The Charlotte News
Tuesday, September 16, 1952
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Milo Farneti, that U.S. Sabre jets had shot down four enemy MIG-15s this date in five air battles with 55 MIGs, raising its number for the month thus far to a record 46 enemy warplanes shot down, topping the 44 shot down the prior April, of which three had been propeller-driven fighters hit on the ground. In addition, allied pilots had reported three other enemy jets probably destroyed and 36 damaged thus far during the month. Speculation resulted that the Sabres were now equipped with a new secret device which Air Force Secretary Thomas Finletter had said would soon be available to increase the number of downed MIGs. The Fifth Air Force spokesman declined to comment. The Sabres were providing protective cover for F-84 Thunderjet fighter-bombers attacking near Sinuiju, near the Manchurian border. Other fighter-bombers attacked two troop concentrations further south. B-29s returned to Pyongyang and dropped 100 tons of bombs on the capital. Together with B-26s, they destroyed a reported 126 enemy trucks, the largest bag since May.
The Marine Corps reported this date that six fighter pilots had flown into a cloud-shrouded hillside in Korea the previous Thursday and had been killed. At the time, they were returning from a combat mission in bad weather and attempting an approach to a strange landing field.
In Philadelphia, the President this date described opponents of national health insurance as "pullbacks" who wished to return to the horse and buggy days. He said that he would not call the goal of providing medical and health services to the people at a price they could afford as "socialism", but rather would call it a goal of "American enterprise". The President quoted General Eisenhower, without naming him, from a statement he had made Sunday in New York opposing the health insurance plan, calling it "socialized medicine", and advocating locally administered indigent medical care programs instead.
The President told the AFL convention in a written message read by Averell Harriman in New York this date that plans were being prepared to make Taft-Hartley even more oppressive and unfair to labor should the Republicans win the November election. Mr. Harriman had been introduced by AFL President William Green as "the next Secretary of State", having been mentioned often as a prime prospect for that position should Governor Stevenson win the election. The President said that he had little doubt that a definite plot had been hatched at the close of the war "to smash, or at least cripple our trade union movement in a period of post-war reaction", a plot hatched by "a little group of politicians, working with the representatives of our most reactionary employers". He said that the plot included not only Taft-Hartley but the repeal of most New Deal legislation and the use of anti-labor devices, such as "spies, finks, blacklists and yellow dog contracts". He underscored that General Eisenhower had made peace with the author of the Taft-Hartley law, which he suggested was not out of line with the Republican platform, "the most anti-labor platform they have submitted to the country in at least 16 years".
UMW president John L. Lewis appeared this date to be preparing for a strike of the bituminous coal miners, utilizing a divide-and-conquer strategy against the coal producers. Mr. Lewis said that a walkout was not likely to produce a national emergency. He had stated the previous day that negotiations had reached a "most disturbing" impasse with the Northern soft coal operators, with only four days remaining before the present contract expired on Saturday. He also said that no conclusions had been reached in frequent talks with Southern coal producers, whose contract expired September 30. He implied that both sets of mines would be shut down when the contracts ended. The two groups produced about 70 percent of the nation's coal, and included 300,000 miners. He said that he expected to reach an agreement with the anthracite industry in Pennsylvania, whose contract also expired on September 30, and with a small group of bituminous producers, which he hoped would establish a formula for settlement with the remainder of the industry.
General Eisenhower conducted a whistle-stop campaign in Minnesota, calling for a "consistent" farm program, speaking before a crowd estimated at nearly 3,000 persons at Albert Lea, saying that farmers had been "caught in the middle" the previous fall when the Office of Price Stabilization had threatened to place price controls on hogs at the same time the Agriculture Department had indicated that the over-supply of hogs would prevent price increases. He said that Republicans would be consistent in their farm program and would not back and fill, once the program was established. At another stop, he told an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 persons that he was a strong supporter of farm cooperatives as a salvation of the family farm, which in turn was the salvation of agriculture. He also said that Americans did not want entertainment, that they did not want the General to become Bob Hope, as dishonesty in government was no laughing matter, again attacking the quips made on the campaign trail by Governor Stevenson. The crowd applauded. RNC chairman Arthur Summerfield told a reporter that the campaign was entirely satisfied with the reactions of about 250,000 persons who had turned out to see and hear the General the previous day in his Illinois and Indiana stops.
Governor Stevenson remained in Springfield, Ill., and was planning to travel to Washington on Saturday, after opening a second campaign tour covering the Atlantic seaboard on Thursday. On Monday he would address the AFL convention in New York. It was believed that he might consult with the President on Sunday.
The Bureau of the Census reported this date that the U.S. population stood at 157,269,000 on August 1, an increase of 254,000 over July 1. The 1950 official census had been 151,132,000.
In Bridlington, England, a Royal Air Force jet fighter hit a tractor while taking off from an airfield this date, killing the pilot and the driver of the tractor.
In Mecklenburg County, 72 persons had been arrested by ABC law enforcement officers the previous night and early this date in one of the largest raids against bootlegging since the end of the war. The raids had climaxed two months of undercover work. All of the persons arrested were black and the arrests were made in all sections of the county, many inside the city limits. Most of the arrests were for buying and selling non-tax paid whiskey in half-gallon and half-pint jars. The County police chief stated that they had not run across a still in quite some time, that the liquor was bought legally elsewhere, brought into the county and was being resold. One of those arrested was only 15. All except two of the defendants had made bail by 8:00 a.m., with bail ranging between $100 and $500. Some of those arrested were couples.
In Linville, N.C., the second fire in less than two months had destroyed the temporary golf shop during the morning, the country club having been destroyed July 31 by a fire and the temporary golf shop then established at a spot near the ruins. Whereas the first loss had been uninsured, the newest one was fully covered.
In London, a 21-year old woman could not make up her mind whether to marry a fellow office worker or a laborer, and after enduring months of her contemplation of the matter, the laborer stormed into her office, swung her around by the hair, and beat up his rival, fracturing his skull before being taken to jail after a fight with three policemen trying to break up the fracas. He was sentenced to 21 months in jail, but as soon as he left the courtroom, the young woman announced that she would marry him, as he had, in her perception, shown that he loved her, even if demonstrating it, she said, in the wrong way. She stated that the fellow office worker had not sought to communicate with her since he had left the hospital, and she did not want any man who did not want her. The thus spurned office worker said that his rival could have her.
On the editorial page, "On Differences of Degrees" tells of General Eisenhower, after having been asked about Senator Taft's statement that their foreign policy views differed only in degrees, having responded that it might be as a difference of degree between a man who took one drink and one who took ten drinks, quite a difference.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had rhetorically asked whether there was only a difference of degree between the General standing completely behind American participation in NATO and Senator Taft and 13 fellow Senators having voted against ratification of the NATO treaty, whether there was a difference of degree between the General and the Senator, when the Senator had fought the appointment of any American commander of NATO, a role, course, which General Eisenhower had filled, whether there was a difference of degree in Senator Taft calling the Korean War "Truman's War", and the General viewing it as a necessary exercise of U.N. responsibility, and whether there was a difference of degree between Senator Taft backing the MacArthur position favoring expansion of the Korean War, and General Eisenhower having always stood for containing the war within its present bounds.
The piece indicates that it was largely because of Senator Taft's voting record on foreign policy that he was defeated for the Republican nomination, and that no pronouncement by the Senator could reduce the vast gap between his record and that of General Eisenhower to one of mere degree. It urges the General to speak out forthrightly and refute the statement by the Senator, lest the General create the suspicion that integrity was being sacrificed to expediency.
"September Interlude" tells of the editor having gone to the beach in September rather than during the summer months, and finding certain pleasantries in having skipped the summer crowds, able to have the whole beach practically alone, still able effortlessly to obtain a tan under the bright sun, albeit not so searing as during the hotter months, that the seafood marts were full of speckled trout, flounder, bluefish and mackerel, with plenty of crab meat also to be had. The ocean was calm beyond the big rollers. And, it comments, best of all, the September beach respite enabled the vacationer, especially "a weary and confused editorial writer", to be in complete isolation from the news, not worrying about the events which a few days earlier had been so troubling, providing, for a few short days, a degree of perspective on those issues and events.
"When in Doubt, Pass Two Resolutions" tells of the recent annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars having passed several resolutions, including one to permit "shipment by mail of live scorpions", another concerned with the fate of "scout dogs used in the Korean War after their period of usefulness has ceased", and another favoring longer visiting hours at a VA hospital in Miles City, Montana, all of which the piece regards as being undoubtedly of great importance.
But, it finds, the VFW had sought to have it both ways in certain other areas, such as favoring the creation of medical scholarships by the Government to establish a modern medical department in each branch of the armed services, while also opposing Federal aid to education, seeking to cooperate with the American National Red Cross in assisting in the contribution and collection of blood for the armed forces, while also opposing control by the Red Cross or any single organization of the procurement of blood for the armed forces, and approving and supporting the U.N., while also opposing any and all forms of "world government". It congratulates the resolution drafters on providing a broad base of opinion for the members of the VFW, doing a better job than even the drafters of the Republican and Democratic platforms in covering the bases.
A piece from the Winston-Salem Journal, titled "Gentlemen, Be Seated!" tells of chivalry often being overdone by men who, for instance, automatically stood up and gave their seats in public transportation to any woman who happened to be standing. It was one thing to surrender one's seat to a woman who was overburdened with bundles or elderly, but to do so solely for the sake of chivalry seems to the piece to be excessive.
It indicates that chivalry was not confined to the South, that it had been reported the previous winter from Boston that a woman driver had become stuck in ice and snow, and a man stopped and shoveled all of the snow out of the way of her tires so that she could depart, after which the woman said, "I'm glad to know that shovelry is not dead."
Drew Pearson tells of the Republican command having worked out a high-powered publicity campaign which would be unique in the history of American politics and calculated to bring victory the following November, that plan being to solicit national advertisers, most of whom were friendly to the GOP, to surrender radio and television advertising spots to the RNC during the last three weeks of the campaign and then saturate the airways with transcriptions from General Eisenhower. These spots would run one to two minutes each and consist of a question asked of General Eisenhower by a voter, including his reply. His response would be intended to inspire loyalty without prematurely committing himself to any specific answer. The General had approved of this plan and was setting aside half a day for the transcriptions to be recorded. The Republican leaders believed that they would have no trouble getting the large advertisers to relinquish radio and television spots three weeks before the election, as all except two of the large advertising agencies in New York were considered Republican, as were most of their clients.
He provides the full text of the plan, which recommended that two million dollars be spent during the three weeks in 49 counties of the nation, the equivalent of spending 135 million over the course of a year in advertising, providing "message-leverage" in those key areas. Each questioner would be filmed separately from the General's response. Some of the questioners would have accents from the various areas sampled, and the General, according to the plan, would answer "with all the warmth and charm" of which he was capable. The spots would then be aired at the rate of one per hour over 56 television and 244 radio stations in those 49 areas. The spots would be produced during the first week of October, to avoid the prospect of issues dramatically changing during the last three weeks of the campaign. The key undecided states which the plan intended to target were California, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The plan indicated that those states controlled 308 electoral votes, more than the 266 needed for election. The primary targets would be areas where substantial elements of Democratic voters were concentrated, where the electoral vote was high, and where during the previous two or three elections, the vote had been close.
Joseph Alsop, in Cleveland, indicates that the "support" by Senator Taft of the Republican ticket was only nominal, that when questioned about specific foreign policy topics, campaign strategy or similar topics, he had carefully stated his disagreement with General Eisenhower, even refusing to accept the General's detailed revision of the Republican farm plank when he had spoken at the National Plowing Contest in Minnesota.
During the period after the convention, the Republican power struggle had been waged behind the scenes at Eisenhower headquarters in Denver, where the former Taft supporters, such as new RNC chairman Arthur Summerfield, who had in turn brought into the camp such old guardsmen as Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois and Michigan state chairman Wayne Hood, appeared almost to direct the Eisenhower campaign. One result had been an early campaign schedule requiring most of the General's attention in the states where Senator Taft's Senate supporters were running for re-election, neglecting the large, pivotal East Coast and West Coast states. That situation had led to a major debate between Mr. Summerfield and the original Eisenhower supporters, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and Governor Sherman Adams, resulting in the campaign schedule being altered and Mr. Summerfield's policy-making powers being transferred to a small clique headed by Governor Adams.
There was marked variation from state to state in the results. In Wisconsin, where it was presumed that Senator Joseph McCarthy was certain to be re-elected, the organization did not much care if the General visited their state. But in Indiana, where Senator William Jenner was in grave danger of defeat by the popular Governor, the organization stood ready to work for General Eisenhower for the sake of the Senator, and the Senator, himself, had sought to attach himself to the General's policies and run on his coattails, at least until the victory in the Wisconsin primary by Senator McCarthy, with the result that now Senator Jenner might rely instead on Senator McCarthy's coattails.
Elsewhere in the country, the influence of the struggle among the Republicans could conceivably become great, as Senator Taft was not yielding to General Eisenhower's leadership in the party or accepting his policies. In the coming election, he was more likely to support his loyal group of Senators for re-election than General Eisenhower for the presidency. Senator McCarthy would aid in this effort. The total impression was that it was more important to have the so-called "Class of 1946" in the Senate re-elected than General Eisenhower elected.
Mr. Alsop posits that under those circumstances, the country might well begin to inquire as to who was making Republican policy, General Eisenhower or Senator Taft, and how that would translate in an Eisenhower presidency. He indicates that time would tell the outcome of that struggle. He finds, however, that the struggle would not be resolved by harmony statements or breakfast meetings between the Senator and the General.
In terms of the Eisenhower Presidency, the issue would be resolved the following summer with the sudden death of Senator Taft.
Robert C. Ruark finds no use for the extra combat pay being debated in Congress, whereby those men who were subject to hostile fire for not less than six days in a month would receive $45 additional pay. The Navy especially objected, as it rarely put in six days of combat time in a given month. He says that he had always been against special pay for individual units as it only wound up in inequity and confusion. Most soldiers did not fight for the pay, but because of patriotism, and there should be no premium on that attribute. He indicates that a soldier killed in Texas was just as dead as one killed in Korea and that there was not enough money to compensate a soldier for the stark fear and discomfort suffered from undergoing gunfire in tough climates. "The arbitrary awarding of a two-bit bonus for doing his duty seems to me an insult to the man."
He concludes that a man in a front-line foxhole could earn more money in six minutes than a rear-echelon soldier undergoing mild bombardment would earn in six years.
A letter writer from Concord praises a deceased lawyer of the town, Tola Davis Maness, says that had he lived, he would have been Governor or Senator, says that his good friend, the dog lover being promoted as a candidate for governor in 1956, was the nephew of Mr. Maness. He wonders whether his friend would run for governor, hopes that he would.
Well, he's going to have to broaden his platform beyond the paradoxical planks of a free press and freedom for dogs. That is a bit too wee of a platform on which to expect the voters of France to respond with "oui". We urge him to do his business elsewhere than in running for the gubernatorial nomination.
A letter writer, also a dog lover who is being promoted as the manager of the campaign of the would-be gubernatorial candidate mentioned in the immediately preceding letter, responds to a letter of the prior Saturday, which had urged that dissenters and nonconformists were being silenced in the country, suggests that the author was either a "good and sincere but frightfully misguided and misinformed American", or "a malicious apostle of Communism and clever espouser of the diabolical Communist Party line". He finds the letter to suggest both paths. He asserts that if the writer were in the second category, he should be cut down with .30 caliber rifles by a firing squad "like a dog (a mad dog, that is), thus dying the ignominious death of a traitor of the vilest sort!" If in the first category, then he should take no offense at the writer's comments, he suggests, as the previous author had his sympathy.
This writer also mentions the case of Myron Ross, the UNC Law School graduate who had been barred from taking the State Bar exam by the Board of Law Examiners based on grounds of lacking sufficient "moral character", apparently for the claim that he had denied being a member of the Communist Party, in the face of accusation by two witnesses that he had been a member. This writer says that he knew nothing of the case other than what he had read in the newspapers, and believes that if those accounts were true, he would as soon see the man in hell as see him practice law in the state, but also hopes that he would pursue his rights into the courts if available, and, if so, that the previous correspondent should be ashamed for suggesting otherwise.
We are beginning to wonder whether "Bob Cherry, Jr.", this correspondent, and "J. R. Dean", the other dog lover, are in fact one person, J. R. Cherry, Jr., who had gathered notoriety at UNC as an undergraduate 3 to 4 years earlier when he took on the graduate student who had a fellowship through the Atomic Energy Commission and was an admitted Communist, J. R. Cherry having informed Senator Clyde Hoey of the matter, resulting ultimately in the graduate student losing his fellowship. The students, at least on April Fool's Day in 1949, had formed a committee, organized by the graduate student with whom he tangled, to promote this Mr. Cherry for the presidency in 1952.
But, who knows who's who anymore in an atmosphere orchestrated by the likes of Senators McCarthy and Nixon? Perhaps, only the dogs know for sure.
A letter from the chairman of the County Board of Elections, John Newitt, who had just resigned, receiving high praise for his work from the editorial column, thanks the newspaper for its support and suggests that he had been praised far more than he deserved, indicating that the issue of pay for the position had never been important to him, that what hurt him the most was to leave the official family of registrars, judges and clerks who were "the most loyal and considerate group of people" for whom and with whom he had ever worked. He indicates that he would continue to devote his time to the cause of true democracy and would provide all of the information available for encouraging future programs of year-round registration, complete master lists of voters, and changes in the statutes necessary to streamline voting and bring the state in line with the best practices for the people.
In 2019, you had better go down to Raleigh and educate some of those Republican idiots controlling the General Assembly, trying to steal democracy in the dead of night, in complete accord with their fearless leader in the White House.
Framed Edition
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