The Charlotte News
Tuesday, November 20, 1951
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in the ground war in Korea, allied infantrymen had recaptured a hill west of Yonchon at dawn this date, a few hours after losing it to 600 attacking Chinese enemy troops. In the eastern sector, allied infantrymen gained 800 yards as they pushed forward along the ridges northwest of the "Punchbowl". There was no other significant action reported along the entire front.
In the air war, U.N. jets encountered no enemy jets through noon this date. Allied fighter-bombers and B-29s, however, hit numerous targets through the night.
Allied headquarters in Tokyo stated that there was "considerable evidence" that about 6,000 American prisoners of war had died while in enemy custody. The estimate was about 500 more than that of the colonel who had released the report initially the previous week which said that the men had been murdered. The headquarters statement indicated that "neither the fact nor manner of death" of the prisoners had yet been established. It also indicated that the duties of the colonel, in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, had not included reporting of casualties in Korea.
The truce negotiations had been temporarily halted to provide time until Wednesday for the Communists to reply to the latest allied offer to establish a ceasefire zone before settling the other terms required for final truce, provided that the buffer zone agreement would expire if the other terms were not concluded within 30 days after agreement on the zone.
In Rome, the NATO military committee met this date to study further plans for defending the West. It was not expected that any significant recommendation would come out of the meeting, that a more important meeting was anticipated for late January when it was expected that the military committee would decide what military forces NATO members could assemble. The current discussion would primarily center on the proposal of General Eisenhower that a small, combat-ready force be assembled during 1952 rather than waiting until 1954 for formation of the larger army comprised of troops of all member nations. There was also speculation among diplomats that General Eisenhower might provide a hint as to how much longer he expected to remain as supreme commander, thus previewing when he might announce his presidential campaign plans.
In Paris, British and Russian representatives at the U.N. General Assembly meeting had vied for star speaking position in response to the Western disarmament proposal made the previous day by Secretary of State Acheson before the political committee, with the result that there had been a suspension of debate on the matter until the following day. It was believed that the Russians did not want to appear to oppose too quickly the Western plan without considerable consideration of it. Sources in New Delhi said that India, Israel and Canada were seeking a compromise disarmament proposal, with India seeking abolition of the atomic bomb along with a reduction of conventional armaments.
The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade reported that an American C-47 transport plane had been fired on twice by Hungarian and Rumanian border guards and was now lost over Yugoslavia, while en route from Bavaria to Belgrade the previous day.
The House Ways & Means subcommittee, investigating the IRB tax scandals, went behind closed doors this date to examine activities of its chairman, Congressman King of California, to determine whether he had exerted "improper influences" on certain California tax cases. A witness the previous day testified that a memorandum prepared for Senators Harry Cain and Wayne Morse had wound up with Lamar Caudle, former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the tax division, and that Mr. Caudle then had written a letter wherein he said that the memorandum implied that Congressman King had attempted to use influence in tax cases. The memorandum, according to the witness, had only indicated Mr. King's interest in effecting a settlement of the litigation and did not show any attempted influence in the cases. In another development, an assistant IRB commissioner had resigned, citing health issues, after which counsel for the subcommittee stated that he had been under investigation for several months by the committee and IRB investigators.
Senator John Williams of Delaware
announced that Attorney General J. Howard McGrath had assured him
that Charles O'Gara would not be fired as Assistant U.S. Attorney in
San Francisco for his having told Senators that there was a "shocking
system of corruption
The President interrupted his vacation in Key West, Fla., to return to Washington to make a political speech at the National Woman's Democratic Club this night. He would return to Key West the following day. He again denied to reporters that he had spoken to General Eisenhower two weeks earlier regarding the General's acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency, during the General's visit in Washington with the President.
The United Chemical Workers Union reached a tentative agreement in mediation this date to end a strike which threatened to cut off the flow of blood plasma to the armed forces. The agreement still had to be approved by the members of the union, to be voted on this night.
In Raleigh, the director of Prisons, Walter Anderson, had received a letter, bearing no name or return address, from a person in Winston-Salem indicating his desire to exchange places with a person on death row, that authorities could use the electric chair or gas on him as they chose, that he was not afraid of death, was lonely and hungry, wanted Mr. Anderson to let him know by radio or newspaper when to come to Raleigh. Mr. Anderson said that he believed the person was discouraged and needed someone to cheer him up.
In Hollywood, the seven-week marriage of Franchot Tone to Barbara Payton appeared on the wane, after the couple had quarreled bitterly on Sunday night and separated the previous day, with Mr. Tone indicating his intention to file for divorce soon. They had been married September 29, shortly after Mr. Tone's release from a hospital where he spent several days recovering from a beating inflicted by actor Tom Neal in an argument over Ms. Payton. Mr. Tone had a lawsuit going against columnist Florabell Muir for invasion of privacy and defamation, alleging that she had listened to his telephone conversations with Ms. Payton. A court had ruled that Ms. Muir would not have to sit for a deposition until after Mr. Tone's criminal trial for battery and disturbing the peace, involving an allegation from October 29 that he spat in Ms. Muir's face and kicked her shins.
On the editorial page, "The Kids Are Victims of Buck-Passing" discusses a story that many Charlotte schoolchildren were not provided money for lunch, either because their parents could not afford it or because they would not fork it over. The buck was being passed regarding the matter, as the County Welfare Department, the Community Council, and the schools disclaimed responsibility.
The families of these children fell into three categories, those who were genuine charity cases, for whom responsibility fell to the Welfare Department, borderline charity cases, for whom responsibility fell to the Community Chest to lend a hand, and families with enough income to provide the lunch money but chose to spend it on other things, for whom responsibility fell to the courts. It concludes that it was not necessary to create a new government agency to handle the problem, but only that the buck-passing stop.
"The West Keeps the Initiative" discusses the West's proposal for disarmament just set forth by Secretary of State Acheson at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in Paris the previous day. It would merge the Atomic Energy Commission of the U.N. with the Commission for Conventional Armaments into a single 12-nation Disarmament Commission, comprised of the members of the Security Council plus Canada. That Commission would work out detailed plans for taking a world arms census, including inspection and verification, and propose a disarmament treaty which would include every country of the world.
The delegates had cheered the proposal, showing that there was genuine will for peace in the world. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky had remained silent during the talk, but was no longer deriding the West's proposal as he had the previous week when first made public, having initially called it "laughable". It had been Mr. Vishinsky who had pleaded for disarmament for several years and so could not easily dismiss the latest proposal, but also could not accept it, as its provisions for inspection and verification would be unacceptable to the Soviets behind the Iron Curtain. It posits that it would be interesting to see how he extricated himself from this predicament when he replied later in the week.
"Tax 'Settlements' Need Attention" tells of the recent IRB scandals having turned public attention toward the Justice Department, after the House subcommittee investigating the matter had sought the Department's tax fraud prosecution files, which the President had assured they would be able to see, followed by the abrupt firing of Assistant Attorney General Lamar Caudle, previously in charge of the tax division.
There was accumulating evidence that tax dodgers usually got off with light criminal penalties, if any. But, it suggests, the role of the Justice Department should not be over-emphasized in the process. A recent survey conducted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had shown that about 90 percent of tax cases never reached the Justice Department but were settled by the IRB through agreements or by civil litigation. The piece suggests that this area might prove fertile ground for the subcommittee's inquiry. Those who could exert political influence, it appeared, were in a good position to work out such deals whereby their tax obligations were settled for ridiculously low figures. It had been revealed already that some of the tax collectors had accepted bribes from taxpayers to resolve their cases favorably.
It adds that if initial revelations were any indication, the scandal might wind up dwarfing the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding Administration.
"Well-Groomed Gridsters" tells of the football game between Swarthmore and Haverford in Pennsylvania having adopted a new scoring regimen which included character. Teams were adjudged by their respect for authority, will to compete, bench conduct, player conduct, fan conduct, mental poise, alertness, perfection of play, physical fitness and appearance. Swarthmore had won 45 to 43, though Haverford won the actual grid score, 19 to 7.
Under such a system, Duke and UNC, it predicts, would the following Saturday engage in a pair of ties. It thinks that Davidson College ought adopt the system against Georgia Tech, as Davidson would need all the help it could get on the coming Saturday, when a character victory would be at least some solace for the likely outcome on the field.
A piece of from the Washington Post, titled "Wolf Calls to Clio", tells of the President having stated that he hoped that George McKee Elsey, who had assisted the President in writing a good many of his speeches, would compose a memoir of his time at the White House because he believed it would provide a "unique contribution to history". The piece thinks that, if it did that, it would considerably complicate the task for future historians of sorting out the history of the time, as such a mountain of memoirs had already been produced on the period that it would be difficult to discern which was sincere and which merely tendentious in its rendition of perceptions of the Administration.
Drew Pearson discusses the story run by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Providence (R.I.) Bulletin the previous week, alleging that Assistant Attorney General Lamar Caudle, recently fired by the President, had failed to prosecute two tax cases arising out of Mobile, Alabama. Mr. Pearson indicates that since he had something to do with the conviction of both of the tax evaders, he could supplement the story by way of demonstrating how sometimes tax cases were delayed and to provide fairness to Mr. Caudle, who had been "kicked around" a lot and, though indiscreet in his choice of friends, in the opinion of Mr. Pearson, was honest. He had imparted much of the story in his column on December 16, 1949.
The two alleged cheaters had retained the former law partner of Mr. Caudle, after which Mr. Caudle phoned his former partner and asked him to withdraw from the case, which he did. The pair then retained the former law partner of the U.S. Attorney in Birmingham. The case had not been tried by December, 1949 after it had been sent to the Justice Department for prosecution and there gathered dust. The U.S. Attorney in Birmingham held a press conference at which he stated he did not have sufficient evidence to proceed and had recommended therefore no prosecution to Washington. Jack Anderson, Mr. Pearson's reporter-researcher, had come up with additional facts when Mr. Pearson sent him to Mobile and Birmingham to investigate the story, facts which he had not published in the December, 1949 account.
He and Mr. Anderson had made a full presentation at the time, however, to the Justice Department and Mr. Caudle at the time regarding the new facts, which Mr. Pearson believed to constitute new evidence in the case, showing the two tax evaders had maintained two sets of books to hide receipts. During the conference, Mr. Caudle had stated repeatedly that it appeared there was enough evidence to prosecute, and immediately thereafter had sent Justice Department attorney John Mitchell to Mobile to reopen the entire case. The two tax evaders were then indicted, pleaded guilty and were presently in jail.
Mr. Pearson says that he believed at the time, but could not prove, that someone in Washington did not want the cases prosecuted, but that it was not Mr. Caudle, who had sent the case to Birmingham with a recommendation to prosecute long before Mr. Pearson entered the matter. After their conference, Mr. Caudle had appeared genuinely enthusiastic about moving the case forward to conviction.
He does not identify who it was he believed had been behind the delay of the case.
Robert L. Riggs of the Louisville Courier-Journal thinks sarcastically that it would be amazing if Arthur Krock of the New York Times did not receive a Pulitzer Prize for his stories regarding the President supposedly offering the Democratic nomination to General Eisenhower during his visit in Washington two weeks earlier, as Mr. Krock had made political news two days in a row, November 8-9, with exclusive stories, and then on the third day, November 11, admitted that he might have been mistaken. Moreover, he had hidden his admission so well that many readers did not notice it. He said that instead of an extended discussion during their private luncheon, the President and the General might have been able to dispose of their political discussion with a few brief words because they had been carrying on correspondence via mail. Mr. Krock also admitted that they may not have talked about politics at all, that the offers of the nomination had been communicated strictly through intermediaries. He quotes the paragraph verbatim.
Originally, Mr. Krock had claimed that the President not only had offered the Democratic nomination to the General, but that the General then had replied at length that he disagreed with the President's domestic program, especially the labor policies, specifically the proposed amendment to Taft-Hartley, and so believed it would be wrong for him to become a Democratic candidate as he feared the Democrats would adopt a platform endorsing the President's domestic program.
Joseph Alsop indicates that political observers were betting that General Eisenhower would announce his availability for the Republican presidential nomination within three months, by the first week in February at the latest. Until recently, the supporters of the General were fearful that he might follow the course of the late Senator Arthur Vandenberg, who had insisted on a genuine draft by the convention, one which never materialized because of the virtual impossibility of obtaining the support of sufficient delegates in such an abbreviated process. The supporters of Senator Taft, who included General MacArthur, would fight to the end at the convention against the nomination of General Eisenhower, requiring that he make it evident beforehand that he would accept the nomination if offered.
Before returning to Europe, General Eisenhower had said that such friends as Senator James Duff knew his mind perfectly and could safely foretell how he would "act and react", that he would say "the word" when and if the time came. Another step forward for supporters was the selection of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., to be the front person for the movement to nominate the General, enabling the formerly loose coalition of supporters to be transformed into a tightly knit organization.
A letter writer, with the first name
Ziggy, tells of having emigrated from the "cliff dwellings
A letter writer from Indianapolis urges everyone to get involved in the movement for better government, to thank God for the opportunities placed before them, to think more about brotherhood and "fairplay", and to prepare for the election of 1952.
Does that include fair play for
Cuba
A letter writer responds to a letter
of November 12 which had objected to the proposed Fair Employment
Practices Commission on the basis that its promises of equal
opportunity and equal pay in jobs regardless of race, creed, or color
were no more susceptible of realization than the promise of
Republicans during Reconstruction of "40 acres and a mule"
to the former slaves of the South. He finds the comparison without
basis as the latter had been proposed as a gift while FEPC
represented only a fair chance to compete with others to earn a
living. Whereas the previous letter writer had suggested that blacks
had full opportunity under the system of free enterprise, practice
had shown that such was not the case, that blacks who were fully
capable of performing certain jobs in public and private employment
were denied the opportunity for the sole reason of race. He indicates
that the FEPC legislation was more important to blacks than the other
proposed social legislation, even the opportunity to vote and attend
integrated schools
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