The Charlotte News
Saturday, January 6, 1951
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that enemy troops forced the abandonment this date of the large allied airfield at Suwon in South Korea, 17 miles south of Seoul, and moved sharply in a double thrust toward the road hub at Wonju, 55 miles southeast of Seoul, with the aim of cutting off the escape route of the allies along "heartbreak highway", used also by the allies for retreat the previous summer. The force of some 210,000 Communist troops threatened to pin the Eighth Army's western force against the Yellow Sea. Allied defenders were still fighting north of Wonju at nightfall. Suwon also remained in allied hands.
At the U.N., representatives of the non-Communist nations met behind closed doors to try to find a formula for preventing the Korean crisis from splitting the united front. They agreed that their two immediate aims were to localize the Korean war and preserve the U.N. as a world forum but disagreed on how to achieve those goals. The U.S. wanted to condemn strongly the Communist Chinese for their aggression in Korea. But a group of Asian countries led by India, with at least tacit support from Britain, believed that such condemnation would lead to war with China and play therefore into Russian hands, albeit as yet producing no alternative proposal. It was believed that these nations would first recognize Communist China as a U.N. member and then seek terms.
The President met for a half hour with General Eisenhower before the latter departed Washington for Paris to assume his duties as supreme commander of NATO. The President told him that he had the wholehearted backing of the United States and, undoubtedly, from the other eleven member nations as well. The President accompanied the General to National Airport for his departure.
Correspondent C. Yates McDaniel tells of the Navy beginning a major expansion program, calling for twice the number of aircraft carriers possessed at the start of the Korean war, plus two new battleships, several cruisers and about a hundred new destroyers. In addition, the 27,000-ton carrier Tarawa was being removed from mothballs and the battleship Wisconsin was also being reactivated. Current plans called for only a modest addition to the submarine fleet, as reactivation of older submarines was being kept to a minimum because of great advances in submarine technology since the war. Senator Taft had advocated, in his first Senate speech of the new Congress the previous day, that the nation's defenses be concentrated in air and sea power to ward off potential direct attack. Senator Kenneth Wherry had favored setting up a ring of air and sea bases around the Soviet Union.
The State Department produced quotes from former President William Howard Taft's book, The Chief Magistrate and His Powers, to counter Senator Taft's argument advanced the previous day that the President lacked power to commit troops to Korea and to Western Europe. In it, Senator Taft's father had said that the President, as commander in chief of the Army and Navy, had the power to use the armed forces to defend the country against invasion, and any Congressional action designed to interfere with that power would be void under the Constitution. During war, the former President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had said, the President had authority to direct the movements of the Army and Navy, without interference from Congress.
To be fair to Senator Taft, however, his point was that Congress had not declared war, and it is unclear that former President Taft meant to convey the notion that the President had any Constitutional authority to commit troops abroad without such a declaration, resulting in "the carrying on of war", as he had termed it. In defense of President Truman, however, his response would be that the action in Korea by first the North Koreans crossing the 38th parallel the prior June 25 and then the intervention by the Chinese the prior November had imperiled world peace, in contravention of the U.N. Charter, authorizing, by resolution of either the Security Council or majority vote of the U.N. General Assembly, of which the U.S. was a member authorized to act under the Charter ratified by the Senate in 1945, any necessary international police action to put down such aggression and prevent thereby a broader war. The same was true of NATO in Western Europe, which had been ratified as a treaty by the Senate to resist Communist aggression, a regional mutual defense pact also expressly recognized by the U.N. Charter.
Senators Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Paul Douglas of Illinois sought a Federal budget of 80 billion dollars to ward off Communist aggression, together with a new tax increase to pay for it. Both found inadequate the proposed budget of 65 billion dollars, suggested by Senator Taft for fiscal year 1951-52. Reportedly, the President's economic message to Congress would propose a 75 billion dollar budget. Revenue under current taxes would be about 45 billion dollars.
Senator Taft had stated the prior day that if the country committed 1.5 million men to Europe within a few weeks or at the beginning of a war and they were destroyed, it could cripple the nation's defenses. Senator Joe O'Mahoney of Wyoming said in response that there was no intention to commit that kind of force in support of NATO in Europe.
The President signed a 19.8 billion dollar emergency appropriations bill reconciled during the lame duck session, making the total appropriations for the 81st Congress 118 billion dollars over a two-year period. Of the total additional appropriations, 17 billion was earmarked for the three military branches, boosting the total defense appropriation for the current fiscal year to 45 billion.
The railway settlement of December 21 was stalled because of demands by three of the four major railway brotherhoods for still better terms.
In Raleigh, a bill was introduced in the 1951 Legislative session by State Senator James Pou Bailey, future Superior Court Judge and son of deceased U.S. Senator Josiah W. Bailey, to provide for recounts in close local and county elections.
In Atlanta, a fourteen-month old girl who had swallowed a red horse received on Christmas had the plastic toy removed from her stomach with the aid of an esophagoscope.
It probably portends war, but one which the country will win with the aid of an esophagoscope.
Enough said.
On the editorial page, "New Delay in Bus Improvement" finds Duke Power within its rights to employ a New York engineer to reassess the bus operations for the city, but also suggests that citizens would wonder why it was not done much sooner, to save the taxpayers the money of having the City traffic engineer prepare a report.
But, it finds, it was not a reflection on the City engineer for Duke to hire its own expert to prepare a report. It finds no indication of bad faith on the part of Duke or the City Council, although it might cause delay in establishment of new, more efficient bus routes through the city.
"Short-Sighted Move" hopes that State Representative James Vogler of Mecklenburg County would reconsider his attempt to rescind the resolution adopted by the 1949 General Assembly in support of the world government initiative. The resolution had not committed the state to anything, only approving of the principle which was the expression of the American democratic ideal. The present obstacles occurring in the world to realization of such an organization should only strengthen rather than dampen the resolve to achieve this ideal. Mr. Vogler's proposal could supply fodder to Russian propaganda and sow the seeds of additional confusion on the part of the country's allies, as it could imply intent to abandon the U.N. It suggests that it would thus be a grave disservice to the young fighting men in Korea.
"A Century of Cities" tells of North Carolina growing by 480,117 between 1940 and 1950, while the Western section of the state was decreasing in population. The Asheville Citizen had viewed the situation with alarm, finding that eleven mountain counties had decreased in size while seven northeastern counties had also lost population. It wondered in result whether the state was creating a balanced economy to provide development to the remote counties.
The piece says that steam generation of electricity, building of new school facilities and extension of paved roads were making industrialization possible in all areas of the state.
The Citizen, it counsels, needed to recognize the shifts in population to urban centralization during the first half of the Twentieth Century as well as the thousands of G.I.'s who had observed city life in both world wars and liked what they saw, in consequence of which gravitating to the urban areas.
It joins the Citizen, however, in hoping that the state would achieve agricultural and industrial balance.
A piece from the Carlsbad (N.M.)
Current-Argus, titled "DAT Radio Boss Frowns"—not a reference to Digital Audio Tape—,
objects to radio censors changing the lyrics to "Old Man River"
such that instead of singing the original words
It concludes that it would give up
singing when radio censors could tell it how to sing "Old Man
River"
Drew Pearson informs that the reason that a railroad strike might still occur, despite the supposed December 21 settlement of the wage and hour dispute, was the friction existing between Presidential adviser John Steelman, who had facilitated the settlement, and the railroad brotherhoods, who wanted a new mediator, such as Cyrus Ching or Assistant Secretary of Defense Anna Rosenberg. The brotherhoods had not liked a sentence in the settlement which allowed for final disposition by Mr. Steelman of any disagreement on details of the settlement. As the agreement would be for three years, the brotherhoods regarded this provision as giving Mr. Steelman a three-year oversight role. They also did not like that he had put into a memorandum attached to the agreement the terms on which there had been near agreement. Finally, the fact that Mr. Steelman had said to the press that they had an agreement and there would be no strike was irksome to the brotherhoods.
A House Office Building elevator became stuck recently for fifteen minutes, finally necessitating that the operator pry open the doors to enable escape of the 14 members of Congress aboard. Congresswoman Reva Bosone of Utah remarked that it was the most nonpartisan period she had experienced in Congress as none in the situation were concerned about politics at the moment.
Attorney General J. Howard McGrath and Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin were upset that New England had been left out of consideration as the location for new war plants, especially those set to manufacture steel and aluminum. A debate was occurring over establishing a steel plant in New London, Connecticut, the advocates of which, as Senator Brien McMahon of Connecticut, urging that it would provide regional balance to the war contract awards, while the opponents, including National Security Resources Board chairman Stuart Symington, were contending that once the war was over, there would be a white elephant left behind as such a steel plant could not make it without Government loans and contracts. Finally, Mr. Symington had acquiesced to the proponents and asked the National Production Authority to issue a certificate to the New England Council, the business group which had organized the steel company wanting to build the plant. Still, however, more wrangling lay ahead before the cooperative would receive approval to build the plant.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop find that the last slim chance to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Soviets was passing rapidly. For at the point the Communists would conquer Korea and, shortly thereafter, Indo-China, there would be no checking the program of aggression to which the Soviets would be too deeply committed to reverse.
The Alsops outline four possible scenarios for peaceful settlement. The first was that provided by Secretary of State Acheson the prior spring, entailing honorable collaboration with Russia in the U.N., an honest agreement on atomic energy, and an end to Soviet imperialism in Europe and Asia, including pulling back from the iron curtain. They find, however, that prospect no longer realistic in light of Korea.
The second possibility was a "contrived settlement", whereby Germany and Japan would be neutralized with occupation ending. But to make that work would require rearming of both countries. The Kremlin would not permit the rearming of all of Germany, as it had objected to rearming of West Germany as being an invitation to war.
The third possible settlement alternative was that which continued to be the official aim of American foreign policy, "the creation of conditions of strength in the free word", as outlined in National Security Council directive number 68, issued the prior spring. But it would require two years for this program to become a reality under the NATO timetable, and that would be too long, as the American planners had now advanced to the present the timetable by which Soviet aggression in Europe would begin.
The fourth possibility would gain time through a truce of the type being suggested by the truce committee at the U.N. for Korea, that is halting the Chinese intervention at the 38th parallel and establishment of a demilitarized zone. It would also need entail, however, a provision for no future aggression against Indo-China, lest it become an open invitation to further aggression.
The prospect of the Big Four meeting to discuss the international situation involved either fanciful notions of peace to escape the hard realities, as demonstrated by the four possibilities for settlement, or were attempts by the Kremlin to advance its agenda of aggression by sowing seeds of dissension in the West.
Robert C. Ruark discusses former President Hoover's radio speech to the nation which had advocated withdrawing the nation's defenses to the two oceans and gradually abandoning NATO and the Marshall Plan in favor of encouraging self-reliance by the Western European nations, with a similar program as well in the Far East.
Mr. Ruark offers no answers to the ensuing debate between a return to isolationism and continuance of internationalism. There was a good deal of sentiment in the country in favor of the Hoover approach, as the Korean war was not popular, in contrast to World War II. China was viewed as too much of a colossus against which to wage a war, as was Russia, and so the average citizen saw no purpose in trying to effect a stop to Communist aggression in the Far East or in Europe when the result would almost assuredly mean a general war. Even if the West could hope to win such a war, the question arose of how the enemy would be occupied afterward in such vast territories as China or the Soviet Union.
China had been continually at war almost since history had begun and no one had ever subdued it. Mr. Hoover's suggestions therefore were gaining currency with the people and would likely strengthen with time.
"In the absence of an answer, I would say we are just plain scared."
Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of Congressional sessions, despite the panoply of news-gathering sources in and around the Capitol, being among the more poorly reported events, as there was simply too much going on to cover them properly. When Congress was in adjournment, reporters rendered idle had to dig to find noteworthy stories, leading to speculation and improvisation to fill the void. That situation had probably led to the story recently about the controversy over whether there should be eleven or thirteen stars behind the Speaker's dais in the renovated House chamber, representative of the original states at the Founding. North Carolina and Rhode Island, which had not ratified the Constitution by the inauguration of George Washington in 1789, were not included initially by the Capitol architect, David Lynn. Letters had poured in from both states, including from lawmakers, irate at the exclusion. One even pointed out that Virginia and Pennsylvania were commonwealths and thus not entitled to stars for being states. Another contended that the excluded pair of states both were advised by Thomas Jefferson not to ratify the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was ratified. In the end, there were thirteen stars included.
Mr. Lynn explained that, originally, eight stars had been placed in the location, simply for the sake of aesthetics. Then some complained that they appeared too skimpy and so three more were added to fill the space, without any intent to be symbolic. At that point, journalists began to research the number of states at ratification and found only eleven, causing Congressman Robert Doughton of North Carolina to be informed of the supposed slight and the matter took off from there. Mr. Lynn tried to explain the lack of symbolism of the stars but to no avail. He added that it would take 15 stars to fill the space aesthetically, and so two more might yet be added.
A plan to erect a huge clock over the Vice-President's desk met with grumbles for it being too big, obscuring the view of the press gallery, and so the plan was abandoned.
The North Carolina delegation was pleased generally with the first renovation of the two chambers in 90 years.
Senator Willis Smith was one of the few Senators who used a dictaphone.
Senator Clyde Hoey never ate breakfast. The Senator, who did not smoke or drink, had nevertheless intervened on behalf of a North Carolinian who wanted to open a liquor store across from the Old House Building, as a group of Republican Congressmen were planning to open a club at the same address.
Both North Carolina Senators, while believing that the U.S. should withdraw from Korea, did not support former President Hoover's ideas of pulling in all defenses, including those from Western Europe.
According to Senator Hoey, a High Point, N.C., preacher had prayed during the holidays to save the President from writing all of those "foolish letters".
Senator Smith would be assigned to the Judiciary Committee, based on extensive experience as an attorney. The Senator said that he knew personally more than a quarter of the Senators before his arrival.
Senator Hoey was pleased with the selection of Senator Ernest McFarland of Arizona as the new Majority Leader.
The lame duck session of the Congress, meeting between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, gave the President nearly all he had desired from it, except statehood for Hawaii and Alaska and the war power to reorganize the Government.
The Epihany for 1951 and 2018: It takes two
to tango in matters domestic as well as foreign, peace as well as
war, though some lying, totalitarian sons of bitches, as Hitler
Framed Edition
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