The Charlotte News
Friday, September 21, 1945
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that General MacArthur had ordered the arrest of Lt. General Kenji Doihara, who had recently been appointed to command the Japanese First Army in Japan with American approval. General Doihara had once been called Japan's "Lawrence of Manchuria" as the country's advance agent in its Asiatic conquests. The appointment with American approval, succeeding Field Marshal General Sugiyama who committed suicide, had met with raised eyebrows among the Japanese who knew of the General's past record. There was no indication of the exact nature of the allegations.
Australian John Holland, linked to Japanese propaganda broadcasts during the war, was arrested in a barbershop in Sapporo.
Former Premier Suzuki had barely escaped from two machine-gunned houses on August 15 when armed Japanese soldiers, rebellious to surrender, opened fire.
Pfc. Donald Kincaid of Ohio, it was reported, had received from former Premier Hideki Tojo his entire set of 24 campaign ribbons, which he provided the private while recovering from his bullet wound, self-inflicted just before his arrest as a war criminal.
In Nuremberg, the French announced the capture at Baden Baden of Baron Konstantin Von Neurath.
The British prosecutor, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, stated that Rudolf Hess had been pronounced mentally fit to stand trial. Hess had been a British prisoner since he parachuted into Scotland from a small plane on May 10, 1941, contending he was escaping Germany bearing a plan for peace.
Russia appointed R. Rudenko as its lead prosecutor, and I. T. Nikitchenko as its judge for the four-judge tribunal. The British had not yet appointed their judge and the French had not yet identified their selection. Former Attorney General Francis Biddle had just been named by President Truman as the American judge.
American lead prosecutor, Justice Robert Jackson, stated that the entire organizations of the Gestapo and SS would be tried, meaning that a conviction would subject each member to punishment to the extent of their participation. He stated that, while all 24 of the first indictments were prepared, the trial could not begin before November 1 and possibly later.
The Senate Military Committee, without a vote, tabled efforts to revise the draft law to include only those between ages 21 and 26.
The War Department announced tentative plans to return five divisions from Europe and four from the Pacific during October. All of the remaining men in the divisions had high discharge points.
Gasoline shortages from more than 20,000 striking refinery workers at more than a dozen plants continued to plague Detroit. Police cars were being operated on borrowed fuel from other city sources. Forty percent of the city's 3,400 service stations were sold out. Only enough gasoline remained to last until Monday at noon.
The shortage had also spread to other cities.
Strikes in other industries had idled 200,000 workers across the nation.
In the auto industry, accounting for 80,000 of the idle workers, strikes began to reach Chrysler, with 2,200 employees idle in a Dodge truck plant and 40 to 50 pickets preventing 800 employees this date from crossing the picket line.
The three lowest grades of beef, canner, cutter, and utility, were taken off rationing points. The beef was used primarily in canned and processed meats, hamburger, sausage, and boiling meat, making up about 20 percent of the beef supply. The three top grades, commercial, good, and choice, the source of most steaks and roasts, would continue under rationing.
Future Attorney General, presently Republican National Committee chairman, former campaign manager for Thomas Dewey in 1944, Herbert Brownell, informed the press, confirming a story in the current issue of Life, that Governor Dewey had possessed information from an unstated source during the campaign that the Japanese code had been broken at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and that President Roosevelt had obtained advance warning of the attack. Under urging by General Marshall, Governor Dewey had kept the lid on the story and not used it during the campaign, saying that he would rather lose the presidency than endanger a single American life, as General Marshall had warned him revealing of the code would endanger potentially thousands of American lives. The Japanese would have changed the code if they had become aware it had been deciphered.
This heavily promoted supposed heroism of Thomas Dewey was little more than a method of backstabbing the deceased President, implicitly charging that he knew in advance of the Pearl Harbor attack plan, a vicious lie.
Governor Dewey was hardly heroic. Had he revealed this information, he would have been a traitor and properly subject to criminal indictment, and likely would have been indicted.
Just where he got the information is the real issue. Was it General MacArthur?
Regardless, it was another calumnious attempt by the Republicans, in collaboration with Henry and Clare Luce, to put a Republican in the White House through attempted brainwashing of the public, an effort which Life had used with mighty pictorial spirit in 1940 to try to put Wendell Willkie into the White House.
Had Governor Dewey revealed the information, General Marshall would have immediately denounced him, and he would have lost the election by a record landslide, not won it, with a loyal following left only among the extreme bitter-end isolationists, on trial in Washington at the time for sedition.
Always leave it to a backstabbing bunch of Republicans to try to put the after-gloss on an act which amounted to no more than acting in accord with normal patriotic requirements to which any loyal American of the time would have been obedient.
As Drew Pearson had just pointed out during the week, the Republican National Committee was busy recruiting O.S.S. officers as Republican investigators to dig up dirt on the Democrats, aiming for the Roosevelts. Senators and Representatives were, he also said, aligning with the Committee to provide information seeking to discredit Eleanor Roosevelt, and James and Elliott Roosevelt, in the hope of tarnishing the Roosevelt legacy and thus souring the public on the New Deal.
President of the Dallas Morning News, Ted Dealey—son of Morning News founder and publisher George Bannerman Dealey, for whom the 1936 WPA project known as Dealey Plaza is named—had witnessed the Japanese surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri on September 2, interviewed General MacArthur on September 4, and in a by-lined article quoted the General as saying that American troops would only need stay in Japan for "six months, if we handle the Japs right, and by that I mean if we are not too ruthless and cruel—indefinitely, if we do not handle them right." Mr. Dealey asserted his belief that General MacArthur was correct in estimating that only 200,000 troops would be needed for occupation, found Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson to be overstating the case.
Other publishers present at the interview had asked what would prevent the Japanese from preparing for a war 25 years hence if the Americans were to leave so quickly. General MacArthur had replied: "I'm going to fix things so the Japs will have hard enough time eating for the next 25 years, much less having the leisure and materials to build up for another war. The Rising Sun is a setting sun. Japan is through forever as a military power."
General MacArthur stated that he would institute women's suffrage, would encourage labor unions, and identify the anti-war group and place them in power.
Mr. Dealey, wholeheartedly supporting the General's view, believed that the State Department should give General MacArthur a free hand in dealing with the military aspects of occupation of Japan.
In Pasadena, 72-year old Reverend Charles G. Long had predicted that the world was going to dissolve in a cloud of shattered atoms at 7:33 a.m., PWT. Reporters keeping vigil outside the retired missionary's home reported no sign of stirring. Across the street,
He had registered his vision seven years
The Reverend hedged his bets, stating that the world could also end at 5:33 p.m. this date, basing the deadline on
A woman in Pasadena, who performed her usual Thursday ironing, told reporters that she was sure the Reverend's prediction would come true, even if it took a year, as the discovery of the atomic bomb had presaged the event.
She and her husband were, however, not ready to sell their car or home, because, if, as the Reverend had suggested, the end was delayed, they would be left without transportation and residence.
"Wait for news from heaven," stated the Reverend and his son by phone the day before.
Of course, it might not happen until September 30, 2012.
Stay tuned.
Henry Luce at one point was convinced the world would end in 1967.
You never know. It may have, and you blinked.
The Congress passed a bill to end War Time, effective September 30, passing back to the states the question of time, for awhile.
And, if you caught us drowsily saying, prior to correction, "World II", a couple of days ago, we now feel not so badly and can stick out our tongues at any mockers of our unintended slight. For the A.P. reports, in relation to the retirement of General Breton Somervell: "Under an Army regulation permitting Regular Army officers with World I service to retire, the request [by General Somervell] is mandatory."
On the editorial page, "Who's Boss?" does not despair at the public debate as to who was leading the occupation policy in Japan, General MacArthur or the State Department. At least with the public debate, the citizenry would be made aware of the future of Japan.
The State Department clearly had the authority to set the policy of occupation. But the size of the occupation force should be left to General MacArthur, it opined. For the State Department to say that more than the number recommended by MacArthur were needed to occupy Japan, was a departure from its field of authority. But General MacArthur's statement that occupation could be completed in a year invaded the proper province of State Department policy.
"Beyond Party" suggests that departing Secretary of War Henry Stimson would not be remembered as a Republican but rather as a man who responded to President Roosevelt's call in the summer of 1940 for a bipartisan war cabinet, with Republican Frank Knox, who had died in May, 1944, also coming aboard as Secretary of the Navy at the same time.
Mr. Stimson was the only man in history to serve twice as Secretary of War—remaining so until Donald Rumsfeld, who served under both President Ford and President George W. Bush as Secretary of Defense, 25 years apart. Mr. Stimson had also established the record for longevity, having served under President Taft over 27 years prior to 1940. He had also served as Secretary of State under President Hoover.
Instead of uniting behind the Administration, however, the Republicans had disavowed Secretary Stimson as one of their own and criticized the Administration ruefully for its war policy in advance of Pearl Harbor. Mr. Stimson had urged aid to Britain and Russia, argued against isolationism. His party members in Congress saw him as a war-monger, with many Republicans in the Senate voting against his confirmation, approved 56 to 28.
He had, concludes the piece, nevertheless served his country ably in directing the war effort through to victory in the most complex of times since the Civil War.
The piece finds it refreshing that Senator Moore, in office since 1943, was suddenly against the former enemies of freedom and was now in favor of civil rights. During his time in office he had opposed the incorporation of the Atlantic Charter of August, 1941 into the Connally resolution, assuring the preservation of the Four Freedoms throughout the world and disavowing territorial acquisition, was opposed to the reciprocal trade agreements, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the induction of fathers by age groups and the induction of pre-Pearl Harbor fathers.
He had missed the votes prior to early 1943, but would likely have opposed the various war measures such as Lend-Lease and Selective Service.
"Rebuttal" suggests that labor was making few friends in the latest wave of strikes, despite the war being over.
But returning veterans, it appeared, were not going to be baited into a squabble with labor. In Harper's, Seaman First Class Robert Phelps had pointed out that more time in man-days had been lost from AWOL servicemen than from striking workers. The Navy estimated that 1.1 percent of its personnel were AWOL at all times, the equivalent of fourteen million man-days per year. Strikes and lockouts only led to .1 percent of workers off the job, 8.5 million man-days in 1944.
Seaman Phelps concluded that, as no one would criticize the Navy's job because of a small number of slackers, there was likewise no reason to criticize the overall good job performed by labor during the war because of a small number of strikers.
The excerpt from the Congressional Record has Senator Josiah W. Bailey of North Carolina commenting on the civil airports program, providing various statistics on civil aviation from 1932 to 1944. He advocated a gasoline tax to recover every dollar spent in developing civil aviation.
Senator Owen Brewster of Maine states his agreement, that the future fruits of the investment were potentially great, just as with the large Federal outlay necessary initially for the roads. But he takes issue with what he believes is Senator Bailey's opposition to the smaller airports.
Senator Bailey asserts that he only opposed the smallest of these airports, that which he terms "one-horse ports".
Mr. Brewster says that they had one in his hometown in Maine and it was used regularly, to which Mr. Bailey suggests that such was fine for summer travel but not winter.
Mr. Brewster differs, saying that the port was used for winter fishing.
Mr. Bailey states that he would never be caught fishing in the winter, that he hoped someone would take care of him should they so find him.
Mr. Brewster informs that winter fishing was the finest sport in the world.
Mr. Bailey responds that it was also the coldest.
Drew Pearson discusses the Republican House caucus during which President Truman had come under quite a lot of vitriolic fire. Until this point, he had escaped much criticism, but Charles Halleck of Indiana, chair of the Republican Congressional campaign committee, wanted to stop "electing" Truman and begin realizing that he was as dangerous to the Republicans as had been Roosevelt. Some of the Republicans felt that he was more dangerous because of his folksy approach, "learned at the Pendergast school" of Kansas City politics. They also found fault with his not having been to college, the only such President in modern times, the first since Andrew Johnson without higher education.
Beyond the criticism of the President, little was accomplished in the caucus, which was to have worked on preparation of a legislative program.
One Republican Congressman had walked out, sneering that he did not need to stay when he could read all about it later in Drew Pearson's column.
Progressive Charles La Follette of Indiana called for support for the bill to make the Fair Employment Practices Committee permanent, something, while supported in the 1944 Republican platform, which had not been pushed by the Republicans in Congress. He urged his colleagues not to undermine the national candidate for office as many had Governor Dewey a year earlier, by asserting that he had taken progressive positions just to try to get elected.
He next comments on the results of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of Germany which had concluded that, while bombing of war plants was not as effective as claimed by the air forces, with many of the factories too deeply buried underground to be reached by the bombs, the bombing of railroads and transportation facilities had been most effective in disrupting German supplies.
The bombers had not, for instance, stopped production at the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plant despite the loss of 60 bombers and 600 men in one large raid. General Hap Arnold had justified the heavy losses at the time by the contended fact that the raid had arrested ball bearing production in Germany.
Thus, some in the War Department did not want all of the survey published, while others were in favor of putting forth the whole report.
While, as Mr. Pearson had previously reported, some of the Survey members, mostly business men, had taken advantage of the project to obtain photos of patents for their own businesses, the War Department stated that the Survey, on the whole, had produced useful results. The group had found important Nazi documents and even caught some Nazi leaders, such as civilian production chief Seabauer, arrested near Salzburg, working in a hotel where American officers, oblivious to his presence, were living.
Marquis Childs discusses the decision of Foreign Economic Administrator Leo Crowley to end Lend-Lease suddenly, following V-J Day. He was working as the liaison between the Administration and Congress and by taking the action had gained the confidence of Congress as not just another New Dealer.
Moreover, should he have accorded to England special treatment, then all other nations would have demanded like aid. France, for instance, had already in February entered an agreement to provide payment for goods in cash following the end of Lend-Lease. Russia had made an agreement to continue the flow of supplies on a loan basis.
New Dealers had always been suspicious of Mr. Crowley as being a part of big business. He retained his $75,000 annual salary as chairman of Standard Gas & Electric while working in his current FEA position.
Eventually, a comprehensive plan for Europe's economic needs would be sent to Congress and Mr. Crowley would likely be assigned the task of carrying the ball on such a program to push it through.
A letter writer questions whether the specters of Nazism and Fascism were really dead on the world scene, especially as he saw the old Red-baiting coming back into view. He believes that escaping World War III would come only from enlightened veterans and an awakened Europe.
Samuel Grafton again examines the statements of General MacArthur predicting short occupation of a year in Japan, with only 200,000 troops ultimately necessary after six months. It appeared that General MacArthur was justifying his own policy of occupation rather than merely carrying out orders of the State Department and the Administration.
There appeared no policy of occupation coming from Washington, an absence which carried over to demobilization.
The situation was almost unprecedented in the history of formal government, finds Mr. Grafton. MacArthur, nearest the scene, was able to fill the void gleefully with his own policy.
While the short-term goals of occupation of Japan appeared accomplished, the long-term goals could not be adequately assessed for 20 to 30 years. General MacArthur appeared to have pushed aside the long view in favor of focusing only on the short-range goal.
The General had the best of all worlds: should occupation work in the long run, he could take credit; should it fail, he could claim that he was only a good soldier carrying out orders.
Mr. Grafton believes that Washington ought declare that there were two phases to occupation, one political and one military, that General MacArthur was in charge only of the military phase, then send in civilian functionaries to perform the political tasks.
"Or have the noisy MacArthur supporters in the opposition press so frightened the Administration that it is content to learn what its policy is from the
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