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To All Active ALPA Members  -13-  January 26,1948

and Public Relations Department has been developed to a high degree of proficiency. During 1947, the air line pilots received a great amount of good publicity, in fact much more than during any of the preceding years. The bad publicity received was so obviously written for a purpose that it had little or no adverse effect. 

Our Publicity and Public Relations Department is organized to put out a news release with thousands of copies to all of the leading dailies, wire services, and magazines, in a matter of hours. We have friendly contacts in all branches of the American press. 

There are certain smell-fry news-dispensing agencies around Washington supported largely by the air carriers, the ATA, and press agents on the payrolls of the carriers, who, like the parrots they are, parrot the endless stream of hate propaganda put out by their paymasters against the air line pilots. These are typical of the unscrupulous, non-principled leeches that fasten themselves on the most prized part of our way of life -- common decency or honesty -- means nothing. There has been a particularly prolific outburst of this in recent months. They all follow the same old run-down-at-the-heel pattern: Attack the leaders of those they seek to destroy. If they can be successful in this approach, the job tearing down the ones who have dared to organize to protect themselves against selfishness and greed, which is always prevalent in the business world as we know it today, will be quickly and cheaply done. In other words, the companies organized to advance their interest, establish powerful lobbies in Washington, and spend millions swaying public opinion, but when their employees take steps to protect themselves by organizing and doing the things necessary to get a square deal, it's all too awful, and their leaders become overnight bad characters. 

At the beginning of ALPA, because of the unseasoned character of the membership, this sort of thing was a real threat. Headquarters, today, pays little attention to it because it feels that the membership of ALPA has grown up and become sufficiently educated in the school of hard knocks to be immune to such obvious efforts as have been evidenced by these small-fry, controlled, disreputable publicists and character assassins. However, recently First Vice President Jerry Wood, in discussing the situation, said, "You'd be surprised how many of our members go for the kind of hokum issued in an endless stream from the source -- well, we all know where it's manufactured. They fall to realize that, in so doing, they are helping the opposition to achieve the very ends they seek to accomplish to do harm to air line pilots and their representing organization." Jerry's right. That's the goal of all this insincere, synthetic, Nazi-aping propaganda program of the opposition. It is all very simple. Why fight an army if you can destroy the army's leadership by untrue, unscrupulous, mud-slinging paper propaganda. I am certain that, if the ones who place any stock in this sort of thing will think things through all the way, they will readily see its real purpose. 

Then there is Congressman Carl Hinshaw (R), 20th District, California, who aspires to be an aviation leader in Congress and of whom it has been said, "Whenever there is a question of air safety or any other important subject relating to air transportation, Carl Hinshaw can be depended upon to be on the wrong side of the fence." During 1947, when the crashes were at their worse and ALPA was battling tooth and nail to do something effective to keep the business from being ruined because of loss of public confidence, Senator Pat McCarran introduced a bill to the Senate, S. 269, to reestablish the independent Air Safety Board. Hinshaw introduced a similar bill in the House, H.R. 1540. That's all he did do -- introduce it. Obviously he introduced it for no other reason than