The Charlotte News

Saturday, February 11, 1950

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President sought and obtained a ten-day temporary restraining order from a Federal judge to end the coal strike and for the UMW to resume full production pending a hearing on February 20 regarding an injunction pursuant to Taft-Hartley to end the strike for 80 days. The order also provided for the two sides to engage in good faith collective bargaining. The President's fact-finding board had reported to him this date that an end to the strike was necessary for the good of the country. There were 400,000 miners presently on strike. The judge who signed the order was the same judge who had issued an order, at the behest of NLRB general counsel Robert Denham, that the UMW continue negotiations with the Southern operators without making four demands, deemed violative of fair trade practices.

In London, gunmen fired two shots from a moving car at the director of British naval intelligence, Rear Admiral Eric Longley-Cook. He was unhurt. He gave chase to his attackers for nine miles in his car before losing them on the outskirts of London. The attack was believed possibly related to the prosecution of Dr. Klaus Fuchs in London for having provided the Soviets with atomic secrets, as various branches of military intelligence had roles in the investigation of the case. But Prime Minister Clement Attlee expressly refused to speculate on the connection. The Admiral said that he had no idea why he was attacked.

A few hours earlier, a bullet narrowly missed Lord Moynihan, chairman of Britain's Liberal Party, also fired upon as he traveled in his car the previous night in London.

In Rome, the Chamber of Deputies was preparing a list of injurious epithets to be prohibited from use against the opposition.

In the U.S. Congress these days, it is quite alright for a House member from South Carolina to yell out "you lie" to the President during his State of the Union, that is, if you are Republican, but it is quite contrary to established convention for a U.S. Senator, if you are a Democrat, to read from a statement of the deceased widow of a prominent martyred civil rights leader anent the alleged racism of a fellow Senator, who happens to be sitting for confirmation for Attorney General, because the Senate rules quaintly prohibit impugning the integrity of a fellow Senator, thus putting the quietus on the people's right to know who the hell the new Attorney General is and whether he discriminates against the rights of blacks to vote. So, now we have a racist Attorney General, there being no other conclusion to reach based on the ukase barring from entrance to the debate a third-party charge from an eminently credible source no longer able to speak for herself. That is okay in the Republican lexicon of 2017. They think it is very cute and funny. We shall see...

John Mitchell once thought things were cute and funny, too.

Smile and smile...

Columnist Bruce Barton tells of the New York Mayoral campaign in 1937 having been a contest between Fiorello LaGuardia, Senator Copeland and Judge Mahoney, all three having campaigned on how they had dealt harshly with Hitler rather than on local issues. He finds most political campaigns to be of that sort, as the politician in the poem of Sam Kiser, who practiced before the mirror the line, "white is white and black is black", that even torture would not force him to take it back.

President Lincoln, he finds, had a different kind of courage. In the closing days of the Civil War, a delegation from Illinois, possessed of enough power to swing the state which in turn could swing the election of 1864, demanded of him that he cut back the draft in Illinois as they had suffered enough. As told by Joseph Medill, leader of the group who also published an influential newspaper, the President had stood up to them, remonstrating them for having demanded the war that he gave them and now wanting him to cut back on manpower needed to prosecute that war to conclusion. He ordered them to go home and send the men. Mr. Medill said that they were beaten and felt ashamed, went home and mustered the men.

Mr. Barton finds such stuff to be indicative of real political courage, "the hallmark of a great statesman".

You want find that around town in 2017. The cry is: "Let's see how quickly we can boot everybody outta here so's we can make a bundle on the boobs who voted for us and put us in control of ever'thing."

In Tokyo, an overcrowded bus skidded and plunged into a pond, killing 22 of 62 persons aboard.

In New York, a crewman of a Pan Am Stratocruiser was sucked through an accidentally opened door at 8,000 feet of altitude and fell to his death over Long Island. The man had sought to close the door as the plane was coming in for a landing, when he was caught in an air current and sucked from the pressurized cabin. Passengers were strapped in for landing, preventing any other injuries. There was no indication how the door came to be ajar.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., a crew member of an Eastern Air Lines plane was similarly swept out during flight through an open door, but managed to grab onto the plane with his leg and maintain his hold until it landed. After going to the hospital, he returned to the plane fifteen minutes later and resumed his duties. He said that he thought of nothing as he endured the ordeal.

In the Yukon Territory, weak distress signals received throughout the night had brought revived hope for the missing C-54 plane with 44 persons aboard, disappearing 16 days earlier. The signals were picked up as far away as Atlanta. Earlier SOS signals had been received in the area around Mt. Logan on the Alaska-Yukon border, the same area from which the signals had been received the previous day. The last position report of the airplane had been received on January 26 at a location 120 miles from Mt. Logan.

From Corpus Christi, Tex., it was reported that a PBM plane with nine aboard, including four students, had been missing since 3:00 p.m. the previous day, its position then having been 200 miles east southeast of Corpus Christi and 90 miles southeast of Galveston. The plane then had about 14 hours of fuel remaining.

In Chicago, a 29-year old music teacher was sentenced to 50 years in prison the previous night after being convicted of murdering his 17-year old fiancee the previous June 28. The State had asked for the death penalty. The defendant had claimed that two men forced him to drink ammonia and then beat and strangled the girl.

Tom Walker reports from Raleigh regarding paroles being harder to obtain since Dr. T. C. Johnson had become commissioner of paroles the previous May. The effect, according to Dr. Johnson, was that the paroled prisoner had a better chance to remain free of custody for having had a more thorough case study performed prior to release. Governor Kerr Scott, during his first year in office, had signed 291 paroles, compared to 683 by his predecessor, Governor Gregg Cherry, and 591 by the late Governor J. Melville Broughton, in their first years in office. Dr. Johnson said that the goal was not more punishment but a more thorough study of each candidate for parole before making the recommendation to the Governor, and with a small staff, that took more time to determine. The board used a psychological and sociological concept rather than purely a legal concept in making the determination. State law required that at least one-fourth of the sentence had to be served before a prisoner was eligible for parole. Each field supervisor had a hundred cases, though some had more. A written offer of employment was prerequisite to parole.

On the editorial page, "The Klaus Fuchs Confession" finds problematic the confession of Dr. Fuchs regarding his providing of atomic secrets to the Russians after being entrusted with a position of responsibility in the British atomic program, as part of which he had worked also on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during the war, where he was privy to top-level secrets.

He had believed at the time, from 1942 through 1947, that Russia would build a new world and that he would take part in it. He had been able to compartmentalize his relationships, between those at Harwell in Britain and his contacts with the Soviets.

The piece finds in it the folly of oaths of allegiance vis-à-vis ideological Communists. That he had realized the problems in Soviet policy after 1947 and had then determined to stop providing information was cold comfort. The damage had been done. It finds him "cold-blooded, calculating, with no compassion and no comprehension of the enormity of his error." The result could mean the deaths of millions of people. It wonders how many more men there were like him and what it portended for free democracies short of imposition of police-state tactics to protect secrets.

It should be noted in connection with this story that the claim made on February 9 by Senator Joseph McCarthy in Wheeling, W. Va., that there were 205 Communists in the State Department, has not been the subject of any story on the front page or editorial column of The News thus far, and, insofar as we have been able to determine, was not carried by the Associated Press or the other major news organizations before this date, on which appeared in some newspapers, perhaps in The News on an inside page, an A.P. account of Senator McCarthy's charges, varying in number from 205 when in Wheeling to 207 in Denver to "57 card-carrying Comm-mmm-unists" while in Salt Lake City, as he made his way across the country continuing the assertion everywhere he went. At the latter stop, he said that he would provide the names to Secretary of State Acheson if the Secretary first called the Senator and if the President also agreed to lift his order refusing to provide to the Senate the results of FBI loyalty investigations, at least as to the 57 individuals in question.

Regardless of the number, the State Department, through spokesman Lincoln White, denied any knowledge of Communists in its employ and stated that if they were present, they would be terminated forthwith.

Starting in early 1947, the FBI, pursuant to the President's order to clear the air of charges of Communists and Communist sympathizers being within the Government, had conducted exhaustive loyalty checks on every Federal employee. Only a small number of questionable persons were found and, after administrative appeals, an even smaller number, about a dozen, were terminated.

The President had denied access to the loyalty investigation records when the Senate Investigating subcommittee sought them in the summer of 1948 after admitted former Communist Elizabeth Bentley first made her sensational claims of a Communist underground having existed within the Government during the 1930's, her claims leading, in turn, to the Whittaker Chambers testimony before HUAC involving Alger Hiss's alleged participation in this Communist underground, eventually changed to a claim that Mr. Hiss had provided Mr. Chambers secret documents for transmission to the Russians. The President had, in early 1948, also denied HUAC access to the records of the loyalty investigation of Dr. Edward U. Condon, the head of the Bureau of Standards, who was labeled by HUAC as the "weakest link" in U.S. security based on a report that he was associated with a person who had Communist Party ties, a charge later debunked and withdrawn by HUAC.

In short, this tactic of Senator McCarthy, that which was the first step in his having the pejorative term "McCarthyism" indelibly associated with his name, appeared to be, in addition to a method of drawing attention to himself for political currency, a mere ploy to try to get the loyalty investigation records of certain individuals, whomever he happened to label as a "card-carrying" Communist. Apparently, he liked the Heinz worcestershire sauce in Salt Lake City.

"No Barriers to Consolidation" discusses the Institute of Government recommendation that the City and County health services be consolidated, leaving questions whether they were to be unified under one health board and if so, whether it would be financed on a county-wide basis or under a joint City-County partnership.

It urges answering the first question forthwith, so that any necessary enabling legislation could be passed by the 1951 Legislature. The second question, regarding funding, could then be answered more leisurely. It recommends that the City and County each form a special committee to study the matter and come to an agreement.

"Defeat for John L. Lewis" discusses the injunction issued by a Federal court judge requiring negotiation between the UMW and the Southern coal operators without resort to demands by the miners that four conditions be met, a union shop, a welfare fund exclusively for UMW, a clause allowing miners to work only when "willing and able", and a provision for "memorial periods". The piece finds it uncertain what effect the ruling would have on negotiations, but nevertheless deems it clarifying of the issues.

While Americans had always had great sympathy for the lot of coal miners, they also had great suspicion of John L. Lewis, that his motives were primarily to line his own pockets with miners' dues. While Taft-Hartley was on the books, it posits, its provisions had to be respected and not flagrantly violated by labor or management.

Drew Pearson describes the scene at the chicken supper hosted by Republicans for Lincoln Day, wonders what Mr. Lincoln must have thought as his sober portrait peered down at a group of people elbowing one another to get access to chicken legs. Master of ceremonies, and future California Senator, George Murphy wheezed into the mike: "Shake hands with the girl on your left. Now, now, don't hold it too long." A lady who had been clutching a half-nibbled chicken leg then put her hand in her pocket.

Most of the speakers were the conservatives of the party, the main attraction being Senator Robert Taft. Liberal Republicans such as Senators Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and Wayne Morse were conspicuously absent.

It posed a question whether these Republicans could carry out the great objectives outlined by President Lincoln at Gettysburg in November, 1863. He suggests that only time would provide the answer.

One thing is for sure, it won't come from the current Republican White House in 2017, whose motto apparently is "a nation divided against itself is a beautiful thing, enabling the wealthy to take full advantage of their wealth at the expense of the guileless, conned peons".

Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of Secretary of State Acheson reviewing all American policy in light of the decision to proceed with development of the hydrogen bomb. The President, based on Mr. Acheson's initial assessment, directed him and Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson to make a report and provide it to the President as soon as possible. The President said at the meeting that it would be intolerable to have both major powers in possession of the hydrogen bomb.

Mr. Acheson's staff urged the Secretary to meet at least halfway the proposals of Senator Brien McMahon, chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee, and Senator Millard Tydings, that the U.S. initiate peace talks anew with the Soviets. But Mr. Acheson instead had stated that dealing with the Soviets from any position less than strength was useless, that they only maintained agreements out of necessity.

The Alsops view settlement by negotiation to be a form of surrender, causing the U.S. to become complaisant while the Soviets would continue their military preparations. Everything depended on whether Mr. Acheson and his staff had faced up to the fact that the world balance of power was shifting toward the Soviets. U.S. possession of a hydrogen bomb which it could not deliver for the impenetrable net of Soviet defenses would not change that fact, whereas the Soviets could use such a bomb in a surprise attack via submarine-launched rockets off the U.S. coasts.

The report to the President, they venture, could therefore be foreseen, that Mr. Acheson would have to insist on an infinitely more powerful American effort militarily, politically, and economically. Secretary Johnson, meanwhile, was still insisting that he could "lick Stalin". If Mr. Acheson, however, retreated to the position of the Baldwin Government in Britain in 1936 whereby, as Winston Churchill had put it, they were "all powerful to be impotent", then the outcome would be war.

Marquis Childs tells of the Russians apparently being ready, according to diplomatic sources, to denounce its treaty with Finland, which would eventuate in Soviet occupation. That was so despite the Finns having, since the end of the war, lived up to the treaty implicitly, even paying 250 million dollars of reparations to Russia ahead of schedule. In so doing, however, they had, against popular belief to the contrary, maintained their independence from Russia.

Should such a denunciation occur, in combination with the recent Soviet recognition of the Ho Chi Minh regime in Indochina, it signaled a new pattern of Russian aggression and ultimate conquest.

But there was also an alternative explanation for this behavior, that the Kremlin suffered from a "psychosis of fear". Regardless of cause, the result might be a third world war, a prospect which lay heavily on President Truman as evidenced by it being the central theme of a recent Cabinet meeting. He was concerned that time was running out. Yet, the concern had not so far brought about any great effort to end the drift of the country or to rally the peoples of the world behind a plea for peace. Even if such a gesture proved futile, he offers, it would still be of great value.

Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", discusses the Senate approval of the proposed Constitutional amendment to change the electoral college voting to make it proportional to the popular vote. Senator Clyde Hoey said that if the amendment were to become part of the Constitution, it would lessen the impact of "pressure groups" and could help the fight against civil rights legislation, as black voters held the balance of power in many key Northern states. He also thought it would empower voters in the South.

Many observers believed that newly elected UNC president, Gordon Gray, would be a champion of academic freedom and progressive influences, if not backing the same left-of-center causes as his predecessor, Senator Frank Graham.

A thief had broken into the car of Congressman Harold Cooley of North Carolina and taken his radio, during a Congressional investigation on Washington crime.

Senator Hoey had determined not to investigate further the death sentences imposed on 16 Nazi SS troop leaders convicted at Nuremberg.

Congressman Graham Barden of North Carolina had introduced a bill to ban Federal funds to parochial or other sectarian schools, limiting use of the funds to current expenses.

There was a rivalry between Congressman Adolph Sabath of Illinois, 83, and North Carolina's Congressman Robert Doughton, 86. Mr. Sabath had been in Congress since 1906, Mr. Doughton since 1910. So it had come as no real surprise that Mr. Doughton was running again for his seat, as he hoped to outlast Mr. Sabath and surpass him in seniority.

The equal rights amendment was supported by both North Carolina Senators and had passed the Senate by a vote of 63 to 19. It posed several legal problems, however, regarding whether it would overturn existing protections under law for women's rights. It could impact, for instance, spousal rights in divorce and separation decrees, making support requirements available to both husbands and wives equally. Women, he suggests, had allowed themselves to be dominated by a minority, as the Census Bureau had found that there were 71.9 million males to 72.5 million females in the country.

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