The Charlotte News
Tuesday, June 2, 1953
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that President Syngman Rhee of South Korea had indicated this date that he had received a three-point message from the President and stated that they would accept anything which the President wanted, as "common sense and wisdom require that we cooperate with the U.S. at any cost." He did not disclose what the President had said, but implied that the South Korean opposition to the proposed truce terms offered by the U.N. Command to the Communists was lessening. He did not make it completely clear, however, whether he was willing to accept entirely the proposed truce by the allies, which would leave Korea divided. The Communists were expected to reply to the allied counter-proposal at the truce session on the following Thursday.
In ground fighting this date, more than 4,000 Communist troops hit 11 allied mainline positions and a handful of outposts as part of a large-scale enemy attack on the eastern and central fronts. Fighting for trench-line positions just in front of "Luke the Gook's Castle" on the eastern front still raged as the South Korean troops of the 12th Division counter-attacked for a second time against the enemy, involving the heaviest fighting in that sector in more than a year. North of the "Punchbowl", U.S. soldiers battled hand-to-hand for 20 minutes in their own trenches and repulsed 175 enemy troops who had overrun a listening post and clawed their way into allied lines. Another 175 North Koreans were repulsed in a three-pronged attack against two South Korean outposts at a mainline position between the "Punchbowl" and "Anchor Hill".
In the air war, U.S. Thunderjets and South Korean Mustangs bombed and strafed enemy fortifications and troops in the "Anchor Hill" sector. Pantherjets, Thunderjets and Sabre jets, the latter modified for fighter-bomber duty, struck enemy positions in the western and central sectors. Night-flying B-26 bombers reported destruction of 117 enemy supply trucks, two locomotives and five boxcars, according to the Fifth Air Force.
Republican leaders in Congress agreed, at the insistence of the President, to scrap a proposed ban against further U.S. funding for the U.N. should the organization admit Communist China to its membership. Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire, following a White House meeting of Republican leaders, made the announcement, saying that the President had endorsed a substitute proposal under which both houses would go on record in opposition to the admission of Communist China under any circumstances at the present time. The Senator said that it was his understanding that the President would not only oppose such membership but would take an active role in doing so. Senator Bridges, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said that he would speak with the members of the Committee regarding withdrawal of the rider to the appropriations bill for the Justice, State and Commerce Departments, which had indicated the proviso to the U.N. regarding withdrawal of funding. He said that the President did not specifically ask for withdrawal of the rider, but had expressed his objection to it.
The president of Whirlpool Corp., Elisha Gray, testified this date before the House Ways & Means Committee that the best assurance against a recession and unemployment would be to allow the excess profits tax to expire on its own on June 30, as scheduled, contrary to the request of the President that it be extended until the end of the year. Mr. Gray found the tax to be a penalty against growth, imposing nearly confiscatory rates against young, small, new and growing businesses. The tax had been passed, along with a ten percent increase in the individual income tax, to pay for the Korean War, the individual income tax increase set to expire at the end of the year. Members of the Republican House leadership hoped to be able to push some sort of an extension bill out of the Committee, despite opposition by several members.
In New York, a Federal marshal announced this date that condemned atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg would be executed on the night of June 18. Meanwhile, their defense counsel, Emanuel Bloch, continued in his efforts to try to win a commutation of the death sentence for the couple or obtain relief from the Supreme Court. He intended to make a renewed motion for new trial based on the claim of new evidence, which he first would have to submit to the District Court before then seeking review of any denial.
Frank Coe, former $20,000 per year secretary of the International Monetary Fund, whose whereabouts had previously been unknown when sought by the Senate Investigations subcommittee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy, was reported this date to have agreed to appear for questioning the following day. His lawyer had notified the subcommittee's counsel, Roy Cohn, that Mr. Coe would be available. He had been linked with an alleged attempt to block 1949 negotiations for revaluation of Austrian currency, a revaluation opposed by the Communist Government in Czechoslovakia. He had resigned from his position at the IMF the prior December after refusing to tell another Senate committee whether he was a Communist or had ever engaged in espionage.
In London, Queen Elizabeth sent congratulations to the British expedition which had reached the peak of Mount Everest, an elevation of 29,020 feet, the first recorded such successful expedition in history. It had been reportedly the third attempt by the 15-man expedition of Col. John Hunt, led by Edmund Hillary, 34, and a veteran guide of Nepal's Sherpa tribe, Bhutia Tensing, 39, who reportedly had scaled more Himalayan peaks than anyone else. The previous year, Tensing had climbed to within 800 feet of the peak with climber Raymond Lambert, but had been driven back by lack of oxygen and wind which hurled stones and chunks of ice. London newspapers hailed the achievement as the beginning of a new Elizabethan era for Britain, comparing the feat to the triumphs of Captain Cook, Sir Francis Drake and Antarctic explorer Robert Scott. It had been previously reported that the expedition had failed to reach its goal during the brief respite of good weather and had given up hope. Ten other Everest expeditions during the previous 32 years, eight of which were British-sponsored, had failed to achieve the peak.
Parenthetically, the fact of the news occurring on coronation day may have led the Beatles, subsconsciously or not, to their original title, "Everest", for their last recorded album, "Abbey Road". Anyway, watch out for the traffic in crossing the road...
At Westminster Abbey in London, to a
fanfare of trumpets, Queen Elizabeth II, 27, was formally enthroned
and crowned
A full exposition of the coronation and the folderol accompanying it is provided in several stories, one by Alvin Steinkopf, and in pictures—which you may read and view on your own. We do not have Kings and Queens in America, thank you.
Is there some kind of mystic poetic irony in this coronation story being coincident in its appearance in the normal course of these daily renderings, continuously presented daily for the past thirteen years without break, with the novel coronavirus of 2019, hitting especially Britain and the U.S., along with virtually every other country in the world, in 2020? Does it, perhaps, suggest the need for a correction in course of the ship of state?
We think, if we may be permitted as a Yank to venture our humble opinion in obeisance to Her Royal Highness, that the Right Honorable Emrys Hughes, Labour M.P. from South Ayrshire, Scotland, by way of Wales, as discussed the prior Saturday by Hal Boyle, still has the better advice for today: abolish the crown at the end of the current reign and turn Buckingham Palace into an apartment house. It really should have been done long ago. Now that is something, should it be championed, getting rid of all vestiges of royalty in the 21st Century, royalty throughout Europe and England which had a lot to do with the establishment of slavery in the New World, if you know your history books, which we can genuinely get behind, because it has to do with today, not with chasing ghosts of the past, ghosts of individuals who were only operating within the confines and context of their times, removing them bodily out of context, inextricably interwoven within the fabric of history, to the utter perversion, despicably so, of history as it actually transpired, facts which can never be obliterated or denied for those who bother to read books, lest we lose sight of that history and lose the lessons of that history, such that, as the old saw goes, those who fail those lessons are condemned to repeat it. Remove all the statuary now and come back and talk to us in about 40 years, when some bunch of idiots, in reaction, try to re-establish slavery, as, in fact, they are already doing in China.
Again, check the manufacturer and methods of manufacture of the component parts of your smart phone, entirely dependent for its operation on parts made from virtual slave labor.
Anyway, start on something sensible for a change, which relates to the problems of today, and stop being obsessed with symbols of the past, to which no one except complete idiots have paid any heed in the past 100 years. And those idiots will not be moved by the mere removal of statues, but will be further encouraged to adhere the more strongly to their idiotic positions in reaction. You change nothing officially by removing statuary.
The good fight, long and toilsome, is within the system, by voting and participation, fighting for issues, hard-won through hard work, not painting slogans on the streets or posting signs with slogans on poles, reminiscent in caliber of colloquy of high school or college homecoming celebrations, or confrontation with people who disagree with your point of view, but rather through the honored, time-tested means of negotiation to provide beneficial legislation, aimed at betterment of human relations, not further division, all within the ambit of the Constitution—which will not be changed without proper amendment and ratification by three-fourths of the states, a difficult task, especially if one wanted to try to repeal the provision of the 14th Amendment which provides for Equal Protection under the laws for all citizens of the United States, without regard to race, color, creed, religion or any other individual characteristic. If one thinks otherwise, it is time to move somewhere else, whether you be a member of the nuts who still celebrate the Confederacy, or whether you be presently out in the streets chanting and shouting phrases which are vacuous in 2020.
Get rid of anachronistic royalty across the world, whether of the informal sort, economic royalty, or that more formalized. That is your challenge for 2021 and years to come. For now, get out of the streets, stop spreading the coronavirus among us all again, go home and plan for that grand strategy, relative entirely to the present and the very recent past of the last half century or so, in terms of any perpetuation systemically of racism and divisive policies of apartheid. The U.S. was on the definite mend with regard to racial division by 2015, until the Leader of the current Administration stepped onto the stage in June of that year with his wildly divisive rhetoric, deciding mercurially one day, along with his coterie of obsequious Trumpies who marched to the beat of their Fearless Leader, to come along and wreck it all with his wrecking ball. And now that resulting division is being exacerbated by the protests in reaction in the streets. All in the wrong, especially now during a continuing pandemic, the worst by far the country has experienced in 100 years. It is a form of insensitivity and human cruelty which will not soon be forgotten by most people who have witnessed it. All the protests are doing is getting innocent people killed and others jailed, not a solution to anything.
Only good will
On the editorial page, "School Consolidation Needs Study" indicates that the County School Board had agreed to an election regarding the extension of the City schools into the Sharon-Amity section of the community, and so it would now be up to the residents of that area to decide the issue. But a broader policy question was also involved, the future consolidation of the City and County schools in a fast-growing metropolitan area.
It indicates that two alternatives had presented themselves, complete consolidation in one countywide system, with one school board and one countywide supplementary tax, or extension of the City schools to include all of the fringe area which was essentially urban in character, ranging several miles beyond the current city limits in certain places. It indicates that thoughtful consideration of those alternatives and others could not much longer be delayed if the costly school construction program was to be managed wisely and if higher standards for all of the children of the county were to be achieved.
"The Controversy at Newton Grove" indicates that the Holy Redeemer Church in Newton Grove was seeking to abolish segregation at the church by order of Bishop Vincent Waters in the Raleigh Catholic diocese, but had run into difficulty when a group of men had tried to force their way into the church to talk to the Bishop, problems having been averted when they were persuaded to see him only in pairs.
The piece indicates that it was in sympathy with any action which tended to break down racial prejudices and make the "Brotherhood of Man more of a reality", also believes that race prejudice had to be overcome in the churches before it could ever be overcome in secular life, while at the same time, believing that prejudices could not be legislated away or ordered out of existence by higher authority, either secular or religious, that "the only true development of the human spirit and the human personality in this sphere comes from within." It indicates that it was the duty of local and state authorities to preserve the freedom of worship without outside interference, and that until emotions in Newton Grove calmed down, the necessary arrangements ought be made to prevent further disturbances on or near the premises of the Holy Redeemer Church.
"Unexpected Dividend from Training ROKs" indicates that during the previous year's presidential campaign, Republican orators had urged that the training of South Korean troops be increased and that the South Korean units be used exclusively to man the front lines in the war, in the hope to be able to withdraw American troops from the front lines and minimize future casualties in the war. Much progress had already been made in the training of South Korean units by the time of the 1952 election campaign, and, it posits, more progress presumably had been made since the new Administration and new Congress had come to power.
But presently, the U.N. Command in Tokyo had received an unexpected dividend from that policy, with the South Korean Government, having strong forces thereby at its disposal, threatening to fight on to the Yalu River unless the U.N. changed its current compromise proposal with respect to the armistice. President Syngman Rhee objected to any armistice which would leave Korea divided and had instructed the lead South Korean negotiator at the armistice table to boycott further truce negotiations until the present proposal was amended after consultation with the South Koreans. The minimum acceptable terms, in addition to a united Korea, were that there would be immediate withdrawal of all Chinese troops from North Korea and the outright release of the 32,600 North Korean prisoners held by the allies who did not wish repatriation—the latter already having been communicated by the allies and rejected by the Communists. South Korea had threatened to use its troops to prevent the landing of forces from India who would administer the repatriation settlement under the compromise proposal.
But the previous day, President Rhee had sent the U.S. a four-point proposal, whereby if the U.S. promised military and economic aid to South Korea in the event of any future aggression by Communist forces, the South Koreans would agree to the allied truce terms as presently offered.
It indicates that the conflicting viewpoints between South Korea and the other U.N. allies had to be resolved before a truce could be effective and lasting, and South Korea, having made the greatest sacrifice in the war in terms of number of casualties, had to be given a preeminent voice in the truce talks. Yet, President Rhee had to be reminded that without U.N. assistance in the fighting since mid-1950, he would not be in any position to dictate policy, instead would be in exile with no government or Army at all at his disposal.
As the front page states, President Rhee had considerably backed away from his prior ultimatum and was now ready to cooperate with the other allies in effecting the truce.
"Long Live Dept." indicates good wishes to Queen Elizabeth on her coronation day, finding that the British people deserved the celebration after all their years of enduring war and austerity, wishes good luck and happiness to the Queen, and extends hope that there would be better days ahead for the people.
A piece from the New York Herald Tribune, titled "Walk Around the Tree", indicates that two sugar maples in Greenwich had presented a problem for people, having to walk around the two trees because they had grown up to a point where they blocked the sidewalk. While, for convenience, the trees ought be removed, many of the residents wanted them to remain, and the tree warden had finally sided with the residents, for the time being, at least until the New England Thruway would need to gain passage along the street in question, and necessitate at that point the removal of the 70-year old trees.
"In Greenwich it has been affirmed that man's progress is not necessarily in a straight line. It is always possible, for instance, to walk around the tree."
Drew Pearson tells of Dr. Robert Johnson, former Temple University president and former vice-president of Time, presently head of the Voice of America, having the previous week told the President a story about the difference between irritation, aggravation and frustration. He described two Marines talking, one telling the other that he would illustrate the difference in the three states of mind through a story, saying that one Marine called another in the wee hours of the morning and asked for a person who was known not to be at the number, whereupon the sleepy Marine at the other end said that the caller had the wrong number, that being "irritation"; then, 15 minutes later, the Marine repeated the same phone call, with the Marine at the other end again telling the caller that there was no such person at the residence and not to bother him again, that he wanted to sleep, that being "aggravation"; and, finally, 15 minutes later, placing a third phone call to the same effect, at which point the voice at the other end told him, "Go to hell!" That, the Marine had explained, was "frustration". Dr. Johnson told the President that it was the way he felt in trying to operate the Voice. He wanted the Voice freed from the control of the State Department, which had wrapped him up in red tape. The President ultimately agreed and issued an executive order allowing the Voice to operate separately from the State Department, answerable, therefore, to Congressional committees, especially the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy's Investigating subcommittee.
But, as Mr. Pearson further explains, some of Dr. Johnson's advisers had warned that he would have to kowtow to the whims of Senator McCarthy in so doing, and also would have to go to the House Appropriations Committee for funding, with a pair of Republicans, Congressmen John Taber of New York and Cliff Clevenger of Ohio, having decided that the Voice and the State Department's propaganda activities generally should remain within the State Department, while believing that Dr. Johnson was doing a poor job and that separation of the agency from the State Department would only create duplication, waste and excessive cost. Both dominated the Committee, and thus far in the new Congress, the Voice had been given no appropriation, with Congressman Taber indicating privately that as chairman of the Committee, he would assign the matter to a subcommittee, consisting of himself and Congressman Clevenger.
Mr. Pearson notes that not only had there been no money appropriated for the following fiscal year for the Voice, but also none for student exchange, information services or any other propaganda activity. He concludes that it was no wonder that Dr. Johnson was "irritated, aggravated, and frustrated."
Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the "July 20" Germans, those who participated in the July 20, 1944 attempt to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb planted beneath a conference table at which Hitler held meetings in his fortified hideaway, the Wolf's Lair, a plot hatched by Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. Most had been executed by the Nazis shortly after the failed attempt, but a few were still living, one of whom was a friend of the Alsops, who had recently come to Washington and wanted to know what was wrong with America and whether it had gone mad.
He said that Germans like himself had experienced mixed emotions when Americans had set out to teach democracy to the Germans, and yet, he admitted that the experience had been valuable and even inspiring, despite foolish things having been done in the process, those Americans appearing at least to have been sincere, convincing Germans that there would be no "knock on the door, the unjust accusation, the life of the inquisitor-state." But presently, the inquisitor-state, he continued, was at work in Bonn, with secret police haunting the American Government's official representatives, as agents of the American Government asked the German servants of American officials to spy on them. Germans and Americans were called in for interrogation, bullied and threatened, to obtain evidence that America's representatives in Germany were unworthy of trust. The man had asked, "How are we to feel when the de-Nazifiers Nazify themselves before our eyes?"
When the Alsops tried to explain that those were manifestations of the State Department's security program, directed by authorized security officers, the explanation did not help much, as he had heard that kind of explanation previously. He wondered why Charles Thayer, Theodore Kaghan and John Davies, trusted by the West Germans, had been driven out under suspicion of lacking loyalty, while the superiors, former U.S. High Commissioners General Lucius Clay and John J. McCloy, and current High Commissioner, Dr. James B. Conant, each of whom had no direct contact with the people, continued successively in their positions.
The Alsops had no answer to his question, just as there was no answer to a foreign representative in Washington who had been called on by local detectives and subjected to sharp questioning about the loyalty and security of the new head of the U.S. delegation to the U.N., former Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Neither did Mr. McCloy have an answer for the many Germans who were presently writing him to ask whether America had forgotten what freedom meant. They conclude that it was time that such questions were answered, by deeds, not words.
The Congressional Quarterly discusses the renewal of the Reciprocal Trade Act, set to expire June 12 unless the Congress extended it. It had been extended seven times since being established in 1934 by then-Secretary of State Cordell Hull, signaling an end to the protectionist era. Expiration of the Act would not impact the 38 U.S. agreements which had been negotiated with 50 nations but would remove the President's authority to enter into new trade agreements.
Many high-tariff interests actually wanted part of the present law extended, those provisions which were "escape clauses" under which industry could seek adjustment in existing tariffs when they felt them to be "injurious" to their interests. They were asking for an extension of one year under a proposal by Representative Kenneth Simpson of Pennsylvania, which would also provide for import quotas on oil, lead and zinc, and place new restrictions on the President's power to negotiate lower tariffs. Instrumental in that fight was a new group called the Nationwide Committee of Industry, Agriculture and Labor on Import-Export Policy, headed by O. R. Strackbein, a former official of the Tariff Commission. The group included some small and medium-sized businesses and certain farm and labor interests, who feared import competition, particularly in light of an anticipated domestic recession. Leaders of the group were said to have been consulted on drafting the Simpson bill, which reportedly included the views of the protectionist industries.
A letter from the chairman of Volunteer Week for the County Volunteer Firemen's Association expresses gratitude for the newspaper's coverage of its celebration of Volunteer Fire Department Week. He indicates that the drive had been successful, with a large increase in paid memberships, which provided the support for the Volunteer Firemen.
A letter from the principal and publicity chairman of the Huntersville High School expresses gratitude to the newspaper and its editorial staff for coverage of the "happenings and programs" at the school.
Don't miss the happenings…
A letter writer from Pittsboro comments on two editorials of May 29, one lauding the award by the UNC Di Phi Society to Federal Judge John J. Parker, whom the writer had known for 49 years and had roomed with him for a year in Old East dormitory at UNC, finding him entirely worthy of that award.
The other editorial to which he responds regarded the President's soft, but firm answer to Senator Taft's Cincinnati speech, in which he had said that it would be better, if a truce were not forthcoming soon in Korea, to have the U.S. withdraw from U.N. participation and go it alone in the war, anent which, he says that he was in general agreement with Senator Taft on the point, since the U.S. had supplied virtually all of the materials and, except for the South Koreans, the manpower for the war. In effect, therefore, the Senator was merely stating that the U.S. should continue doing what it had already been doing, but without the handicap of restrictions imposed by the U.N. The Senator had reminded that the U.S. had bypassed the U.N. in forming NATO in Europe—even though NATO was consistent with the Charter's allowance of formation of regional organizations for mutual defense. He also indicates that since Communist China had entered the war in late 1950, there had been no objective to the fighting other than to wear down the Communists until they were ready to enter a truce, meaning that the allies were willing to end the war where it started, along the 38th parallel, leaving Korea divided, with the result that every life which had been lost had been sacrificed for nothing. He finds that to be "perfidy".
Framed Edition
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