Remembering Those Who Left Us In 2016

A year ago, when we compiled the list of politicians who died in 2015, we wrote, “Have you ever witnessed in your life a political year like 2015?  There’s no way to describe it.   An escalating decline of dignity, and civility.  And one wonders if 2016 will be any better.”

It turns out, it wasn’t.  It was a presidential election like no other, with a result few expected even days before the voting.  But at what cost?  Nastiness, crassness, personal attacks.  Fake news, lies, insults.  Two candidates with record high disapproval numbers.  Lincoln-Douglas, it wasn’t.

Of course, our dignity wasn’t all we lost last year.  We lost Antonin Scalia, a conservative stalwart on the U.S. Supreme Court.  John Glenn, a senator, a presidential candidate and, even better, a national hero.  Phyllis Schlafly, a giant on the right, and Tom Hayden, a giant on the left.  Janet Reno, the nation’s first female attorney general.  And Nancy Reagan, one of our most powerful, effective and controversial first ladies.

What follows is a chronological list of those who died last year. It doesn’t claim to be complete, but it includes many of those who made our lives more interesting and the world a better place.

Dale Bumpers, 90, who served as governor and senator from Arkansas and whose oratory skills were never more apparent than when he came out of retirement to give an impassioned defense of President Clinton during his Senate impeachment trial in 1999.  Bumpers was a political unknown in 1970 when he won a stunning upset over a comebacking ex-gov. Orval Faubus in the Democratic primary and then went on to demolish GOP Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in the general election.  After an effortless re-election in 1972, he then took on — and defeated — legendary Sen. J. William Fulbright in the 1974 primary.  A liberal in the Senate, he was easily re-elected three times, including over now-Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 1986 and future Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1992.  He retired in 1998. (Jan. 1)

Michael Oxley, 71, an Ohio Republican who in his quarter century in the House was best known for his anti-corporate fraud legislation (Sarbanes-Oxley Act).  First elected to the House in a special 1981 election (by 341 votes) following the death of Rep. Tennyson Guyer (R), Oxley retired after 2006. (Jan. 1)

Hayes McClerkin, 84, the speaker of the Arkansas House of Reps who finished 4th in the 1970 Democratic gov. primary. (Jan. 6)

Judith Kaye, 77, the first woman named to New York’s Court of Appeals and who served as its chief judge from 1983-2008. (Jan. 7)

Andrew Hinshaw, 92, a California Republican who was elected to Congress in 1972 by ousting Rep. John Schmitz, a rightwing critic of President Nixon, in the GOP primary, but whose tenure came to an end in 1976 when he was convicted of taking bribes and was defeated in the primary by Robert Badham. (Jan. 21)

John Jay Hooker, 85, a longtime Tennessee political gadfly and former aide to Robert F. Kennedy who ran for governor in 1966 (lost Dem primary), 1970 (was Dem nominee but lost to Republican Winfield Dunn), 1998 (Dem nominee but lost to GOP incumbent Don Sunquist), 2006 (lost primary) and 2014 (ran as an independent); he also lost the 1976 Senate primary to Jim Sasser. (Jan. 24)

Jack Reed, 91, the GOP nominee for governor of Mississippi in 1987, when he lost to Democrat Ray Mabus. (Jan. 27)

Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, 74, one of the most beloved and ethically challenged politicians in the history of Providence, R.I.  A Republican, he was narrowly elected mayor in 1974 in an upset over Democratic incumbent Joseph Doorley.  In 1983, already under investigation for municipal corruption, Cianci assaulted a man (with an ashtray, a fireplace log and a lit cigarette) whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife.  He resigned as mayor the following year, received a five-year suspended sentence, and became a radio talk-show host — until 1990, when he sought to regain his job and won a three-way contest by 317 votes.  But he was convicted on a racketeering charge in 2002 and sentenced to 5 years in prison.  Released in 2007, he ran for mayor again, this time as an independent, in 2014 but lost.  Apart from his ethics problems, he took a faltering city and, under his leadership, was credited with a big turnaround. (Jan. 28)

Phil Rock, 78, the longtime president of the Illinois state Senate who finished 4th in the 1984 Democratic Senate primary won by Paul Simon. (Jan. 29)

Kenny Sailors, 95, a star basketball player at the University of Wyoming, where he is thought to have invented the jump shot, who lost GOP Senate primaries in 1962 (to Milward Simpson) and 1964 (to John Wold). (Jan. 30)

Gil Carmichael, 88, a Mississippi Republican who was his party’s unsuccessful nominee for the Senate in 1972 (vs. Sen. Jim Eastland) and governor in 1975 (vs. Cliff Finch) and 1979 (vs. Bill Winter). (Jan. 31)

Marlow Cook, 89, a Kentucky Republican who was elected to the Senate in 1968 but defeated six years later by Gov. Wendell Ford (D); he was an unsuccessful candidate for gov. in the 1967 GOP primary. (Feb. 4)

Edgar Whitcomb, 98, who escaped from a Japanese prisoner camp during World War II and was elected governor of Indiana in 1968 and kept to his promise of no new taxes.  In 1976 he sought the Republican nomination for the Senate but lost to Richard Lugar in the primary; he had previously lost GOP convention bids for the House in 1954 and the Senate in 1964. (Feb. 4)

Drew Lewis, 84, the GOP nominee for gov. of Pennsylvania in 1974, when he lost to Dem incumbent Milton Shapp, and who then resurfaced as President Reagan’s transportation secretary, where he ended the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981. (Feb. 10)

Antonin Scalia, 79, the longest serving Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and an unwavering conservative. (Feb. 13)

James Sundquist, 100, a speechwriter for President Harry Truman. (Feb. 17)

Gil Hill, 84, a member of  the Detroit city council who was defeated by Kwame Kilpatrick in the 2001 mayoral race but who was probably best known as the actor who played police inspector Douglas Todd in several “Beverly Hills Cop” movies. (Feb. 29)

Robert Del Tufo, 82, a 5th place finisher in the 1985 Democratic gov primary in New Jersey who was later the state’s appointed attorney general (1990-93) under Gov. Jim Florio. (March 2)

Thomas Morris, 96, a New Mexico Democrat who served in the House as an At-Large member from 1959 until his defeat in 1968 to Republican Manuel Lujan; he resurfaced in 1972 as a candidate for the Senate but finished 4th in the primary. (March 4)

Morgan Murphy, 83, a Democratic member of the House from Illinois (1971-80), who won an open seat in 1970 (defeating Gus Savage in the Dem primary) and who did not seek reelection in 1980. (March 4)

Nancy Reagan, 94, the loving, powerful and fiercely protective wife of Ronald Reagan, who led the fight against drug abuse and battled for Alzheimer’s research. (March 6)

William Dyke, 85, a conservative Republican who was a two-term mayor of Madison, Wis. (1969-73), who after his defeat for reelection in 1973 (to Paul Soglin) was the GOP nominee for governor in 1974 (losing to Pat Lucey) and the VP candidate on the American Independent Party ticket in 1976 under AIP nominee Lester Maddox.  (March 10)

Martin Sabo, 78, a Minnesota Democrat who served 28 years in Congress, becoming House Budget Cmte chair.  He was first elected in 1978, winning the seat vacated by Senate candidate Don Fraser, and retired in 2006. (March 13)

Dick Murphy, 84, a union lobbyist and Democratic activist who was the deputy campaign manager for Gary Hart’s 1988 bid for the presidency. (March 15)

Bob Healey, 58, a Rhode Island political activist who often ran for gov and LG, was the founder of the Cool Moose Party and who, as the gov. nominee of the Moderate Party in 2014, pulled 22% of the vote while spending $40 on his campaign. (March 20)

John McKibbin, 69, the Democratic opponent to Jolene Unsoeld (R) in Washington’s 3rd CD in 1988. (March 23)

Sonny Mouton, 86, a Democratic member of the Louisiana state legislature who ran for gov. in 1979 and finished 6th in the open primary. (March 24)

Earle Williams, 86, a business executive who lost the 1993 Republican nomination for governor of Virginia to George Allen. (March 25)

Eric Engberg, 74, who covered five presidential campaigns as a political reporter for CBS News. (March 27)

Shirley Hufstedler, who served as the nation’s first secretary of education under President Carter. (March 30)

Cliff Young, 93, a two-term GOP member of the House from Nevada (1953-56), who ousted Dem incumbent Walter Baring in 1952, defeated him again in the ’54 rematch, and gave up his seat in 1956 for an unsuccessful challenge to Sen. Alan Bible (D). (April 3)

Ivanhoe Donaldson, 74, a civil rights activist and longtime aide to D.C. Mayor Marion Barry who was convicted of embezzlement and served 3 years in prison. (April 3)

Roman Gribbs, 90, who was elected mayor of Detroit in 1969 and served one term. (April 5)

Frank Denholm, 92, a South Dakota Democrat who was elected to the House on his second try in 1970 and served until 1974, when he was unseated by Republican Larry Pressler. (April 7)

Ray Thornton, 87, an Arkansas Democrat elected to the House in 1972 (winning the seat left by Senate hopeful David Pryor) and served on the Judiciary Cmte that voted articles of impeachment against President Nixon for his Watergate crimes.  He gave up his House seat in 1978, finishing third in the Senate primary won by then-Gov. Pryor; he returned to Congress in 1990, winning the House seat of gov. candidate Tommy Robinson and served until 1996, when he was elected to the state Supreme Court. (April 13)

Robert Price, 83, a key GOP strategist for New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and NYC Mayor John Lindsay. (April 22)

Perry Hooper, 91, the GOP nominee for the Senate in Alabama in 1968, when he lost to Jim Allen (D) for the seat being vacated by Democrat Lister Hill. (April 24)

Conrad Burns, 81, who won a stunning victory in 1988 when he defeated Sen. John Melcher (D-Mont.) and became the first Montana Republican Senator in history to win re-election with his victory in 1994.  Seeking a 4th term in 2006, he was hampered by his taking campaign contributions from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and lost to Jon Tester (D). (April 28)

Daniel Berrigan, 94, a Jesuit priest who was a leading opponent of the Vietnam War and battled racism and poverty. (April 30)

Paul Boutelle, 81, a member of the Socialist Workers Party from New York who was its candidate for Manhattan Borough President in 1965, state attorney general in ’66, vice president of the U.S. in ’68 and NYC mayor in ’69.  A Trotskyite who battled for black nationalism, he later changed his name to Kwame Somburu. (May 3)

Robert Bennett, 82, a three-term conservative Republican senator from Utah but not conservative enough for some in the party, who were angered by his support for the TARP bailout program following the economic meltdown in 2008 and who denied him renomination for a 4th term in 2010.  Bennett was first elected to the Senate in 1992, when Jake Garn (R) retired, and was easily re-elected twice.  His father, Wallace Bennett, held  the same Senate seat from 1951-74. (May 4)

David Hall, 85, a former Democratic governor of Oklahoma who ousted GOP incumbent Dewey Bartlett in 1970 but whose ethics problems led to a third-place finish in the 1974 Dem primary.  Shortly after leaving office he was convicted of bribery and extortion and served 19 months in prison. (May 6)

Mark Lane, 89, a NYC liberal activist and briefly a city councilmember best remembered for being a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist, claiming that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. (May 11)

Delbert Latta, 96, an Ohio Republican who as a member of the House Judiciary Cmte strongly defended President Nixon during  the Watergate scandal.  Elected to a safe GOP seat in 1958, he served until his retirement 30 years later. (May 12)

Robert Freeman, 82, a two-term Democratic lt. gov. of Louisiana.  First elected in 1979, he spent the next 4 years feuding with GOP Gov. Dave Treen.  Freeman was unseated in 1987 by Paul Hardy (R). (May 16)

Susan Tolchin, 75, a political scientist who often wrote about the role of women in politics. (May 18).

Wheelock Whitney, 89, a Minnesota sports executive who was the GOP nominee for the Senate in 1964, when he lost to Dem incumbent Eugene McCarthy, and for governor in 1982, when he lost to Rudy Perpich. (May 20)

George Voinovich, 79, an Ohio Republican who was elected lt. gov. in 1978, ousted Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich (D) in ’79, was elected the first of two gov. terms in 1990 and, on his second try, was elected to the Senate in 1998 following the retirement of Democrat John Glenn.  Voinovich served two terms and retired in 2010.  His first bid for the Senate came in 1988, when he was defeated by Howard Metzenbaum (D).  In the Senate he was seen as a moderate conservative who nonetheless often broke with his party on tax and social issues. (June 12)

Ray Bateman, 88, the Republican nominee for governor of New Jersey in 1977; he defeated future gov. Tom Kean in the primary but lost in the general to Dem incumbent Brendan Byrne. (June 25)

John Santucci, 85, who served as the district attorney of Queens, N.Y., from 1977-91 and who finished 4th in the 1980 Democratic Senate primary. (June 26)

Abner Mikva, 90, who served in the House, a D.C. appeals court judge and White House counsel for President Clinton.  In 1968, on his second try, he ousted Illinois Rep. Barratt O’Hara in the Democratic primary and served until his fellow Dems in the legislature redrew his district, causing his defeat to Republican Sam Young in 1972.  A strong liberal, he came back  to beat Young in two squeakers, in 1974 and ’76, and barely defeated Republican John Porter in ’78 before leaving for the court in 1979, appointed by President Carter.  He left the bench in 1994 to work in the Clinton administration. (July 4)

Bill Armstrong, 79, a Colorado Republican and a leading conservative voice in the House, where he was first elected in 1972, and the Senate, where he ousted Democrat Floyd Haskell in 1978 and served two terms before retiring in 1990. (July 5)

Marian Bergeson, 90, a Republican state senator from California who was the GOP nominee for lt. gov. in 1990, when she lost to Dem incumbent Leo McCarthy. (July 6)

Peter Powers, 72, the longtime friend, campaign manager and deputy mayor for NYC’s Rudy Giuliani. (July 7)

John Brademas, 89, a Democrat from Indiana who was elected to Congress in 1958 on his third try and rose to become House Majority Whip, only to lose his seat in the 1980 Reagan landslide to Republican John Hiler. (July 11)

Robert Morgan, 90, a Democratic senator from North Carolina whose bid for re-election in 1980 was damaged by his support for the Panama Canal treaties two years earlier.  He was defeated, in a surprise, by Republican John East. (July 16)

Wendell Anderson, 83, a popular Minnesota Democrat who was elected governor in 1970 and who carried all 87 counties in his reelection four years later, but who made the politically disastrous decision to have himself appointed to the Senate seat vacated by Vice President Walter Mondale.  By resigning as gov. and having the new chief executive, Rudy Perpich, appoint him to the Senate, Anderson’s numbers toppled; he was defeated for a full Senate term in 1978 by Rudy Boschwitz.  He attempted a comeback in 1984, but his bid for the Senate ended with a fourth-place finish at the Dem convention. (July 17)

REP. MARK TAKAI, 49, a freshman Democrat from Hawaii who in 2014 won the House seat vacated by unsuccessful Senate hopeful Colleen Hanabusa. (July 20)

Tim LaHaye, 90, an influential Christian evangelical leader who helped form the Moral Majority in the 1980s. (July 25)

John Flood, 77, a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Reps who sought the governorship in 1990. (July 26)

Burt Talcott, 96, a California Republican who was first elected to the House in 1962 and served until his defeat in 1976 to Leon Panetta. (July 29)

Steven LaTourette, 62, a centrist Ohio Republican who ousted Rep. Eric Fingerhut (D) in 1994 and who, frustrated and contemptuous over the rise of  the Tea Party in the GOP, retired in 2012. (Aug. 3)

Eugene Atkinson, 89, who was elected to the House from Pennsylvania in 1978 as a Democrat but was clobbered in his bid for a third term in 1982 after he switched to the GOP, losing in a landslide to Joe Kolter (D). (Aug 4)

Jane Eskind, 83, a Tennessee Democrat who lost to Sen. Howard Baker (R) in 1978 and who in 1980 became the first woman to win a statewide office in Tennessee with her election as a Public Service Commissioner.  She also ran for gov. in 1986, losing the primary to Ned McWherter. (Aug. 4)

Helen Delich Bentley, 92, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun who, as a Maryland Republican, defeated Rep. Clarence Long (D) on her third try in 1984.  She gave up her seat in 1994 to run for gov., but lost the GOP primary to Ellen Sauerbrey.  She attempted a return to the House in 2002 but lost to Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger. (Aug. 6)

John McLaughlin, 89, the pugnacious TV host of “The McLaughlin Group” who was the 1970 GOP nominee for the Senate in Rhode Island, where he ran as a “peace” candidate on Vietnam and got clobbered by incumbent Democrat John Pastore, and later became a speechwriter for President Nixon. (Aug. 16)

John McGlynn, 94, a Democratic hopeful for lt. gov. of Massachusetts in 1966. (Aug. 20)

Al Hofstede, 75, a non-consecutive two-term Democratic mayor of Minneapolis in the 1970s. (Sept. 3)

Phyllis Schlafly, 92, considered by many to be the “First Lady” of the conservative movement, the author of the pro-Goldwater “A Choice, Not An Echo” book of the 1960s and who led the successful fight to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the ’70s.  She was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Congress against Rep. Melvin Price (D-Ill.) in 1952 and 1960, and against Rep. George Shipley in 1970. (Sept. 5)

Joel Deckard, 74, an Indiana Republican who ousted Rep. David Cornwell (D) in 1978 and was in turn beaten in 1982 by Democrat Frank McCloskey. (Sept. 6)

Lawrence Cohen, 83, the mayor of St. Paul, Minn., between 1972-76. (Sept. 11)

Rose Mofford, 94, who as Arizona’s secretary of state became governor in 1988 following the impeachment and removal of office of Evan Mecham.  A Democrat and the first female governor of the state, she didn’t seek election in 1990. (Sept. 15)

Reed Larson, 93, the former president of the National Right to Work Cmte, a group dedicated to limiting the power of labor unions. (Sept. 17)

Bill Barrett, 87, a five-term Republican congressman from Nebraska, winning an open seat in 1990 and focusing on farm policy before his retirement in 2000. (Sept. 20)

Terry Kohler, 82, who lost to Bob Kasten in the 1980 GOP Senate primary in Wisconsin and who was the Republican nominee for gov two years later but lost to Democrat Tony Earl. (Sept. 20)

Mark Ricks, 92, an Idaho Republican who briefly served as the appointed lt. gov. in 2006. (Sept. 29)

Lucy Baxley, 78, the Democratic lt. gov. of Alabama whose bid for the governorship, in 2006, was thwarted by Republican Bob Riley. (Oct. 14)

Clyde Holloway, 72, a Republican who was elected to Congress from Louisiana in 1986, finished 4th in the 1991 gov. race, and was forced by redistricting to run in another House district in 1992, but he lost to fellow Republican Richard Baker.  He ran for the House at least five additional times following his ’92 defeat. (Oct. 16)

Tom Hayden, 76, the anti-Vietnam War radical activist who helped lead the protests outside the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and was arrested and charged with conspiracy for it; he later ran for the Senate from California, losing the 1976 Dem primary to incumbent John Tunney, and served 20 years in the state legislature. (Oct. 23)

Burnet Maybank, 92, who as lt. gov. of South Carolina attempted to move up to the governorship in 1962 but lost the Democratic primary to Donald Russell. (Oct. 25)

Kent Frizzell, 87, the Kansas state attorney general who was the GOP nominee for governor in 1970, when he lost to Dem incumbent Robert Docking. (Oct. 26)

Janet Reno, 78, the nation’s first female attorney general, who served under President Clinton and who will probably be best remembered for two controversial actions: the decision to storm the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of about 80 people; and the decision to use force to return Elian Gonzalez, the six-year old boy who escaped to the U.S. from Cuba with his mother (who drowned in the attempt) to his father back in Cuba.  As AG, she was considered fiercely independent, often bucking the Clinton administration over its campaign finance irregularities and scandals.  In 2002 she sought the Dem nomination for governor of Florida but was narrowly defeated in the primary by attorney Bill McBride. (Nov. 7)

Gwen Ifill, 61, a gifted political reporter for the Washington Post, the New York Times and, since 1999, PBS.  She was also the moderator of the 2004 and 2008 VP debates and the co-moderator, with PBS partner Judy Woodruff, of a Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders debate last spring. (Nov. 14)

Sebastian Leone, 91, a New York Democrat who served as Brooklyn borough president from 1970 — appointed following the resignation of longtime incumbent Abe Stark — and served through 1977, when he became a state Supreme Court justice. (Nov. 14)

Leon Billings, 78, a key Senate staffer for Maine’s Ed Muskie who played a leading role as the architect of the Clean Air Act and other environmental legislation. (Nov. 15)

Melvin Laird, 94, a military hawk during his tenure (1953-69) in the House as a Wisconsin Republican and who in 1969 was picked as President Nixon’s first secretary of defense, where he soured on the war in Vietnam.  He left the Pentagon in Nixon’s second term and replaced the Watergate-tarred John Ehrlichman as the president’s chief domestic policy adviser. (Nov. 16)

Hardy Myers, 77, a three-term (1997-2008) Democratic state attorney general of Oregon. (Nov. 29)

Robert Douglass, 85, a longtime adviser to New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. (Dec. 6)

John Glenn, 95, one of the original astronauts who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the earth, which led to a long political career.  His first run, a 1964 bid for the Senate in Ohio against fellow Democrat Stephen Young, ended prematurely with a fall in the bathtub that left him seriously injured.  He ran again in 1970 but lost the Dem primary to Howard Metzenbaum, who had been supported by the retiring Young.  Glenn got his revenge in 1974 when he again took on Metzenbaum, who had just been appointed to a vacant Senate seat.  He beat Metzenbaum convincingly and was re-elected 3 times, retiring in 1998.  A bid for the presidency ended badly in 1984; once considered a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, he turned out to be a surprisingly uninspiring speaker, and was gone from the race not long after New Hampshire. But at home he was unbeatable and would forever be regarded as a true national hero. (Dec. 8)

Ken Hechler, 102, a colorful and folksy West Virginia Democrat who had been the oldest living former member of Congress.  In 1958 he defeated GOP Rep. Will Neal, and during his 12 years in the House focused on coal miners’ safety.  He ran for governor in 1976 but finished a weak third in the primary won by Jay Rockefeller.  Later that year he mounted a write-in campaign to keep his House seat, but he lost to Nick Rahall.  In 1984 he was elected secretary of state and served 16 years.   He also ran for the House in 2000, secretary of state in 2004 and the Senate in 2010. (Dec. 10)

Bill Usery, 92, the secretary of labor under President Ford. (Dec. 10)

Jim Williams, 90, who was elected lt. gov. of Florida in 1974, serving under Gov. Reubin Askew, but who was defeated in his bid for the governorship in the 1978 Dem primary by Bob Graham. (Dec. 16)

Ben Gilman, 94, who spent 30 years in Congress as a moderate Republican from New York, defeating freshman Democrat John Dow in 1972 and rising to become chair of the International Relations Cmte; he retired in 2002 when redistricting merged his district with that of fellow Republican incumbent Sue Kelly, a combined district where he would have been the underdog in a primary. (Dec. 17)

Lou Harris, 95, one of America’s top pollsters for 40 years and who worked for Democrats such as John F. Kennedy, Pat Brown, NYC Mayor Robert Wagner, and others. (Dec. 17)

William Hudnut, 84, who served four terms as mayor of Indianapolis (1976-1991) and helped revitalize the city’s economy; he also served one term in Congress, knocking off Democratic incumbent Andy Jacobs in 1972 amidst the Nixon landslide but losing the rematch two years later amidst the Watergate scandal. (Dec. 18)

Ed Reinecke, 92, a California Republican who was elected to Congress in 1964 and served until 1970, when Lt. Gov. Robert Finch (R) resigned to join the Nixon Cabinet as HEW secretary and Gov. Ronald Reagan picked him to succeed Finch.  The two won big that year and Reinecke was considered the clear frontrunner to succeed the retiring Reagan in 1974.  But he got caught up in a peripheral Watergate mess, getting indicted for lying about what he told former Attorney General John Mitchell about an antitrust suit involving I.T.T.  It cost him the GOP gov. nomination, which he lost in the primary to Houston Flournoy.  He was later convicted and resigned as LG, but the conviction was overturned in 1975. (Dec. 24)