Jim Murray, April 28, 1961

April 28, 1961: Jim Murray dips into the mailbag and finds letters from Frank Capra and George Kennedy, among others. Meredith Willson wants Murray to write a baseball comedy so he can use it for a musical!   ps. The Angels lost to the Twins, 4-2.

From the Stacks – 'Dancing Bear' (1968)

Out of curiosity, I picked up Gladwin Hill’s “Dancing Bear” at the Southern California Library’s book sale.  I never met Hill (d. 1992), the New York Times bureau chief in Los Angeles, but I had heard about him at luncheon gatherings of Times retirees who call themselves the Old Farts.    I tend to avoid reading about politics in my spare time. I get a healthy dose of it at work, and the minute dissection of old political intrigues – stiffly written prose about half-remembered names and long-forgotten battles  – isn’t terribly interesting to anyone but the most confirmed political junkie. With expectations that “Dancing Bear” would be nothing but a stale time capsule, I was quite pleasantly surprised by Hill’s engaging account of California politics, and his insights not only on the state’s curious history, but especially his perspective on the early career of Ronald Reagan.

John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration in Pictures

Los Angeles Times file photo

Jan. 20, 1961: Here is the story of President Kennedy’s inaugural as told through photos from The Times archives. Above, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after the inauguration.  Keep reading for more pictures and even a mystery photo!

Yorty Runs for Mayor!

Jan. 10, 1961: Incumbent Norris Poulson and  challenger Sam Yorty are about to get into a nasty campaign for mayor. Should I mention the $2-million slander suit? The Times editorial headlined “Either Poulson or Calamity?” (So much for the value of a Times endorsement.) And yes, The Times' Ed Ainsworth wrote the Yorty biography "Maverick Mayor." Stay tuned!  ALSO Norris Poulson on the Daily Mirror Sam Yorty on the Daily Mirror "Maverick Mayor" on Bookfinder

Nixon’s Neckties

Huntington Library

Every Friday, Natalie Russell, a library assistant at the Huntington, e-mails several photos from the Jack Smith collection to a group of old-timers in hopes that someone can identify the people in the pictures. [Note: Make it a New Year’s resolution to label all your old photographs!]  Although I couldn’t identify anyone besides Jack and Richard Nixon, I was able to narrow the date the photo was taken to about 1950, based on Nixon’s necktie.   Nixon, May 26, 1950     Nixon, L.A. Press Club, election night, Nov. 9, 1950   I don’t suppose anyone, except for a complete research drudge like me, has ever made a study of Nixon’s neckties – a future dissertation subject, perhaps? Anyway, I was only able to find two photos in The Times archives (and we have lots of Nixon pictures) showing him with this tie. Nixon was consistently conservative in his choice of neckwear, preferring small, repeated patterns like this one, and he didn’t seem to wear his ties more than a few times.

Paul Coates Is on Vacation, Nov. 10, 1960

Nov. 10, 1960: Paul Coates is on vacation. Instead, we have a letters column in which readers say that women have too many rights, the minimum age for a driver’s license should be raised to 18 and wonder, if cars cause air pollution, why didn’t Los Angeles build more public transportation? Remember, in 1960, Los Angeles still had a streetcar system. ps. The jury system doesn’t work, one letter writer says.

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 8, 1960

Nov. 8, 1960: Today’s election means an end to the madness over political bumper stickers, Matt Weinstock says. CONFIDENTIAL TO "TOO SMART": A smart girl should be smart enough not to look too smart.

Kennedy Wins

Nov. 8-9, 1960: The Associated Press reports: “Sen. John F. Kennedy swept so close to the presidency early today that practically everybody except the GOP high command proclaimed him the victor. “And while Nixon clutched at hopes that belated tallies in such vital states as Michigan, Illinois and his own California could swing things his way until 12:15 a.m., he then issued a statement saying: "If the present trend continues, Sen. Kennedy will be the next president of the United States." “His wife, Pat, wept on TV before viewers coast to coast.”

Matt Weinstock, Nov. 7, 1960

Nov. 7, 1960: The county tax ax fell last week on property owners. They received their annual valentines from tax collector H.L. Byram, who gets the blame but merely does the bookkeeping. Some homeowners were merely nicked. Others were chopped. All are bleeding. Many say despairingly that they don't know how they're going to pay the increases, Matt Weinstock says. On the jump, a full-page letter from Jack L. Warner urging people to vote for the Nixon-Lodge ticket. DEAR ABBY: Bill (not his real name) and I are very much in love but we are not old enough to get married without our parents' consent. We thought if we HAD to get married they would sign for us, so we went ahead and followed that plan. Now it turns out...

Paul Coates Is on Vacation

Nov. 7, 1960: Paul Coates is on vacation. The Mirror publishes a letter from Mrs. Jeannette Williams, who complains about the slanted, pro-Nixon political coverage in the paper. She asks: “What do you take us for? Idiots?” Notice the Page 1 editorial by Publisher Norman Chandler backing Richard Nixon, the same one published in The Times.

Kennedy Leads 1% in Final Poll

Nov. 7, 1960: Ernie Bushmiller is almost never topical – in fact it would be easy to transpose panels of “Nancy” from one decade to another. But here’s Sluggo, dressed in his outfit from the 1930s, commenting on the 1960 presidential race. The Gallup Poll gives Sen. John F. Kennedy a slight edge … and The Times runs a Page 1 editorial by Publisher Norman Chandler urging readers to vote for Vice President Richard Nixon: “Tuesday you will cast a ballot for the next president of the United States. Will it be marked by you as a thinking American -- or as the spellbound fan of a current television personality?” And here’s a real surprise. The Times suspends “Rex Morgan, M.D.” at the request of a family whose child has leukemia because the cartoon’s plot line deals with the disease.

Kennedy-Nixon Race an End to the Era of ‘Great Men’

Nov. 6, 1960: I rarely, if ever, post Bill Henry’s columns because they are usually not terribly relevant or interesting. This one is a surprise, however, and well worth reading. “Dwight David Eisenhower, whose comparatively youthful successor will be named come Tuesday, will certainly have one outstanding distinction: He will go down in history as the last 'Great Man' to be elected president of the United States. There are no more 'great' men and there never will be. Pitiless publicity has ruthlessly eliminated this breed.... “The persistent probing of reporters and the vastly widened scope of coverage by newspapers, magazines, radio and TV have stripped candidates naked. No longer could Harry Truman get away with his endless poker parties or FDR spend a dozen years in the White House and die with thousands and thousands of Americans unaware that he couldn't walk. Nowadays, the candidates have no secrets whatever....”