The Charlotte News
Wednesday, November 19, 1952
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Robert B. Tuckman, that allied infantrymen this date repulsed violent enemy assaults on the western front and parried repeated Chinese thrusts on the central front positions at "Sniper Ridge", primarily consisting of light jabs, and then withdrew to allow the artillery to fire, as temperatures dropped to eight degrees, coldest of the season. About 200 Chinese troops had hit "Pinpoint Hill" at dawn, but the South Korean troops held their ground and the enemy forces withdrew 40 minutes later, with a smaller force of enemy troops hitting "Pinpoint" later in the day, also repulsed. During the afternoon, about 40 Chinese troops had attacked "Rocky Point" and engaged in a hand grenade battle with the South Korean defenders, and the fighting there was reported to be continuing near dusk. The rest of the front was relatively quiet.
Allied warplanes had hit deep into North Korea this date, blasting a large enemy military headquarters and oil storage area about 25 miles from the Manchurian border. U.S. Sabre jets flying protective cover for the fighter-bombers damaged an enemy MIG-15 in a battle between four Sabres and four MIGs. The previous night B-26 and B-29 bombers had hit Communist transport, ammunition and supply dumps plus a communications center near the west coast.
Air Force chief of staff, General Hoyt Vandenberg, was touring the Air Force bases in Korea, and said that the Air Force was capable of starting an aggressive war in Manchuria at any time the Government changed its policy to allow it.
The U.S. Air Force base on Okinawa was preparing for a typhoon coming from the south, packing winds up to 120 mph, expected to impact the island within 48 hours.
The Department of Defense announced that American battle casualties in Korea had reached 126,726, an increase of 839 since the previous week, including 182 killed in action, for a total of 19,894, 592 wounded, for a total of 93,829, and 65 missing, for a total of 13,003.
President-elect Eisenhower, after
his 25-minute face to face meeting
The President-elect met this date in New York with Senator Taft and prospective Speaker of the House Joseph Martin of Massachusetts regarding legislative problems in the 83rd Congress. Many laws were set to expire and the primary purpose of the meeting was to determine what to do about them. The President-elect was also expected to meet with Senators Styles Bridges of New Hampshire and Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, among others, later in the day.
Senator Homer Capehart of Indiana, after meeting with Senator Taft, said that he believed the latter Senator was available to become the new majority leader and that he would support him. Likewise, Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio said that he would support Senator Taft if he wanted to run for the position. Senator Hugh Butler of Nebraska predicted that Senator Taft would win the contest if he entered it. It appeared that 26 of the 48 Republican Senators in the new Congress would be in the Taft camp. Senator Taft, however, told a news conference the previous day that he was not running for the position but that he was available for it, depending on the circumstances. It was possible that he would be content to continue as chairman of the Republican policy committee of the party, provided he would be invited by President Eisenhower to attend regular White House meetings regarding legislative problems, along with the majority leader and the chairman of the conference of Republican Senators, a position currently held by Senator Eugene Millikin of Colorado. Senator William Knowland of California said that he would seek the position of majority leader if Senator Bridges, presently the Minority Leader, did not want it.
In Paris, Spain was admitted to UNESCO by a vote of 44 to 4, with France, the U.S. and Britain favoring admission, a move considered to be a prelude to admission of Spain to the full U.N. Mexico, Uruguay, Yugoslavia and Burma voted against the membership, and The Netherlands, India, Israel and the Scandinavian countries abstained. Cuba, South Korea and Saudi Arabia were not present. Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia, all countries behind the Iron Curtain, were not attending, and four countries had been ineligible to cast a ballot because membership dues were not current.
Wholesale food prices dropped to their lowest level since early July, 1950, right after the start of the Korean War, according to the Dun & Bradstreet food index. The index was, at $6.27, three cents lower than the previous week, compared to $6.68 a year earlier. On July 4, 1950, it had been at $6.19, and the high for 1952 had been $6.71, during the last week of August and the first week of September.
In Raleigh, former North Carolina American Legion commander Louis Parker had notified Senator Willis Smith that he was willing to testify before the Senate Internal Security subcommittee regarding information he claimed to have received on faculty members of Duke University having been in contact with the Communist Party, as Mr. Parker had recently charged. Investigators for the subcommittee would first interview Mr. Parker to determine whether he had any valuable information to impart.
In Boston, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal and the U.S. Attorney were searching for a stolen hat and coat, because the clothing had been stolen from a cloakroom which could only be accessed through the courtroom of a Federal District Court judge, who had summoned the Federal authorities therefore to investigate. The hat and coat belonged to a juror in a case. The court adjourned a half-hour early so that the juror could buy new clothing because of chilly temperatures. The juror's surname was Freeze—which, no doubt, is a word the FBI will invoke with respect to the suspect when they nab him or her, especially should they be sans any other apparel.
In Hamburg, Ia., a 60-year old grandmother had survived for five days and nights in the wreckage of her car, concealed in a weeded gully beside a busy highway, seriously injured with a broken left hip, broken left arm, several fractured ribs and in severe shock. Thousands of motorists passing the scene of the accident had not spotted the vehicle. She had only a few pieces of fudge to eat and rainwater and boric acid to drink. Between spells of unconsciousness, she had prayed desperately. Finally, by chance, the operator of a highway grader saw the car from his high cab as he happened to look back for some reason, and the woman was finally rescued. Doctors indicated that her condition was "remarkably good", and that her case was one for the medical books. She said that she had lost control of the automobile on a curve and the car had plunged down a 40-foot embankment, where it overturned against a culvert. Her injuries and a seat cushion wedged on top of her prevented her from reaching the light switch or horn to attract the attention of passing motorists. She attributed her rescue to God. The doctor said that he had never seen or heard of a case where someone had survived so long in a state of shock, that she was as cold as ice when he had reached her.
In Montgomery, Ala., a large cotton plantation owner had retired at 75 with a million dollars in the bank, and when he turned 80, he flew to Mexico and South America for three years, and thereafter, repeatedly took "last flings", each time expecting to die during his journeys, until one day he realized that he had run out of money and had to survive on his $50 per month old-age pension. He stated that his one mistake had been that he had outlived his money, but that it was an error he would go on making as long as he could. Finally, he had died the prior Monday at 97.
In Charlotte, Dr. John E. S. Davidson, a member of one of the oldest families in Mecklenburg County and a practicing physician for 55 years, had died at his home this date at age 82, having been ill for about six weeks. He had been educated at Davidson College, North Carolina Medical College and Maryland Medical School in Baltimore. He had begun practicing medicine in nearby Lincoln County and had later moved to Huntersville, where he practiced for four years, before coming to Charlotte. He had served on the Board of Directors of the Morganton, Raleigh and Goldsboro State Hospitals.
A woman of Charlotte had been chosen the national winner of the week by Herb and Dee Sweet, authors and editors of the syndicated feature, "Try It", which appeared daily in the newspaper, for her suggestion of Christmas gifts made from handkerchiefs.
Let us hope that they are new handkerchiefs.
On the editorial page, "The Future of Adlai Stevenson" indicates that the Governor had returned to Springfield from his post-campaign trip to an Arizona ranch of a friend and would soon, after finishing his duties as Governor of Illinois, have the opportunity to consider his future role. It appeared that his leadership of the party would not be questioned for at least the ensuing two years, as the President had stepped aside in favor of the Governor. Senator Richard Russell would be a commanding figure in the Congress, but the fact that he came from the South and his political philosophy did not suit him for national leadership. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, who it regards as aspiring to the leadership, was in "extreme disfavor" in the South. It believes that Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee would continue to seek the leadership which had been denied him at the convention. He had, however, made the tactical error of concentrating primarily on being a world-minded Senator rather than the Senator from Tennessee, and so would face a tough re-election fight in 1954. Were he to be defeated, it suggests, it would probably end his political career.
Governor Stevenson, therefore, was in a solid position to become leader of the party. Some believed that he could lead the U.N. delegation, but would have to be confirmed by a Republican Senate. Others believed that he should accept the presidency of a college, such as Columbia, from which President-elect Eisenhower had just resigned, or the presidency of the Ford Foundation, should Paul Hoffman, its current president, join President-elect Eisenhower's staff. Others had suggested that he tour the nation, building up the Democratic Party.
It finds that the Governor did not necessarily need a government job to act in the leadership role in the party. He could take a job at a university or philanthropic organization, as they did not seem to care that their leaders also worked in politics, and so the Governor would be free to devote some of his talent to such a position while also leading the party. The important thing, it finds, was that the voice of the Governor be heard and heeded during the years ahead, as a minority party could drift into irresponsibility without direction being provided by a capable leader. The Old Guard Republicans had become increasingly bitter and careless in past years, as could the left wing of the Democratic Party in facing a Southern Democratic and Republican coalition in the next Congress. The Governor could give that faction a positive philosophy which would attract many liberal Republicans, "a most healthful influence".
There was much to be done also at the local level in the Democratic Party, as new blood needed to be injected into the "shattered remnants" of the labor-minority groups, as the bloc and class voting in 1952 did not follow the tacit rules laid down during the Roosevelt-Truman era, and Governor Stevenson was well-equipped to attract people needed in the party organization. It finds excellent the suggestion that he make periodic television and radio appearances, while warning that it could be overdone. He would provide a refreshing, candid opposition voice when some people would inevitably be disappointed in the amount of change effected by the new administration. It indicates that it looked to the Governor for such constructive leadership during the ensuing four years, which would "augment his stature in the eyes of his party, the nation and the world."
"No Job for Vigilantes" indicates that the North Carolina American Legion deserved commendation for unequivocally disassociating itself from the Armistice Day statement of its most recent commander, Louis Parker, who said that there were teachers at Duke University "making contact with the Communist Party", indicating that his information had come "through American Legion channels". The present state commander, C. Leroy Shuping, said that his headquarters had no knowledge of Mr. Parker's source of the information and declined any responsibility for the remarks, indicating that Mr. Parker had no official connection any longer with the Legion.
The piece indicates that some organizations, based on the actions of a few of their members, had gained a reputation as self-appointed guardians of the nation's security, better handled by the professionals of the FBI. It finds that Mr. Shuping had properly reduced the matter to its status as a statement of an individual. It indicates that even if the statement were true, it served no purpose to make it public knowledge, that if the FBI was investigating the matter, as Mr. Parker had claimed, it was in competent hands. The publicity attendant the statement had made the FBI's job more difficult. The FBI had to check routinely on the background of present and prospective Government employees and such an inquiry did not reflect on the reputation of the person about whom inquiry was made. It suggests that because Duke had a Department of Ordnance Research, FBI agents often inquired pursuant to security background checks, and it was possible that Mr. Parker's claim had germinated from such routine checks with people who did not understand what was transpiring.
Duke officials had stated that the claim of Communist contacts by faculty members was "without foundation" and Senator Willis Smith had asked Mr. Parker to provide the Internal Security subcommittee with all of the reliable information which he had, and Mr. Parker had agreed to do so. It indicates that the Senator, who was chairman of the Board of Trustees at Duke, would be able to handle the matter judiciously as a member of the subcommittee.
"See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Etc." finds it impossible to understand the reluctance of the North Carolina College Conference to take a close look at certification requirements for elementary school teachers in the state to determine whether they were too extensive, crowding out the option of a liberal arts curriculum during the first two years of college. Dr. E. K. Graham, president of Woman's College at Greensboro, had made the proposal the previous week, after having studied the problem extensively. Many national authorities also held the same opinion. The Conference, however, turned down the proposal to appoint a special committee to review the certification requirements and also rejected a motion to delay consideration of the matter.
The arguments lodged against the proposal were that another committee already in existence could handle the matter and that the mere appointment of a committee would imply that there was something wrong with the education of existing elementary school teachers. But the State Advisory Council on Teacher Education, the committee to which the Conference alluded, had not broached the issue thus far and was heavily loaded with public school officials, with little representation from college authorities who gave thought to the overall curriculum. It indicates that if the motion suggested something wrong with teacher education, then it only matched the facts. Certification requirements for high school teachers were less rigid than for elementary school teachers, with the result that there was a surplus of high school teachers and a shortage of elementary school teachers.
It concludes that at least the issue had been raised and that eventually the people of the state would realize the problem, at which point something would be done to remedy it.
Drew Pearson relates some of the views of top American scientists regarding the official announcement by the Atomic Energy Commission that the first hydrogen bomb had been detonated at Eniwetok. It was now proven that the bomb would work, but it also was the case that it would not be long until the Soviets also had it. For psychological reasons, however, it had been imperative that the free world detonate the hydrogen bomb first, before the Russians, as had it been the reverse, the free world, especially Western Europe, might have been sent into a panic. The hydrogen bomb would only have a limited number of targets when used by the U.S., whereas Russia would have many more targets, as the number of industrial cities within Russia was limited and there was no use, according to the military strategists, for the hydrogen bomb on a medium-sized industrial city. But the U.S. had Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, against any one of which the hydrogen bomb would be devastatingly effective.
Scientists indicated that they still did not know what might happen to the atmosphere should a large number of hydrogen bombs be exploded nearly simultaneously. Theoretically, if as many as 100 hydrogen bombs were detonated within a short interval, the atmosphere might become so saturated with radioactive material that all life on the planet could be destroyed. The scientists did not yet know how much radioactive material the atmosphere could stand and some feared that the answer would come only too late.
The scientists believed that since the U.S. was such a tempting target, it was imperative that the U.S. know as much about the fusion bomb as it could so that the country could defend against it, explaining the rush of the Eniwetok explosion. It was necessary to know the size of the airplane required to carry it, how much damage it would do, what type of air raid shelters were necessary, how fast the delivery plane needed to be to escape the area of detonation after the blast, and how much material had to be diverted from making fission bombs in order to make the hydrogen bomb.
Hypothetically, there was no limit to the size of the bomb, and it could be made anywhere from 50 to 10,000 times as powerful as the fission bomb. The chief limit was making the bomb physically small enough to be carried by an airplane and not so large as to be wasted on a medium-sized target. That was the reason why work on the fission bomb had been directed toward reduction of its size and weight without reduction of its capability to destroy. That same kind of experimentation would now proceed with the hydrogen bomb. The biggest problem was that each test would consume precious material which also went into the atomic bomb.
Mr. Pearson notes that while the country had been developing the weapons of war, it had fallen "lamentably far behind" in the development of the instruments of peace.
Senator Taft had indicated that he favored Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire or Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois as the new majority leader. Senator Taft said that if either one were not available, he would take the job himself.
The President had made train reservations to his home in Independence, Mo., for January 22, two days after the inauguration. He planned to take a trip around the world and, indicates Mr. Pearson, would later live in Washington.
General Matthew Ridgway, NATO supreme commander, had canceled plans for 12 aircraft carriers supposed to be used for the defense of Europe, taking the action as a result of the joint naval maneuvers in the North Atlantic, which had been a flop.
If Senator Nixon, he indicates, wanted to save himself a lot of headaches during the ensuing four years, he should make public his income tax returns. The DNC planned to continue stressing that problem, and for four years if necessary.
They'll regret that. He's going to get them back good one of these days, installing new pipes, if not painting a few houses along the way.
The Navy's first atomic-powered test submarine, built in Idaho, had been a huge success, with the engine having operated almost continuously for the previous nine months without a single major breakdown. It had been built in Idaho because the materials were available there.
They also have access to a fairly large water trough.
Marquis Childs indicates that President-elect Eisenhower was about to undertake a trip to Korea which would put him in greater danger than any other President-elect since Abraham Lincoln, in 1861, had to enter Washington incognito from Philadelphia because of the threat to his life from Southern sympathizers. The offset to the calculated risk was that President-elect Eisenhower could gather first-hand that which would be worth a thousand second-hand reports.
In addition, his visit would be a great morale builder for the fighting men in a "half-forgotten war". One of the failures, Mr. Childs suggests, of the Truman Administration had been to allow the Korean War to "get out of sight", to take its continuation for granted. No top official had gone to Japan or Korea seeking this sort of information which General Eisenhower could obtain from face-to-face talks.
One of the drawbacks would be that he would be subject to what military men called "localitis", that is local commanders believing that their own particular sector of the war was the most important. General James Van Fleet, Eighth Army commander, would urge the General, as he had several other recent visitors, that the war could be brought to an end if the U.S. were willing to take the risks and accept at least part of the losses. He had believed that the U.N. armies had been well on their way to destroying the Communist armies when, through Soviet chief delegate Jakob Malik at the U.N., the Soviets, in June, 1951, proposed a ceasefire to allow truce negotiations to transpire. But since that time, the Communists had built up their forces to a total of about 1.2 million men. Notwithstanding that fact, General Van Fleet believed that those armies could still be destroyed, provided the U.S. were willing to sustain 50,000 casualties. The U.S. Navy was urging a new mass landing, such as that orchestrated by General MacArthur in September, 1950 on Inchon—enabling the taking, for a time, of Pyongyang and pushing on to the Yalu River, in what proved ultimately to be a disastrous offensive by late November. But to undertake such a major assault would require a far greater concentration of U.S. strength than was presently deployed in Korea. That would mean not sending troops to other parts of the free world where the Communist threat was great. One such place was French Indo-China and the war there with the Communist guerrillas, the extent of intervention in which the new President would have to weigh on the basis of "localitis" and determine the best compromise.
In addition, President Syngman Rhee of South Korea would be urging the President-elect to engage in an all-out effort to conquer the entire peninsula and unite North and South Korea.
Arthur Edson tells of President Lincoln this date, 89 years earlier, having arisen to dedicate the new national cemetery at Gettysburg, following the Baltimore Glee Club and former Massachusetts Governor and Senator Edward Everett's 57-minute oration, causing the crowd, by the time the President spoke, to be listless and probably inattentive. The President had almost not made the speech, as no one had asked him to do so. He had been invited to the ceremonies earlier and the sponsors decided that it would be acceptable for the President to make a few "appropriate remarks".
Mr. Edson quotes the entire speech.
The initial reaction to the speech by the press was less than enthusiastic. The Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot and Union said: "We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of." The Chicago Times stated: "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dish-watery utterances…" The President, himself, had stated in the speech: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
After the short speech, the President resumed his seat, probably to perfunctory applause, as it had been anticipated that he would deliver only a few pro forma remarks. Contrary to the other organs present, however, the Chicago Tribune reporter stated: "The dedicatory remarks of President Lincoln will live among the annals of man."
Mr. Edson adds, "To be remembered, and pondered, whenever the nation was in trouble."
A letter writer addresses his letter to state Republican chairman James Baley, Congressman-elect Charles Jonas, and others who had helped to foster the movement for General Eisenhower and the Republicans in the 1952 election in North Carolina and, specifically, in Mecklenburg County and Charlotte. He indicates that the people of the area had been "pioneers in movements for freedom before" and the fact that the "movement from political bondage of the one-party system" which had stifled and stagnated the South had found its "greatest impetus" locally should therefore not be surprising.
A letter from the minister of the First Bible Presbyterian Church of Charlotte advises of some substantive changes in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible released recently by the National Council of Churches, such as the removal of the virgin birth prophecy of Isaiah, at chapter 7, verse 14, as contained in the King James Version. He finds that the "liberal influence of the writers has inexcusably changed the wonderful predictive nature of this birth removing the fundamental truth of the Virgin Birth." It had also, he says, removed from Micah 5:2 the reference to "everlasting", interpreted to refer to the "eternal pre-existence" of Jesus and God. The RSV utilized the word "origin" instead. It also used "you" and "your" instead of "Thou" and "Thine" in all addresses, except when God was being addressed, and "you" and "your" was also used in reference to Jesus. He finds that to remove the "fundamental doctrine of our Christian faith". He cites Matthew 16:16 as an example of this latter change.
Sounds like a bunch of Commie liberal Hebes come up in there and done took away our Bible. It was that Roosevelt's and Truman's faults. That's what done it, Socialism on the brink of becoming Commonism, trying to say in a back'ards manner that Jesus was a little bastard child who had to be legit'mated by the virgininity, and all that to be sanctificated, rather than handed down by God to the people. And teaching the children all that, it just makes you sick.
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