As elections to the local legislature approached in the great Pacific bastion of Okinawa and 46 other islands of the Ryukyu chain, Washington officialdom had its fingers crossed. In the last elections in 1958, Red-lining anti-American candidates had shown alarming strength; five months ago when Dwight Eisenhower flew into Okinawa during his Asian tour, jeering agitators greeted him with placards reading I HATE IKE. Last week, when the ballots of 374,000 Ryukyu voters were finally tallied, Washington began rubbing its eyes in stunned but joyous surprise.
As usual, the pro-Communist People's Party campaigned...
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