The Week

“How to Catch a 747,” read the headline of a Pan Am ad running in the Daily Star of Beirut, two days after a Pan Am 747 was hijacked to Beirut, then to Cairo and then blown up. “The 747 is the finest specimen in the air,” the ad continued. “But oddly enough it’s becoming just about the easiest to catch. …”

Labor Day and no one works—except House Speaker John McCormack who delivered his Labor Day message accusing the Nixon Administration of promoting inflation, high unemployment and higher interest rates. Presumably, these three evils most affect the unfortunate laborers of America, which fact used to send them, wisely or not, running to the arms of Democrats such as Mr. McCormack. But where were 4,000 representatives of the Labor Movement on Labor Day? Why, at the White House, guests of the Nixon Administration. They were being entertained by Nixon the Republican, and not by the Democratic Party which, in the words of AFL-CIO President George Meany, has become the “party of the extremists.” So while the Speaker (Democrat) was out knocking Nixon (Republican), the fellows the Speaker was trying to speak to, who “believe in the American system,” were relaxing on the South Lawn. John would have been better off if he had stayed home and mowed the grass.

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“How to Catch a 747,” read the headline of a Pan Am ad running in the Daily Star of Beirut, two days after a Pan Am 747 was hijacked to Beirut, then to Cairo and then blown up. “The 747 is the finest specimen in the air,” the ad continued. “But oddly enough it’s becoming just about the easiest to catch. …”

Labor Day and no one works—except House Speaker John McCormack who delivered his Labor Day message accusing the Nixon Administration of promoting inflation, high unemployment and higher interest rates. Presumably, these three evils most affect the unfortunate laborers of America, which fact used to send them, wisely or not, running to the arms of Democrats such as Mr. McCormack. But where were 4,000 representatives of the Labor Movement on Labor Day? Why, at the White House, guests of the Nixon Administration. They were being entertained by Nixon the Republican, and not by the Democratic Party which, in the words of AFL-CIO President George Meany, has become the “party of the extremists.” So while the Speaker (Democrat) was out knocking Nixon (Republican), the fellows the Speaker was trying to speak to, who “believe in the American system,” were relaxing on the South Lawn. John would have been better off if he had stayed home and mowed the grass.