The Charlotte News
Monday, November 17, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Communist Chinese artillery issued a furious barrage at "Pinpoint Hill" and "Rocky Point", which may have indicated a prelude to an after-dark infantry assault. Allied artillery issued a response, seeking out the big enemy guns, which were firing 1,200 shells per hour at the entrenched South Korean defenders, beginning in the morning and continuing through nightfall. The latest reports indicated that the South Koreans were withstanding the barrage. The artillery duel began during a brief lull in the fighting on the front, where snow and freezing temperatures occurred this date. The previous day, the Chinese had launched three drives against allied positions on "Pinpoint", the key height of "Sniper Ridge", none of which having been of greater strength than two platoons, equivalent to 80 men, and all having been repulsed by the South Koreans.
Elsewhere on the central front, Eighth Army troops assaulted Chinese-held "Jackson Heights" east of the Chorwon Valley the previous day, but the drive had failed and the U.N. troops forced to withdraw after an hour and 40 minutes of fighting.
U.S. Sabre jets had shot down at least five enemy MIG-15s over northwest Korea this date, with a sixth pending confirmation. One other enemy jet was listed as probably destroyed, with one damaged. Allied losses, if any, had not yet been announced. The air battles resulted in a new ace in the Korean War, Col. Royal Baker of Texas, who shot down one of the jets, to raise his total to four, plus one propeller-driven fighter, five kills being necessary to become an ace.
General Mark Clark, supreme commander of the U.N. forces in Korea, denied published reports that he had asked for additional U.S. divisions to mount an offensive in the war, as had been reported by the Chicago Sun-Times the prior Saturday.
At the U.N. in New York, India introduced to the General Assembly a four-page resolution intended as a compromise regarding the prisoner of war issue, the remaining roadblock to a truce in Korea. A key part of the proposal was that the prisoners would be sent to a demilitarized zone immediately after a cease-fire, where a four-power commission would screen them and determine whether they wanted to return home or go to other countries. Some sources said that Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Switzerland had been suggested as the members of that commission, and it was known that the U.S. did not like that constituency. The 60-member Political Committee was preparing to resume debate on the Korean War this afternoon, with two speakers scheduled, one from White Russia and the other from Peru.
Elton C. Fay, Associated Press military affairs correspondent, reports that the Atomic Energy Commission had officially disclosed that "thermonuclear weapon research" had taken place in connection with the recent series of tests on Eniwetok in the Pacific. The statement indicated that the AEC was concerned about letters which had been attributed to eyewitnesses to the explosion, describing the November 1 detonation as a hydrogen bomb, and that investigations were underway which could lead to possible disciplinary action or prosecution for violation of task force regulations or the law. The Atomic Energy Act prescribed the most serious penalties for violations of security, including death, life imprisonment, or 20 years imprisonment plus heavy fines. The chairman of the joint Atomic Energy Committee, Congressman Carl Durham of North Carolina, said that "thermonuclear weapon research" had occurred "on schedule" in the tests.
The Supreme Court this date refused for the second time to grant a hearing to convicted atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, sentenced to death for passing atomic bomb secrets to Russia.
In Athens, the Greek Government this date resigned and King Paul immediately appointed war-hero Marshal Alexander Papagos, the victor in the previous day's parliamentary elections, as Prime Minister. His right-wing party had received 241 seats to 59 by the opposition leftist-center party, headed by General Nicholas Plastiras. The Papagos party had won the most seats also in the 1951 elections, but the King had entrusted the Government to the Plastiras coalition. With 51 percent of the vote, Marshal Papagos received the largest popular victory since 1928 in Greece, when Eleutherios Venizelos came to power. The Communists had won 12 percent of the popular vote but did not win any seats in Parliament. While the U.S. had maintained a "hands-off" policy with respect to the election, U.S. authorities believed that a victory by Marshal Papagos would stabilize the poverty-stricken country, which had received two billion dollars in American economic and military aid since World War II.
Congressional leaders expected President-elect Eisenhower and President Truman to agree at their conference the following day at the White House regarding a statement telling the world that the country was united in its quest for peace. The members of Congress, who did not wish to be identified, said that they believed a joint statement was necessary to clear the air after the campaign and resolve doubts within the world community as to planned continuity of U.S. foreign policy. Few expected the President-elect to do more than listen at the conference, as he had already stated that he would not share in or assume responsibility for any Administration decisions prior to inauguration day. It was expected that he would be filled in on progress regarding the hydrogen bomb, that the President might urge him to name top cabinet officers dealing with foreign and security problems within the ensuing two weeks so that they could get to work with present officials, that the President and his advisers would tell the President-elect that a statement by him on Korea, endorsing the present policy of insisting on voluntary repatriation, would greatly strengthen current negotiations ongoing at the U.N., and that the President would give the President-elect an opportunity to express his views on foreign policy, which the President would take into consideration in making decisions through the remainder of his term.
Republicans were planning a large parade from the Lincoln Memorial down Constitution Avenue past the Washington Monument and onto Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, as part of the welcome of the President-elect to Washington. The President had ordered Government agencies to allow workers time off to participate in the reception, which would be nationally televised by the four major networks, from the time of the arrival of the President-elect at National Airport through his arrival at the White House.
That ought to be exciting. Can we take the television set to school?
The President-elect would not stop in Japan en route to Korea, according to a source in the Foreign Office in Tokyo, that an informal note to that effect had been received by the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. The primary reason for skipping Japan was security, to avoid Communist demonstrations.
John L. Lewis and the soft coal industry engaged in a last-ditch effort this date to obtain from Economic Stabilizer Roger Putnam reversal of the Wage Stabilization Board decision to cut by 40 cents the $1.90 per day wage increase negotiated between the industry and the UMW. Coal prices had just been raised the prior Saturday to offset the resulting pay increase of $1.50. Mr. Putnam, with oversight of the WSB, chaired by Archibald Cox, heard oral argument from Mr. Lewis and industry spokesman Harry Moses as to why the WSB decision should not be upheld. During the weekend, the CIO stated that wage controls might as well be scrapped, and an AFL leader indicated that certain wage controls should be dropped unless changes were made.
During the weekend, 88 persons had been killed or were missing in the disappearance or crashes of eight U.S. military and three civilian aircraft. Some 31 passengers and crewmen aboard two U.S. Air Force transports were missing, 48 were known dead in crashes of a military transport, a fighter plane and three Navy craft, and nine had been killed in the two civilian crashes in Kansas and Delaware.
In Durham, N.C., Dr. A. Hollis Edens, president of Duke University, released a letter this date in which he said to Senator Willis Smith, in response to some comments in Goldsboro by Louis F. Parker, the former North Carolina commander of the American Legion, that some Duke faculty members were in contact with the Communist Party, Dr. Hollis stating that he was "in complete accord with the action of proper authority which seeks to make men responsible for public statements reflecting upon the character of institutions or individuals." Mr. Parker had stated that he had learned that the FBI was investigating a member of the Duke faculty for alleged contact with the Communist Party. Dr. Edens told Senator Smith that he would be glad to testify before the Senate investigating committee regarding his knowledge of Communism at Duke. He believed that the remarks of Mr. Parker had been "the result of an unfortunate error of judgment" and he had confidence in the "integrity, mature judgment and intellect of employees" of the Duke faculty, but if there had been lapses and instances of disloyalty, there should be no hesitation in letting the facts be known.
In London, the Food Ministry had discovered that high quality meat had been imported from New Zealand and sold off rations to butchers, who then gave their sausages 15 percent more meat content than the Government regulations permitted. The Ministry believed that demand for the better tasting sausages would increase so much that it would interfere with the Government's bulk purchase of meat from New Zealand, the country's chief source of supply.
In Harlow New Town, England, someone
had started a rumor that the Duke of Edinburgh, visiting the town,
would not wish to see washing strung up on the lines and that the
Duke wanted lawns neatly cut, prompting the citizenry to accommodate,
until another report indicated that the Duke liked to see washing on
the line on Monday mornings while older residents in nearby Harlow
Old Town urged that one never usually cut grass with frost on it. In
consequence, when the Duke arrived
In Eaton, Tex., the nation's oldest Confederate veteran celebrated his 110th birthday surrounded by his family, saying that he intended to live to be 120, that his grandfather had lived to be 119 and that he was going to beat it.
The front page reminds that there are only 32 shopping days left until Christmas, excluding Sundays. Better hurry before the shelves are laid bare.
On the editorial page, "Way Clear for Electoral Reform" indicates that prior to the election, it had been speculated that General Eisenhower might win a popular vote victory but lose in the electoral college to Governor Stevenson, a prospect which was always a potential in any presidential election.
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., had sponsored legislation to amend the Constitution to provide that the electoral college would cast its votes in proportion to the popular vote in each state, that proposal having passed the Senate in 1950 by a vote of 64 to 26, but failed in the House by a vote of 210 to 134.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch had determined after the election that under the Lodge-Gossett proposal, the result would have been 293 electoral votes for General Eisenhower and 237 for Governor Stevenson, a much smaller spread than the 442 to 89 electoral majority given to General Eisenhower under the winner-take-all formulation which most states had adopted, though not a Constitutional requirement.
It finds the proposed amendment's formulation to be much fairer, citing the example that under the present system, Governor Stevenson received all 14 of North Carolina's electoral votes, causing the more than 558,000 North Carolinians who had voted for General Eisenhower to receive no credit in the electoral vote. Under the proposed amendment, the Governor would have received 7.547 electoral votes, to General Eisenhower's 6.453. It finds that such a system would restore the franchise to millions of voters in each state who cast their votes for the minority candidate. It would encourage both parties to become truly national and seek the votes of every person in the country.
The proposal had been defeated mainly by Republicans in the House, fearful that the large Democratic majorities in the South would place the Republicans at a disadvantage. But General Eisenhower's showing in 1952 in the South proved that the Republicans could win in that region if they sought the votes. It thus concludes that there was no valid reason not to implement the "long-overdue reform" to the electoral college.
And just think, if such an amendment had been put forth to the states in the wake of the fiasco of 2000, and subsequently, 38 states had ratified it, the Congress would not be having to face the ordeal now, required in this instance by the Constitution, of impeachment and potential removal after trial in the Senate of the current occupant of the White House.
Rest assured, Republicans, if this impeachment for bribes does not entail grounds under the Constitution for impeachment and removal from office, all future Presidents, as long as they are assured of at least 34 votes in the Senate, will be virtually immune from check by the Congress, other than through the purse strings, with the current occupant of the White House having shown the ability to circumvent even that restraint. Be careful of that for which you wish, as we believe we advised you back in 2016, before you went to the polls.
The problem with revision of the electoral college, the reason the anachronism is never changed, is that a big effort is generated each time there is either a close popular vote or one in which, as in both 2000 and 2016, the winning candidate in the electoral college has not achieved a popular vote pluraity, indeed, in 2016, losing by 3 million votes, and then, after a short period of months, forgotten or the impetus toward change treated as a "partisan" effort by the electoral college losers to undermine the most recent result. In years where no such result occurs, there is no energy for change to the electoral college. Thus, it remains, stuck in the mud of the horse and buggy days it was designed to accommodate, when most of the country was illiterate, causing the Founders to deem it wise to have a check on the electorate in the form of selectmen from each state to make the actual choice for the presidency, a concept which was long ago abandoned by the states in favor of electors committed by oath to support the winning candidate in each state. The present form of the electoral college is nothing short of an artifice through which the clever computer-assisted targeting of key precincts in key districts in large electoral states, targeting usually accomplished through the most vile sort of lying propaganda regarding an opponent, shifts the electoral vote out of synchronization with the popular vote, leaving the vox populi running on a different track from the resulting picture, a most annoying movieola to watch.
The result in 2016 causes the temerarious suggestion by the Republican defenders of the current "President", that the Democrats, in the current impeachment inquiry, are trying to overturn the results of the 2016 election and the will of the people expressed therein, to sound as a bad joke. No, the will of the people in 2016 could only be achieved by impeaching both of the top two current officials of the Government, and then, after Speaker Pelosi takes the oath of office, having her appoint former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as her new Vice-President, and, after the latter's confirmation by the Senate, resign. That would accomplish the will of the voters in 2016, not the impeachment of the guy currently occupying the White House.
When are you "always-Trump" Republicans going to wake up one morning and realize starkly that the great majority of the people just don't like this guy and like even less his methods? As we have said many times since the election of 2016, it is, in the end, not possible to govern the country for long from the standpoint of a minority. It is the country, as a whole, which suffers from the attempt.
Sometimes, it is the better part of valor simply to step aside.
The simple question, when stripped of all the Republican couching and Fox News apologetics and smokescreening counter-blame, is whether aid to the Ukraine premised on a public statement by the Ukrainian Government that it would undertake investigations into the conduct of former Vice-President Joe Biden and whether Ukraine had a role in seeking to influence the 2016 election, obviously for the political benefit solely of the re-election campaign of the current occupant of the White House, constitutes a bribe or solicitation of same, thus obviously impeachable, as expressly contemplated by the Constitution, or involves some other high crime and misdemeanor, that is misbehavior of the same type of offense as treason and bribery, which merits impeachment, including violation of the campaign finance law prohibition against solicitation of political campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and violation of the gifts and emoluments clause of the Constitution. There can be little doubt of the facts and that the receipt of the aid was conditioned on the public statement anent the investigations and a meeting at the White House between the President of the Ukraine and the U.S. "President". The evidence is overwhelming in that regard, under any standard of proof.
Whether the act was completed is of no relevance, an attempt to do an act with wrongful intent, accompanied by an overt act in that direction, being sufficient grounds for a criminal conviction. Likewise, the subjective intent, as self-servingly stated after the fact by the actors, is not dispositive of the issue of corrupt intent, or all would go free. The determination of the intent is instead made by the trier of fact on the basis of all attendant circumstances surrounding the event in question, including the actions before and after the fact, as brought forth by competent, relevant evidence. The remaining question is impeachability on that issue and whether other matters arising from the inquiry also merit impeachment. When the Constitution expressly provides for "bribery" as a ground for impeachment, for the Senate not to convict on that basis is to toss the Constitution on the fire and burn it with gusto. And remember, "always Trump" Republicans, that includes your precious Second Amendment.
Let's just throw it all out and start over. That's what you truly want, always Trumpers, isn't it? Your way or the highway... Take a hike...
"Without Teeth, Laws Are Worthless" indicates that under one provision of Taft-Hartley, leaders of labor unions were denied the services of the NLRB unless they signed affidavits indicating that they were not Communists and were not affiliated or supporters of any organization which believed or taught the overthrow of the Government by force or illegal or unconstitutional methods.
Many loyal labor leaders had objected to being singled out and required to take such an oath, an objection with which President-elect Eisenhower had stated his agreement during a pre-election speech before the AFL convention. Meanwhile, others whose loyalty was in serious question had signed the oath, and, heretofore, the NLRB had no choice but to accept the signatures at face value.
The Justice Department, however, had indicted a former financial secretary of a United Packinghouse Workers local on the charge of falsely signing the affidavit in 1949, as well as a business agent of the UPW local, the latter having been convicted of falsely swearing in 1949 that he was not a Communist. Another officer of the local had appealed a similar conviction. It indicates that the courts were becoming increasingly strict on prosecutions for perjury in judicial proceedings, and that if the same strictness would be applied to the non-Communist oaths, it would be possible to root out those who had sworn falsely and rendered the oath meaningless in the process.
"Mecklenburg Mounts Attack on TB" tells of the Charlotte Sanatorium having become something of a white elephant in the wake of the construction during the early 1940's of Memorial Hospital. The Army had made use of the Sanatorium, as had the Veterans Administration. Now it was being used to coordinate the chest X-ray survey in the county, to provide the approximately 200,000 citizens over age 15 free X-rays to combat tuberculosis, which had taken the lives of 27 persons in the county the previous year. It indicates that local residents, some of whom had been born in the Sanatorium, could be proud that good health was again doing business in the building.
"Change from 1933 to 1953" indicates that most people, because of the Democratic orators who would not let the matter fade from memory during the campaigns, could recall the conditions extant in March, 1933 when President Roosevelt had taken office. There was a great contrast to be drawn between that time and January, 1953, when the Republicans would take control of the Government.
The current issue of Business Week, one of the more conservative publications read by businessmen, had stated that steel operations were at new record levels, factory order backlogs high, construction activity declining less than seasonal averages, unemployment at an almost unbelievably low level, and personal income again pushing into new high ground. The magazine had supplied several facts to back up those assertions, as set forth in the piece.
It concludes, therefore, that the Republicans were inheriting a national economy in good shape, contrary to that which the Democrats had inherited in 1933. Part of that high productivity was the result of the quick depreciation write-off provision for capital investments, reducing inflationary pressures, passed by the Democrats. The only worry on the horizon was the possibility of deflation, resulting from reduction of Federal spending on defense and non-defense contracts, as the Republicans had pledged during the campaign to undertake. It indicates that how well the Republicans handled their stewardship of the economy could determine whether they maintained power for a number of years.
Drew Pearson indicates that General Eisenhower had decided that it would be foolish to visit the Far East without stopping in Formosa and so would do so, inspecting the Nationalist Chinese troops, with a view toward possibly using three divisions of them later in Korea. The subject had been debated back and forth between the State Department, the Pentagon, and Senators favoring the Nationalist Chinese. The Joint Chiefs had argued that the time and expense of equipping the Nationalist Chinese would be considerable, compared with the risk that they might surrender to the enemy in battle, as had often been the case during the civil war in China. General Eisenhower, however, believed that he could best decide that issue for himself after inspecting the troops.
Two sergeants in the Air Force had been caught trying to sell military secrets to the Communists in Korea and faced, as a result, possible imposition of the death penalty for being traitors. They had sought to sell information for cash to a person whom they believed to be a Communist agent, but who in fact was an Air Force undercover person. The incident had yet to be publicly announced.
But, says the always-Trumpie, they didn't do nothin'. They's just talkin' to a fellow soldier. They didn't give nothin' away to nobody.
The Senate Elections subcommittee, whose duty was to probe fellow Senators, was in a quandary over what to do about the investigation of ten serious charges against Senator Joseph McCarthy, brought by Senator William Benton of Connecticut on August 6, 1951—who had been defeated in the recent election. Nothing conclusive had occurred in the interim. Senator McCarthy had brought counter charges against Senator Benton, the latter welcoming any investigation of his finances and offering to the committee his income tax returns, offering the previous week to testify regarding the matter, if the committee so wanted. Meanwhile, Senator McCarthy had ducked the investigation. Senators Herman Welker of Idaho and Guy Gillette of Iowa had been induced to resign from the committee, while Republican Senator Bob Hendrickson had remained, despite pressure on him. Senator Mike Monroney of Oklahoma had departed for Europe without telling his fellow members of the committee that he was leaving, but Senator Tom Hennings of Missouri, the chairman of the probe, along with Senator Hendrickson, appeared determined to follow through with the investigation.
Committee investigators had found large transactions and cash deposits by Senator McCarthy, as in one instance, he had deposited over $24,000 in cash and more than $65,000 in checks from unidentified sources. He had consistently dodged providing the committee with any explanation of those transactions. Many Senators, including Republicans, believed that the honor of the Senate demanded that those matters be cleared up. That investigation, plus the expense fund of Senator Nixon which had arisen in September, had given the public the impression that most Senators were subsidized, when such was not the case. The majority of the Senate, as indicated by the 60 to 0 vote to investigate Senator McCarthy, wanted such matters cleared up one way or the other.
Stewart Alsop discusses the development by the U.S. of the hydrogen bomb, that the recently detonated bomb on Eniwetok was probably a kind of compromise between the atomic bomb and a true hydrogen bomb, with the real thing awaiting further tests in the coming months. That latter bomb would have an explosive power 50 times greater than the original Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, capable of inflicting damage across an area of about 100 square miles, with a heat flash extending over 150 square miles. Such an extensive area of damage would mean that one hydrogen bomb could destroy virtually any American city, with larger bombs theoretically possible.
Any reliance on that new technology, however, would be, at best, short-lived, as the Soviets would not be far behind in developing a hydrogen bomb of their own. Mr. Alsop had recently written a piece for the Saturday Evening Post, along with physicist Dr. Ralph Lapp, which had been passed for security by the Atomic Energy Commission, indicating that the country had very little head start in the race to develop the hydrogen bomb. Any security from the development would have to be generated by the U.S. ability to hit the Soviet Union harder than the Soviets could hit the United States.
Thus, a whole new weapons system was needed for development, a system which would be costly, begging the question whether the Eisenhower Administration could rationally talk of heavy tax cutbacks and reductions of defense expenditures at such a critical time. But the General had stated during the campaign that he would seek to cut 20 billion dollars from the budget, the bulk of which would have to come from defense spending.
Marquis Childs tells of the status of the labor movement after the recent death of Philip Murray, head of both the CIO and the United Steelworkers, who had achieved personal power over the labor movement during the previous 15 years, while maintaining a kindly attitude and the voice and status of a plain man, possessed of a deep religious conviction. At times, he had used his economic and political power in an arbitrary manner to push the mass trade unions on the mass-production industries, able to match big business after the great battles of the early 1930s.
Mr. Murray had believed up until the 1952 election that the pattern of self-interest within labor, which had manifested itself in the election of the five successive Democratic Administrations, would continue and elect Governor Stevenson. The CIO's Political Action Committee had spent a great deal of time and money on behalf of Democratic candidates for the Senate and House, as well as for Governor Stevenson. In some industrial areas, notably Detroit, the Governor had received a larger vote than had the President in 1948, and to that extent, organized labor had gotten out the vote where it was concentrated. But the failure of labor leaders to influence other groups was clear.
He posits that the urgent need for organized labor presently would be to try to convince the public that labor's interests were not hostile to those of unorganized labor and the middle class, that they had common interests in maintaining purchasing power so that the flow of goods from industry could be absorbed by American consumers. The best way to do that would be for competing CIO heads not to engage in a fight regarding the successor to Mr. Murray. There were at least two powerful rivals, Walter Reuther of the UAW and Allen Haywood, executive vice-president of the CIO, both of whom equally believed themselves entitled to become the new president of the labor organization. James Carey of the Union of Electrical Workers was conceivably a compromise candidate. But compromise within the organization, suggests Mr. Childs, was difficult.
"'The Rembrandt of Cartoonists'", a piece without a by-line, tells of editorial cartoonist Herbert Block having started in the business in 1929 after leaving college after two years and going to work for the Chicago Daily News. "Herblock" had become a familiar name in every household throughout the world, except behind the Iron Curtain. He had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1942, a Heywood Broun Award in 1950, among numerous other awards. During the war, in 1942, he had joined the Army. He was the only living cartoonist whose work was on display at the National Gallery of Art. In 23 years, he had produced between 6,000 and 7,000 cartoons.
Numerous people who called on him at his Washington Post office asked him where he got his inspiration, which stumped him as he spent hours gazing into space and doodling, trying to formulate an idea, usually interrupted by a visitor who, seeing him apparently doing nothing, sat down to chat. Then someone would call and ask whether he entertained suggestions for cartoons, and when he replied that he did not, the caller would proceed to tell him the idea, such as drawing a picture of a rat and labeling it "Stalin". Notwithstanding the interruptions, by mid-afternoon, he usually had managed to sketch three or four rough drawings. He would then run the sketches by some people in the office to make sure that the idea was simple enough to be understood, eliminating in the process the overly complex ideas.
He usually arrived at the office late in the morning. As a likable bachelor in Washington, he was much in demand at parties and liked them. He also liked the theater, and generally ended his day by reading the morning newspaper in bed.
A lot of work went into the conceptualization of each cartoon. He did not seek the calendar for ideas by resorting to special dates or use animals as personifications, unless accompanied by an idea.
His cartoons had gone into syndication through the NEA service in 1933 and he had joined the Post after the war, in 1945. His work now appeared in 150 newspapers. His most famous reprints were a series presented by the State Department under the title, "Herblock Looks at Communism", used in a brochure as a weapon against Communism in the Cold War, of which thus far had been distributed more than a million copies, with captions translated into numerous languages, from French to Vietnamese.
Of course, he had his detractors
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