The Charlotte News

Saturday, September 20, 1952

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via George McArthur, that Communist Chinese troops had repulsed an allied charge against "Old Baldy Hill" this date, but failed to hold off another against a western front peak which they had seized earlier in the day, in renewed heavy fighting in western and central Korea. The latter was one of four successfully defended hill positions in a two-mile wide attack by the Chinese the previous night. U.N. troops had reached to within 100 yards of the newly held enemy positions on "Old Baldy" at dawn this date, before being forced back by artillery and mortar fire. In support of the latter action, U.N. planes had hit the enemy with napalm, rockets and bombs. The enemy had lost an estimated 300 killed and wounded in two futile attacks against a knob of "Finger Ridge", trying to drive off the South Korean troops occupying it. The enemy had lost another 200 soldiers in unsuccessful assaults against an allied central front outpost east of the Pukhan River during the previous night.

The Korean truce talks adjourned this date for the eighth straight week-long recess, following an angry 52-minute session in which negotiators argued over who had started the war. This date's session was the first plenary meeting since September 12 and produced no headway in the stalemate regarding prisoner-of-war exchange, the long remaining obstacle to a truce. The U.N. requested a recess until September 28, to which the Communists agreed. After the Communists had claimed that the allies stood "against the people of the whole world", the U.N. chief negotiator, Lt. General William Harrison, read a lengthy statement to them, reminding that 44 nations had voted in the U.N. General Assembly to brand the North Koreans aggressors. North Korean General Nam Il, the lead Communist negotiator, replied that those nations had been "voting machines" and satellites of the U.S., and charged the allies with "slaughtering" prisoners and that the allied proposal regarding prisoner exchange violated the 1949 Geneva Convention. General Harrison then proceeded to provide a lengthy history lesson on which side had been the aggressor.

General Eisenhower, in a speech before a cheering audience in Kansas City the previous night, said that Governor Stevenson was the nominee of the "big city bosses", representing the most pointed attack yet on the Governor. The General claimed that the big city bosses had preferred the Governor over Senator Estes Kefauver for the Democratic presidential nomination, and said that he sympathized with the Governor because of the company he was obliged to keep as a result, questioning whether the big city bosses would disown him even if the Governor chose to disown them.

In the background, the General's top advisers were debating among themselves as to whether Senator Richard Nixon should withdraw as the vice-presidential candidate because of the disclosure on Thursday night that wealthy Californians had contributed to a slush fund for the Senator, which he had used to pay expenses since the 1950 Senate campaign through the prior July, when he was nominated in the second spot on the ticket. Thus far, it was reported that the General was standing by the Senator, but those close to the General indicated that he was not ruling out the possibility that the Senator would have to step aside because of the matter overshadowing the General's attack on corruption in the Truman Administration.

In Pasadena, it was disclosed that the Senator's slush fund actually had totaled $18,235, rather than the initially reported $16,000-$17,000, and had been contributed by 75 Southern California Republicans, based on a list of the contributors and an itemization of the expenses released by tax attorney Dana Smith, who originally had established the fund. The contributors included Herbert Hoover, Jr., son of the former President, John Garland, a prominent U.S. Olympics official, J. B. Van Nuys, wealthy member of a pioneer family of Southern California, Bernard Brennan, a Glendale lawyer and head of the Republican organization in the area, and Earl Gilmore, a Los Angeles oil man. Mr. Smith said that the fund was used to cover "supplementary expenses" of the Senator. The itemization included more than $6,000 for stationery, printing, mimeographing and supplies, mainly for reports and other communications to the Senator's constituents, over $3,400 for travel and hotel expenses, more than $2,000 for radio and television expenses, about $1,300 for "addressograph" plates, about $1,200 for telephone, telegraph and messenger services, $1,100 for postage above the Senate allowance, more than $900 for extra office help, nearly $800 for advertising and publicity, over $600 for meals of visitors paid by office staff, nearly $400 of expenses associated with meetings, and nearly $300 in non-itemized miscellaneous expenses.

In Marysville, California, Senator Nixon delayed his campaign train to reply to a shout from the crowd to tell them about the "$16,000", just after the candidate had urged those gathered at the whistle stop to "kick the crooks out" by electing the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket. Mr. Nixon then said that he had saved the taxpayers money by accepting the private funds rather than charging them to the Government, and stated that he was proud of the fact that he had never taken a "legal fee" although he could have done so legally.

You keep talking, Dick, and maybe, sooner or later, some of it will begin to make some degree of sense to the fools gullible enough to believe you and continue to support you, along with the crooks who already do.

In Quantico, Va., Governor Stevenson handed a commission in the Marine Corps to his son, Adlai III, and then addressed the class of 602 new officers who had graduated a ten-week training course, telling them that it was for them not to make the errors of the past but rather "to make good the promise of the future". He said that the fighting in Korea had been undertaken in the name of the "common collective security of the great majority of the nations of the world" against "the brutal aggressiveness of one or more of them", and was fighting which might conceivably have been avoided had the nation acted otherwise, but that no one could finally say whether that might have been the case, as it was fighting which inevitably would have been faced somewhere in the world as long as the Soviets continued to subjugate the free peoples and the U.S. and the other free peoples of the earth continued to resist. The Governor was planning to travel to Richmond, Va., this night for a major speech.

In a photograph taken in Bridgeport, Conn., while the Governor was campaigning with Congressman Abraham Ribicoff, running against Prescott Bush for the unexpired term of deceased Senator Brien McMahon, and Senator William Benton, the Governor appears to be greatly amused by something stated by the latter, perhaps repetition of a joke told by Senator Nixon regarding Senator McCarthy, or perhaps the nipple story on the page the previous day.

Two thousand U.S. Marines, supported by carriers and medium-sized warships of NATO, raced this date toward a beach landing in northern Jutland in the third main phase of "Operation Mainbrace", the NATO wargames exercise. The main group included two British light carriers, a U.S. carrier and a New Zealand cruiser. Five destroyer escorts and three destroyers from the U.S. and 24 British, Belgian, Norwegian and American minesweepers were also included in the fleet. After three hours on the Jutland shore, the Marines would return to their World War II landing craft and depart. The exercise was designed to prepare for protection of the approaches to the Baltic Sea from potential invading Soviet naval forces, as in any future war, the side controlling the narrow Skaggerrak and Kattegat Straits between Denmark and Sweden would have control of the Baltic. Nearly all of the U.S. forces at sea in the operation, under the command of Vice-Admiral Felix Stump, were taking part in one way or another in the exercise, which included 200 vessels, 80,000 men and about 1,000 planes.

Members of the House subcommittee investigating the Justice Department heard further testimony from Lamar Caudle, the former head of the criminal and tax divisions of the Department, indicating that Senators and Representatives had used whatever influence they could to obtain hearings or conferences for friends and clients, while some went further. Those members had included Representative Robert Doughton of North Carolina, the retiring chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Senators Harley Kilgore of West Virginia, William Langer of North Dakota and former Senator Claude Pepper of Florida, as well as former Senator Scott Lucas of Illinois, the latter having conferred with Mr. Caudle only after leaving the Senate. Mr. Caudle did not claim that they had done anything wrong by so consulting with him. He would continue his testimony the following Tuesday, and thus far had been as cooperative as any witness who had ever come before a Congressional committee.

Mystery man Henry Grunewald, in New York, was found free of a heart ailment which had beleaguered him during his testimony before a grand jury on September 3, enabling him to continue his testimony in Brooklyn.

The contract between the UMW and the Northern bituminous coal mine operators would expire this date at midnight, but there was still hope that a strike set to start on Monday could be averted, as many of the threatened mines planned to continue rare Saturday operations this date, with some paying overtime wages to enable an extra day's production before the scheduled start of the strike. A number of industry and government sources had said that John L. Lewis, UMW president, and Harry Moses, president of the Northern Bituminous Coal Operators Association, were close to reaching agreement. Once agreement was reached with that Association, the same terms would be pressed on the rest of the bituminous industry. Mr. Lewis had reached an interim agreement with the anthracite coal industry for a 20-cent per ton royalty contribution to the UMW welfare fund, and had delayed resolution with the Southern soft coal mines until October 1, as their contract did not expire until September 30, with those latter mining companies then being subject to the pressure of entering any agreement reached with the Northern mining companies.

Comedian Charles Chaplin was en route to Europe aboard the Queen Elizabeth with his fourth wife, but, based on an unanticipated order issued by the Justice Department the previous day, would be barred from returning to the U.S. until a hearing before the INS could determine whether he could legally re-enter under U.S. immigration laws. There was no reason provided for the order, announced the previous day by Attorney General James McGranery, and the Justice Department would not elaborate. U.S. immigration laws could prohibit the entry of an alien on grounds of moral turpitude or for political affiliations. Mr. Chaplin, 63, had come to the U.S. originally 40 years earlier, but had never become a citizen. His name had been associated with liberal causes and he had been indicted in 1944, but acquitted, on charges of violating the Mann Act, forbidding transportation of a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Mr. Chaplin's secretary said via telephone from the ship that he definitely intended to return to the U.S. in about six months.

On the editorial page, "Ike Didn't Calculate This Risk" discusses the revelation the previous day of the slush fund controversy surrounding Senator Nixon, supporters having raised about $18,000, initially reported as being between $16,000 and $17,000, to pay for his expenses in the wake of his election to the Senate in 1950 through the prior July when he had been nominated by the Republican convention to be the vice-presidential candidate. It suggests that the revelation must have jarred General Eisenhower, who had been campaigning all over the country denouncing Democrats for lowering the ethical standards of public office. The establishment of the fund for Mr. Nixon showed at least poor judgment in accepting gifts from constituents and using the money in support of his official duties without reporting it on his income tax returns. It suggests that the General must be wondering why he was not informed of the fund while deliberating on the selection of the vice-presidential nominee.

It indicates that Senator Nixon's response to DNC chairman Stephen Mitchell's demand that he resign from the ticket had been unsatisfactory in seeking to explain his use of the slush fund and describing the story about it as a "typical left-wing smear". Nor was it sufficient to counter-charge that Senator John Sparkman, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, had his wife on his office payroll, a matter of public record for the prior ten years.

It indicates that it was true that members of Congress were not paid enough, with Senators receiving an annual salary of $12,500 plus an expense allowance of $2,500, in addition to an allowance for office staff and support personnel, but Senator Nixon had agreed to "an indefensible arrangement to make up his financial deficiency" and any holder of public office who was subsidized by his constituents sacrificed some part of his integrity, even if those constituents had not yet sought favors in return.

It suggests that the Democrats, suffering a barrage of fire from both General Eisenhower and Senator Nixon for corruption in government, could be expected to take the fullest possible advantage of the situation. It would tend to neutralize the Senator's ability to campaign against ethical laxity by the Democrats, especially as it had never been explained satisfactorily why Senator Owen Brewster, in violation of party rules, had sent Republican funds to Congressman Nixon during his 1950 Senate campaign, through the mysterious Henry Grunewald. The problem would also handicap the General in attacking corruption in government.

It concludes that while the General, though a novice in politics, had to understand that there were calculated risks when entering a presidential campaign, he had not contemplated the present complication, and while he had indicated his belief that Senator Nixon was an "honest man", he had to feel some disappointment that his running mate had not kept himself above reproach.

And here we thought he was such a nice young man... We are not so sure, now. But everyone is innocent until proved guilty.

"A Dubious 'Asset' for Eisenhower" finds that the defection from the Democrats of Governor James Byrnes of South Carolina to support of General Eisenhower, albeit supporting the Democratic slate of electors which would appear on the South Carolina ballot, while a significant development, would not likely help the General a great deal. The Governor had been bitter since President Truman had fired him as Secretary of State in early 1947, having become resentful of the leadership of the Democratic Party and opposed to the philosophy of government which he had helped fashion both as a Senator in the 1930's and as part of the Roosevelt Administration between 1942 and 1945. (It leaves out his repeatedly reported bitterness toward Mr. Truman for being selected for the 1944 vice-presidential nomination by the party bosses after President Roosevelt had reportedly promised Mr. Byrnes, the "assistant President" during the war, the nomination.) He now indicated that he was placing principle above party, believing that Governor Stevenson, to whom he had been initially warm, had steered too far to the left. He thus joined Democratic Governors Allan Shivers of Texas and Robert Kennon of Louisiana in supporting General Eisenhower.

It suggests that the 1952 climate was more favorable to party irregularity in the South than at any time since 1928, when the late Senator Furnifold Simmons of North Carolina sealed his political doom by supporting Herbert Hoover for the presidency over Governor Al Smith, a Catholic who favored ending Prohibition. Senator Simmons had been defeated in 1930 by the late Josiah W. Bailey, mainly resulting from resentment among North Carolina voters over his 1928 bolt from party fealty. It suggests that the support of General Eisenhower by the three Governors would be more productive of lasting results than the Dixiecrat third party of 1948, which it regards as having been an ill-advised venture, doomed to failure from its inception, but would not have such permanent benefits as would the building of a strong Republican Party at the grassroots level, indeed suppressing the Republican vote, given that Governor Byrnes was assuming leadership of the state's Democrats for Eisenhower.

It finds, however, that the Governor's announcement would not necessarily have any great influence on South Carolina voters, other than relieving them of the stigma of voting Republican. There had been signs, it notes, at the time of the Democratic convention in July that South Carolinians had grown tired of the one-man domination of state politics by the Governor, and it was conceivable that they would rebel against the Governor's attempt to guide them.

It also finds that the Governor's endorsement of the General would not likely bring the latter any more conservative support, Democratic or Republican, from across the country, as the General already had the support of those who were displeased with the current Administration. The endorsement, indeed, might have a boomerang effect, as the necessary independent voters might be frightened away from the Eisenhower camp should it become overloaded with right-wing leadership, especially malcontents of the Democratic Party, such as Governor Byrnes.

"Robots over Korea" tells of the guided missiles presently being used in the Korean War not being new, that the Germans had applied the same principle during World War II with their V-rockets, and the U.S. had utilized a few drone, radio-controlled bombers against the Germans. The drones used in Korea were old World War II fighters equipped with radio control and explosives. Such aircraft would be sitting ducks if the enemy had an effective air force.

The new versions being used, however, equipped with television cameras in addition to radio controls, were capable of extraordinary precision, unlike the German V-rockets, which had been launched generally in the direction of a target without ability to control them. The guided missiles could reach places where ordinary warplanes could not without undue risk, taking the burden of hazardous assignments off air crews. The allies thus possessed a weapon which could break the morale of the enemy in North Korea at a relatively cheap cost, especially if accompanied by propaganda through radio and leaflets dropped amid the enemy population.

A piece from the Christian Science Monitor, titled "As Others See Us", tells of an attorney from Lincolnton, N.C., recently installed as the supreme chancellor of the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, having stated that men ordinarily of courtesy and politeness, who might decline to precede another through a door, would break their necks to beat a person to the next stoplight. The piece suggests that his statement underscored the problem of ridding the highways of "speed demons".

The Knights of Pythias had decided to sponsor a highway safety program, providing for researchers to determine the reasons for the difference between demonstration of ordinary courtesy in normal situations and rudeness on the road in the same person. It praises the effort, and also indicates that the "slowpoke" should not be overlooked, as that person was not often the most considerate, producing traffic snarls which were not in the interest of safety.

It concludes that whether one was a speed demon or slowpoke, it was the case that many drivers underwent a character change when they got behind the wheel, and it was to be hoped that the study would give them a reminder that their conduct was not conducive to safety on the highways.

Drew Pearson tells of former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen serving as General Eisenhower's secret ambassador to labor and doing a Herculean task of trying to appease the top union leaders prior to the General's AFL speech earlier in the week, albeit not succeeding. Mr. Stassen had written the General's speech to the AFL convention, after first having talked to AFL President William Green, urging that the AFL not take a definite stand in support of Governor Stevenson. After Mr. Green had provided no encouragement in that regard, Mr. Stassen talked to AFL secretary George Meany, initially around Labor Day, telling him that the General was considering adopting a position in favor of repeal of Taft-Hartley, which would alienate the Taft wing of the party, necessitating support to make up for that loss, which he hoped would come from the AFL. Mr. Meany made no commitment, essentially saying that the General should do what he thought best, and that the AFL would do what it thought best. Mr. Stassen had approached Mr. Meany a second time on September 4, again urging the AFL to hold off on expressed support of Governor Stevenson, but again Mr. Meany had refused to accept the trade for the General's support of repeal of Taft-Hartley. Mr. Stassen then approached yet a third time, on September 14, the day before the AFL convention convened, at which point he suggested that the General be permitted to meet with the AFL executive council so that they could preview his speech to the convention and make any changes they thought necessary. That offer also was rejected by Mr. Meany, as changes, he advised, made by the executive council would suggest implied approval by the delegates and, in consequence, constrain their freedom to act within the convention. Mr. Stassen then proposed that the top labor leaders have lunch with the General, to which they agreed.

Former Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, who had raised a lot of money for the President and the Democrats in 1948, had been sought by the Republicans as a fund raiser. An irony was that Mr. Johnson had obtained his key to the 1948 contributors from two Republicans, Sinclair Weeks, the Republican finance chairman, and Republican Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire. After obtaining their secret lists of contributors, he began making the rounds, arguing that it was far better to place money on both sides in the race, implying that if the Democrats won the election, they would remember the big corporations which had contributed only to the Republicans. Mr. Pearson notes that the Democrats also were seeking to enlist the services of Mr. Johnson, to become a member of the Veterans-for-Stevenson brain trust, but thus far, Mr. Johnson had declined the invitation from both parties.

The powerful real estate lobby was seeking to enable Senator Harry Cain of Washington to obtain re-election, in return for his faithful service to them. They had started a chain letter, seeking one-dollar contributions, which Mr. Pearson proceeds to reprint. It indicated that the Senator had consistently voted against Federal rent control, public housing and other controls over real property, was opposed to Federal ownership of tidelands oil and of government deficit financing. It urged contributing a dollar plus the postage for six letters, to be sent out in chain. Mr. Pearson notes that the post office had determined that chain letters generally were illegal, but that the determination might not apply if the money were intended as campaign contributions.

Marquis Childs, on the campaign trail with Governor Stevenson, tells of the two party nominees being quite dissimilar in almost every respect, save that both were nearly bald. Governor Stevenson was somewhat short and stocky, with a brisk tempo, whereas General Eisenhower appeared massive and slow-moving, deliberate in his speech. Governor Stevenson was talking about the issues in considerable detail, whereas the General was a firm believer that people responded to emotion rather than reason, and so was appealing to loyalty, patriotism and religious faith.

General Eisenhower appeared to believe that many Americans wanted to return to a simpler way of life when the burdens of the world were not on their shoulders, issuing hope that one day might come when their sons would not have to serve in armies overseas, skirting the isolationist position in so doing, despite his own prior stand in favor of universal military training.

The Governor approached the future sternly, indicating serious responsibilities ahead for the country to meet the threat of Communist aggression and warning that those responsibilities might fall to a later generation, that only if the responsibilities were met would it be possible to look ahead to a future world of peace and freedom. The Governor was less capable of relaxing than the General, the latter apt to play bridge or canasta or read Western stories once his job was finished for the day. By contrast, the Governor never appeared to let go of his responsibilities, save for an occasional game of tennis. He approached every task with intense concentration, such that some people wondered how he could devote so much mental energy to everything he did.

The Governor had devoted that same concentration to the campaign, intending to cover every facet of every issue, such that he might cover more ground, both on the issues and in terms of miles traveled, than any candidate in the country's political history. He understood that he had to make Americans aware of who he was and where he stood on the issues, and intended, to the extent he could, to reach every corner of the country to carry on that discussion.

Joseph Alsop, with the Eisenhower campaign train, tells of the same scene to be repeated some 70 times before the current 12-day tour through the Midwest ended, with most of the crowds being large, some of them quite large, some spectators hanging onto signs or climbing poles near the train platform, to catch a glimpse of the General. The people genuinely liked him as a human being, in a way that they had never latched onto Governor Dewey, or even, he suggests, FDR. The General responded effectively to the warmth and affection of the crowds, though not particularly adept as a speaker or saying anything very startling, denouncing the "bungling" which had led to the Korean War, high prices, high taxes and corruption. But he could make those statements with such earnest vehemence or tell of his yearning for peace with such convincing sincerity that the familiar words took on freshness unlike their pronouncements by other politicians.

The General was being pulled in several directions during the campaign, with the Taft forces and conservatives of the party seeking his recognition and acceptance of their views. During his trip through Indiana, Senator William Jenner, who had denounced General Marshall as a traitor, tried to appear with the General as much as possible, seeking to raise his arm and embrace him in Indianapolis, before being warned by Governor Sherman Adams, the General's campaign chief of staff, to keep his distance thereafter, which he then did. In addition, Senator Homer Capehart believed that the General was not hitting hard enough, meaning below the belt. This uneasy relationship between the right wing of the party and the General was still tenuous. Some of the General's advisers wanted him to stick to generalities so as not to alienate the right wing while others believed that to be a fatal mistake, that earnest platitudes were okay at whistle stops where nothing much was expected, but would not be successful in attracting the crucial independent voters.

The majority of Americans appeared not to support the Republican extremists, such as Senator Joseph McCarthy or Senator Jenner. It was being argued that it was time for the Republican right wing to be brought into line and for the General to pursue the independent vote.

A letter from the president of the Charlotte Business & Professional Women's Club tells of a column in the newspaper on September 13 having quoted a member of the Jaycees at length, taking credit for initiating the slum clearance program in 1948. She indicates that the Jaycees and every other group who had made organized efforts to improve housing conditions in the city deserved recognition. She adds that her organization had started a citywide slum clearance program in February, 1937, continuing through 1938, and that the club's files were full of clippings and correspondence on the subject. She also indicates that the greatest recognition and praise was to be accorded the groups who would finish the job successfully.

A letter writer suggests that City Manager Henry Yancey was completely correct regarding filling in the rock quarry with garbage and covering it with dirt, as explored in an editorial earlier in the week. He says that he had been a sanitarian in all branches of inspection for 20 years and that many of the odors emanating from the quarry in the past when garbage had been indiscriminately dumped there had come from incinerators, abattoirs, which rendered out the fats from dead animals, and the old battery works, all of which had since been eliminated. He urges that if the community were to give Mr. Yancey six months to do the job, they would be surprised by the results.

A letter writer praises the entry to the Eisenhower campaign of Senator Taft, whose Wednesday speech, he indicates, would prove more troubling to the Democrats than the General's "sterling personality with the marvelous smile, pontifical voice, and inadequate intellect." He thinks that the "boys" had been conducting the campaign thus far, but that now the "man" had entered on the stage, and he advises the Republican head of the ticket to keep smiling and saying nothing.

A letter writer from Pittsboro is also pleased that Senator Taft was entering the campaign, which he regards as having been drab and lopsided, with Governor Stevenson running away with it. The Senator, he suggests, represented the conservative element of the country, "an element that is absolutely necessary for the preservation of American institutions and our way of life."

Whatever you say, boss man.

Herblock.

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