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Sunday, December 10, 2006

December 10, 1960: Alabama Electors Shun Kennedy for Opposing 'Everything We Hold Dear in the South'

Moslems backing de Gaulle rioted in Algeria for the second day. "The silent, noncommittal Moslems of the Algerian cities came out of their casbahs to wreck and pillage and demonstrate their smoldering antagonism to the Europeans," Thomas Brady wrote of today's unrest for the New York Times. The Moslems shouted slogans in support of de Gualle's policy, which would establish grant self-determination. At the same time Europeans in Algeria are rioting in opposition to de Gualle's policy.

In Moscow, Ernesto Che Guevara said today that Cuba would be a model for revolution across Latin America. A New York Times article about Guevara's statement describes him as "the bearded director of Cuba's economy, wearing an open-necked army shirt."

In Laos, a military junta took over the administrative capital of Vientiane. The High Committee of the Armed Forces arranged for peace talks with anti-Communist rebels east of the city, hoping to prevent them for joining pro-Western forces approaching the city from the south.

It was disclosed to reporters today that the government plans to subsidize development of a supersonic airliner. "The program is being pushed in the interests of national prestige, the economic health of the aviation industry and the national defense," Richard Witkin wrote in a story for tomorrow's edition of the New York Times. The plane would be ready for the airlines to operate as soon as 1968. The craft would be a new design, with movable wings, and would fly 2,000 mph, or Mach 3. The government expects industry to pay half the development cost, estimated at between $550 million and $1 billion.

In other aviation news, a satellite capsule was captured in mid-air as it fell to earth. It was the third space capsule from a Discovery satellite to be captured by an Air Force squad of nine planes.

In Alabama, the state's six unpledged Democratic electors said they will not support Kennedy. They pledged to vote "for an outstanding Southern Democrat who sympathizes with our peculiar problems in the South." They were critical of other southerners who "ally themselves with a candidate who avowedly would integrate our schools, do away with literacy tests as a qualification for voting [and] ... undermine everything we hold dear in the South."

These stories were written today for the front page of tomorrow's Chicago Daily Tribune:

In a story from Texas, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation today moved into the unique case set for federal court hearing Monday to determine whether there is recourse for the people against vast irregularities in the Presidential election. Agents of the FBI interviewed Hardy Hollers, Republican attorney who obtained a temporary federal injunction to prevent the state canvassing board from certifying victory for the 24 electors. The board wants to proclaim that Sen. John F. Kennedy carried Texas by 46,000 votes."

Robert Wiedrich wrote, "G.O.P. forces seeking to overturn Sen. John F. Kennedy's victory in Illinois, claimed Vice President Nixon gained 5,528 votes and predicted that the discounting of more fraudulent votes would dissolve Kennedy's 8,858 vote margin.