The Charlotte News
Wednesday, October 22, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that South Korean troops, fighting through a fierce Communist mortar barrage, had recaptured the crest of "Sniper Ridge" this date, nine hours after having been chased from it by about 1,500 Chinese troops.
In the air war, U.S. Sabre jets and enemy MIG-15s battled in several engagements near the Yalu River, and allied pilots reported that one enemy jet had probably been destroyed and two damaged.
The Defense Department indicated this date that 963 casualties had been suffered by American forces in Korea during the week ending Friday, the most since the week ending July 2. Of the total, 133 had been killed in action, bringing the total number of Americans killed to 19,184, plus 794 wounded and 36 missing during the week, making those respective totals currently 90,114 and 12,819. It raised the total number of American casualties in the war to 122,117.
The President, touring Pennsylvania this date, stated that the Taft-Hartley labor law was supported by Republicans, Dixiecrats and "Shivercrats", referring to Democrats who had defected to General Eisenhower, such as Governor Allan Shivers of Texas. In Scranton, greeted by a crowd estimated at 15,000, he said that the General was "taking extreme liberties with the truth" in describing Social Security as a "bipartisan" issue, "intended," as with the Sirens of Greek mythology, "to beguile the voters and addle their brains, and cause them to go crashing on the rocks of Republican victory in the election." At Wilkes-Barre, he addressed a crowd estimated at 12,000 in the public square, including a heavy turnout of UMW local members and United Steelworkers, saying that the Republicans would seek to "drive the workingman back into slavery" with Taft-Hartley. Later in the afternoon, he would "pour it on" some more from the back of his train before a crowd in Johnstown, Pa.
Governor Stevenson, appearing before a crowd of 5,000 persons at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., charged this date that General Eisenhower was "completely confused about foreign policy". He said that the "quackery of medicine men who claim to cure the disease with words of hate and loud accusations" would never banish Communism from America. He continued that the country did not have the slightest idea of the position the Republican candidate would take on foreign policy if elected. He said that they did not know whether the General believed what he said regarding civil rights, whether what he said in the North or what he said in the South would be applicable. The crowd booed loudly when he mentioned Indiana Senator William Jenner. He praised the Catholic Church for opposing Communism in a methodical way, with deeds of courage when the opponent had to be met by force, deeds of patience and sacrifice when strength had to be met and opposed by strength controlled by restraint, and deeds of charity and generosity when the roots of Communism were best attacked by establishing social justice. He said that the Republicans needed to grasp the concept that their opposition to programs of social justice worked to oppose the effort to defeat Communism. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia had just endorsed Governor Stevenson the previous day, intended to offset the announcement by Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia that he could not support the ticket. The Governor said that he derived great personal satisfaction from Senator Russell's "generous estimate" of his capabilities to provide successful leadership.
The Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Senator John Sparkman of Alabama, was recovering in Bethesda Naval Hospital from an attack of laryngitis.
General Eisenhower visited Harlem for the first time during the campaign, addressing more than 250 civic leaders and 250 members of a choral group at a breakfast in the Hotel Theresa, stating that he did not intend to present to the country an "evil tongue" , found only in "disappointed men". He said that he was not a "medicine man" and did not have all the answers, that it was necessary to make the Constitution live or the form of government made no sense. He said that the aim of the Republican Party was to "make the United States shine brighter before the people of the world." He and wife Mamie spent about 40 minutes at the breakfast, and then left by car for LaGuardia Field to catch a plane to Hartford, Conn. He would also make appearances in Springfield and Pittsfield, Mass., before giving a major speech at Troy, N.Y., this night. The previous night, both the General and Governor Stevenson were heard before the New York Herald Tribune Forum, and their talks were considered about as non-political as they could be at the present stage of the campaign. The General had told the Forum that he favored a "new economic alliance of free nations" to fight against the Communist prediction that the free world was headed for economic doom.
The Post Office Department said this date that it was investigating a complaint that Senator McCarthy had misused his Senate franking privilege. The Department declined to disclose the source of the complaint or the material which had been mailed.
UMW president John L. Lewis insisted this date that the coal miners would obtain all of the raise for which they had negotiated with the mine operators, 40 cents of which had been blocked by the Wage Stabilization Board, allowing $1.50 of the negotiated daily wage hike. He said that the WSB action was an "attempted thievery" of milk money from miners' babies. The statement suggested that a long strike was in store, possibly extending beyond the election on November 4. Some of the mine operators hoped that they might circumvent the WSB ruling by negotiating the 40 cents into some different form, such as vacation pay, but Mr. Lewis appeared to nix that idea by insisting on the full pay raise.
In Oak Hill, W. Va., Senator McCarthy the previous night blamed the coal situation on the Administration.
In Washington, Chicago businessman George May was acquitted of contempt of Congress in a judge trial. He had appeared before the Senate crime investigating committee in May, 1951 and was asked questions about the operation of slot machines at a country club of which he was the business engineer and promoter, but had refused to answer on the ground of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Alton L. Blakeslee, the Associated Press science reporter, states that the first practical way of preventing much of the paralysis from polio had been disclosed this date after tests of 55,000 American children during the summers of 1951 and 1952, taking experimental shots, after which receiving a lollipop. The preventive material was gamma globulin from human blood, not a vaccine, but providing protection for about five weeks, during the critical period of normal infection occurring in the summer months. It could prevent polio epidemics from breaking out in localized areas.
Don't go swimming, except in the ocean.
Tom Fesperman of The News reports of Governor Earl Warren stopping over in Charlotte for an hour and turning it into a vote-getting opportunity for the Republican ticket, smiling and posing for photographers, while some of the 100 or so spectators at the Municipal Airport sought his autograph. One young man from Santa Monica said that he was passing through and wanted to shake the Governor's hand. State Republican leaders and Congressional candidate Charles Jonas were on hand to greet the Governor during the "Coffee Hour" session.
Ann Sawyer of The News tells of Virginia Warren, eldest daughter of Governor Warren, having arrived in Charlotte for the one-hour stopover with her father. She remained on the sidelines while the Governor made campaign appearances for the ticket. One man had gotten her autograph and someone else had told of her two children living in California. It was her first visit to North Carolina. A basket of apples from the western part of the state, presented by a local attorney, would acquaint her with the state's fruit. She ate breakfast, consisting of honeydew melon, scrambled eggs, toast and coffee, as she talked to the wife of Congressional candidate Charles Jonas, who had said that her Presbyterian upbringing led her to believe that Mrs. Warren had broken her foot and was hospitalized to get some rest, to which Virginia promptly agreed. Did she have wheat toast?
On the editorial page, "Nixon Distorts the Hiss Angle" refers back to the editorial of August 9 regarding the inappropriate efforts to link Governor Stevenson to Alger Hiss based on the Governor's 1949 deposition requested in the Hiss perjury trial, in which the Governor had stated that while he knew Mr. Hiss in the State Department and afterward, during mutual work in launching the U.N., he had a good reputation. The editorial had expressed the hope that the campaigns would not engage in such smear tactics, but says that those hopes were dashed when, ten days earlier, Senator Nixon had sought to make an issue of the deposition in a nationwide television broadcast, and since had increased his attacks and distortion of the facts.
It indicates that Senator Nixon did not tell the whole story, that he did not relate that Governor Stevenson was only responding to a question at the deposition regarding Mr. Hiss's reputation, instead claiming that the Governor had "gone down the line for the archtraitor of our generation", leaving the impression that he had actively defended Mr. Hiss.
It finds that it was obviously a truthful answer that the Governor had given, as Mr. Hiss's reputation had been good enough for John Foster Dulles to recommend him as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. (It leaves out the fact that Justice Felix Frankfurter had also recommended Mr. Hiss for the position.) It indicates that when Mr. Hiss, after being indicted for perjury in December, 1948, submitted his resignation to the Carnegie Foundation, the board of trustees had originally tabled it and given him instead a three-month leave of absence with pay. General Eisenhower had been a member of the board at the time, as had been Mr. Dulles. Those facts had been brought out by a committee of distinguished American lawyers, from both parties, who indicated that the Governor had acted properly and done what any good citizen would have done under the circumstances. The National Volunteers for Stevenson contended that if the Governor was to be criticized for his deposition, then General Eisenhower, Mr. Dulles and others were also subject to criticism for approving Mr. Hiss for the presidency of the Endowment.
It again indicates that it deplored
the injection of the Hiss matter into the campaign by Senator Nixon,
and was hopeful that General Eisenhower would take steps to "restrain
"The Courts Stand Firm" indicates that the previous Friday, the California Supreme Court had declared that a special loyalty oath required by the University of California Board of Regents ran afoul of state law, which was meant to occupy the field on the subject of loyalty oaths, and ordered the reinstatement of 18 professors. (The piece, in relying on the loosely stated reports, misunderstands the holdings in the separate cases, suggesting that the Court had found the oath "unconstitutional". To the contrary, the Court had found in one case the State oath Constitutional, while holding in the second case the special oath of the University to be in conflict with State law, but not unconstitutional. In a third case, it refused reinstatement to an instructor who refused to take the superseding State-required oath after taking that originally imposed by State law.)
The prior Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had unanimously ruled that the fact only of membership in an organization listed as subversive by the Attorney General was insufficient for discharge of a Government worker, without further evidence of actual disloyalty.
It concludes that in the day of the "Big Lie" and condemnation by association, the judicial branch was keeping its head.
"MacArthur's Returns" indicates that in Texas and Oregon, General MacArthur would be on the ballot as a third-party candidate, in a close race, potentially affecting the outcome in those two states, with a combined 30 electoral votes. Oregon had voted Republican in 1948, and Texas, Democratic. Both states appeared to be close in 1952, and it was therefore conceivable that General MacArthur could cost his former lieutenant and old bitter rival, General Eisenhower, the election.
"Retrenchment Doesn't Mean Depression" indicates that while Republicans had been saying that the current prosperity was based on preparation for war and the Korean War, Democrats claimed that but for defense preparation, the military spending could be funneled into more productive uses. It predicts that no matter who won the election, it was likely that the next administration would scale down the defense program. It considers whether that would precipitate a recession.
One of the leading business publications, The Journal of Commerce, believed that it would not, as a drop in excess profits by the corporations would mean a drastic drop in their excess profits taxes more than a loss of profits. Moreover, with a drop in sales, older equipment and plants would be scrapped or placed in standby status, reducing unit costs and improving profit margins. A relatively low percentage of earnings was being paid out as dividends currently and dividend rates would likely continue even after a moderate decline in profits after taxes. Higher depreciation allowances were also being deducted from earnings by virtually all corporations, thanks to the great increase in record plant and equipment outlays, which would decrease in a depression, allowing continuing depreciation allowances ahead of new plant investment.
It indicates that the Democrats might use such arguments to show that they had taken good care of business, while Republicans might say that the retrenchment some of them advocated would not bring with it severe economic repercussions. It concludes that, regardless, decrease in defense spending would not necessarily bring on a depression.
A piece from the New York Times, titled "The 'E' in UNESCO", indicates that the letter stood for "education" and was perhaps the key letter in the title of the agency. A UNESCO pamphlet had been withdrawn recently from the Los Angeles public schools because someone believed it was trying to "undermine patriotism and replace it with loyalty to world government", suggesting that a lot of people needed education. It urges that unless one took the view that one could not love one's own country without hating all other countries, UNESCO was not any menace to national loyalty, that it was not un-American or treasonable to want to eliminate illiteracy across the world, to disseminate truthful information through schools, libraries, newspapers, radio and films, and to exchange ideas and arts between the nations, as well as stimulate research and cause its results to be available, removing social religious and racial tensions in the process. Nor was it disloyal to wish to prevent war.
UNESCO sought all of those ends, and it finds that nothing could hurt Communism more than "the education of humanity for justice, liberty and peace", an objective mentioned in the preamble to UNESCO's constitution. It concludes that attacks on the organization were founded on ignorance and thoughtlessness, that the free nations had everything to gain and nothing to lose by enthusiastically supporting the agency.
Drew Pearson tells of Republican leaders having been placing pressure on Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon to prevent him from bolting to Governor Stevenson. Interim Senator Fred Seaton of Nebraska, who had been close to Senator Morse, telephoned him from New York to invite him to travel on the Eisenhower train, but Senator Morse had declined. Prior to that time, for more than a month, several Republican leaders, including former Governor Harold Stassen, had visited Senator Morse, attempting to dissuade him from his bolt. One such leader had tried to convince Senator Morse that General Eisenhower did not want to endorse Senator William Jenner of Indiana and had said that he would rather have punched him in the nose. But Senator Morse was even less enthusiastic at that point, saying that it made the General a hypocrite, just as with his surrender to Senator Taft after meeting him in New York. The Eisenhower representative sought to explain that it was no surrender, but was arranged to save Senator Taft's face, to which Senator Morse objected, saying that the General was not even at the press conference after the meeting when Senator Taft announced the terms of surrender. When the emissary sought to suggest that the General was trying to bring unity to the party, Senator Morse replied that the General had allowed the Taft people to run the party, saying it was not the Eisenhower he knew and that he was therefore abandoning his support.
Mr. Pearson expounds further on the efforts of Governor Stassen to retain Senator Morse's support, starting prior to Labor Day. The Senator's final decision to bolt was made after the General had toured New Jersey and the Senator had read his speeches, determining that he had deserted his principles. He said that he knew it was political suicide but that he had to live with himself, no matter who was ultimately elected.
A top Congressional investigator had been fired for trying to cover up for Chicago's Democratic boss, Jacob Arvey, seeking to leave his name out of a committee report after being assigned to investigate the Justice Department's handling of the Pabst Brewing Co. case, the company having been in trouble for shipping spoiled grain across the Wisconsin state line, something which Mr. Arvey had sought to fix with the Justice Department. The committee had agreed not to inform the press of the firing so as not to embarrass Congressman James Delaney of New York, who had recommended the investigator to the committee.
Marquis Childs, in Lincoln, Neb., tells of Republicans in Nebraska believing that, in contrast to the upset of 1948, the presidential election was under control in the state. Senator Taft had won the primary the previous spring and had returned recently to the state in the course of his 18-state tour, echoing his speeches of the first half of the year, attacking the "Acheson foreign policy", tying it to Governor Stevenson, whom he claimed was blaming the American people for mistakes in foreign policy. He said that the Governor was trying to shift the conversation away from the loss of China to talk about India, but that he did not believe he would be successful in doing so. He contended that Korea was not a U.N. war but had been a decision forced on the Security Council by the President, and that the nation was taking the brunt of the casualties and paying all the bills.
Senator Hugh Butler was on the stage with Senator Taft in a stop at Hastings, Senator Butler having been a strong supporter of Senator Taft and running for re-election to a third term at age 74. Former Governor Dwight Griswold was also running in the special election, to fill the seat of the late Senator Kenneth Wherry. Governor Griswold had been administrator for the Marshall Plan in Greece after serving in Germany after the war for the Administration, but favored a housecleaning of "intellectual pinks in Washington". Mr. Childs speculates that perhaps he was trying to clear himself of any suspicion of being among such a group, as he told his audience that it would be disloyal Americans rather than the Russians who destroyed the country.
Mr. Childs indicates that Nebraska appeared quite prosperous, with a record wheat crop and its fourth largest corn crop, with an impending drought only being a small cloud. Senator Butler was a shrewd politician and successful businessman who dominated Republican politics in the state, was in all respects a conservative, but sought Federal money for reactivation of a nearby Air Force base which would bring 15,000 men into the Lincoln area, and would not oppose Federal appropriations for a flood control plan for the Missouri River, which had flooded the previous spring. A Congressional committee was holding hearings on the matter and was preparing to issue a series of recommendations, guided in the effort by James Lawrence, editor of the Lincoln Star, who was executive secretary to the committee.
Robert C. Ruark tells of Hollywood producer Bill Tucker seeking to make a film about Charles "Lucky" Luciano, proposing to portray him as having attempted to leave the underworld and a victim of society, who had aided the Navy during World War II. Mr. Ruark suggests that he would not get very far in such an effort, as Mr. Luciano was a convicted procurer of prostitutes who had been deeply involved in the narcotics traffic, and was an engineer of murder, deported to Italy, able to get back to Cuba for awhile, in an effort to establish the narcotics trade for the underworld gambling interests operating out of the Caribbean.
Mr. Ruark had inadvertently, by dogging him, exposed him in Havana and caused the Cuban Government to expel him to Italy again. He had, nevertheless, hired a public relations man to try to sanitize his image, but had failed in the effort.
He says that he did not know Mr. Tucker, "but if he's looking to make a sociological accident out of a Sicilian hoodlum he's looking for a lump." He indicates that "good Sicilians" became mayors of New York, fine opera singers, great chefs, good barbers and excellent guitar players.
A letter writer wonders who was the Democratic nominee, the President or Governor Stevenson, says that if the Governor could not do his own campaigning, then he was not the right man for the job. He indicates, surprisingly, that he favors General Eisenhower, saying that he could at least speak for himself.
But what about Senators Taft, McCarthy and Jenner, and the corporate string-pullers?
A letter writer from Spartanburg, S.C., asks that mail be sent to a particular Army private.
A letter writer from Philadelphia indicates that one man in fifteen was sterile and suggests that adoption might be right for couples under those circumstances, or, if they did not want to adopt a baby, that they might resort to artificial insemination, encourages investigating those possibilities.
A letter writer indicates that Governor Stevenson had adverted to his cleaning up Illinois as the basis for his ability to clean up Washington, but suggests that the Governor had made the situation worse in Illinois, as there had been an increase in the number of major crimes reported during the first three years of the Governor's term over that of his predecessor, citing the statistics. Virgil Peterson, in Barbarians in Our Midst, published in 1952, stated, as the director of the Chicago Crime Commission, that the Chicago underworld remained safe under the new mayor. The letter writer concludes that apparently Governor Stevenson had not brought any change in that regard either.
A letter writer from Dover, Mass., finds that the Americans for Democratic Action was a "progressive socialistic movement, dedicated to making our great country adopt a form of socialism similar to Great Britain". He urges Americans to wake up as they were slowly losing their freedom, that a victory for Governor Stevenson would be a victory for the ADA and not the true Democratic Party.
Whatever you say, dude.
A letter writer from Rock Hill, S.C., finds that columnist Erich Brandeis used a lot of words to say very little, that his column took up a lot of room on the features page, that perhaps he was paying newspapers to print his "stuff", hopes that one of these days he would say something. He had not found anyone in his area who read Mr. Brandeis, finds the rest of the newspaper fine, suggests leaving out Mr. Brandeis.
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