BOLIVIAN REGIMENT REBELS AGAINST BARRIENTOS
Agence France-Presse reports that a Bolivian regiment in the Andes rebelled January 15. Five soldiers, including the purported leader of the rebellion, were wounded in a pitched battle with troops described as loyal to the Bolivian dictator, General Barrientos.
Captain Humberto Monterrey is said to have ordered soldiers under his conm-
mand to move against a regiment of loyal
troops at Uyuni. However, according to
the report, the progovernment commander
was warned in time and succeeded in crush-
ing the rebel unit.
The Bolivian government put the
blame for the outbreak on Monterrey,
whom it described as suffering from a
"mental disorder."
EARTHA KITT TELLS OFF THE JOHNSONS
What Eartha Kitt, the singer and dancer, said to the Johnsons at a White House luncheon January 18, expressed the feelings of tens of millions of ordinary Americans. Quite deservedly, the popular artist is getting the biggest round of applause she has ever received.
To appreciate what she did, it is necessary to know something about Eartha Kitt and something about the setting in which she decided to speak her mind.
First about Eartha Kitt. In the notes written in 1956 for the jacket of her best-selling record, "That Bad Eartha," Duncan MacDougald Jr. said: "She started out life on a desperately poor sharecropper's farm in South Carolina and grew up in a miserable Harlem tenement house, helping to support herself and her aunt by working long hours as a seamstress in a uniform factory. In her early teens she discovered that she was endowed with an unusual talent for singing and dancing; and although, superficially, she seemed no different from the countless other poverty-stricken children in Harlem, she dreamed in the good old American tradition that she, Eartha Kitt, the unknown waif, would show them -- that some day she would be a dazzling entertainer and the toast of continents."
It really happened. Eartha Kitt did become a dazzling entertainer and the toast of continents. One of the reasons for her success was that she was not a mere "entertainer." She was intellectually alert, genuinely interested in the peoples of other lands. The languages at her command testify to this. “That Bad Eartha" includes selections in English, French, Spanish, Turkish and Swahili.
It is quite understandable why the White House would like to win over such a distinguished and popular artist, and why it was decided to include her name among the fifty invited from all over the country, "Women Doers," to be honored at a luncheon hosted by Lady Bird herself.
Now as to the setting. "There were 50 of us invited," reported Theo Wilson in the New York Daily News, "and, after being greeted by Lady Bird in the Green Room, a marine band beating out happy music behind us, and after cocktails and small talk with each other, we went into the yellow-and-white family room for luncheon.
"There were five tables, 10 women at each, set with bowls of spring flowers, gold, green and ivory dinnerware, golden spoons, forks and knives, golden ashtrays, golden mint plates....
"What we ate was served off great
silver trays. Lady Bird must have figured
she was feeding hard-working, energetic
gals, because the food was plentiful and
hearty: crabmeat bisque, breast of chick-
en White House, fresh asparagus, garden
salad, white wine, peppermint candy ice
cream with hot fudge sauce, cookies,
mints and a demitasse."
A further detail is important to
proper appreciation of the setting. The
night before, Johnson had delivered his
"State of the Union" message. "Heavily
made up" for the cameramen, according
to columnist Mary McGrory, wearing a
“thick coat of Man-Tan," he had received
the strongest applause from the cheering
congressmen when he bore down on "crime
in the streets" (meaning restlessness in
the blighted "inner cities" of the Great
Society). One of the reasons for the
applause was their recognition of the
political reasons for the ploy. Success
in diverting attention from the war in
Vietnam to the "enemy" at home during
the 1968 election campaign would benefit
both Democrats and Republicans, who pre-
fer bipartisanship when it comes to send-
ing the youth of America to die in an
imperialist war in a distant land.
The theme of Lady Bird's luncheon
the next day could not have coincided
more happily with the key plank in John-
son's "State of the Union" speech if it
had been deliberately planned that way.
The theme was "What Citizens Can Do to
Help Insure Safe Streets."
At the luncheon, Mrs. Johnson fol-
lowed through on this theme with an ease
and aplomb that would have done credit
to the best-trained public relations ex-
pert on the White House payroll. She
called on the women assembled in the room
to fight crime in the streets as respon-
sible citizens. With cameras clicking and
reporters scribbling away in their note-
pooks, she said:
"We can take the lazy path by mere-
ly sounding the alarm and putting the ex-
tra bolts on our door. But I think more
of us are tired of just being shocked and
talking about it...There are things re-
sponsible citizens are doing in crime
control, in prevention, in legislation."
Mrs. Johnson introduced the first
speaker, Mrs. Margaret Moore, leader of
a crusade of women against crime in In-
diana. But Mrs. Moore had barely opened
her mouth, when the scene was stolen from
her by no one less than President Johnson
himself. It was a surprise!
Mrs. Moore, the very epitome of
not to try to work for better things such as against crime in the streets, better education and better health for our people."
She was also reported as saying to Eartha Kitt: "I'm sorry, I cannot understand the things that you do. I have not lived with the background that you have. I cannot speak as passionately or as well as you. But I think we have made advances in these things and we will do more."
Afterwards, Eartha Kitt told reporters her impression of Mrs. Johnson.
"I'm afraid she became a little flustered. She made a very nice little speech. The fact that Mrs. Johnson wants to put flowers along the driveways and trees up and down the boulevards can make a very attractive city, but that is not going to do very much good when it comes to solving the problem of juvenile delinquency."
Elizabeth Carpenter, press secretary to Mrs. Johnson, referred to Eartha Kitt's remarks as "this outburst."
But