The front page of the Cayman Compass on 8 Nov. 1972 carried an array of stories, including local and international politics and a visit by a high-profile tourist to the islands.
Famous Teamster Jimmy Hoffa features under a headline ‘Hoffa Enjoys Visit’ and a photo of him with two locals who are preparing to take him fishing. He made the trip three years before his mysterious disappearance in July 1975. It makes one wonder if authorities ever came looking for him in Cayman.
This edition of the paper also coincided with the election victory of Richard Nixon. Beneath the headline ‘Nixon By A Landslide’, the story explains that the controversial US president had defeated George McGovern the day before by garnering 62% of the popular vote.
The main story on the front page dealt with politics closer to home, under the incendiary headline ‘Fireworks in Bodden Town’. It tells of a “dramatic confrontation” at a political meeting in the Town Hall of Bodden Town between Dick Gentry, editor and publisher of the Caymanian Weekly newspaper, and James Lawrence, the husband of political candidate Mary Lawrence, who was a journalist at the Cayman Compass at the time.
And inside the paper was a story celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Elmslie Memorial United Church.
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