The Charlotte News
Saturday, July 19, 1952
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the anti-Truman forces from Texas and Mississippi had won this date their first round in the fight to cast 70 delegate votes at the Democratic convention, set to start on the following Monday in Chicago. The credentials subcommittee had recommended to the DNC that it throw out the bids of the "loyalist" delegations from those two states, and that the convention adopt a resolution which would bind both seated "regular" delegations to support the party's presidential nominee, whoever it might turn out to be. The subcommittee also proposed that adequate chairs be provided on the convention floor for former Congressman Maury Maverick's "loyalist" pro-Truman Texas delegation and for the Mississippi "loyalist" delegation, albeit without votes, the only votes to be cast being from the anti-Truman delegations. The decision by the DNC, expected to support the subcommittee's recommendations, could be appealed to the convention, itself, as had been done during the Republican convention in the fight over the disputed delegations from Georgia and Texas. A floor fight appeared to be in the making, as had taken place at the Republican convention. A combined group of supporters of Averell Harriman and Senator Estes Kefauver were reported to be seeking to force either the seating of the loyalist delegates or to have the convention vote to bind the anti-Truman forces to support the party ticket.
Jack Bell of the Associated Press reports that Governor Adlai Stevenson's veto of new efforts to draft him as the party nominee had resulted in Vice-President Alben Barkley and Senators Kefauver and Richard Russell being thrust into the forefront of the candidates for potential nomination. Meanwhile, Mayor Thomas d'Alesandro, Jr., of Baltimore wrote an open letter to the President, urging him to allow his name to be placed in nomination.
Edwin Haakinson of the Associated Press reports that Senator William Benton of Connecticut was demanding that the drafters of the Democratic platform call upon the Senate to revise cloture rules for ending filibusters. He said that the Republicans, in their civil rights plank, had paid the "same old lip service to the ideals of equality under law but conspicuously" had ignored the "cancer of the filibuster, embedded with their aid, in the Wherry rule." Under that rule, named for the late Senator Kenneth Wherry of Nebraska, cloture of debate required two-thirds of the total Senate membership. Senator Benton proposed a rule whereby a filibuster could be ended by a simple majority vote of those present and voting, following 15 days of debate, and by a two-thirds majority vote of those present and voting after four days of debate. The Senator also urged a plank which would call for the expulsion from Congress of any members who violated "American concepts of ethics." The Senator had been engaged in a running battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy, having submitted a resolution under which Senator McCarthy would be ousted from the Senate for his defamatory charges that members of the Government had Communist sympathies. Democratic leaders were struggling to avoid a floor fight which might split the party on the issues of filibuster and civil rights. Northern Democrats, led by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Herbert Lehman of New York, claimed enough pledged votes to write a tough civil rights plank, as had been the case in 1948, prompting the walkout of the Dixiecrats. House Majority Leader John McCormack of Massachusetts, a member of the platform drafting committee, told Mr. Haakinson that he was hopeful that the platform reported to the convention by the committee would be approved, as common sense would call for unity.
A member of the North Carolina delegation believed that the sentiment and organization in Chicago for Senator Russell as the nominee was better than anything for which he had hoped. He said that the Senator had more "latent strength below the surface" than ever before, despite his recent change of position on Taft-Hartley, asserting the need for a new law to supplant it. The North Carolina delegate, however, contended that the newspapers had switched around what the Senator had said, that he did not believe in abolition of Taft-Hartley, only that it should be rewritten.
Acting Defense Mobilizer John Steelman indicated this date that the United Steelworkers and the steel industry would resume negotiations in Pittsburgh on Sunday, in another effort to resolve the ongoing 48-day old steel strike. The United Steelworkers wage-policy committee was expected to back up union president Philip Murray's refusal to make further concessions on the crucial remaining issue of the union shop. The industry, however, appeared just as adamant in refusing to budge on this issue. Meanwhile, the shortage of steel for the defense program was becoming so acute that the Government was considering resort to the Selective Service Act to seize certain parts of the steel industry dealing with crucial types of steel related to the defense industry.
The President returned home from Walter Reed Army Medical Center this date, after having been admitted for a check-up by his White House physician, following his recovery from a mild virus infection. The President permitted photographers to take all the pictures they wanted, as he indicated that he had been able to take all the time he wanted during the week just to loaf. Actually, he had signed scores of bills while in the hospital, one of which would increase Social Security benefits by about 540 million dollars per year. He lambasted Republican attempts to change the bill, and said he wanted to tell voters "how the Republicans dance when a well-heeled lobbyist pipes a tune", referring to the efforts of the AMA to impair "insurance protections for millions of disabled Americans". Press secretary Joseph Short said that the President would attend the convention, after the nominee for the presidency had been selected, but possibly before the selection of the vice-presidential nominee. He would also address the convention.
Sixty-five miles off Long Island, N.Y., a 5,000-ton Norwegian freighter, the Black Gull, loaded with naphthalene, burst into flames on the Atlantic, but 45 of 49 persons aboard, including six women, had been rescued this date, with four crewmen still missing. The Swedish American liner Gripsholm had effected the rescue. Six of those rescued needed medical treatment, but only one was considered in serious condition.
A late bulletin reports that in New York, an oil tanker was on fire in the East River off 70th Street this date, and police said that crewmen were leaping into the river to escape the flames.
In Raleigh, in another late bulletin, Dr. Clyde Erwin, State superintendent of Public Instruction since 1934, was reported to have died this date of a heart attack at age 55.
In Buenos Aires, the condition of Eva Peron, critically ill with cancer, wife of El Presidente Juan Peron, appeared grave. She reportedly had shown some improvement after a serious turn for the worse the previous day, but Argentine Government officials appeared downcast and gloomy.
Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo… The dictatrix might die.
Don't despair, Argentina. They will yet make a cornball musical about her, turned into possibly the worst movie ever made about some of the worst people who ever lived, made over to appear as folk heroes, with treacle aplenty.
On the editorial page, "Predicament of the Southern Democrats" suggests that were it not so serious to the people involved, it would chuckle loudly at the consternation of the Southern Democratic leaders regarding Senator Richard Russell's about-face on Taft-Hartley earlier in the week. Southerners for weeks had been promoting Senator Russell's candidacy as an anti-Fair Deal wedge at the convention, considering him safe on such issues as resistance to a compulsory FEPC and changes to Taft-Hartley. Under the leadership of Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia and Governor James Byrnes of South Carolina, the South had lined up almost solidly behind Senator Russell.
Then Senator Russell began flirting with a compromise on the FEPC and announced his view that Taft-Hartley had been unfair in its application and should be supplanted by new legislation. He even sought openly President Truman's support and said that he would support the President if he were nominated again.
These changes had prompted the Virginia pro-Russell delegation to change course, with Governor William Tuck omitting a complimentary reference to Senator Russell from his prepared address, and then, at the suggestion of Senator Byrd, sent an uninstructed delegation to the convention. In Georgia, the Atlanta Journal commented that the switch by the Senator on Taft-Hartley "smacks of political expediency and seems out of character…" The Charleston News & Courier said that the Senator was "making a strong bid for Fair Deal support". The Richmond Times-Dispatch exclaimed angrily: "In taking this weasel-worded line, in an attempt to attract support from President Truman, the unions and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Senator Russell has lost caste all around." The Baltimore Evening Sun observed: "When the candidate backed by Jimmy Byrnes and Harry Byrd begins to cavort in this fashion, anything may happen. Truly, Presidential aspiration looses the joints of the politicoes and enables them to perform in wondrous ways."
It suggests that if the delegates from the South found Senator Russell's swing to the Fair Deal too distasteful, they would be left without any suitable alternative. Senator Kefauver, though from Tennessee, had never been popular with Southern politicians, and now was advocating a change in Senate cloture rules to make it easier to end a filibuster, used often to block civil rights legislation. Averell Harriman, Vice-President Alben Barkley and Senator Brien McMahon of Connecticut all supported the Fair Deal, and Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma was back and forth on the President's program. With the possible exception of Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, none of the favorite son candidates was a natural recipient of Southern favor, including Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Governor Paul Dever of Massachusetts, and Governor Mennen Williams of Michigan.
Governor Adlai Stevenson believed that FEPC should be handled at the state level, but if he succeeded in removing himself from any draft consideration, it appeared that the Southerners would have to consider another Dixiecrat-type walkout, as in 1948. It suggests that they might instead simply support the Republican nominee.
"A Well-Balanced System" indicates that in many fields, such as power production, agriculture, and health, the dividing line between public and private business was vaguely drawn and hotly debated. The public interest, said some, would best be served by increased governmental intervention, while others maintained that government control had to be stemmed. Occasional criticism of this type had been leveled at the Health Department in Charlotte, which had been the subject of the three-part series on the page the prior three days, by News associate editor, Vic Reinemer. He had concluded in his final installment the previous day that the relationship between private and public practice of medicine was well-balanced in the city and that the Health Department was one in which the citizens could take pride.
Four years earlier, the Department had ranked first among over 200 health departments in the nation in 12 of 78 categories rated by the American Public Health Association. In the Association's survey of 1950, ratings by category were not produced, but the overall rating of Charlotte had increased considerably in the two-year interim. In 1951, the incidence of all communicable diseases, except tuberculosis, had decreased in Charlotte. Medical workers from all over the state and the nation, as well as from foreign countries, came to Charlotte to train within the Health Department. The city's private practitioners, by and large, were supportive and cooperative with the Department.
It indicates that in the future, there might be instances of conflict, but if such issues were approached from a broadminded viewpoint, characterizing most of the doctors and health officials in the city, it could be solved without undue strain. For the present, it praises Dr. M. B. Bethel, the city health officer, and his staff, and finds that the Health Department was complementing the excellent work of private doctors in the community.
"Ladies, You're Being Wooed" tells of female Democrats seeking to outdo female Republicans in the current election season. Senator Margaret Chase Smith had been slated to provide a major speech before the Republican convention, but had to give way to Senator Joseph McCarthy. Former Representative Clare Boothe Luce had been prepared to nominate Senator Smith for the vice-presidency, but in the rush to agree on Senator Richard Nixon for the spot, it was decided to dispense with the formality of a regular nominating speech and instead, Mrs. Luce gave only a short speech about Senator Smith.
The Republicans adopted a rule which, in effect, would destroy the existing balance between men and women on the national committee, by providing bonus seats, most of which would go to the state chairmen.
The female Democrats had been emphasizing this Republican "inequality" while informing people back home of their 12-room headquarters at the Democratic convention, while the Republican women had to operate from only one room. Presently, a boomlet for India Edwards as a vice-presidential nominee was underway. Moreover, the speakers list at the Democratic affair included Perle Mesta, Minister to Luxembourg, Eugenie A. Anderson, Ambassador to Denmark, Eleanor Roosevelt, delegate to the U.N., Georgia Neese Clark, Treasurer of the United States, Elizabeth A. Conkey, national committeewoman, and Mrs. Edwards, vice chairman of the national committee.
It suggests that perhaps the array of female speakers would convince some women in the audience that their future lay with the Democratic Party. But in the meantime, it advises, the boys would be in the back room, just as the Republicans, deciding on the next President and his running mate.
Well, it won't be exactly like the Republicans, as the Democrats will not be nominating Senator Nixon, no matter what else may transpire, including another Chicago fire.
A piece from the Baltimore Evening Sun, titled "Recreation Wanted", tells of a dispatch from Stratford-on-Avon indicating that the town council had voted to spend about $560 per week, starting the following August, to bring vaudeville into a variety hall not far from the Shakespeare Memorial Theater. One of the members of the council had indicated that a lot of people got tired of living with Shakespeare's spirit day and night and that what they wanted was lively music hall turns.
The piece counsels not being too
quick to cry: "Profanation
Drew Pearson, in Chicago, finds that if a popularity vote were taken in the House at present among Democrats, and possibly even among Republicans, Speaker Sam Rayburn would win. If he were ten years younger than 70 years old, he would be the ideal candidate for the Democrats in 1952. He had first entered the House in 1913, at the inception of the Administration of Woodrow Wilson, and had helped write legislation under six different Presidents. He had maintained his integrity, his idealism and his sense of humor through all of it. He had been responsible for writing most of the signal New Deal legislation, including the Truth-in-Securities Act, the legislation establishing the SEC, the Holding Corporation Act, which had broken up some of the big utility combines, the Rural Electrification legislation and the Federal Communications Act.
Mr. Rayburn talked about retirement from Congress rather than running for President. His chief dream was to build his library in his hometown of Bonham, Texas.
A number of Mr. Pearson's readers had asked about General Eisenhower's statements regarding atheism in France and the disintegration of the French moral fiber, as well as about the propriety of publishing the remarks out of concern that they might aid the Communist cause. During a talk with the press and a group of delegates in Chicago on July 8, the General had criticized France for his religious and moral attitude and there was not the slightest chance of keeping his statements quiet, since they had been cabled to France by the press associations and by French newsmen within a matter of minutes, and had been published in all the French newspapers the same day. He provides the bulletin which the International News Service had cabled to France, indicating that the General had said that France had "gone astray" morally and that one of the reasons was that France bragged that it was 50 percent agnostic or atheist. Other cabled dispatches to France had been similar. He indicates that those who expressed the view that his statement should have been suppressed neglected to recall that it was not possible for the U.S. any longer to live as an ostrich, that everything leaders said was cabled immediately around the world, and that one of the most important reasons for an election campaign was to size up a candidate and to do so, it was necessary to know what he said and what his judgments were regarding all important situations.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop indicate that the President could swing between 200 and 400 delegate votes at the convention, depending on whether the delegates liked or disliked his favored candidate. It was possible that he had already made his choice, but, if so, he had only informed one or two confidantes.
Proceeding by a process of elimination, the Alsops start with Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma, and Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, each of whom the President was likely not to support for different reasons: his low opinion of Senator Kefauver; the lack of national standing and the oil interests of Senator Kerr; and the inability of Senator Russell to carry Northern states.
Among the serious active candidates, the President's choice was likely either Averell Harriman or Vice-President Alben Barkley. Mr. Harriman was solidly for the Fair Deal and though his candidacy had not begun as a serious endeavor, it had developed into a strong campaign, impressing the President, who liked Mr. Harriman more than any of the other candidates. The objection to him was that his nomination would commit the Democrats to an extreme and radical strategy of jettisoning the South, which would likely split the party.
Vice-President Barkley was the candidate of the Senate, as opposed to the White House. The President did not have great affection for Mr. Barkley, despite his faithful service to the President. He was, however, a vigorous campaigner who would unite the party, enjoying Northern support. The objection to him was his age of 74. If he became the choice of the convention, the President's blessings would put him over the top, whereas the President's endorsement of Mr. Harriman would be more problematic because of the Southern delegates' objections.
The Alsops conclude that the outcome of the convention remained unpredictable. If the delegates believed that the objections to either of the above candidates were insuperable, a deadlock could result, in which case the convention might still turn to Governor Adlai Stevenson.
Marquis Childs, in Madison, Wis., discusses the Democratic Party in Wisconsin typifying the troubles the party appeared to have across the country after 20 years in power. Organization and discipline had been cast aside as personal rivalries came to the surface.
Senator Joseph McCarthy was up for re-election in the fall. He had been denounced in many quarters as a demagogue, including in some of the important parts of the press for his reckless charges of Communist sympathies. To others, however, he was a hero and a crusader. For cynical Republicans, he was a "handy stick to beat the Democratic dog". He had become a prime target for younger Democrats in Wisconsin, and two months earlier, they had decided to back Henry Reuss, formally of the Office of Price Administration and the Marshall Plan administration, in the Democratic primary the following September. He lacked experience in politics, but was earnest and hard-working.
Thomas Fairchild was contesting Mr. Reuss in the primary and in consequence, much of the Democratic Party's time and money would go into this struggle.
He predicts that Wisconsin would be "a dark and bloody battleground" but it was unlikely that the Democrats could muster enough strength for the short fall campaign to unseat Senator McCarthy.
A letter writer from Danbury suggests to the North Carolina delegation to the Democratic convention that it place in nomination the name of Gordon Gray, UNC president and former Secretary of the Army, for the vice-presidency.
A letter writer finds that the Republicans at their convention had promoted the idea from the rostrum of breaking the solid South in the general election, and then went back home to wheedle and beg the Democrats to move over and make room for a new Republican President. He indicates that the Republicans had broken the solid South and kept it broke for about 75 years, with the region having been a "whipping boy", of which Southerners had long memories. He hopes that the South did not give a "single crumby office" to the Republicans in November, that all reports indicated that Wall Street had been dictating General Eisenhower's nomination to the convention over Senator Taft, "a capable and honorable man". He believes that Wall Street would have a hard time selling the General to the Republicans, let alone to the Democrats. He thinks the Eisenhower bandwagon was "phony and a phantom". "Its spokes are loose and it likely is not even as stout as the old Hoover cart."
A letter writer wonders why the newspaper had to move its most interesting articles from the back of the second section to the inside front page of that same section, including the columns of Reverend Herbert Spaugh and Erich Brandeis. She could not understand the importance of the move and suggests that the newspaper restore the old order.
A letter writer hopes that the Park
& Recreation Commission would give no serious consideration to
the recent letter proposing that model plane flying be restored in
parks close to residential areas. He thinks that the Commission had
made a fair and wise decision to ban the noise-making practice and
thinks it ought go further to ban square dances at Freedom Park each
Tuesday night, which also, he opines, constituted a nuisance. He
could not understand why the City made strict zoning laws to protect
property values and then turned loose
Well, they were, undoubtedly, just
there to provide fun and music, and nothing but fun and music,
and we God bless them for it
A letter writer tells of about one in ten children born in Charlotte being illegitimate, that during the years when the writer had been president of the Community Chest, and afterward, as chairman of the Park & Recreation Commission, he had given much thought to the question of youth guidance, finding that guidance of young girls was much less emphasized than the guidance of young boys in the community, with most of the money being spent on the boys. He suggests that the high rate of out-of-wedlock births might be reduced if the moral, spiritual, educational and recreational leaders in the community were to combine for the purpose. He issues a challenge to that effect.
Just get them to start watching "Ozzie and Harriet" episodes on the tv, when the series begins its televised run in the fall. All will be copacetic.
Framed Edition
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