The Charlotte News
Saturday, October 4, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Stan Carter, that the U.S. Fifth Air Force said that U.N. Thunderjets had blasted a North Korean coal mine into ruin while Sabre jets downed two additional enemy MIG-15s and damaged five others this date. Forty-eight B-29s had hit a large chemical plant in North Korea on October 1, rendering it "completely unoperational".
Six allied warplanes had been lost during the previous week ended Friday, two of which were in air combat and two to anti-aircraft fire, while the two others were lost to other causes.
In ground action, allied infantrymen recaptured three western front outpost hills, including "Big Nori", driving off two enemy squads on the latter and remaining on its crest late in the afternoon. The hill had been reoccupied without a fight on the previous day and then abandoned. Also recaptured were two of four hills seized by the Chinese Communists on Thursday night. An outpost south of Panmunjom had been lost by the allies on Friday.
A report from the First Marine Division in Korea tells of a raid on a hill, where the Marines had been told that there was a squad, finding three squads at the crest instead. A private said that they were saved by the fact that there was only one soldier on watch and he had not heard their approach until they were almost on top of him. They faced grenades from every angle, throwing grenades and then having them thrown right back. A sergeant complained of the stench, wondering if the enemy soldiers ate anything other than garlic, saying he would bet that they could knock out the Americans by simply breathing.
Senator John Sparkman, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, listed his income this date for the previous eight years at a gross total of $89,497. He declined to make public the tax returns of his wife, who worked as a receptionist in his Senate office. He said that he had never transferred anything to his wife. His principal income had come from being a member of the House and then of the Senate. Other sources of income came from a rented farm and house in Alabama and dividends from mutual investment funds.
The President, in a speech prepared for delivery at a luncheon at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco to the state and county Democratic organizations and the Independent Citizens Committee on Election Issues, attacked General Eisenhower as "a tool for others" and Senator Nixon as a Californian not worthy to lace the shoes of Governor Earl Warren. He said that the Republicans had turned away from the liberal Governor in seeking the vice-presidential nominee. The President would speak in Oakland this night, where he continued some of the same themes, saying that the Democrats had not injected foreign policy into the campaign, referring to Senator Taft, without naming him, as the "top snollygoster" of the Republican Party who had done so, later saying that the snollygosters had captured General Eisenhower. The President had received his worst heckling of the trip thus far at a stop in Wenatchee, Wash., on Thursday, confronting at the end of the speech the "paid kid" with an "I Like Ike" sign, saying that he liked him, too, but as a general and so wanted to send him back into the Army.
General Eisenhower, speaking in a Milwaukee arena the previous night to about 10,000 people, continued his attack on the Administration, which he said was "confused by the opiate" of Communist deceit, finding further that the effort to minimize the Communist infiltration of the Government had been a "criminal folly". He also contended that Governor Stevenson had sought to dismiss the problem lightly. Senator Joseph McCarthy spoke to the crowd shortly before the General, receiving a chorus of cheers, punctuated by some boos. He said that he thought General Eisenhower would make a great president, though admitting that he and the General did not agree on everything. At one point during his speech, a fight broke out between two youths at the rear of the arena. The General continued his tour in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Governor Stevenson, campaigning in Fort Dodge, Iowa, said that he would stack the Democratic farm record alongside that of the Republican record of obstruction and warned that the farmers better be careful on election day. He continued to state that General Eisenhower had surrendered to the policies of Senator Taft. He said that year after year, social advances sponsored by the Democrats had been met with shouts of "socialism", as Senator Taft had said Thursday night in Cleveland. He indicated that while the Republicans were claiming it was time for a change, the Democrats had already brought about real changes for the farmer, who had four times the income of 20 years earlier. He had campaigned in Columbus, Ohio, the previous night, and would move on to St. Paul, Minnesota, this night.
The respective physicians for General Eisenhower and Governor Stevenson reported that each candidate was in good health, in response to questions submitted by a national magazine and the NEA news service. Governor Stevenson's physicians said that he kept from becoming overweight by voluntarily restricting fattening foods in his diet and had gained only 15 pounds in 27 years since he was 25. General Eisenhower's doctors said that he had an excellent appetite but watched his diet. The General wore glasses to correct farsightedness. He said that his favorite outdoor recreation was golf. Governor Stevenson played tennis.
In Raleigh, Governor Kerr Scott, speaking this date to the annual CIO PAC state convention, warned against a Southern bolt from the Democratic Party and sharply criticized party members who were supporting General Eisenhower. He said such persons were "pure Republicans". He believed that some Democrats who had been "poor as Job's turkey" 20 years earlier had made so much money that they now believed General Eisenhower could save the country. He wondered how much money he would have had he become an Eisenhower Democrat.
Secretary of State Acheson and his principal aides this date started studying means of retaliation against the Soviet attacks on Ambassador to Moscow George Kennan, which would probably take the form of a protest note shortly to be delivered to the Kremlin. It was likely that the Moscow Embassy would be left vacant for a long time as an expression of American resentment for determining that Ambassador Kennan was "persona non grata". It was, as far as officials could determine, the first time in history that an American Ambassador had been ousted on that ground. Some believed that Moscow would recall its Ambassador to the U.S., Georgi Zarubin, in response.
Dispatches in a Vienna newspaper said this date that a Communist court in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia had sentenced a Roman Catholic bishop and three priests to be shot to death after they were convicted on charges of espionage. Twenty other priests were also convicted on charges of espionage and anti-state activities.
In Freeport, Maine, a bank manager, described by fellow townspeople as one of the most respected members of the community, admitted embezzling at least $158,000 from the bank. The 67-year old man was a veteran of both world wars and a former Army colonel. The U.S. Attorney said that he had embezzled the money over a period of many years by juggling accounts.
In Belmont, N.C., two persons were killed in a head-on collision of two automobiles near the South Fork River bridge on Wilkinson Boulevard early this date. Police indicated that there were no eyewitnesses to the collision and each motorist was driving alone at the time of the accident.
Not on the page, in Yankee Stadium this date in the fourth game of the World Series, the Yankees would again tie the series at two games apiece with a win over the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0.
On the editorial page, "How You Lose Your Sovereignty" indicates that many people had said that they did not see much difference between the candidates and so intended not to vote. The natural reaction was to say that they should not then complain about who was elected, a legitimate reaction.
It indicates that presently, there was minority rule in the country, as only 51 percent of eligible persons had voted in 1948, so that the majority who elected the various representatives at each level of government consisted of only slightly more than a fourth of all eligible voters.
Sovereignty, it suggests, resided with the voters. The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, had said that in establishing the Constitution, "the people exercise their own sovereignty rights and their proper sovereignty." He went on to say that the people were sovereigns without subjects, with none to govern but themselves as "joint tenants in the sovereignty".
It urges registration and provides the dates on which to register until election day on November 4.
"The New Bible" tells of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible published during the week and its revisers having had a difficult task, but having produced a solid work which preserved the beauty of the King James Version while making it more inviting to modern readers. The Revised Standard Version of the New Testament had first appeared in 1946 and now was joined by the Old Testament, following a total of 15 years of research.
It provides an example of the differences in the versions by citing Jeremiah 12:5, quoting the text of each version. It finds that while there was some elimination of the poetic phrases of the older version, those who preferred the King James Version could continue to read it. The newer version had greater accuracy and readability, encouraging more persons to read it with a fuller appreciation and understanding.
"Salute to the Newspaper Boy" tells of Benjamin Franklin at age 12 having been apprenticed to his brother as the first newspaperboy, and, by his own account, after working in composing the types and printing off the sheets, was employed to carry the papers. Now, it indicates, there were about half a million newspaperboys, distributing about 80 percent of the 52 million newspapers published in the country every day. All except about 3 percent of them were independent merchants, buying their papers at the source and collecting in turn from subscribers.
It indicates that these boys were learning how to handle some of the problems to be faced later in life, dealing with people, some of whom could be difficult and demanding, keeping a record of finances and being faithful to the requirements of the job. Those who had delivered newspapers included Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Cardinal Gibbons, former President Warren Harding, Al Jolson, Adolph Ochs, Knute Rockne, former Governor Al Smith, deceased Senator Arthur Vandenberg, William Wrigley and thousands of others.
It offers its salute to those who delivered the newspapers of the nation on Newspaperboy Day.
"On Robots and the Human Spirit" tells of a columnist for the Baltimore Sun having received a letter from a friend who had been driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway recently, in which he told of having found it thrilling "to see a mountainside where generations of patient little men" had created a series of terraces and grown things from the rocky soil. But he had become bored in driving through villages without seeing hardy mountaineers, gay inns or colorful costumes, seeing only other automobiles exactly like his driving at the same speed "as if carried along by a single cable", to the point where he felt like a "robot", finally turning off the Parkway "to get down into human ugliness again".
The piece indicates that it knew many people like this person, who could not sit on the porch on a late fall afternoon and meditate upon the beauty of a changing scene without a comic book in hand or radio blaring in the ear. There were others at the opposite extreme, such as a camera bug who took only landscapes and refused to take a picture if any person was in it. It indicates it felt sorry for the friend of the columnist, for if there was anything that kept a person from feeling like a robot it was "to drive slowly along the Blue Ridge Parkway, free of the trucks and buses and neon signs and beer joints and pedestrians and bicyclists and to know that here Nature is still in charge of decorating the roadsides and the tumbling mountains", making the individual feel "insignificant and unimportant" but never as a robot.
Drew Pearson tells of the Joint Chiefs having given careful consideration to some plan by which the prolonged stalemate in Korea could be ended, fearing that if the war dragged on for another winter, the public would become so apathetic that the Defense Department would be in an untenable position. Chief of staff of the Air Force, General Hoyt Vandenberg, had been urging that American ground troops be pulled out of Korea completely and the ground war turned over to American-trained South Koreans. The U.N. could provide air support and supply equipment to those troops, leaving the Chinese as the only foreign force in Korea, tending to unite the Koreans against them. Presently, there was considerable anti-American feeling among the Koreans. General Vandenberg also believed that Korea might be protected through a public ultimatum by the U.N., that if Chinese aggression were renewed against South Korea, the Chinese mainland would be attacked by air and the Chinese coast blockaded by the Navy.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Omar Bradley, however, did not agree with that advice, and neither did General Joseph Collins, chief of staff of the Army, nor Admiral W. F. Fechteler, chief of staff of the Navy. They indicated that thousands of American prisoners of war in Communist camps could not be abandoned in that manner.
The only remaining obstacle in the truce talks was the issue of exchange of prisoners of war, and the Chinese appeared not to have any intention of settling that issue. General Bradley, however, argued that as long as the talks continued, there was hope.
There was discussion inside the Defense Department to force the Communist hand by blockading the Chinese coast, which the Navy was prepared to do. The problem was that the U.N. allies were against such a blockade. The British especially opposed it, on the ground that they could lose Hong Kong.
Henry Fowler, chief of the mobilization program, would soon announce that the country had enough new factories and machine tools to permit a major speed-up in mobilization, permitting the country to reach its defense goals by 1954, the year of greatest danger from the Russians. Previously, the country was not expected to reach that goal until 1955. Mr. Fowler indicated that if the Administration and the Congress were willing to spend the money and allow the program to go ahead, the U.S. would be prepared to meet any Russian threat.
Governor Dewey had been so worried about the problems of Senator Nixon's expense fund that he had asked friends across the country to wire their immediate reaction to the broadcast of September 23 by the Senator. Mr. Pearson notes that Governor Dewey was among those who had recommended Senator Nixon for the vice-presidential nomination.
Pravda's attack on U.S. Ambassador George Kennan was the tip that a move was on to force him out of Russia. The Kremlin knew that the Ambassador knew Russia too well and wanted his brilliant reports to the State Department stopped.
The Navy's television-guided drones were not the only guided missiles being tested in Korea, as the Army was also experimenting with a top-secret guided missile under battle conditions and the Air Force was training two guided missile squadrons for deployment in Korea after the beginning of the year.
The Russians had started building long-range bomber bases along the shore of northern Siberia, permitting a short hop across the North Pole from Canada, within easy range of Seattle, Detroit and Chicago. The Russians had also started making daily weather flights across the North Pole.
The Government would pay more than 20 million dollars in crop insurance to farmers who had lost two crops during the summer drought.
Robert Morris, counsel for the McCarran Internal Security Committee, had been passing material to Senator Nixon regarding Owen Lattimore and the Institute of Pacific Relations, and the Senator was planning a major speech on Communism and the Truman Administration. Following the first deluge of mail regarding Senator Nixon, the RNC was receiving a lot of late letters wanting to know how the Senator had obtained the $20,000 down payment for his Washington home. A survey had shown that women were more in favor of Senator Nixon than men.
The President was genuinely upset with General Eisenhower, having originally believed that even if he ran as a Republican, foreign policy would not be an issue, and the country would be left on an even keel. But with the shift of the General toward Senator Taft, he had changed his mind.
Evie Robert, the wife of the former DNC treasurer, said that Mrs. Nixon had a Republican cloth coat, not a mink, and that her husband had never bought her a mink, leading her to speculate whether he was a Republican at heart.
Marquis Childs, in Detroit, tells of Republicans being confident of a victory for General Eisenhower in Michigan, the state having voted for Governor Dewey in both 1944 and 1948. The heavy labor vote in the cities had proved illusory, and the areas outside the cities were heavily Republican.
Despite that fact, Governor G. Mennen Williams, who was running for a third term, was favored to win. But he did not make much of an effort to have a coattails effect. Incumbent Senator Blair Moody, appointed by Governor Williams to fill the seat of deceased Senator Arthur Vandenberg, had run hard for re-election, but was facing a stiff challenge from Representative Charles Potter, who had lost both legs in combat in Europe during World War II. His emotional appeal therefore was great, just as was that of the national ticket, headed by General Eisenhower.
Mr. Childs notes that he had reported earlier that the Los Angeles Daily News had supported Senator Nixon for the Senate in 1950, which was in error.
Joseph Alsop, aboard the President's campaign train, indicates that the President had set out to nail General Eisenhower to a lot of uncomfortable issues and was enjoying his self-imposed assignment as he had seemed to enjoy little else during his time as President. Judging by the reaction of the large audiences in the Northwest, he might cause trouble for the Republicans. He indicates that as a political phenomenon, the tour had to be seen to be believed. For nearly 3 days, the same remarkable scene had repeated itself in the little towns of northern Montana and Washington, with large, genial and prosperous looking crowds turning out to see and hear the President. Since the President's decision to retire the prior March, the people had appeared to forget whatever they might have held against him in the past and received him warmly, appearing to regard him now as "a nice little guy".
That which he was saying during the whistle stops did not vary greatly from what he had said in 1948. The themes were the same, revolving around the "special interests", the "monopolists", and the alleged Republican record of subservience to those interests. But the President appeared more relaxed and genial, coming across in a fatherly manner. When he grinned, the crowds grinned back.
His message was that he liked General Eisenhower as a military man, but that he had allowed himself as a candidate to be captured by the wrong people and did not know any better. He thus suggested that the people had to rescue the General from "captivity" by voting for Governor Stevenson.
He attacked the General as a tool for the Taft wing of the party and the "special interests" and their lobbyists. That attack could not be simply shrugged off until General Eisenhower dealt at greater length with particular issues. The President's speech at Kalispell, Mont., was astutely designed to cause people in the region to fear the Republicans.
Mr. Alsop concludes that the President's plan might be right or wrong, proper or improper, just or unjust, but as a matter of practical politics, amounted to a tough plan being executed by a "tough and hearty political operator". He concludes, therefore, that the President might yet exert great influence in the campaign.
A letter writer indicates that General Eisenhower had said that the South had for too long been neglected and taken for granted, and so had become the first Republican nominee to campaign in the state since William Jennings Bryan in 1896—the writer having some problems, as Mr. Bryan was a Democrat who ran against William McKinley, the Republican, becoming the Democratic nominee on two subsequent occasions as well. He urges Republicans to take the opportunity to avoid "four more years of the mismanagement and misdemeanors, cronyism and corruption of the past several years; four more years of creeping and galloping toward the godlessness of totalitarianism".
Whatever you say.
A letter writer finds that the newspaper had the germ of an idea in its October 1 editorial, "McCarthyism, Truman Style", but had not carried it far enough. He finds that the editorial had been willing to castigate the President for his statements, but allowed General Eisenhower's "bon mots" to go unnoticed. He quotes the General as having said that he had heard that they had arrested a few more Communists and that it was about time they were cleared out of the government, causing reporters to look at one another aghast, as those arrested had been party functionaries with no connection to the government. He complains that the newspaper had said nothing about that kind of "McCarthyism". The General had also contended that NATO, the Japanese peace treaty and the Berlin airlift were all good things which came from the efforts of Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg, while the bad things, the loss of China, the war in Korea, and other such problems resulted from Administration "blunders". The General had also said that he intended to consult the best oil men in the business regarding the subject of tidelands oil, and said that he intended to consult the immigration experts on the restrictive McCarran Immigration Act. The General had also said that as President he would bring in such purchasing agents as the president of the Chrysler Corporation, not realizing that he was already working for the Defense Department for the previous two years, in charge of the entire guided missile program. He concludes that it was certain that General Eisenhower was no Wendell Willkie, the Republican nominee in 1940, as Mr. Willkie had said that he did not have to be President, in response to the suggestion that he attack his closest friend who was working for FDR. He concludes that General Eisenhower apparently had to be President at any cost.
A letter writer from Chicago tells of a cover-up of Stevenson Administration scandals in Illinois State Government, including the squandering of state funds from a surplus of about 15 million dollars left over from the previous Administration, the horse meat scandals, and the indictment against the board of health president which was so faulty it was thrown out of court. And he goes on, talking about half rabbit and half horse, and some other crazy nonsense, saying he was glad at reading of the reception his fellow North Carolinians had given to General Eisenhower, indicates that armies had won wars while politicians had twice lost the peace.
Framed Edition
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