60 MINUTES {VIOLENCE ON SAINT CROIX; MARIA CALLAS; COMPULSORY STERILIZATION} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of news magazine programs.
In the first segment, Morley Safer explores a rash of violent incidents on Saint Croix, the once-affluent Virgin Islands district on which many celebrities and wealthy individuals have vacationed. Starting in 1972, a number of rich white visitors have been robbed and murdered on the island, totaling 20 within the last 18 months and sparking fears of a "race war." Mario Moorhead of the United People's Party argues that financial disparity is at the root of the violence, and Fritz, a native Crucian, agrees that many locals resent the rich "invaders." The local police, used to investigating minor crimes, are now receiving additional training and equipment to pursue the as-yet unsolved murders, and Governor Melvin Evans discusses how the crimes have significantly impacted tourism, leaving most hotels next to empty and dragging down property values. Hotel manager George Thomas denies that the island is plagued by racial tension, though others state that Crucians generally look down on menial laborers and leave those tasks to "alien workers" from nearby islands. Government jobs offer many benefits and paid holidays, though some feel that the low-paying positions are creating a "plantation mentality" amongst the minimally educated locals. Under Safer's questioning, business owners voice hopes that tourists will soon return and reinflate the island's economy.
Next, Mike Wallace heads to Paris and sits down with famed opera soprano Maria Callas, whose return to the stage after an eight-year absence is receiving mixed reviews from critics. Callas last performed at the La Scala Opera House, where she was its most highly paid and "controversial" performer, in 1965, after which she was followed by endless tabloid gossip about her "diva" behavior, her divorce from husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini, and her subsequent romance with Aristotle Onassis. Callas tells Wallace that the media has exaggerated her story and invented quotes regarding her difficult relationship with her mother, though she acknowledges that her mother did indeed blackmail her. Other topics discussed include her "barring" from La Scala; her unceremonious firing from the Metropolitan Opera via telegram from General Manager Rudolf Bing; her return to Europe and successful collaborations with director Franco Zeffirelli; her belief that her "fame went to her husband's head" and negatively impacted the marriage; her sense that "one marries once only" and that she cannot be "commanded" by a man; her good wishes for ex-flame Onassis, who has since married former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; why her "strong personality" and famous persona make romance difficult; and why she is not worried that her comeback tour of America may become "a tragedy."
In the final segment, Wallace covers the issue of compulsory sterilization, explaining that United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Caspar Weinberger will soon pass new guidelines forbidding the use of federal funds for such procedures. Drawing comparisons to Nazi experiments exposed during the Nuremberg trials, Wallace talks to Dr. H. Curtis Wood about the use of sterilization to limit growth rates, particularly among individuals on welfare. Ohio Representative Gene Damschroder declares that any woman with more than two illegitimate children on welfare should be sterilized, though denies accusations of racial bias in his proposed bill; two South Carolina churches take strongly opposing views on the matter. Nial Ruth Cox and her ACLU attorney Brenda Fasteau comment on their suit against the state of North Carolina, where Cox was sterilized at age 18 under threat of losing welfare for her family. Cox, whose fiancé left her upon learning that she could not have more children, strongly denies that she is "defective," as the doctor claimed. Fasteau explains why the ACLU is entirely opposed to non-consensual sterilization, pointing out that the laws regarding those who are "unfit" to be parents are far too vague and easy to abuse. Wood argues that "everything can be abused," such as driving cars or drinking alcohol, suggesting that "taxpayers' rights" should be protected by giving certain "undesirable" people the choice between sterilization and loss of benefits.
Finally, in "Point/Counterpoint," William Safire and Nicholas von Hoffman debate President Nixon's recent State of the Union address, with von Hoffman facetiously commenting on the idealistic "Onion" of which Nixon spoke and Safire praising the president's performance, confident that he will remain in office for many more such speeches. Wallace then reads letters from viewers about recent episodes and events discussed on the show, including the imprisonment of Watergate conspirator Egil Krogh. Includes commercials for Ford.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1973 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:07744
- GENRE: News magazine
- SUBJECT HEADING: News magazine; Talk/Interview; Islands; Tourism; Opera singers; Sterilization of women
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1968-
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Ford automobiles
CREDITS
- Don Hewiitt … Executive Producer
- Palmer Williams … Senior Producer
- Christine Ockrent … Assistant Producer
- Arthur Bloom … Director
- Mike Wallace … Anchor
- Morley Safer … Anchor
- William Safire … Guest
- Nicholas von Hoffman … Guest
- Egil Krogh
- Richard Nixon
- For "Paradise Lost":
- Jim Jackson … Producer
- Melvin Evans … Interviewee
- Mario Moorhead … Interviewee
- George Thomas … Interviewee
- For "Callas":
- William K. McClure … Producer
- Maria Callas … Interviewee
- Rudolf Bing … Interviewee
- Giovanni Battista Meneghini
- Aristotle Onassis
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (see also: Jacqueline Bouvier)
- Franco Zeffirelli
- For "Sterilization!":
- Ralph Paskman … Producer
- H. Curtis Wood … Interviewee
- Gene Damschroder … Interviewee
- Nial Ruth Cox … Interviewee
- Brenda Fasteau … Interviewee
- Caspar Weinberger