FOREIGN RELATIONS: The Boston Salt Party

Go and see how democracy works, General Douglas MacArthur had told the 14-man Japanese legislative delegation. Last week they turned up in Boston, and got an instructive lesson. They were well briefed on Boston's historic role in U.S. history, and they met Mayor John B. Hynes. Then they tagged happily after the mayor's secretary down the city-hall corridors to the half-opened doors of the council chamber.

As they waited for their entrance cue, the doors clicked shut. Inside, wiry, hardbitten Councilor James S. Coffey of East Boston had seized the floor. Councilor Coffey once cut short a discussion on the...

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