Word: statehooder
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...your story on Puerto Rico in your May 4 issue, the implication is made that upon accepting that a plebiscite be held on commonwealth-statehood-independence status, after opposing that additional plebiscite for seven years, I have changed my mind as to the fact that statehood is economically a complete reality for Puerto Rico. My acceptance of an additional plebiscite now is based on the following fact: the constant debate on status, which is unreal to most Puerto Ricans but which may seem real to persons outside of Puerto Rico, is approaching a point where it is beginning...
...future reference, an aide in the audience noted where he talked too fast and where too slowly). But more redolent of candidacy was his message. Lyndon demanded (triumphant boom) Democratic leadership and action in 1960 to save America. Then he offered (confidential whisper) examples of such action: "Hawaiian statehood had been on the calendar for 40 years-and a Democratic Senate passed it in four hours. Limiting debate had been on the calendar for nearly 30 years-and a Democratic Senate acted in three days. And it was a Democratic Senate that gave the nation the first civil rights bill...
Giving in after a dogged resistance, Governor Luis Muñoz Marin last week agreed to a plebiscite on Puerto Rico's future relationship with the U.S. Choices: statehood, independence or continued Commonwealth status...
...concession reversed seven years of continued insistence by Muñoz that the status issue was settled once and for all in 1952 when 81% of the voters endorsed the Commonwealth constitution. As recently as a fortnight ago, Muñoz firmly maintained that statehood and the accompanying obligation to pay federal taxes would be "the ruin" of Puerto Rico...
What changed Muñoz' mind was an upsurge of statehood sentiment after admission to the Union of Hawaii, which is also a racially dissimilar, noncontiguous U.S. possession. As a first step, he promised to request the island legislature to pass a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to grant whatever status the Puerto Rican people may choose in a plebiscite. Muñoz' proposal seems to be the proper start: U.S.-Puerto Rico relations are regulated by a compact that can be changed only by mutual consent. It also set the stage for a hot argument in Congress...