The Charlotte News
Thursday, October 4, 1951
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Korea, flame-throwing, tank and air-supported infantrymen of five divisions comprised of troops from nine of the U.N. nations burned two narrow wedges through enemy defenses on the western front this date in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Enemy counter-attacks stopped the two-day allied offensive, however, along much of the 40-mile front. The allies had registered gains up to four miles at some points, but at others, were limited to mere yards. Back-and-forth battles occurred over all of the shrub-covered hills in the Imjin River sector northeast of Kaesong.
Allied and Communist commanders exchanged messages this date regarding the ceasefire talks, both expressing the desire to resume them immediately, but disagreeing on the site. General Matthew Ridgway suggested that the Communists pick a new site in no-man's-land and that if it appeared suitable, he would agree that negotiations could resume immediately. The Communist commanders proposed immediate resumption at Kaesong. The messages followed a week of silence by the Communists in response to the suggestion by General Ridgway that a new site be chosen, as Kaesong was not in a truly neutral zone, as it was under the exclusive control of the Communists. The talks had been broken off by the Communists on August 23 after claims of violation of the Kaesong neutrality zone by U.N. forces.
The President stated at a press conference that, according to a Yale study, the newspapers and "slick magazines" had published 95 percent of the country's secret information, his reason for having issued the controversial executive order allowing agency heads to classify their documents and information. He cited Fortune Magazine as having published all the locations and maps of the nation's atomic energy plants. He said that he hated censorship and had no desire to curb the freedom of the press, but that the order was necessary to protect secrets that might be helpful to a potential enemy. He said that publishers should be patriotic and refuse to publish information which was sensitive. He also stated that the order should not be made a cloak for withholding non-security information.
The President also said that John Foster Dulles had turned down an offer to become Ambassador to Japan, saying that he preferred to stay in civilian life and save the Republican Party from becoming isolationist. He said that he hoped that the explosion of a second atomic bomb by Russia had not brought World War III closer. He would not comment on a prediction by Governor James Byrnes of South Carolina that the President would not run in 1952.
Warren Austin, chief U.S. delegate to the U.N., this date stated to the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee considering the President's nomination of Ambassador Philip Jessup to become a member of the U.N. delegation, that Mr. Jessup was "a powerful protagonist" of American interests with no trace of Communist sympathies. The comment came in response to the charges by Senator Joseph McCarthy, in sworn testimony before the subcommittee, that Mr. Jessup had followed "all the twists and turns of the Communist line".
RNC Chairman Guy Gabrielson testified before the Senate Investigating subcommittee that he had attempted to have a former RFC director appointed president of the New York Stock Exchange the previous year. He said that his efforts came only after it was known that the President would not reappoint the man as one of two Republican members of the RFC. In the end, however, the former director did not get the position. The RFC had loaned Mr. Gabrielson's company 18.5 million dollars and he said that he had participated in negotiations with the RFC to obtain modification of the terms of the three loans, but had done nothing improper in doing so. He said that he neither sought nor received any favors. He said the last of the three loans had been made five months before he became the RNC Chairman.
In Cliffside, N.J., Willie Moretti, admitted gambler and crony of underworld bigshots, was shot to death this date in a restaurant. He had been a witness before the Kefauver-chaired Senate Crime Investigating Committee the prior December 13, wherein he told of making thousands of dollars legally from betting on horses. He had been a close crony of Frank Costello and Joe Adonis, as well as other racketeers. He was shot at Joe's Restaurant, across the street from Palisades amusement park.
Off Cape Hatteras, a giant hurricane with winds up to 100 mph skirted the Outer Banks this date and headed northeastward into the open Atlantic. Stormy gusts of rain and winds up to 50 mph impacted the coastal areas. It was the eighth storm of the season, the "H" storm.
In Indianapolis, a driver slowed for a left turn, whereupon another car struck him from the rear, causing him to roll to the left into the path of an oncoming car driven by a woman, the collision with which spun the first car around in a full circle, striking the second car from the rear.
In Woburn, England, the Duke of
Bedford announced that he had bred a strain of homing parrots,
Budgerigars
At Yankee Stadium in New York, after two innings, the New York Giants were ahead 2 to 1 over the New York Yankees in the first game of the World Series this date.
On page 10-A, columnist Hal Boyle commented on the National League pennant game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, further explored in an editorial below.
On the editorial page, "After Two Years…" indicates that since the announcement of September 23, 1949 by the President that the Soviets had detonated their first atomic bomb—which had actually occurred in August—U.S. scientists and military men had waited for further developments without any word. The previous day, however, the White House had announced, providing few details, that the Russians had exploded a second bomb. There had been a hint that two bombs had been tested and that one had proved a dud. It suggests that if that were true, detection of it must have been by intelligence rather than seismographs or other instruments.
The new test would not change the U.S. atomic program, the only question posed being whether it should be accelerated. It did probably assure that all pending appropriations for the program would be hurried through Congress and that a more sensible attitude would be adopted toward civil defense.
It suggests that beyond those things, the need was for a more positive and dynamic thought process regarding preservation of the peace. The prospect of an arms race with conventional weapons was bad enough, but with atomic weapons, there could be no winner as all of civilization would ultimately lose in any nuclear confrontation.
"The Giants Live Up To Their Name" tells of the Brooklyn Dodgers having been ahead of the New York Giants by two runs on Tuesday afternoon at the Polo Grounds, with the Giants having two out, the bases loaded, and a three and two count to the batter, who then knocked a short fly for the third out, putting the Dodgers en route to a 10 to 0 slaughter.
But the previous afternoon
It finds that there was scarcely a better example of what caused baseball to become so fascinating to the American people. Even if the Giants did not beat the Yankees, the glory of that moment would remain in the memory of baseball lovers for many years. It opines that not even an announcement of another Russian atomic explosion would diminish the importance of the event.
Anyone ever tell you you're crazy?
"A Bigger Stick for the U.N." tells of a subcommittee of the General Assembly's Collective Measures Committee having suggested that regional defense forces be subject to call in the event of future aggression. The only such defense force in existence at the time was NATO and thus the proposal related necessarily to NATO.
The League of Nations had collapsed because it could not back its rulings with force.
At the start of the Korean War, the U.N. was able only fortuitously to muster an army because the Russians had boycotted the Security Council meetings since early 1950 and so were not on hand to veto the action. That U.N. force, however, was primarily composed of U.S. personnel and the U.N. had no power to force any member nation to contribute manpower or equipment.
The U.N. Charter permitted the General Assembly to pass, by a two-thirds vote, any matter which was not a specific issue before the Security Council. Thus, the proposal in question could be taken up without the threat of a Soviet veto in the Council.
The action would not have any impact at present on Asia, as removing the NATO army to Indo-China, Burma or Malaya would involve tremendous logistical problems and invite Russian attack on the consequently weakened defenses of Western Europe. Nevertheless, it posits, this proposal was a step in the right direction.
A piece from the Asheville Citizen, titled "The More Things Change", quotes from the British Conservative Party platform in advance of the October 25 general election, standing for full employment, state control of the coal industry, a stringent excess profits tax, and maintenance of the system of guaranteed agricultural prices and markets, all resemblant to the Labor Party platform. The only difference was that the Conservatives pledged to halt the nationalization of industry and remove the iron and steel industry from Government ownership.
Meanwhile, Labor was busy rearming Britain, just as would the Conservatives.
It recognizes that there were fundamental differences in the party philosophies, but also stresses that the Conservatives would not undertake vast changes were they to win the coming elections. They would not try to limit the national health program and a good measure of the Labor Party's program had been achieved through grudging consent of many Conservatives. It suggests that in America, Winston Churchill might be accused of "me-tooism".
Bill Sharpe, in his "Turpentine Drippings", snippets from newspapers across the state, provides a piece from Nelson Hyde of the Pinehurst Outlook, in which he suggests that if everyone on the Government payroll voted for the President in 1952, he would win the election, as one out of every 20 adults would be so employed in the coming year, such that about three million of the 63 million adult voting population would be on the Government payroll. And that had been 800,000 more than the margin of popular votes which had elected the President in 1948. "Q.E.D."
The Camden Chronicle tells of a mental patient who was about to be released from the institution after 20 years, shaving himself in the mirror and then turning to address a remark by one of the attendants who had come to bid him goodbye, whereupon the string holding the mirror broke, and the patient, turning back to see the blank wall, stated that it was just his luck, that after 20 years in the place, on the very day of his release, he had cut his head off.
Former UNC head cheerleader Billy Arthur, of News & Views, tells of O. J. Coffin telling another story about the village half-wit in the area of Rockingham and Wadesboro walking onto the railroad tracks and flagging down a fast train, whereupon when it came to a stop and the engineer stuck out his head and listened, the idiot said, "You got a chaw of tobacco?" to which the engineer raised complaint for stopping the train for such a trivial reason, saying that he did not have any tobacco, at which point the idiot asked, "What did you stop for then?"
Charity and Children tells a story of a young lawyer presenting his first case in court, regarding a train which had hit and killed 24 of a farmer's hogs, arguing: "Just think of it, gentlemen, 24 hogs. 24! That's twice the number there are on the jury!"
And more on more, so forth so, and on forth more.
Drew Pearson tells of Senator Owen Brewster of Maine leading an undercover drive to oust RNC chairman Guy Gabrielson for his refusal to join the anti-Eisenhower campaign. As a result, Senators Everett Dirksen, Herman Welker, and William Jenner, all friends of Senator Brewster, had gone on the attack against Mr. Gabrielson. Privately, the latter was for Senator Taft, but he had refused to join the anti-Eisenhower smear campaign recently started in Maine at the behest of Senator Brewster. Mr. Gabrielson had expressed shock at the distribution of a pamphlet by Republicans linking General Eisenhower with the Communists.
Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, usually easy-going, had recently dressed down Congressman Clarence Cannon of Missouri, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, after the latter sought the fourth extension of temporary interim appropriations to enable the Government to continue running while the budget was still being considered. The Speaker became angry, indicating that it was the first time in history that Congress had given four extensions on appropriations bills. He then ordered Congressman Cannon to finish the bills so that Congress could adjourn.
Those most angry at the British regarding the Iranian oil dispute were other oilmen in the Middle East, pointing out that the British oil concession had been obtained through corruption, that Britain had maintained certain members of the Iranian Parliament on its payroll for years, and that everyone in Tehran was aware of it. They had also pointed out that the royalties paid by the British to Iran were meager.
In Indonesia, U.S. companies paid 60 percent royalties and in Saudi Arabia, the split was 50-50. But in Iran, Britain officially paid only 25 percent, while unofficially, through secret bookkeeping, the actual percentage was only about 12 percent. He suggests that the worst tragedy was that the State Department had not moved in sooner to head off the disaster by urging the British to increase their royalty payments.
In 1949, when Justice William O. Douglas had returned from a visit to Iran, he warned the State Department of this problem. Mr. Pearson had also warned in his column of January 30, 1951 that the Soviets were waging an effective campaign to take over Iran by friendly infiltration, while the U.S. had bungled its diplomacy to the extent that Iran was on the verge of putting aside its traditional friendship with the U.S., having cut Voice of America, given free play to Moscow Radio, and having negotiated a new trade treaty with Russia. Nevertheless, he points out, for months, U.S. diplomats in Iran had instructions not to discuss the British oil problem. Premier Ali Razmara, friend to the U.S., had been assassinated partly because of his lack of progress in resolving the British oil problem. But now, the entire Middle East was on the verge of a crisis because of this bungling.
Marquis Childs suggests that if DNC chairman William Boyle was able to establish his "technical purity", then RNC chairman Guy Gabrielson, similarly accused of exerting influence regarding an RFC loan, might also continue as chairman.
It had been reported the previous week that Senator Taft had told two visiting RNC committeemen that Mr. Gabrielson would need to resign and that he would accept Sinclair Weeks of Boston as a compromise choice as his successor. Mr. Weeks would be acceptable to the backers of General Eisenhower, who had long been suspicious of Mr. Gabrielson, whom they regarded as a "Taft man".
Before the Senate subcommittee investigating the charges, Mr. Boyle had denied receiving $8,000 from the St. Louis printing firm, which had been reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, indicating that he had only received a legal retainer fee of $1,250.
But since he had become chairman, earning a salary of $35,000 per year, he had received $100,000 from his former law associate, Max Siskind, to whom he had sold several cases from his law practice. Regardless of Mr. Boyle's legal skills, his clients sought him out for his friendship with the President.
Senator Richard Nixon of the
subcommittee intended to devote virtually all of his time for the
ensuing few months to tracing every lead which was uncovered during
the hearings. "And as he has demonstrated in the past, Nixon has
a bulldog
He urges that the chairman of both national party committees should be as the members of their working staffs, paid professionals, devoting full time to the job and unrelated to the influence industry. But, he concludes, that as Mr. Boyle appeared certain to stay as chairman, so, too, would Mr. Gabrielson. The issue of influence-peddling in the 1952 campaign, therefore, would be moot.
Joseph Alsop indicates that American policy-makers hoped that the U.N. Security Council deliberations on the British-Iranian oil nationalization dispute would lead to a fourth round of negotiations to effect a resolution of the dispute and that the additional time would lead to the downfall of the Government of Mohammed Mossadegh. But thus far, the American approach had been a "pitiful tissue of false hopes and phony assumptions".
The true fact was, he asserts, that there was a crisis which impacted not just the British but also the U.S. For the Iranian Government had opened negotiations with the Russians, ostensibly limited to renewal of a trade agreement. The Iranian Government, without the market for its oil, did not have the money to pay its army or police, so needed to look elsewhere, and Russia, badly in need of oil, was the logical choice.
The Pentagon believed that the Soviets could locate technicians within the satellite states and elsewhere to run the oil wells and the refinery at Abadan, provided there was a deal between the Soviets and Iran to provide Russia with oil. If such a deal could be arranged, the Soviets had the tankers available with which to ship it.
The State Department had been warned by both Egypt and Iraq that an Anglo-American show of weakness in Iran would lead to outbreaks in Egypt and Iraq. Likely, such a showing of weakness would precipitate a chain reaction throughout the Middle East.
Moreover, the economic consequences of a defeat in this crisis, for not only Britain, but also all of Western Europe, India, Pakistan and other countries, would be passed to the U.S. in the form of requests for increased economic aid to these countries, already occurring.
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