Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #783… REMEMBER PROFESSIONAL BOXER ARCHIE MOORE?… WON 186 OF 219 PRO FIGHTS WITH 141 KNOCK OUTS… TEN YEARS AS THE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD (1952-62) … In the tumultuous ’60s Archie Moore was a voice of reason. In fact, his words are for the ages… Humble Host came across some of those words in the 28 April 1968 Sunday morning Ogden Standard Examiner and tracked down the origin of a great American’s stand on civil disobedience. … but first…
GOOD MORNING: Day SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE of a look in the past for a clue to the future…
HEAD LINES from the OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER on Saturday, 27 April 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “BOMB RAIDS HIT RED SUPPLY LINES–PILOTS SAY FUEL DUMPS BURN”… “The B52 bombers Saturday flew seven blockbuster strikes against terminal points of the Ho Chi Minh trail over which Communist war supplies are flown into South Vietnam at an unprecedented rate amid President Johnson peace efforts. U.S. spokesman today said six of the raids were against Communist troops concentrated southwest of Hue and Da Nang, two key marshaling points for North Vietnamese men and supplies using the infiltration path that winds through Laos. The seventh hit was in the A Shau Valley, the trails northern entry point from Laos into South Vietnam… American intelligence sources reported the increased traffic Saturday and said American warplanes were meeting the challenge with a record number of missions in the nominally neutral Laos…”In the ground war, military officials said allied troops killed 114 Communists Saturday in a series of small clashes that ranged from near the Cambodian border in the Central Highlands to the Mekong Delta. U.S. casualties were reported as 10 killed and 60 wounded.”… Page 1: “ENVOYS MEET; DEADLOCK’S STILL HOLDING”… “U.S. and North Vietnamese representatives met again in Laos Saturday without breaking the deadlock over where to hold preliminary peace talks, the State Department disclosed.”…
Page 1: “SATURN RECEIVES FLIGHT ‘GO AHEAD’ “… “CAPE CANAVERAL”…”Space agency administrator James W. Webb Saturday gave the order to begin preparing the next Saturn 5 super rocket for an astronaut flight late this year.”… Page 1: “ISRAEL SAYS WON’T ALTER PARADE IN JERUSALEM PLAN–U.N. ASKS CALLOFF BECAUSE OF TENSE TRADE SITUATION”… “The U.N. Security Council unanimously called upon Israel Saturday night to ‘refrain from holding a military parade in Jerusalem on the nation’s 20th anniversary’ next Thursday.”…Page 1: “HAWKS, DOVES NOTE LOYALTY DAY WITH PARADES”…. “Americans of diverse beliefs participated by the thousands Saturday in antiwar demonstrations and Loyalty Day parades across the country. Fist fights and scores of arrests marked the largest massing of humanity–back-to-back parades and rallies in New York City.”… Page 2: “Attorney General Rejects Conspiracy In King Death” … “Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark said Saturday there is no significant evidence that the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. goes beyond the ‘single actor’ who fired the fatal shot.” Page 2: “HUMPHREY’S ENTRY STIRS 3-WAY RACE.”… “Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey made the Democracy presidential race a three way contest Saturday when he announced he would seek the party’s nomination.”… Page 4: “MANTLE BLASTS 521ST CAREER HOMER–TIES TED WILLIAMS”…
27 APRIL 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER (AP/UPI) Page 1: “North Vietnamese commanders were reportedly assembling hundreds of heavy truck convoys above the 19th parallel bomb limit line in defiance of Washington’s latest peace move. But American pilots Saturday stayed well below the limit during strikes in North Vietnam’s panhandle. Spokesman said U.S. Navy pilots made the northern most raid hitting a highway and rail road bridge about 12 miles north of Vinh.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) there was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 27 April 1968…
(1) LCDR ROBERT SAAVEDRA was flying an A-4E of the VA-144 Roadrunners embarked in USS Kitty Hawk on a night armed recce mission south of Vinh to hunt down and kill trucks….
The flight of two A-4s with LCDR SAAVEDRA in the lead proceeded in a tight formation until they crossed the coastline at Cape Mui Ron, North Vietnam. A short time later the formation separated with the wingman dropping back and increasing altitude for safe separation (Using an Air-to-Air feature of the TACAN with the lead on Channel 1 and the wingman on Channel 94). While providing their own separation and navigation the flight was under US radar surveillance as they proceeded on the assigned road segment. They were eight minutes into the recce when LCDR SAAVEDRA called the wingman with a tally-ho on some trucks “I’ve got some movers,” referring to the enemy trucks. A few seconds later LCDR SAAVEDRA called “rolling in.” The wingman watched and observed a large ground explosion an estimated 15 second later. The resultant fire at the site burned for more than an hour. No beeper or voice calls were heard. The location of the loss was in a densely populated rolling hills approximately 1 mile east of Route 15, 7 miles northeast of a single track railroad line that ran between the cities of Vinh to the north and Donghoi to the south… the wingman commenced an on-scene SAR commander until summoned SAR arrived. No opposition was observed in the area. The wingman retired at low fuel state and the SAR forces completed an extensive search before concluding LCDR SAAVEDRA was missing in action or had been killed in action… When the POWs were released in March of 1973 and missing pilots were not among returning POWs the status of most MIAs was changed from MIA to presumed killed in action.
LCDR SAAVEDRA remains where he fell fifty years ago this day. …Left behind, but remembered…
RIPPLE SALVO… #783… HUMBLE HOST OFFERS A RESPONSE TO YOUR OBVIOUS QUESTION…What does an Archie Moore article have to do with Rolling Thunder?… Archie Moore, unlike Muhammad Ali, was working relentlessly at home to bring Americans together. He was as much a warrior in support and defense of the Constitution as were the troops of Rolling Thunder. Judge for yourself… In October and November 1967 the House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) held a series of hearings to investigate “Subversive Influences in Riots, Looting and Burning.” The nationwide riots of summer 1967 included the participation of communist and other subversive elements that led the HUAC to identify “Subversive Influences in (over 100) Riots, Looting and Burning.” The lead-off witness of the hearings was Mr. Archie Moore, athlete. The following is quoted from the Congressional Record of the hearings…
“Mr. Moore, recipient of the 1968 outstanding citizen of San Diego award, (ARCHIE MOORE WAS CALLED MR. SAN DIEGO FOR THE YEAR 1968) stated that he did not see any sense in rioting and submitted a statement he had earlier delivered to the San Diego Union. The article by the boxing champion, published as a page-one feature, was reprinted by many other newspapers.” (including the Ogden S.E. on 28 April) It stated in part:
‘Granted the Negro still has a long way to go to gain a fair share with the white man in this country. But believe this: If we resort to lawlessness, the only thing we can hope for is civil war, untold bloodshed, and the end of our dreams. We have to have a meeting of qualified men of both races. Mind you, I said qualified men, not some punk kid, ranting the catch phrases put in his mouth by some paid hate-monger. These are forces in the world today, forces bent upon the destruction of America, your America and mine. And while we’re on the subject, do you doubt for a minute that communism, world communism, isn’t waiting with bated breath for the black and white American to turn on each other full force? Do you want a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the land of your birth, or do you want no chance at all under the Red heat?…’
“Mr. Moore stated that he had devised a program–called ABC, ANY BOY CAN–based on ‘truth, honesty, respect for self and for other people, then, rights and property. The ABC program teaches young Negroes and whites in the ghettos the basics of moral, physical and spiritual self-defense. Mr. Moore added: ‘A good student in the ABC class does not lie steal, cheat, smoke, gamble, refuse to go to church, play hooky from school, get into trouble,m participate in riots, throw bombs, smoke dope, smoke weed, use narcotics of any kind, use LSD. We do teach them this is wrong.’
At the conclusion of the Q&A of Archie Moore’s testimony he was invited to read into the record his San Diego Times article…Humble Host includes it here. I quote:
“The devil is at work in America, and it is up to us to drive him out. Snipers and looters, white or black, deserve no mercy. Those who would profit from their brother’s misfortunes deserve no mercy and those who would set fellow Americans upon each other deserve no mercy. I’ll fight the man who calls me an Uncle Tom. I have broken bread with heads of state, chatted with presidents and traveled all over the world. I was born in a ghetto, but I refused to stay there. I am a Negro, and proud to be one. I am also an American, and I am proud of that.
“The young people of today think they have a hard lot. They should have been around in the ’30s when I was coming up in St. Louis. We had no way to go, but a lot of us made it. I became light heavyweight champion of the world. A neighbor down the block, Clark Terry, became one of the most famous jazz musicians in the world. There were doctors, lawyers and chiefs who came out of that ghetto. One of the top policemen in St. Louis came out of that neighborhood.
BAIT FOR SIMPLE MINDED
“We made it because we had a goal, and we were willing to work for it. Don’ talk to me of your ‘guarantee national income.’ Any fool knows that this is insanity. Do we bring those who worked to get ahead down to the level of those who never gave a damn? The world owes nobody–black or white–a living God helps the man who helps himself!
“Now then, don’t get the idea that I didn’t grow up hating the injustices of this world. I am a staunch advocate of the Negro revolution for the good of mankind. I’ve seen almost unbelievable progress made in the last handful of years. Do we want to become the wild beasts bent only on revenge, looting and killing and laying America bare? Hate is bait, bait for the simple-minded.
“Sure, I despised the whites who cheated me, but I used that feeling to make me push on. If you listen to the professional rabble-rousers, adhere to this idea of giving up everything you’ve gained in order to revenge yourself for the wrongs that were done to you in the past–then you’d better watch your neighbor, because he’ll be looting your house next. Law and order is the only edge we have. No man is an island.
“Granted, the Negro still has a long way to go to gain a fair shake with the white man in the country. But believe this: if we resort to lawlessness, the only thing we can hope for is civil war, untold bloodshed, and the end of our dreams.
“We have to have a meeting of qualified men of both races. Mind you, I said qualified men, not some punk kid, ranting the catch phrases put in his mouth by some paid hate-monger. There are forces in the world today, forces bent upon the destruction of America, your America and mine. And while we’re on the subject, do you doubt for a minute that communism, world communism, isn’t waiting with bated breath for the black and white Americans to turn on each other full force? Do you want a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the land of your birth, or do you want no chance at all under the Red heel?
NOT ONE SQUARE INCH
“There are members of the black community who call for a separate nation within America. Well I do not intend to give up one square inch of America. I’m not going to be told I must live in a restricted area. Isn’t that what we’ve all been fighting to overcome? And then there is the element that calls for a return to Africa.
“For my part, Africa is a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. If the Irishmen want to go back to the Emerald Isle, let them. If the Slavs want to return to the Iron Curtain area, OK by me. But I’m not going to go any part of Africa to live. I’m proud of my ancestry, and the country that spawned my forefathers, but I’m not giving up my country. I fought all my life to give my children what I’m able to give them today, a chance for development as citizens in the greatest country in the world.
“I do not for a moment think that any truly responsible Negro wants anarchy. I don’t think you’ll find intelligent–no, let’s rephrase that– mature Negroes running wild in the streets or sniping at total strangers. God made the white man as well as the black. True, we haven’t acted as brothers in the past, but we are brothers. If we’re to be so many Cains and Abels, that’s our choice. We can’t blame God for it.
ANY BOY CAN
“As a matter of plain fact, I have been doing something for the past several years. I have been running a program which I call the ABC–Any Boy Can. By teaching our youth, black, white, yellow and red, what dignity is, what self-respect is, what honor is, I have been able to obliterate juvenile delinquency in several areas.
“I would now expand my programs, change scope. If anybody can, surely any man can. I want to take teams of qualified people, top men in their fields, to the troubled areas of our cities. I know that the people who participated in the recent riots, who are participating and who will participate, are misguided rather than mad.
“If some bigot can misguide, then I can guide. I’ve spent too much of my life building what I’ve got to put it to torch just to satisfy some ancient hatred of a man who beat my grandfather. Those men are long dead. Do we have to choke what could be a beautiful garden with weeds of hate? I say, NO, and I stand ready to start ‘Operation Gardener.’ I invite the respected Negro leaders of our country to join me.”… End of Archie Moore article…
RTR Quote for 27 April 1968: HON. WILLIAM TUCK of Virginia: “Throughout history riots have been used for political purposes. They can be and have been, deliberately instigated to weaken and undermine existing governments and pave the way for the establishment of a new and different type of governmental system.”….
Lest we forget… Bear
