The Charlotte News
Monday, July 3, 1950
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that an Australian air attack on the front line positions in South Korea had given American troops an unexpectedly close taste of warfare this date, slightly wounding an American sergeant in the foot as it strafed a Korean village where the U.S. was establishing a command post. American troops, however, had still not met North Korean invaders in ground action.
Tom Lambert of the Associated Press
reports further from the front anent the Australian strafing
incident
According to General MacArthur's headquarters, American and Australian air attacks had brought the invasion almost to a halt, wrecking seven North Korean tanks and 22 trucks, plus shooting down two planes. Attacks continued against the enemy bridges over the Han River, as B-29's hit Yonpo airfield, 135 miles inside North Korea. One American B-26 was forced down at sea and three F-80 jet fighters were lightly damaged by ground fire. South Korean forces still held the key town of Suwon, 23 miles south of Seoul, but it was being outflanked by North Korean tank columns. The North Korean forces were generally advancing along a 55-mile front against the pounding of American fighters and bombers. North Korean forces, however, made no serious advances during the day and some tanks appeared to have pulled back. Two North Korean tank columns had crossed the Han River the previous night and were reported as far as 25 miles south of the river in a new breakthrough. Large numbers of American bombers hit the Communist forces. American infantry were being sped to the breakthrough point and might encounter combat for the first time this night.
The British Admiralty reported that neither U.S. nor British warships had been damaged in an engagement the previous day in which they sank five of six North Korean torpedo boats and shelled shore installations.
South Korean troop morale was reported to be good.
Maj. General William Dean had been named commander of all American forces in Korea. Brig. General John Church would become senior headquarters liaison officer.
Members of the U.N. coalition favored naming General MacArthur as the supreme Far Eastern commander.
Sweden, Denmark, and Israel joined the coalition of U.N. nations pledging to support the U.N. resolution to stop the invasion, joining 36 other nations.
Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson said that there was no present intention to mobilize reserve troops in connection with the Korean crisis, disputing a previous story by correspondent David Lawrence.
Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that a "group of untouchables", "Communists or worse", within the State Department had sabotaged the aid program for which Congress had voted and thereby caused the Korean crisis. Senator Taft said that the nation's "weak policy" in the Far East had invited Communist attack, that the U.S. should have maintained occupation troops in Korea or preliminarily announced that it would take the positive action it was now taking and thereby avoided the conflict.
Senator Millard Tydings described the attack as a test by the Soviets to see how far they could push the democratic world, and that the U.S. response might delay or avoid entirely a world war.
The U.S. advised Chiang Kai-Shek to consult with General MacArthur before dispatching any of his troops to South Korea, leaving his own positions on Formosa less defended. He had offered an army of 33,000 men, but that was refused by the U.S. as it was thought that the Chinese Communists would then seize upon the fact as an excuse to send their greater number of troops, estimated by General MacArthur at 200,000 along the border in Manchuria, to fight for North Korea.
In the first in a series of five articles, Robert E. Geiger reports that American military leaders, including Secretary of Defense Johnson, agreed that the country's ability to wage war was the greatest it had ever been in peacetime history. But they cautioned that the enemy was also formidable. U.S. manpower totaled 1.4 million, compared to 2.2 million at the time of Pearl Harbor. U.S. Army personnel in Europe numbered about 100,000, but were far outnumbered by Russia and its satellites. The U.S. had the long-range bombing capability to reach any significant target in the world, according to some military officials, but so, too, did Russia. A radar network was being constructed in the Northwest, the Northeast, and Alaska but was far from complete for lack of adequate funding. A staff of about 170,000 civilian volunteers were being recruited to watch for enemy planes and broadcast warnings.
James Marlow tells consumers that there was no ground for fearing either rationing or a new round of wage and price controls as during World War II, that Congress would have to pass new laws to make that possible. Thus, hoarding, he warns, should not be practiced, lest it play havoc with the economy at the start of combat operations in Korea.
In Bourg-en-Breese, France, a train hit a bus, killing 23 persons and seriously injuring three others. The accident was caused by the train crossing gates not being lowered.
In Mt. Ranier National Park in Washington, a four-year old girl was missing and bloodhounds had been enlisted to search for her. Good luck, little one. Stay away from the b'ars.
The National Safety Council reported that the July 4 weekend accidental death toll had reached 375, of which 252 were traffic-related, and it predicted that 385 traffic-related deaths would occur before the end of the four-day period at midnight the following night. North Carolina led the nation with 19 traffic fatalities, with South Carolina reporting 13. One accident involving two cars near Charlotte claimed six lives in one family. Michigan was second with 15 deaths.
On the editorial page, "Free Nations Stand Together" tells of France, Britain, Australia, Holland, and India having aligned with the U.S. behind the U.N. action to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea, and in that unity, serving notice to the Soviet bloc that there was no weakness in the West. The alliance would also make the process of defeating the North Koreans much easier, particularly given the presence of England and Australia, the former with its navy and the latter with its air force. The fact that India, which would be in immediate peril on two borders in an all-out war with Russia, had joined the coalition, ought serve further notice on the Soviets, it suggests, that there was no weak spot in the alliance.
A prolonged war would cost many American lives and if the combined fighting force could obtain quick surrender, so much the better. The effort would also be truly international in makeup, giving strength to the U.N.
While the allying nations were acting in self-interest, they were also participating on the side of freedom and morality, which, it concludes, was not to be underestimated, even in 1950.
"Politics and the AEC" tells of the Washington Post having suggested, without apparent basis beyond speculation, that Sumner Pike, acting chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, had his nomination for a new four-year term given a negative recommendation by the Joint Atomic Energy Committee, by a vote of 5 to 4, based entirely on politics. Mr. Pike, a Republican, received four of the five negative votes from Republicans because, according to the Post, he was too liberal and seen as a renegade Republican aligned with the New Deal and Fair Deal. Also, two Colorado Senators opposed him for his price and production policy on uranium ore, opposed by Colorado mining interests. Senator Owen Brewster opposed him apparently because he was planning to run against him for the Republican nomination in Maine two years hence.
It concludes that, while not knowing much about Mr. Pike, whatever the basis for opposition, he ought be judged solely on merit and not on the basis of politics.
"East or West, We're All Alike" informs that the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, in trying to locate genuine victims of the atomic bombs which had fallen on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, had run into the problem of false claimants, as being a victim of the blasts provided a certain social status in Japan. The piece thus concludes that it did not matter from what hemisphere one was, human nature appeared pretty much the same.
"How About the 'Sneak Pitch'?" tells of Bill Wynne of Raleigh, a former pitcher, having proposed a method to equalize pitching with hitting in the hit-loaded games in the Major Leagues, that being a return to the "sneak pitch", allowing the pitcher to pitch whenever he was on the mound and in the box, even if the batter had stepped out of the batter's box momentarily to pick up some dirt, tap his insoles, wiggle his jiggles or what have you. The pitcher could slip it past him. The piece thinks it a good idea.
A piece from the Greensboro Daily News, titled "Tough for All of Them", tells of the Republicans in North Carolina suggesting that the Democrats had played hob with their chances in November against Republican nominee E. L. Gavin by nominating Willis Smith rather than incumbent Senator Frank Graham. The piece begs to differ, pointing out history, that Democrats, even such perceived weak candidates as Josiah W. Bailey in 1928 and Robert Rice Reynolds in 1932, had won decisively over the Republican competition, even when formidable.
Indeed, until Jesse Helms would be elected in 1972, there had been only one Republican Senator, serving from 1895 to 1901, since 1873, and only three Republican Senators in total from the state. Until that same year, when Jim Holshouser was elected Governor, there had been no Republican in that position since Reconstruction. Since 1977, there have been only twelve years of Republican Governors, though the Senate has been a different story.
Drew Pearson tells of the Joint Chiefs being concerned that if Russia suffered a setback in Korea, it would strike somewhere else to save face, such as weak Iran.
When the Shah had visited the U.S. earlier in the year, it was assumed that he would return with American military supply commitments. But the U.S. military adviser to Iran, General Vernon Evans, had advised against it for the facts of internal corruption, incipient revolt, and inefficiency within the Iranian army, such that any supplied U.S. equipment might fall into Communist hands. The Iranian army was also viewed as top-heavy in its command.
The Shah became upset with U.S. Ambassador John Wiley for vetoing a grant under the Marshall Plan, save for ten million dollars. Mr. Wiley was being replaced by Henry Grady.
The pro-Communist party in Iran was growing stronger and the economy was failing. The Shah's army could likely hold no more than a week in the event that the Communists began marching through Azerbaijan. And it would not be possible for Americans to intervene soon enough to stop such a takeover.
The President, at the Blair House meeting earlier in the week when he decided to support South Korea, had said that it was time the country drew a "line in the dust" against Russia.
Senator Warren Magnuson said that he had played poker with the President many times and that one did not dare bluff him as he would call it every time. Undersecretary of State Steve Early, former FDR press secretary, responded that he had played with him, too, but the problem was that, while he called bluffs, he usually lost.
Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson had brought up at the meeting the question of Formosa, contending that Korea was just a symbol to the Soviets and that the important goal was to take Formosa. The President only responded that the meeting concerned Korea. But the next day, Secretary Johnson again pleaded the case to the President, this time alone, saying that the Japanese had used Formosa as a springboard to the Philippines, and the Communists might do likewise, that maintaining Formosa would prevent a drive further south. The President and Secretary of State Acheson then agreed at the following meeting to send the Seventh Fleet for the protection of Formosa, provided Chiang Kai-Shek would agree to cease bombing in Communist China.
Stockpiling of strategic materials had enabled the country to begin supplying Korea immediately, unlike after Pearl Harbor. Plenty of manganese was on hand, as well as synthetic rubber. The country remained short, however, on mica for electrical and radio equipment, as well as abaca for Navy rope. The munitions board, stimulated by Congress, was, however, stepping up the stockpiling program.
Marquis Childs finds that the attack by Senator McCarthy on the State Department and the general level of division in Congress, with Republicans pushing to become a party of "peace", had likely been the precipitant factors in the South Korean invasion by the Communists, stimulated by the Russians as a mettle-testing maneuver to determine whether the U.S. would react.
The efforts of Senator McCarthy and the Republicans had played right into the hands of preconceived ideas of the Politburo regarding American society.
Most Americans seemed to have felt
relief at the invasion and the immediate reaction by the President,
that there was at last something to restore unity in the country.
Some accepted the fact reluctantly, but only the extreme left and
right opposed the intervention. There were others, as Senator Taft,
who sought to make the State Department, and particularly Secretary
Acheson, the scapegoat for the invasion, blaming it on weakness shown
with respect to support of Nationalist China against the Communist
Chinese. As preindicant of such sentiment, Senator Taft at one point during the previous four months had suggested to Senator McCarthy
that he push forward with his attacks, for if he missed one target,
he would hit
While the State Department, Mr. Childs suggests, might be criticized for failing to put forth a constructive program for the Far East, it was unfair to blame Secretary Acheson, who had come to the post in early 1949, especially as he had obstacles regularly placed in his way by Congress and there had been lack of public acceptance of a cohesive plan for the Far East as had been put into practice in Western Europe.
With the invasion of South Korea, there was a focused task to be performed with American weaponry, courage, and skill. The task was going to be considerably harder than it had first appeared a week earlier. But without the attack and response to it immediately, the situation in Asia might have dragged on indecisively for some time and further deteriorated while disunity prevailed at home. He concludes that the country could not always count on "action to avert the larger and longer responsibility of world order and peace."
Robert C. Ruark discusses a Wednesday night rally at Madison Square Garden against the American intervention in Korea, led by Congressman Vito Marcantonio, Paul Robeson, Gus Hall, national secretary of the Communist Party, Rev. Richard Morford, executive secretary of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, and Ring Lardner, Jr., Hollywood screenwriter convicted along with nine others for contempt of Congress for refusing to state to HUAC in fall, 1947 whether they had ever been members of the Communist Party.
Mr. Hall had described the intervention as an "undeclared war against all the peoples of Asia", favored bringing the American forces home and recognizing Communist China at the U.N. so that Russia would no longer be "locked out".
Mr. Ruark finds the affair, attended by only 9,000 people, to have been a propaganda parade, clarifies that North Korea, acting at the instance of the Russians, had invaded South Korea, not the reverse. The Chinese Communists had overrun China. The Russians had blockaded Berlin in 1948-49. Meanwhile, the U.S. had invaded no country, had only finally responded in this instance to an invasion and had done so strictly within the provisions of the U.N. Charter.
Meanwhile, when the U.S. caught one of dozens of Russian spies in the country, as in the case involving Judy Coplon and her accomplice, Valentin Gubitchev, the latter was merely deported after conviction.
The "Reds and pinks" were engaging, he concludes, in old cliches which were wasted on a nation which had "gotten down to business again."
A letter from the president of the Selwyn Park Homes Association, Inc., thanks the newspaper for its editorials and articles regarding the need to clean up Sugaw Creek.
A letter writer finds that many "braying jackasses" had been silenced in their suggesting that Willis Smith was less qualified for the Senate than Senator Frank Graham, following the victory of the former over the latter in the runoff primary of June 24.
A letter writer encloses a letter he had written to Governor Kerr Scott, saying that the Governor, whom he professes to know, had pulled the teats of the voters once too often in campaigning all over the state for Senator Graham in the primary. He relates of a time supposedly when, as younger men, Jonathan Daniels had visited Mr. Scott's farm and they were going to milk the cow but pulled its teat too hard and it kicked them out of the barn.
He also says that they were preparing to kick out Senator Olin Johnston in South Carolina by means of Governor Strom Thurmond, and then next, "Hightax Harry".
A letter writer finds that two editorials the prior Monday had disgusted him, especially the one on the South Carolina Senate race, in which he perceives the piece to have suggested that the two candidates had denounced each other for amusement. He finds that the newspaper had done as much in the North Carolina primary race and, in the process, had made many in the state ashamed of the paper. He warns that democracy did not work that way.
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