The Charlotte News

Friday, December 12, 1952

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Sam Summerlin, that about 750 Chinese Communist troops, amid their own side's furious artillery and mortar barrage, had taken back the peaks of Big and Little Nori Hills on the western front this date, only two hours after South Korean troops had captured those strategic heights in a bloody hand-to-hand battle. U.S. planes had flown 150 sorties in the general area of the hills, and pilots said they had hit a huge supply and troop depot, setting it on fire. Elsewhere along the front, allied raiders engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Chinese troops northwest of Munsan on the western front and the allies secured the crest of a hill in bloody, close-range combat after twice being driven back. The U.N. troops later withdrew to their own lines.

Ground commander General James Van Fleet announced this date that a new South Korean division of about 14,000 men was nearly ready for combat duty and could replace an American division on the front.

A report tells of the "King of the Royal Bengals", Lt. Col. Rhodes M. Elam of Monroe, N. C., part of the U.S. Air Force's 17th Bomb Wing, having ended his nightly prowls against Communist supply vehicles along North Korean highways. He had commanded a squadron specializing in destruction of Communist supply trains and supply trucks, but now had returned to the U.S. He had dubbed his B-26 unit the "Royal Bengals" because he believed that the habits and actions of that tiger best typified the work of a night-fighter bomber crew in North Korea. He had flown nearly double the number of required combat missions before accepting the rotation home. He and his crew had been responsible for destroying more than 100 enemy vehicles. Near the end of his tour, he had also fulfilled his ambition to destroy a Communist locomotive, having made 15 bombing and strafing passes at it before knocking out it and a dozen boxcars.

At the U.N. in New York, Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, a U.S. delegate to the General Assembly, threatened the organization the previous night with a loss of its largest chunk of financial support, that from the U.S., unless something were done to keep subversives and spies out of the Secretariat. Senator Wiley was slated to head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress, and made it clear that he thought a major part of the blame for alleged subversives in the employ of the U.N. lay with the State Department. He said that Congressional sentiment was building to cut off U.S. money for the U.N. unless adequate security procedures were worked out to guarantee that the U.N. and its organs did not remain "a base for espionage and subversion". The U.S. paid a little more than a third of the U.N. bills. The American delegation to the U.N. was taken aback by the Senator's statements but had no comment.

President-elect Eisenhower relaxed in Honolulu this date, playing 18 holes of golf, and was steering clear of any fight between the President and General MacArthur over the latter's undisclosed peace plan for Korea, which the President had criticized the previous day at his weekly press conference. The President-elect planned to talk with Secretary of State-designate John Foster Dulles and Secretary of Interior-designate Governor Douglas McKay later in the day. Close friends of the President-elect said that he also likely would make no response to the President's criticism of his trip to Korea, having called it a piece of demagoguery.

Senator Lester Hunt of Wyoming proposed this date an immediate extraordinary session of the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into General MacArthur's views on ending the Korean War. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, chairman of the Committee, which had presided over the Senate investigation of the President's removal of General MacArthur as supreme commander of U.N. forces in Korea, said that the Committee could only recommend to Congress and had no power to compel action in the field of foreign relations, that only the President could order General MacArthur to report to him or to officials of the defense establishment, and that he doubted any special session of the Committee would serve any useful purpose while the Congress was not in session. The President, at his press conference the previous day, had rejected a suggestion by a Senator that he call General MacArthur and President-elect Eisenhower to the White House to discuss the matter. He said that he doubted General MacArthur had any new way toward peace. Some Republicans had called the President's remarks "arrogant" and "slanderous".

In Richmond, Senator Harry F. Byrd this date called for a thorough investigation of overseas Federal civilian employees, hoping to reduce their number. He had returned the previous day from a hunting trip on the estate of Bernard Baruch, near Kingstree, S.C., accompanied by Senator Taft. He told the Richmond News Leader by telephone this date that the hunting had been very good, but declined to say whether he discussed politics with Senator Taft and Mr. Baruch.

In Washington, oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the school desegregation cases, collectively subsumed under Brown v. Board of Education, involving four states and the District of Columbia, while impacting 21 other states where segregation existed, had ended the previous day. The states were generally contending that segregation was not prohibited by the 14th Amendment, as long as substantially equal facilities were provided for black and white students. The NAACP, representing the parents in the five jurisdictions, were contending that the separate-but-equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896 had never fulfilled its function of assuring equality of facilities, and that even when newer facilities were provided to black students, a stigma still attached to segregation, such that black students had communicated to them a feeling of inferiority, psychologically damaging. They argued, therefore, that segregation per se should be held unconstitutional and the separate-but-equal doctrine overruled. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP attorneys, while John W. Davis, former Democratic presidential nominee in 1924, had argued for the State of South Carolina in the case out of Clarendon County, Briggs v. Elliott. Brown, itself, was out of the Topeka, Kans., school district. Kansas permitted segregation through the eighth grade, and in high schools in Kansas City.

In Durham, N.C., a 47-year old woman was sentenced to 5 to 7 years in prison for shooting her husband with a shotgun, following conviction by a jury of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. She had been charged with murder, the State alleging that she had shot her husband because of his alleged attentions to another woman. She had pleaded temporary insanity. Her husband had died the prior December, ten days after the shooting, and a doctor testified during the trial that he had died because of a blood clot, which may or may not have resulted from the wound. Her attorney gave notice of appeal.

In Philadelphia, speakers at a "convertible aircraft congress" disclosed that hybrid "convertiplanes" could make flying cheaper, faster and much safer via the aircraft which took off and landed like helicopters but flew like airplanes. One engineer from Palo Alto, California, had said that helicopters, able to carry loads in excess of their own weight, could be used to pick up airplanes from rooftops or ship decks and launch them or catch them as they arrived and then lower them to landing areas. They indicated that later, a safe civilian version would be on the market.

Yaba-daba.

On the editorial page, "Double Standard of Law Enforcement" inquires of the difference between a slot machine in a public gambling place and one located in a private social club, indicates that North Carolina law prohibited both but did not enforce both prohibitions with equal vigor.

The Raleigh News & Observer had reported that the number of gambling licenses issued in the state for operation of slot machines had dropped to a record low of 46 the previous September, but that some communities had since allowed some patriotic, fraternal and civic organizations to operate them, resulting in 92 more licenses being issued the previous October and November. Those included local chapters of the American Legion, the Elks, the Moose, the Eagles and Veterans of Foreign Wars. A country club in Hickory had reported having obtained the largest number.

The piece wonders why there should be a double standard of application of the law. The previous February in Atlantic Monthly, Governor Stevenson had said that when he had taken office in 1949, 75 percent of the gambling devices in Illinois had been in public taverns, and because local law enforcement were not willing to enforce the law, the Governor had put the State police to work, such that by July, 1951, only seven percent of the machines were in public taverns, and 93 percent in fraternal and civic organizations. The Governor had said that the machines in either type location were still against the law and that many reputable and influential citizens neutralized their power and influence to demand faithful performance by local officials in getting at the slot machines in the corner saloons by indulging in use of them at country clubs and fraternal organizations. He said that after Congress had outlawed the interstate shipment of slot machines, he had asked the Illinois Legislature to outlaw their manufacture within the state and thereby eliminate the traffic at its source. But the two bills which had been introduced had never gotten out of committee, as the fraternal and veterans organizations and private clubs had opposed them, not requiring the criminal syndicates therefore even to try.

It indicates that members of fraternal and social organizations which operated slot machines displayed "a disturbing double respect for authority", obeying the Federal law requiring a $250 license, yet flouting the state law forbidding operation of the machines. Some months earlier, it points out, machines were removed from private clubs in Charlotte, after a warning by the City Manager and the Chief of Police. It says that it had not checked recently, but assumed and hoped that they had not been replaced. It concludes that if the leaders of the community ignored the law, they could hardly expect others to respect it.

"He Meant What He Said and Vice Versa" indicates that the lengthy report on the page by Governor Kerr Scott told how far and how fast the "Go Forward" program of his Administration had progressed during his four years in office—the Governor of North Carolina at the time not being able to succeed himself, remaining so until 1976. None of the Governor's critics had challenged the accuracy of his report.

It indicates that it had taken some prodding to get the things done which he lists, and a good many members of the 1949 and 1951 General Assemblies had resisted. But when the people were asked to vote for 200 million dollars in road bonds, with an additional tax of a penny per gallon on gasoline, and 25 million dollars in school bonds, they had approved overwhelmingly.

The inflationary spiral following the outbreak of the Korean War in mid-1950 and the heavy U.S. defense program which followed had helped materially to pay for the Governor's program of public improvements and made his early investments look very good. But that did not take away from the Governor's due credit.

It indicates that it had opposed some of the Governor's programs in the past and had supported others, and criticized some of his tactics while approving of some, but that it was unquestionably true that the Governor had been right far more than he had been wrong, and that the state was in better condition to meet its responsibilities in an uncertain world because the Governor had "led and pushed it in the right direction."

"A Way the War's End May Be Hastened" indicates that use of Chinese Nationalist troops from Formosa in Korea would not necessarily expand the Korean War unless they were used in Chinese territory, that in Korea there would only be Chinese Nationalists fighting Chinese Communists. But, there were plenty of willing fighters in South Korea who were natives and would be effective soldiers, provided they were given the proper equipment and arms.

In Indo-China, however, soldiers were desperately needed by the French, who were in serious straits, having lost more men in proportion to their population than the U.S. had lost in Korea. Thus, it suggests using the Nationalist troops in Indo-China, asserts that such use would not extend the war, but would place pressure on Mao Tse-tung to transfer troops from Korea to Indo-China, gateway to the East Indies, of great importance to the Communists.

A piece from the Milwaukee Journal, titled "How Not To Improve Autos", indicates that the 1953 stock automobiles of one manufacturer would have a 205 horsepower engine and be able to travel 100 miles in less than 53 minutes during test runs, that two other manufacturers were reported to have similar "zoom wagons" in mind. It questions what the driver would do with 205 horsepower under foot, and on what public highways a car could be driven at 115 mph, seeming to the piece to be getting out of hand. It finds it an invitation to more slaughter and suicide on the highways, but the industry response had been that they had to produce more power than competitors to outsell them. It doubts that was the case and suggests that it would be smart business for the industry to concentrate on cars which would best meet the conditions under which they were actually driven, cars which could be parked, which would use less fuel and be maneuverable in modern traffic, were smaller and did not cost $200 per bump.

Drew Pearson tells of President-elect Eisenhower taking a leaf or two from FDR, under whom the General had worked throughout World War II. FDR usually took members of his Cabinet on a cruiser or yacht three or four times per year, giving him a chance to rest and consider long-range problems. The President-elect also planned to take frequent rests from office. He tried to spend at least part of every afternoon, while supreme commander of NATO in Paris, on the golf course, and that, plus a fairly rigid diet, had kept him in good shape. The mid-Pacific conferences he had aboard the U.S.S. Helena during his return trip from Korea to Hawaii had four objectives, to reach a decision on Korea, to get acquainted with his Cabinet members, most of whom he had met only once or twice, to discuss some domestic problems, such as taxes and the budget, to plan some speeches and prepare for some television appearances, which was why C. D. Jackson of Fortune, head of the campaign speechwriters, and Emmett Hughes, another speechwriter, had been included, and to formulate long-range foreign policy with Secretary of State-designate John Foster Dulles.

After the meeting between the President and Governor Stevenson the previous week, Southern Senators planning behind the scenes to take the Democratic Party away from the Governor's leadership and to run it from the Senate, began telephoning various Democratic leaders around the country friendly to Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, to urge him as national leader. They did not want to undertake a full-fledged campaign until after Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas was made Senate Minority Leader, because they feared that the Northern Democrats would balk at a Texan for Senate leader if they were aware that Senator Russell was being groomed as national party leader. Governor Stevenson had heard of this Southern strategy before going to the White House and discussed it with the President. The two men decided that the Governor would be the party's leader as far as the DNC was concerned, tacitly recognizing that the President had a lot of ill feeling against him in the South. The Governor had told the President that he would return to Washington after Congress reconvened in early January and visit with the Democrats on Capitol Hill, to become personal with the members of Congress, as their performance during the ensuing four years would be of utmost importance to the Democratic Party, and the Governor wanted to have a hand in it.

Governor Kerr Scott, as indicated in the above editorial, in a reprinted report on his Administration during his term, tells of advances made in the state in highways, education, agriculture, rural electrification, public health, medical care, mental institutions, public welfare, prisons, general development of industry, the development of a State Personnel Department, and expanded sources of revenue to fund the "Go Forward" program of his Administration. He concludes by expressing his gratitude to the people of the state for the opportunity to serve as Governor.

The Governor would successfully run for the Senate in 1954, defeating in the Democratic primary the incumbent interim Senator Alton Lennon, who would succeed Senator Willis Smith upon his death in 1953, by appointment of Governor William B. Umstead. Senator Scott would be re-elected in 1956, but would die in office in 1958. His son, Robert Scott, would be elected Governor in 1968.

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