The Charlotte News

Thursday, April 29, 1954

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President this date, at his press conference, declared anew that the U.S. was not going to become involved in any war in Indo-China unless Congress declared it. He said, however, that a proposal presently pending before Congress to prevent the sending of American troops to Indo-China or any other place in the world without prior Congressional approval could not fail to damage his flexibility in handling the situation. He said that because the Geneva conference was ongoing and was dealing with the situation in Indo-China, it would be inappropriate for him to speculate on the situation and potential negotiations for peace. He also said that he did not intend to become involved in state and local political races, but would get around the country some to discuss his legislative program submitted to Congress.

From Hanoi, it was reported that French warplanes had attacked Vietminh troop concentrations through cloudy skies this date, as well as hitting ammunition dumps and supply routes out of Communist China leading to the besieged French fortress at Dien Bien Phu. The French high command indicated no important land fighting around the fortress, as French Union defenders continued artillery duels with the Vietminh who were seeking to capture the heart of the Dien Bien Phu plain. Transport planes, warding off Vietminh anti-aircraft fire, parachuted more tons of ammunition and other war supplies to the besieged fortress. The Vietminh had increased pressure on the southernmost strong point of the fortress, cut off from main French lines, in scattered fighting the previous day.

Representative Robert Sikes of Florida, a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee which handled Army funding, proposed this date that the U.S. supply the French with atomic bombs for use in Indo-China to "get the war won so we won't have to send American boys there." He said that he opposed sending U.S. forces without prior Congressional approval but would back maximum material aid to the French.

In Geneva, Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov told the Far East peace conference this date that he agreed entirely with the Asia-for-Asians declaration of Chinese Communist Foreign Minister Chou En-lai the previous day. Mr. Molotov stated that a peaceful solution to the Korean problem could be found if the delegates proceeded on the principle that peoples of Asia had the full right to settle their own affairs. On the whole, the speech of Mr. Molotov had been mild, without personal attacks on Western political figures, although he did indicate that the U.S. had pursued an "aggressive course" with regard to Communist China, in turn affecting the whole situation in Asia. He contended that the Communist Chinese had committed no aggressive acts against the U.S. but that the situation was different when considering U.S. policy regarding Communist China. He spoke after Australian Foreign Minister Richard Casey had told the conference that some U.N. troops might have to remain in Korea until the peninsula was unified under a democratic government. Many of the diplomats present were convinced that such unification might never occur, or at least not in the near future. A French source indicated that informal talks between Russia and France to produce a temporary truce at Dien Bien Phu to enable evacuation of the wounded French troops inside the fortress, had virtually collapsed, that Mr. Molotov and French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault had exchanged heated words at dinner the previous night, with Mr. Molotov expressing surprise that M. Bidault had brought up the subject in the context of a discussion of the nations which would participate in the settlement of the Indochinese question. M. Bidault had replied that he was just as surprised that the Russians had violated confidences by disclosing his request without notifying the French beforehand.

In the sixth day of the hearings before the Senate Investigations subcommittee regarding the dispute between Senator McCarthy and the Army, Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens testified that he was concerned that the commander of Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Maj. General Kirke Lawton, had been moving too fast against alleged security risks the previous October, and that it was "entirely possible", though he did not recall it specifically, that he had asked Army counsel John G. Adams to call the General to ask him to withdraw some of the suspensions he had made. Mr. Stevens was confronted with a statement by General Lawton that Mr. Adams had telephoned him early in November, urging him to "dismiss certain security cases" at Fort Monmouth, a primary Army radar research center. Special counsel for the subcommittee during the hearings, Ray Jenkins, produced the memorandum, which had just been dictated in his presence, he said, by General Lawton. Mr. Jenkins contended that it was of vital importance to the claim of Senator McCarthy that Secretary Stevens sought to stop the Senator's investigation of alleged subversive activity at Fort Monmouth, a claim which had been denied by Secretary Stevens. The rigorous examination of the Secretary brought a protest from Army special counsel Joseph Welch, indicating that Mr. Jenkins was proceeding as if it were a murder trial. The Secretary swore that he had no recollection of the telephone conversation between Mr. Adams and General Lawton. Secretary Stevens recalled that the previous October 31, he had talked to Maj. General George Back, chief signal officer at Fort Monmouth, and had told him that he wanted the Army's commanding generals to exercise "careful and good judgment" in carrying out the Government's program to weed out security risks. He said that he told General Back that he did not want the removal of employees at Fort Monmouth to be done so rapidly that people would be suspended without sufficient evidence to support the action. He recalled that he had said that he was apprehensive that General Lawton might be moving in that direction and was concerned that unfair suspensions would occur. He had told General Back that he wanted employees out if there were any doubt about their loyalty, but wanted the security screening done in a fair way and not just on the basis of meager or nearly non-existent information. He further testified that between the beginning of 1953 and March, 1954, the Army had weeded out 170 individuals as security risks, where there had been a "loyalty connotation". After five and a half days of questioning, the Secretary was obviously weary but declined an invitation by Senator John McClellan of Arkansas to rest from the strain. Mr. Welch asked that there be no prolonged examination by Senator McCarthy when it came his turn to undertake questioning of the Secretary.

Private G. David Schine was ordered this date by the Army to report to the staff of the Investigating subcommittee, for which he had previously worked as an unpaid aide before being drafted into the Army the prior October. He had previously told the Army that he would not volunteer to appear but would attend if ordered to do so. The subcommittee had decided the previous day to invite Private Schine to attend the sessions, accompanied by counsel if he wished. Private Schine would be called to testify during the afternoon session this date, in which he disclosed having a butterscotch sundae the prior Monday at the Colony Restaurant in Washington with a small group of people, including usual chief counsel for the subcommittee Roy Cohn and subcommittee staff member Francis Carr, one of the latter of whom had requested that he bring with him the photograph of himself with Secretary Stevens, taken the prior November 17 at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, the subject of the proceedings two days earlier. In the above-linked abstract of the day's telecast of Mr. Schine's testimony, the Private is flanked behind him on his right by Army counsel Mr. Welch and on his left by Army co-counsel James St. Clair, who would represent President Nixon during the Watergate scandal twenty years hence.

The President, at the end of his press conference, in answer to questions, said that he had never heard of Private Schine, and did not wish to comment on the ongoing hearings other than to say that he hoped the matter would be concluded quickly. No one, not even May Craig, had the temerity to inquire of what he thought of a butterscotch sundae on Monday, with or without a cone chaser. Of course, that testimony had not yet been taken at the time of the press conference, and so, since one would not expect of the press corps the intuitive, past-qua-prologue augury of Betty Boyer, maybe next time.

Attorney General Herbert Brownell, speaking before the Economic Club of New York the previous night, said that the Justice Department was starting a probe of the automobile industry for possible antitrust violations because of a "developing pattern of concentration". He said that the Department wanted to know whether the concentration was the consequence of competitive forces or the product of collusion or suppression of competition. Congressman Shepard Crumpacker of Indiana had introduced a resolution the previous month charging that independent automakers suffered from what he termed high pressure competitive practices by Ford and G.M. No action had been taken in Congress on the proposal. He had also asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Ford and G.M. were trying to monopolize the auto industry and whether their battle for sales leadership had violated antitrust laws. Thus far during the year, Ford and G.M. had accounted for slightly less than 84 percent of the automotive market, and Chrysler had 12 percent, while the small independents accounted for only four percent. Ford and G.M. maintained that their production merely reflected public demand for their products and denied that they were forcing cars on dealers through overproduction, as alleged by Representative Crumpacker.

In Washington, in the court-martial of Cpl. Edward Dickenson, accused of informing on fellow prisoners of war in North Korea and collaboration with the enemy, the defendant declined to testify this date in his own behalf. The case was expected to go to the eight-member court after closing arguments by each side, following eight and a half days of testimony. The defense had closed its case by presenting testimony from an Army major that the Chinese Communists had told the corporal that if he went home, he "would suffer physical harm and possibly be killed" and that "even his family might be harmed". Cpl. Dickenson had initially chosen to remain in captivity and refused repatriation along with the other allied prisoners, per the Armistice the prior July, but then had finally changed his mind.

The proposed site for the Air Force Academy near Charlotte would be inspected the following morning by the site selection commission, headed by General Carl Spaatz. Charlotte was competing with several other cities, including Colorado Springs, the eventual site selected for the Academy. The proposed site around Charlotte was near Huntersville, eight miles northwest of the city, extending to the banks of the Catawba River.

On the editorial page, "Pork on the Installment Plan" indicates that both houses of Congress had passed a bill, presently in reconciliation conference, to provide a third way for the Government to acquire property, in addition to purchase or lease. The new way was a "lease-purchase", whereby a community would erect a building and the Government would sign a contract under which it would pay the purchase price by installments plus 4.5 percent interest per annum over a period of between 10 and 25 years.