The Charlotte News
Saturday, August 12, 1950
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that North Korean troops poured heavy reinforcements across the Naktong River this date along the central front of the allied defense arc. According to MacArthur headquarters, a North Korean prisoner told of three regiments of the Fourth Division having come across the river in the Changnyong and Waegwan sectors. Allied forces resisted two enemy thrusts across the river near Waegwan. Five of ten enemy tanks which had crossed the river had been knocked out but the other five were still at large, and later reports said that this force had been repulsed on Friday. Some South Korean troop reports had it that as many as thirty enemy tanks were across the river. It was believed by an American intelligence officer that the persistence of the enemy in the Changnyong area suggested the expectation of reinforcements, which could swell enemy ranks to between 60,000 and 70,000 troops along the 50-mile front aiming at Taegu, the last allied bastion before Pusan. Units of the U.S. 25th Division moved northward from the southern front to counter the mounting threat.
The battle for Pohang had quieted from the previous day. Half of that port city was a flaming no-man's land and the other half occupied anew by the enemy. The allies still held the vital airfield six miles away and correspondent Leif Erickson reported that U.S. commanders were confident of holding it and recapture of Pohang.
B-29's struck at Najin in North Korea, 17 miles from the Soviet border, the northernmost strike thus far in the war. The raid reached within 110 miles of Vladivostok. American fliers in South Korea reported seeing increased numbers of enemy planes in the air, reporting four flying west of the Naktong. Three Russian Yaks were destroyed on the ground.
The Army issued a report to Congress on casualties which included unconfirmed casualties, not to be made public until confirmed. The report contained greater numbers than previously released by the Army, numbers which had recently been questioned by Drew Pearson and some in Congress, including Senator Styles Bridges. Mr. Pearson had claimed to have seen a Surgeon General's "secret list" which showed six times the reported deaths reported by the Army, 660 versus 111 as of August 1.
The Chicago Tribune reported of the lone stand by the American 24th Division during the first 19 days of the war. Present American reinforcement allowed the story now to be told, previously suppressed voluntarily, according to correspondent Walter Simmons. The Division had been commanded by Maj. General William Dean, missing and captured by the enemy. Mr. Simmons reported that the Division suffered 30 percent battle losses with 94 killed and 901 wounded, plus 2,562 missing. It had also lost numerous vehicles and weaponry. They had been the first American troops to engage the enemy, only three days after arriving in Korea. Two understrength companies were the first to encounter the enemy, losing 140 men and most of their weapons on July 5. They were chopped to pieces in the battle for Taejon on July 17. General Dean had orders to hold the location for another three days against superior numbers, until reinforcements arrived. When the First Cavalry arrived, the 24th moved to the rear for replacement of the lost men and material, having prevented the enemy from racing to the critical supply port at Pusan.
In New York, Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg, wife and sister of two men already arrested, including husband Julius Rosenberg, was arrested in connection with giving atomic secrets to Klaus Fuchs, the British atomic scientist who had confessed to British authorities of providing atomic secrets to the Russians between 1944 and 1947 and was sentenced in Britain to 12 years in prison. The Government accused the Rosenbergs of persuading Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, who had been stationed at the Manhattan Project facility at Los Alamos, N.M., in 1945 as an Army specialist, to provide secrets to the Soviets. The Government alleged that Mr. Greenglass turned over information to Harry Gold, who had already pleaded guilty to espionage, and who was alleged to be the direct link to Dr. Fuchs. The Government claimed that the Rosenbergs had been affiliated with the Communists for a long time and that Mrs. Rosenberg was the contact with the Russian master-mind financier of the plot, Anatoli Yakolev, the former Soviet vice-consul in New York. Others who had been charged in the plot were Alfred Dean Slack, Abraham Brothman, and Miriam Moskowitz. Mrs. Rosenberg's attorney said that the charge against her was "flimsy". The chief assistant U.S. attorney said that were it not for these transfers, perhaps the Korean war would not have occurred—the unstated implication being that the Soviets had been emboldened to stimulate the North Korean attack only because of their detonation of an atom bomb the prior August.
Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg would be controversially executed June 19, 1953 after being found guilty of espionage in the case in late March, 1951. They were the only persons sentenced to death in the matter. Indeed, they were the only persons ever sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the only defendants ever sentenced to death for espionage in the history of the country not involving an act of spying committed during war in furtherance of the aims of a declared enemy. The six Nazi defendants put to death in 1942 had been convicted of acts arising under the "law of war" and the Articles of War specially passed by Congress for World War II.
The Federal Government would revise its death penalty statute in 1988 and 1994 to embrace only crimes involving delineated statutory "special circumstances", or aggravating factors not offset by mitigating factors, to "channel" the fact-finder's discretion, pursuant to the 7 to 2 decision in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, in 1976, which served to define when capital punishment could pass muster under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, after capital punishment per se had been struck down as the proscribed "cruel and unusual punishment" for being "arbitrarily and capriciously" imposed among the states, per the 6 to 3 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238. Between the decision in Furman and 1988, there was no active Federal death penalty.
The contention re violation of the Eighth Amendment in the 1952 Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Rosenberg v. U.S.—from which certiorari to the Supreme Court was denied, affirming the convictions in the Rosenberg case and finding that only the Supreme Court could, after affirmance of a conviction, modify the imposition of the death penalty imposed by the trial court within the parameters of a statute, as shocking "the common conscience" and thus violative of the Eighth Amendment as alleged by the defendants—, was cited and explained in Justice Thurgood Marshall's concurring opinion in Furman.
In short, before one undertakes one's intrigue, it is best to read everything, that is, to become learned, such that one does not wind up in the out
The State Department hoped for success in the American propaganda counter-offensive to that of the Russians regarding who started the war in Korea. The plan was to expose to a point the Russians' stalling tactics at the U.N. and broadcast it via Voice of America and with movies sent abroad. The previous day, Secretary of State Acheson charged Soviet chief U.N. delegate Jakob Malik with wanting a Korean settlement which would mean "abject submission" to Communist control, that Russian tactics in the U.N. Security Council were designed "to thwart the U.N. effort to restore peace and security" in Korea, and that Mr. Malik had "disregarded the duties of his office" as rotating Council president during August.
The Army and Air Force were calling up 50,000 additional reserves, boosting the number called up to 121,444, to be summoned in the ensuing two and a half months. Certain educational, occupational, and hardship deferments would apply.
The Senate Finance Committee approved a provision of the bill increasing by three billion dollars individual income taxes, such that soldiers fighting in Korea would pay no Federal income tax and that taxes paid by officers would be reduced.
In Lone Pine
Incidentally, we did not realize that this death had occurred on Mt. Whitney or in this time period, when, a few days ago, we referenced our near-death experience on the Malibu highway all those years ago. It is a bit spooky for, as we have said previously, we did a good portion of our growing up not far, by the flight of the crow or the raven, from the Reynolda House mansion in Winston-Salem, where Zachary Smith Reynolds met his untimely demise in 1932, allegedly at the hand of Ms. Holman, who was subsequently charged in the case but never prosecuted, presumably for want of sufficient evidence that the death was not, as she had stated, a suicide which she claimed to have witnessed while pregnant with son Christopher, known by the nickname "Topper"
Oh, you could make the argument that had we not stopped for the CD's, we might not have had the close-shave with death. But, since nothing actually occurred, thanks to quick reflexes and an empty lane to the right, one could also make the argument that some fate might have awaited far worse, had we not stopped for the CD's. Just as one could posit that our reflexes might not have been so acutely responsive at that moment had we not had the instructive mishap many years earlier, running past an octagonal red sign
On the editorial page, "A Real Defensive Front" agrees with Winston Churchill that a unified European army to resist Russia ought be formed and that only "a pretentious facade" had thus far been undertaken. Military aid to France and Britain from the U.S. had not been enough yet to establish an effective defense.
It appeared that Mr. Churchill wanted something akin to the U.N. force established in Korea, but establishing such a standing army in Europe would be fraught with difficulties. It deems, however, the creation of such an army essential to preservation of democracy.
"The Home Front Moves to a War Basis" tells of the House having voted to provide the President discretionary powers to impose wage and price controls plus rationing, in addition to the allocation-priority controls and credit controls he had sought. The bill also gave him the power to requisition plants, materials, and supplies if necessary for defense. Widespread reports of hoarding had motivated the action.
The Senate was considering its own bill. Senator Taft opposed the discretionary controls and wanted Congress to retain authority over controls. The Senate Banking Committee, however, favored the discretionary approach.
It suggests that given hoarding and potential for inflation in consequence, the Congress was moving wisely and quickly to stem it.
"Editorialettes" provides several opinionettes: Sam Goldwyn proposed spending a billion dollars on world propaganda, with which it agrees, but proposes spending substantially more, as that amount would not even undo the adverse effects of Hollywood on America's image around the world.
The Weather Bureau predicted that August would be hotter than usual, and so it proposes gathering at the river.
Al Jolson
The custom of the Siriono Indians of Bolivia was for the father to change his name at the birth of a son to that given the son with the added suffix meaning "father of", and it predicts that, the way things were going in America, the grooms would soon be taking the surname of their brides as "husband of".
And so on
A piece from the
Asheville
Citizen-Times, titled "Reforming Law Codes Slow Process",
finds that despite great improvement in the criminal code and in
prison discipline in North Carolina since colonial days and through
the mid to late Nineteenth Century, there was still room for more
improvement. Guion Griffis Johnson, in her book, Ante-Bellum North
Carolina, had found that through 1817, the "bloody code"
of North Carolina, as it was called by the average person, still
prescribed the death penalty for 28 offenses, which included, beyond
the usual acts of murder, rape, arson, treason, and extreme degrees
of burglary, the crimes of bigamy, dueling, including accessories thereto,
stealing of slaves and aiding their escape, breaking jail, maiming by
putting out eyes or disabling the tongue, concealing childbirth,
certain degrees of counterfeiting, second offenses of manslaughter,
forgery, larceny from the person of an amount of twelve pence or
more, burglary, which included breaking into an outhouse
Corporal punishment also could be inflicted in cases of perjury or maiming, involving cropping the ears and standing an extra two hours in the stocks, plus receipt of 39 lashes.
The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 and, subsequently in 1789, the U.S. Constitution, by the Eighth Amendment, had forbade the cruel and unusual punishment of disembowelment, as exacted of one Captain Benjamin Merrill of the North Carolina Regulators in 1771.
Only many years later was the "bloody code" finally abolished.
Some of that blood, however, might still be found in pockets of North Carolina, among those descended from ape-men who manage, through ape-family ties and persistence, still to achieve power.
Drew Pearson's column is written this date by staff members Tom McNamara and Fred Blumenthal while he was on vacation. They tell of the President being advised not to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican, as it might start a religious fight in the Senate confirmation hearings of a diplomat. Instead, he was advised to send an informal representative, not requiring confirmation. The President remained undecided on the matter.
The atom bomb was detonated by radar, the reason for American scientists being so concerned about Soviet radar jamming.
Some key atomic scientists were so valuable that they were guarded round the clock at atomic installations.
Hiroshima-type bombs could now be produced with a fraction of the fissionable material used in August, 1945. The energy contained in a teacup of such material could destroy a city or produce enough power to run it. They provide several other facts concerning atomic energy production.
Senator McCarthy had used up his quota of paper by producing so many speeches and papers on Communism and the State Department. He now had to buy his own paper and had appealed to his fellow Republicans to loan him some.
CIA director Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter had sought to lay off blame for the Korean war on the State and Defense Departments. He had told the Senate Expenditures Committee that he had made a series of reports to both departments over a period of six months prior to the invasion, warning of North Korean troop movements which made war inevitable. But on June 23, two days before the invasion, he had told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that there were "evidences" of troop mobilization above the 38th parallel but that it was "almost impossible" to obtain authentic information concerning it because of the "reluctance" of native informers. He had then concluded that in his opinion, there was nothing to indicate any action in Korea in the near future. He cautioned, however, that accidents could happen.
Senator Homer Capehart of Indiana, the Wurlitzer king, had appealed to his fellow Republicans to give at least one speech for him, as he faced a tough battle in the fall.
Stewart Alsop tells of Senator Joseph McCarthy having discovered a new nest of potential traitors, Stewart and Joseph Alsop, as alleged in a letter to the editors of the Saturday Evening Post. The Senator had read the letter to the Senate the prior Tuesday, in which he referred to an article by the Alsops, which he had found to be nearly a hundred percent simpatico with Communist and fellow-traveling doctrine.
Mr. Alsop says that it was time to confess their connection with the Daily Worker, that the description of them in that publication as "Fascist warmongers", "lackeys of Wall Street" and "prestitutes" had not fooled the Senator. When Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vyshinksy had recently described them as "bandits of the pen", the Senator likewise was not deceived.
In another era, such as the Twenties, Senator McCarthy might have supplied comic relief. But most of the time, presently, he was not even funny.
He had also taken exception to the Alsops characterizing his and Senator Kenneth Wherry's efforts to elevate the subject of sexual perversion into a serious political issue. The charge had stemmed from the State Department having dismissed 90 employees allegedly for sex perversion. Senator McCarthy had employed a clerk who shortly thereafter was arrested by the Washington police for sex perversion, and then convicted and fined. He finds it worth mentioning for the fact that, by the numbers, the Senator was twenty times more lax on perversion than the State Department. And the Supreme Court of Wisconsin had found him culpable for an infraction of the moral code.
In light of the war in Korea, he finds the antics of Senator McCarthy "drearily unimportant".
While the Alsops had a public record to bear out the fact that they were not Communists, and also could respond to his charges in a public forum, others could not. As one official recently had confided, McCarthyism was preventing the Government from employing the best people.
Robert C. Ruark discusses the subject of arches and the invention by an orthopedic surgeon in Washington of a rubber pad for the floor of the infant's playpen, irregular in surface and supposedly insuring against fallen arches. He questions the efficacy of the device and contends that irregular surfaces only increased the chance of fallen arches, as he had very nice arches after a lifetime of walking on smooth surfaces. And he concludes that, with the advent of television and jet propulsion, the child of the future would likely have only rudimentary legs, in any event, just as man had lost his tail in earlier times when it no longer was needed to swing from trees.
Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of the North Carolina National Guard not being far down the call-up list, behind four other state National Guard units.
The call for 80,000 Marine reservists would double the number at Camp Lejeune.
More ships were scheduled to be de-mothballed at Wilmington.
The three million dollars appropriated for the Washington-Baltimore Pike came at the expense of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Senator Clyde Hoey believed that the Government had not been properly apprised of the threat of invasion in Korea. Senator Frank Graham did not know whether that was the case, but believed the country was unprepared in its defenses. Neither, however, favored an investigation.
Both Senators favored rearming Japan and West Germany, as both countries were now operating as democracies. Senator Hoey believed that rearming, however, should not include airplanes.
Neither Senator thought wiretapping in Washington was widespread, as recently reported by Drew Pearson and as being investigated by a Federal Grand Jury.
Playwright Paul Green had received good reviews for the historical pageant "Faith of Our Fathers", which had opened the previous week in Washington to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the capital and the life of George Washington. While the Washington Post and Washington Star were generally laudatory, the New York Times critic had suggested that Mr. Green should do more work on the script for it to live up to "The Lost Colony" in North Carolina and one other outdoor pageant he had authored.
Framed Edition
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