The Charlotte News
Thursday, October 16, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via George A. McArthur, that U.S. soldiers manning machine guns and crouching behind barbed wire barricades had this date shot down waves of Chinese Communists attacking the crest of "Triangle Hill" on the central front in Korea. Savage fighting had also occurred across the crest of "Pinpoint Hill", the dominant peak of nearby "Sniper Ridge". The enemy had stormed to the top and taken control of "Pinpoint" on two occasions, in close-quarters fighting. Each time, the South Koreans had retaken the height. When U.S. Seventh Division troops had captured "Triangle" on Wednesday, they had ringed the crest with barbed wire and were ready and waiting when a Chinese battalion of about 800 men swarmed up the slopes just after dark on Wednesday night. That attacking force was then chopped to pieces by machine gun fire. At dawn on Thursday, another battalion of enemy troops charged up the slope and again were cut to pieces by machine guns. The U.S. troops consolidated their positions on Thursday afternoon when they established themselves on the previously enemy-held knob of Triangle, following a 90-minute fight. An allied officer at the front said that the South Koreans had restored all of their positions by noon and were digging in against further expected Chinese counterattacks.
Allied warplanes and artillery hit the Chinese approach routes and the mountain from which the Chinese launched their attacks, located just to the north.
Correspondent Milo Farneti, on the central front, tells of a captain who had said that the "old colonel" "didn't have any damn business up there" on Triangle Hill, where the colonel had said he was going to place a rebel flag. The master sergeant had found it to be the most remarkable example of courage he had ever seen, as the colonel led an infantry charge, not his job, supposed to be directing artillery fire, and died on the edge of a Chinese trench at the crest of the hill. The master sergeant recalled that all of the men were stunned and shocked from a grenade shower and all of the officers and platoon sergeants had been hurt, when the old colonel had joined the outfit and quickly made it like new. The attack on the enemy trench had started at dawn on Tuesday in the largest allied attack of the year. Four times, two companies of the Seventh Division had tried to take the trench and each time they were repulsed by Chinese artillery, mortar and grenade fire. After the fourth assault, the master sergeant took command of his company, with every other senior leader having been killed or wounded, directing his men to dig into the sand and shale 50 yards below the crest of the hill, at which point the colonel showed up after dodging mortar and artillery fire all morning. He asked where there was a hole big enough for him to sit, then walked up to the top of the hill, looked in the trench and waved his pistol for the men to follow, yelling that there were no enemy troops in present. About ten men went up the slope after him and the colonel asked for grenades. The men threw him one, after which he went missing.
At the U.N. in New York, no strong opposition appeared to Russia's demand that the question be taken up immediately by the Political Committee regarding the truce in Korea. Secretary of State Acheson planned to outline the American position on the matter in a speech later this date, and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky would likely answer the following day. The Secretary's speech was expected to be of a general nature instead of a demand for Communist acceptance of a Korean armistice on U.N. terms, as originally conceived. The Korean question was 16th on the list of 72 items approved for the agenda of the session by the Steering Committee the previous day. Czechoslovakia had introduced a surprise proposal that the U.N. debate condemnation of the U.S. Mutual Security Act, charging that it aimed at interference with the internal affairs of the Soviet Union and other Communist satellite nations by financing "subversion, sabotage, espionage and terrorism" inside their territories. The Assembly had refused such condemnation the previous year. The Soviets joined Czechoslovakia in the renewed effort. The U.S. delegation said it would not oppose inclusion of the item.
In Tehran, the Iranian Government, through Premier Mohammed Mossadegh, broke off diplomatic relations with Britain this date regarding the 18-month long dispute over nationalization of the oil industry by the Government and expropriation of the 1.5 billion dollar holdings of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., appearing to rule out any chance of settlement. The previous January, the Government had closed Britain's nine consulates in the country. Britain's Foreign Office expressed no surprise at the move and issued no official comment. Britain had recently rejected the Premier's latest offer to settle the dispute. The Premier indicated that breaking of diplomatic relations did not mean breaking "the bonds of friendship" between the two nations, as Iran had always looked with respect to Britain, expressing the hope that the British Government would "give more attention to the realities of the present world situation and the awakening of nations" and would "forget" the attitude it so far had shown.
The President visited New England this date, beginning a new two-day train and auto tour through the region, stating in North Haven, Conn., that in November, voters should either "keep this country in the right groove" or "send it into the most disastrous war in the history of the world". He warned that the country had a chance of having 28 million unemployed, were the Republicans to win the election. About 500 persons had greeted the President at the railway station, where he boarded an automobile. The President appeared to be in high spirits as he waved to the crowd, and hundreds of persons lined downtown New Haven sidewalks as his motorcade passed. He was scheduled to make five additional whistle-stop speeches before arriving at Hartford for a prepared address in the afternoon. In that address, he challenged General Eisenhower, if he in fact had a panacea for Korea, to perform his duty as the President's military adviser and tell him of it immediately. Later in the afternoon, he would speak from his train in Springfield and Worcester, Mass., among other towns in that state and New Hampshire.
Governor Stevenson had received his
largest and noisiest campaign response in San Francisco the previous
night, and in a speech set for delivery in Sacramento at the State
Capitol this date, he planned to accuse General Eisenhower of
attempting to ride two political horses
Governor Stevenson was planning to meet 83-year old former Vice-President John Nance Garner on Saturday, at the latter's home in Uvalde, Tex., to have breakfast of pheasant, which Mr. Garner had raised himself. The former Vice-President under FDR had not cared much about politics since his departure from the scene in 1940 after Henry Wallace had been nominated in his stead at the Democratic convention that year. But he was preparing a good breakfast for Governor Stevenson, after having announced his support of the Governor a few days earlier.
In New York, General Eisenhower this date received the endorsement of the president of the AFL Carpenters' Union, M. A. Hutcheson, who said that the General had given him his word that he would make a sincere effort to eliminate the "unfair sections" of the Taft-Hartley law. The General conferred with Mr. Hutcheson and a group of small businessmen before leaving for New Jersey to open his campaign swing through the industrial East, after returning the previous night from a 16-day cross-country trip by train, plane and automobile, which took him into 28 states, including normally Democratic Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee, receiving large crowds in Fort Worth, Dallas, Shreveport, Memphis and Knoxville. Later in the day, Governor Dewey conferred with the General. This night, the General would speak at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel after earlier touring Hackensack and Patterson, N.J. The following day, he would speak in Wilmington, Del., then return to New Jersey and finally back to New York for a weekend of rest. On Monday, he would begin a ten-day concentrated trip by train and plane into the New England states, New York and Pennsylvania, and in the latter days before the election on November 4, was expected to spend most of his time in the East and Midwest in electoral-rich states.
The D.C. Court of Appeals held this date that mere membership in an organization listed by the Attorney General as subversive was insufficient for firing a Government worker, that there had to be a finding also of reasonable grounds for disloyalty in addition to membership. The case involved a decorated, legless World War II veteran who had been fired for alleged disloyalty by the administrator of the Veterans Administration. The Court set aside the order, but allowed to stand an order suspending the veteran pending a determination by the administrator of whether there was sufficient grounds for a finding of disloyalty. The veteran had been a member of the Socialist Workers Party, which was on the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations. He had lost both of his legs while serving in the infantry in Italy in 1943.
In Mexico City, Nationalist China had formally asked Mexico to hand over General P. T. Mow, former chief of a Chinese Air Force purchasing mission in Washington, so that he could be tried in Formosa on charges of embezzling more than five million dollars in government funds.
In Baltimore, George Grammer, accused of murdering his wife and then faking her death in an automobile accident, testified this date in his trial, saying that he had made up the story regarding his wife's death because he was tired after two days of relentless questioning by police and prosecutors and wanted to go home. The statement had led to the charge against him. The prosecution contended that he committed the murder to be free to marry a Canadian secretary who worked at the U.N. headquarters. Mr. Grammer said that he had requested to see his brother and an attorney while the police questioned him, but admitted not making the requests of the two prosecutors who questioned him. Defense counsel contended that Mr. Grammer was improperly induced to answer questions without a knowing and voluntary waiver of his rights, and examination was limited to the circumstances surrounding his admissions during the interrogation. The case was being tried before a judge, without a jury.
In Tucson, Ariz., a justice of the peace sentenced a father to an indefinite term of babysitting after the man's wife told the justice of the peace that her husband had spent all of his pay on beer and failed to support his minor children. The father said that he never had any fun because he was forced to stay home nights to take care of the children while his wife worked in a restaurant. He was ordered to pay his wife $10 per week for support of the children and be their babysitter every night.
On the editorial page, "N.C. Voters Get a Loaded Question" indicates that the newspaper favored approval of all three of the proposed amendments to the State Constitution, but finds the phraseology employed in the first such amendment, as printed on the official ballot, to be misleading. Presently, the State Constitution limited to 15 cents per $100 of valuation the tax which counties could levy for general fund purposes. The amendment proposed to increase that limit to 20 cents.
It indicates that the increase was justified and essential to meet the needs of the people. But because the ballot did not state existing law, merely stating the effects of a yes or no vote, it was misleading. It therefore urges that the ballot did not play fair with voters.
"Campaign Costs Go Up and Up" indicates that in the Pennsylvania Senatorial primary of 1950, each candidate had reported spending around $800,000, and the winner then had the additional expense of the general election campaign. It was being estimated that the two major parties in 1952 would spend at least 75 million dollars on the presidential campaign, with television and radio broadcast time adding to those expenses, as one nationwide 30-minute such broadcast cost $75,000.
The Herblock cartoon on the page this date pointed out the problem, but Senator Guy Gillette, former chairman of the Senate Elections subcommittee and an authority on the subject, in a recent interview in U.S. News & World Report, had offered no solution.
Federal law set a contribution limit of three million dollars for a political action committee in a campaign, defining such a committee as an organization or group putting forward a political candidacy in two or more states. There was no limit to the number of committees which could be formed. Individual contributions were limited to $5,000 each. But a wealthy individual could send $5,000 to a national committee, then $5,000 more to each state committee, and yet another $5,000 to as many local committees as the person might wish. The spouse of the contributor could also duplicate that contribution, as could a child of the contributor. Individuals could also donate $5,000 to individual candidates. Campaign deficits could be made up after elections, in which case no report was required. Likewise, no report was required for contributions made without the knowledge or consent of the candidate.
It indicates that that to cover the high costs of campaigns, the candidates had to obtain large contributions, which often placed an elected official under obligation to the donor. Efforts to obtain a greater number of small contributions had never proven very successful. No one had come up with a satisfactory answer to the problem and, it suggests, only public revulsion might finally put an end to it. Yet, it finds, that was doubtful in a nation which had long become conditioned to "elaborate ballyhoo". It suggests that unless, however, a remedy were found, "the sad day when elections turn on the fatness of party pocketbooks is not too far distant."
It did not foresee a day when a fat-cat billionaire would occupy the White House, with a little help from his friends in Russia.
"The Air Power Dispute Again" tells of General Lemuel Shepherd, commandant of the Marine Corps, after returning from an inspection trip to Korea, having called the Air Force and Navy attacks on North Korean supply lines a "fizzle", while admitting that the attacks on power plants and big industrial concerns were hurting the enemy. But the General had complained that they were bringing up more guns than ever before via their regular supply routes.
Secretary of the Air Force Thomas Finletter disagreed, saying that the enemy had been prevented from bringing up enough weapons and ammunition to sustain another major offensive. He also disputed General Shepherd's remark that air attacks in Europe would be even less effective than those in North Korea.
It indicates that it had been proceeding under the assumption that the air war was the most effective part of the U.N. defenses, having virtual unopposed command of the air over North Korea. But with General Shepherd's remarks and Secretary Finletter's contrary statements, it urges that the President ought determine who was correct and make adjustments accordingly.
"Memo to Readers of the News" tells of the newspaper, every election year in October, hearing from new persons with new ideas writing to the editors, some happy, some angry, some needing to get something off their chest. Because of the volume of such mail, during the closing weeks of the campaign, they invite readers to "fire away", either at the candidates, the parties, the newspaper, or other letter writers. It cautions against libelous or scurrilous attacks and demands that the letters be signed and be brief.
Here's one: Get a new publisher.
Drew Pearson tells of former President Herbert Hoover, who lived in the Waldorf Tower not far from General MacArthur, having been seeking a meeting between General MacArthur and General Eisenhower, which had not proved easy because the feeling between the two men had not been cordial since General MacArthur had sent General Eisenhower, then a lieutenant colonel, home from the Philippines shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. That had turned out to be the biggest break of General Eisenhower's life, as it placed him under General Marshall, who promptly promoted him up the ladder to become the top commander in Europe. Since the war, the relations between the two generals had been cool, and General MacArthur had worked with the Taft forces to try to prevent the nomination of General Eisenhower, had told an audience in mid-May in Lansing, Michigan, that it would be a "tragic development" if "the rigidity of military dominance and discipline" was called upon to redeem the "tragic failure of a civilian administration". General MacArthur had urged Governor John Fine of Pennsylvania to throw his state's delegation against the nomination of General Eisenhower. And General Eisenhower had been quoted as saying, "I studied dramatics under Mac for nine years."
Former President Hoover was afraid that the Christian Nationalist Party, which had nominated General MacArthur, might draw off enough votes from General Eisenhower in a few key states to cause his defeat. The former President had been working through RNC chairman Arthur Summerfield to effect such a meeting, and General Eisenhower had agreed to it, albeit refusing to call upon General MacArthur at the Waldorf and would only meet him if the General came to him. He had also nixed the idea of General MacArthur issuing a press communiqué after the talk. Some of General Eisenhower's advisers were unhappy about the prospect of such a meeting, fearing reaction to it would further alienate independent voters.
Russian reconnaissance planes had been spotted over the Japanese coast, report which had the Pentagon more worried than any report in months. Thousands of Russian workmen were building a giant Soviet air base on Ostrov Rudolph Island, six hours flying time from the U.S. airbase at Thule, Greenland.
A British textile designer had invented an unsinkable cloth, which the British were going to use to make unsinkable bathing suits to be exported to the U.S., as a means to raise dollars. (Are they going to call it the Molly Brown, similar to the Mae West? Leave it to the British to send us something we probably already have.)
Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett had turned down a Government contract for production of a snorkel-type jeep because they would cost $4,500 each.
At the U.N. General Assembly meeting, the U.S. would seek to get other free nations to send more troops to Korea. There were presently more than 40 anti-Communist countries in the membership, but only 17 had sent fighting troops to the war.
Pictures from Korea showed that the Navy drone plane had missed its target, a railroad tunnel, by several hundred yards.
Ambassador to France James Dunn had been instructed to deliver a formal note to the French explaining why the U.S. could not advance 650 million dollars the following year and to provide oral explanation of the more delicate reasons for the denial, such as French failure to fulfill NATO obligations. But the American Embassy in Paris had made the mistake of informing the French in advance of the nature of Ambassador Dunn's call on the French Premier, resulting in the French maneuvering to have Mister Dunn deliver the statement not to the Premier, but rather to his secretary. The result was that when the Ambassador began explaining the more delicate part of the reasons for declining the aid, the secretary asked for a copy in writing so that she could deliver it to the Premier, to which the Ambassador acquiesced, leading to irritation by the Premier, solidifying his position in France, where he had been under fire from both the Communists and the Gaullists for being too pro-American. The incident had hurt French-American relations, essential to defense of Europe.
The New York World-Telegram, in an editorial, tells of General Eisenhower being attacked for the very quality which had made him a military hero and fitted him for a position of leadership, his ability to effect unity, this time creating a team within the Republican Party. He had been criticized for endorsing Senators McCarthy and Jenner, and yet no one had criticized him during the war for continuing to accept General Patton as a member of his leadership team in Europe after the slapping incident in Sicily, or for flatly refusing to accede to the demand of Prime Minister Churchill that he be allowed to have a front row seat on the invasion of Normandy. No one then suggested that he was the "captive" of Joseph Stalin for permitting the Russians to take Berlin, while the Allies backed up to the Elbe.
Yet, now, some Americans who previously had led the cheering of the General were "yapping at his heels" "about the quality that makes him great!"
The editorial asserts that the quality of bringing national unity had made the General "the man of the hour in the present grave emergency, when the highest office in the land demands the strongest leadership the nation can provide."
It admits that the General was not "a fancy dan orator" but had stated the purposes of his candidacy in words which anyone could understand, to sweep out of the government corruption and scandal which had brought "dishonor at home and disrespect abroad", to "banish subversives and incompetents", and to "strengthen, revitalize and brighten American leadership in a free world."
It concludes that it was a big undertaking, but that so had been the invasion of Normandy, which the General had taken in stride, showing that he "knew how to do a big job in a big way", thus finding that he could handle "the new chore the same way."
The Raleigh News & Observer , in an editorial, finds that Senator Nixon had "shown himself the master of the half truth in ducking, but not denying, the well substantiated charge that he was a subsidized Senator", utilizing "the same half truth technique" he had employed in the Hiss case. The Senator had, on a television program, expressed shock that Governor Stevenson, in response to a request, had said that when he had known Mr. Hiss in the State Department, he had a good reputation—a statement made by the Governor in a deposition in Mr. Hiss's perjury case. The Senator had failed to note, however, that long after the time when the Governor had known Mr. Hiss, John Foster Dulles, General Eisenhower's principal adviser on foreign policy, as chairman of the board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, had been more responsible than anyone else for the selection of Mr. Hiss as president of that organization in 1946. The General, himself, had been a member of the board when, subsequently, Mr. Hiss was charged in 1948 before HUAC by Whittaker Chambers with dealing with Communists.
Governor Stevenson had worked in the State Department and with the U.S. delegation to the U.N. in 1945 and 1946 and had been asked in 1949 by Mr. Hiss's attorneys to come to New York and testify regarding Mr. Hiss's character, but declined and because he had by then become Governor of Illinois, could not be compelled to do so. He cooperated with a deposition, however, taken of him in Springfield regarding Mr. Hiss's reputation. While that shocked Senator Nixon, he had not mentioned the role of Mr. Dulles.
The Senator had said "magnanimously" that he did not believe that the fact of the deposition showed that the Governor was a Communist, but did not add that he did not think General Eisenhower or Mr. Dulles were Communists just because they had approved of Mr. Hiss becoming president of the Carnegie Endowment. It indicates that, with equal magnanimity, friends of the Governor could so attest, while asserting that Mr. Dulles and the General were simply more and longer mistaken than had been the Governor about Mr. Hiss.
"Nixon, of course, did not tell any of this. Nixon is dramatic about what he does tell and a falsifier by implication in what he does not. He knows that both Dulles and Eisenhower were more fooled than Stevenson about Alger Hiss. He knows that they were the men, when he thinks Stevenson should have known better, who honored Alger Hiss and after the years in which Stevenson had known Hiss were long past. He knows that by telling a half truth, he is trying to convince the American people of a lie."
It finds it fortunate that the Senator was gradually being caught "in his own dramatic half truths", by the frevelation of his 1950 post-election expense fund established by wealthy Californians. After he had called, in his September 23 address to the nation anent that fund, for the two Democratic candidates to disclose their finances, they had done so regarding all of their income during the previous ten years. Though he initially delayed, General Eisenhower had now also made public his income for that same period. But Senator Nixon said that he did not plan to disclose his income tax returns or further discuss his personal income.
"From his own point of view it is increasingly unfortunate that Dick Nixon cannot tell his half truth so late that the full truth cannot be disclosed to make clear his distortions about others and his deviousness about his own affairs. Such a man will probably come up with the big half truth just before the election. From the standpoint of America, therefore, it is fortunate that in two cases this Nixon has already shown himself a dramatic dodger and distorter who in neither the smear of others nor the emotional defense of himself can be trusted as either a candid or an honest man."
Now, that is no way to talk about
this nice young man. He has such a nice little doggie
A letter writer from Monroe thanks the newspaper for its editorial endorsing General Eisenhower and finds it encouraging that readers had voted in the newspaper's straw poll seven to one in favor of the General, but reminds readers of what had happened to Governor Dewey in 1948 and cautions against complacency.
A letter writer from N. Bergen, N.J., finds it understandable how the newspaper could regard General Eisenhower as a suitable man for the presidency, even while disagreeing with that assessment, but cannot understand "how a responsible editor can discover Presidential material in Senator Nixon". He cautions that the "considerable possibility" could not be ignored that the Senator might succeed to the Presidency during the ensuing four years, should the General be elected.
Don't worry. You still have 16 years
before that daunting prospect becomes a fact, to make those who care
cry
A letter writer from Rock Hill agrees with former Republican Congressional candidate P. C. Burkholder's letter of October 8, and wishes a labor leader to point out the "slave labor" portions of the Taft-Hartley law, says that otherwise he would continue to believe that it was good for labor and management and prevented the big labor leaders from making "slaves" of management and stockholders.
A letter writer suggests that Americans place themselves in the shoes of Europeans, and, for that purpose, read Leland Stowe's Target: You. She reminds that Americans had never had two world wars in their territory, with the necessity of time and money to rebuild afterward. She also indicates that it was much more difficult to do away with entrenched privileges in an old land than to forge a new life in a new land.
A letter from P. C. Burkholder responds to a doctor's letter of October 13 which had expressed surprise at the newspaper's endorsement of General Eisenhower, Mr. Burkholder saying that he was not surprised "that any public servant that is as well informed as The News should take a partisan stand and let the public know who it supports". He indicates that if the doctor were to place a placard on his desk stating support for the General, it would simply mean that he was a good doctor and a good citizen "interested in keeping democracy alive and in a healthy condition."
You still haven't said which candidate supports buttermilk.
A letter writer indicates gladness that the newspaper endorsed the General, saying that when the President had spoken in Harlem the previous week, two reporters had stated that he had mocked and degraded the South. She indicates that it was a pity that he had to go to the slums to obtain "his" votes, and that during his tour he had "told lies about Ike". She states that a vote for Governor Stevenson would essentially be a vote for the President. "Let's show him." She asks that her name be withheld because once she had been compelled to ask the President for a favor and it had been granted.
She probably received some welfare to obtain an operation to fix on her neck a new head.
A
letter writer from Elizabeth City indicates that the Administration,
"through shrewdness and pretense", was sure to figure some
way to take one's last three cents. She states that if it treated
"home folks like it treats those afar", everyone would live
in mansions and drive Cadillacs. "Hey diddle diddle. Joe plays
his fiddle. G.I.'s go marching to war. If both hands were free
First of all, we do not see too many people in Europe or in Japan or Korea driving Cadillacs or living in mansions. Second, who the hell is Joe? What the hell are you talking about? Are you insane?
If Stalin is the Joe to whom you refer, just what are you proposing, political assassination? or a third world war to finally resolve
A
letter writer wonders why "Harry T." would not come to
the South, whether he was afraid of a "Wallace
Welcome"—referring to the eggs
Framed Edition
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