On ‘Reds’, Robins and getting in the last word

As promised last week, this is part two of “Macon my way through history” (last week’s headline). In particular, I am sharing with you the two newspapers I found in the attic of the house my wife and I are buying. Just a reminder: the house was owned by the former mayor of Fort Valley.

The second newspaper, The Macon Telegraph and News, is dated March 16, 1958. Here’s a glance inside some of them (14 stories in all):

Headline: “U.S. Charges Reds ‘Flouting’ U.N.” Subhead: “Space Plan Is Termed ‘Impossible’.” Story: Those nasty Reds. What stands out is that “Reds” appeared without quotation marks, indicating it was considered the official language for Russians at the time. The story describes their offer to let the United Nations oversee their space plan—if the U.N. could get the U.S. to withdraw its bases from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

That’s where the “flouting” (Openly disregarding a rule, law or convention. To mock; scoff. – Oxford Dictionary) from the U.S. comes in, as well as the “impossible” in the headline. Among the choice words in response: “… it amounted to throwing away free world defenses in exchange for a ‘mere promise’ by the Reds not to fire any intercontinental ballistic missiles at the West.” (P.S. Whether by chance or purpose, there was a one-paragraph line underneath the story with the headline: “New Rocket Missile”. The blurb read: “The Air Force disclosed today it is developing a rocket missile that can be fired 1,000 miles from a flying missile platform.” Humph. And there you go, you Reds.

Headline: “Like Spring, The Man Says.” Story: This one raised an eyebrow because “The Man” is never identified. Is he Al Roker? Willard Scott? No clue, but if The Man says it’s going to be 65 degrees, it’s going to be 65 degrees!

Headline: “Man Got In Last Word – He Thought.” A husband and wife, both deaf and mute, were arguing. Their 14-year-old daughter explained that her father was determined to get in the “last word.” He believed he had turned off the light, and they went to bed. Later, the daughter was awakened, and police were summoned to find the wife pummeling her husband with her fists. Sometimes, things are truly better left unspoken. “Ba-dum.”

Headline: “Two Children Die Of Wreck Injuries.” We know children die in wrecks every day. What stood out about this one was that both of these died on the same day and from being “backed over” by one of their parents. Heartbreaking to say the least.

Headline: “Robins’ Air Role to Soar With Dawn Of Space Age.” Story: “Now that the Space Age is definitely dawning, many Middle Georgians are wondering whether Robins Air Force Base – giant industrial and supply complex chiefly devoted to manned aircraft – will maintain its highly important role in military defense.” Per Maj. Gen. A.V.P. Anderson Jr., commander of the Warner Robins “Air Materiel Area,” said, “There is absolutely no ground for such skepticism. “Although the world today is engrossed in 18,000 miles per hour satellites circling the globe, conventional aircraft … propeller-driven as well as advanced jets … have an increasingly important role in the defense of this nation,” he said. The materials to keep those fleets aloft around the world require one of the largest and most complex industrial and supply organizations ever conceived, he went on. True stHeadline: “Suit to Kill County Unit System Filed.” Story: The lawsuit, filed by Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield (acting as an “individual,” not as mayor), asks the federal courts to rule out Georgia’s “county” unit system in Democratic primaries. Hartsfield charged it gave a “preponderance of political power to small rural counties” and is “arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional.” Under the system, he noted, an Echols County vote—the state’s least populated—carries “855 times the weight of a resident of Fulton,” the largest county. Notably, Georgia’s voting laws have been making headlines for 66 years and counting.g now.

Aside from those, if you want to know how to “lose weight without hunger pangs,” read “Lose Without the Blues,” by Mary Sue Miller, and if you want to know who’s looking for “male help” or “female help” specifically, turn to the Want-Ad Section. (Or to your local feminist to address why there’s a distinction.)