obvious
reference to Communist China
and Russia, the President said
“certain dictatorships have en
gaged in a deliberately conceived
drive which periodically creates
alarms and fears of war.”
Eisenhower also spoke of the
“unprecedented crises of these
days—packed with danger,” and
linked the idea of freer world
trade to the battle against “god
less Communism.”
“Either we foster flourishing
trade between the free nations or
we weaken the free world and
our own economy,” Eisenhower
said.
The administration’s bill to ex
tend the Reciprocal Trade Act
three years has passed the House
but still faces rough going in the
Senate.
Rejection of the program,
Eisenhower said, “would consti
tute a serious setback to our
hopes for global peace.”
—
Adenauer’s Government
Suffers A Set-Back
On Issue of Paris Treaties
(By the Associated Press)
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s
pro-Western Christian Democrats
suffered a setback today in re
turns from an election in West
Germany’s big state of Lower
Saxony. Communists and Social
ists claimed gains in French local
elections, but the Communists
suffered a defeat in the Soviet
zone of Austria.
The outcome is at least a mor
al defeat for Adenauer because
he had personally headed his
party’s campaign in Lower Sax
ony, and the main issue was his
plan for aligning West Germany
with the West under the Paris
treaties. The possibility existed,
however, that the coalition back
ing him actually might gain con
trol of the legislature, since the
Socialists could not muster a |
majority.
The voting in France was for
county councilmen, who have few
powers but considerable political
prestige.
Adm. Peary’s Flag To Be
Presented To National
Geographic Society
WASHINGTON, UPt—'The Am
erican flag that Rear Admiral
Robert E. Peary carried to the
North Pole 46 years ago will find
a permanent home here next
month.
The National Geographic So
ciety said Saturday Mrs. Marie
Peary Stafford, the explorer’s
daughter will present the flag to
the society at ceremonies here
May 6 as a gift from her mother.
Mrs. Peary, 91, and now living
in Portland, Me., .made the flag
that marked her husband’s dis
covery of the pole on April 6,
J909.
At the same ceremony in Con
stitution Hall the Geographic So
ciety will honor Mrs. Peary with
a special gold medal in apprecia
tion of her courage and ability as
an explorer in her own right dur
ing the years she accompanied
the admiral on Arctic expeditions
from 1391 to 1902.
Mrs. Perry, the Society said
will be unable to attend the cere
monies. Mrs. Stafford will accept
the medal for her.
Maurice Gebhart of
Anchorage Appointed
Executive Director AHA
ANCHORAGE, —Maurice C.
Gebhart of Anchorage has been
appointed executive director of
the Alaska Housing Authority,
according to an announcement
Saturday afternoon by the AHA
Commissioners.
Gebhart has been a resident of
Alaska five years and is mar
ried. He has two children, a
daughter attending the University
of Alaska and a son who is a
junior at Anchorage High School.
Gebhart said one of the first
items of business would be to
activate the slum clearance pro
grams in the cities of the terri
tory. The urban renewal program
for the city of Fairbanks will get
under way immediately.
Beta Sigma Phi Sorority
is honoring the following visitors
Mrs. James H. Doolittle
Mrs. Joseph H. Atkinson
Mrs. T. Allen Bennett
Mrs. Hugh A. Parker
Mrs. Robert Reeves
Mrs. Noel Wien
at a Tea
Tuesday, April 26th,
3 to 5 p.m.
U.S.O. Building
All ladies of Nome
are cordially invited
to meet the vistors.
...n.. .. . .■-.-. ■ ■■ .. —... —.—..
U.S. Air Force
Will Leave Nome
Field This Fall
USO Leaders Meet to
Discuss Club’s Future
Allen Smith, director of the
Fairbanks and Nome USO cen
ters, met with the local USO
board yesterday to make plans
for the summer program, as far
as possible.
With the announcement of the
withdrawal of the U.S. Air Force
from this area this fall it is hard
to determine now how many mili
tary men will be using the club
during the summer.
The continued operation of the
local USO was felt by the board
members to be a necessity, as it
was expressed that an improve
ment in the morale and health of
the community had been evident
since the opening of the club last
January.
Cooperating organizations are
being asked to express their sen
timents in writing to the director
so that he may get a better cross
section of opinion in the matter
of the club’s importance to mili
tary personnel.
Although the Air Force is leav
ing Nome, the Alaska Communi
cation System and National Guard
personnel will still need this rec
reational center. Moreover, a con
siderable number of transient Air
Force personnel will need the
USO more than ever as they pass
through Nome to and from sta
tions throughout the Northwest,
as the base will be closed to them.
Generals May Join Wives
In Nome After Bear Hunt
Plans have been completed for
the two-day visit of the wives of
Generals Dolittle, J. H. Atkinson,
Alen T. Bennet, and Hugh Parker.
The husbands of the visitors
are reported to be in Pt. Barrow
on a polar bear hunt, having re
cently bagged a grizzly bear at
Talkeetna, and they are expected
to join their wives here some time
during their visit.
Reservations are being taken
at the Bering Sea Club for a no
host banquet in their honor on
Wednesday evening.
One of Biggest Detonations A t Yucca
Flat To Test Effects of Blast, Radiation
And Fiery Heat On Average U.S. Homes
---_-;
First Two Women
Chosen To Face
Atomic Blast Test
LAS VEGAS, (#)—The first two
women ever chosen to face an
atomic blast in a front-line trench
—a 45-year-old grandmother and
a, 40-year-old newspaperwoman
—say they are “happy and hon
ored” to be selected.
Mrs. Jean Wood Fuller, of Los
Angeles and Battle Creek, Mich.,
first choice, has been director of
Women’s Affairs for the Federal
Civil Defense Administration
since last December. She has two
sons, Pvt. Frederic Fuller, ' 22,
Kenai, Alaska, and Navy Airman
1/C Kent Fuller, 20, San Diego,
Calif., and one grandchild.
Mrs. Shirley Smith, Oakland
Tribune writer and Civil Defense
worker for five years, plans to
write a story about her experi
ences and offer it to all news
services.
Mrs. Fuller said she has no
fear and expects to get “first
hand knowledge that will be val
uable to me in interpreting the
experience to others.” She said
she is particularly interested in
seeing what happens to food in
an atomic explosion.
Mrs. Fuller, past president of
the California Federation of Re
publican Women, passed her
physical examination yesterday.
In all, 22 Civil Defense work
ers and eight newsmen will oc
cupy the trenches with more than
2,000 soldiers.
Big-3 Foreign Ministers
To Meet May 8 To Set
Up Big-4 Conference
WASHINGTON, OPV—The West
ern Big Three foreign ministers
will meet in Paris May 8 “to
discuss concrete plans for holding ,
a four-power conference with the
Soviet government.”
The brief announcement did
not say at what level it hoped
the meeting with Russia could be
held. President Eisenhower and
Secretary of State Dulles have
said in the past a four-power for
eign ministers conference should
precede any meetings of heads of
state.
Moscow has indicated a desire
for a meeting of Premier Bul
ganin with President Eisenhower
and British Prime Minister An
thony Eden.
In talking to newsmen at a
diplomatic reception on Saturday
Bulganin said he was interested
in such a conference and that it
was up to Eisenhower and Eden
to set a date.
In preparation for the May 8
Paris meeting, American, British
and French technical experts will
meet in London Wednesday to
make what the State Department
called “a preliminary study” of
the problems to be discussed by
the foreign ministers.
Eisenhower Sends To
Senate Nomination Of
Oliver As U.S. Marshal
WASHINGTON, UP) — Presi
dent Eisenhower sent to the
Senate today his nomination of
Robert W. Oliver of Nome to
be U.S. Marshal for the Second
Judicial Division of Alaska.
• SURVIVAL CITY, Nev., W —
Final touches were put today on
this tiny town huddling in the
shadow of the mighty atom as
more than 5,200 persons prepared
for history’s most complex nuc
lear test.
Workmen completed furnish
ings in the four homes on Dooms
day Drive, the avenue only 4,700
feet away—six to ten blocks in
most towns — from tomorrow’s
atomic blast tower.
One of the biggest detonations
unleashed at Yucca Flat—a de
vice with the wallop of 40,000
tons of TNT—will be used by
the Federal Civil Defense Admin
istration, the Department of De
fense and the Atomic Energy
Commission for a variety of eye
opening experiments. It is sched
uled at 4:20 a.m. PST.
Most important, this test will
show what the terrible triplets of
atomic weapons—blast, radiation
and fiery heat — can do to the
kind of home you live in.
The homes on Doomsday Drive
will be hit by all three: some
farther back by only one or two,
some should escape entirely.
The Spacing is planned, for ifi
any real atomic attack it repre- -
sents part of your chances for
survival—the luck of the draw,
or how close you are to the bomb.
Secondly, it’s designed to learn
how best to protect homes and
lives if your luck is bad.
Chou En-Lai Says:
Door To Direct
Negotiations With
U.S. Still Open
BANDUNG, Indonesia, (/ft —
Prime Minister Mohammed Ali of
Pakistan said today Premier Chou
En-Lai of Red China considers
the “door to direct negotiations
with the United States over For
mosa is still open a slight crack.”
Ali made his statement to re
porters after a 2Vz hour lunch
eon talk with Chou. This was
after the 29-nation Asiafi-African
conference adjourned.
Chou jarred the closing session
by declaring his government
would not yield its “sovereign
rights to liberate” Chiang Kai
Shek’s island bastion. That chill
ed high hopes he had raised the
day before by calling for direct
talks with the United States to
ease tension in the Formosa area.
Chou En-Lai, Mohammed Ali
said, “has an answer to the ques
tion of the disposition of Chiang
Kai-Shek.” The Pakistan leader
refused to say what it was.
“I think the United States'can
not throw him overboard,” he
added. “I told him if I was in
that position (of the United
States) I would stick to my
friend.”
He did not say whether he had
asked the Red Chinese premier to
release imprisoned American air
men as one means of showing
sincerity for the negotiations.
Ali intimated, however, he had
raised the question, by saying:
“There is the need to eliminate
suspicion on both sides, and I
believe China could help by. re
leasing the American airmen or
perhaps arranging for a National
ist Chinese evacuation of the off
shore islands.”'