The Charlotte News
Saturday, April 7, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Olen Clements, that U.N. forces had penetrated deeper into North Korea this date against little opposition, as in most sections of the central and western fronts the enemy had again withdrawn suddenly and strangely. The roadways leading north, however, were planted with mines, booby-trapped mortar shells and pits to trap tanks causing the pace forward to be slow. Censorship blocked the distance gained.
On the western front, the allied forces crossed the Hantan River several times four to six miles north of the 38th parallel, withdrawing after encountering fire from the north bank. Enemy casualties were placed at 935 in the action.
In air action, 50 American F-84 Thunderjets damaged two MIGs and drove the remainder back to Manchuria in a dogfight with 40 MIGs. Another such large dogfight had proceeded in the same area the preceding Tuesday.
In Washington, India, through its Minister, asked Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk whether General MacArthur had been given any authority to bomb bases in Manchuria, apparently stemming from the General's March 24 remarks saying that he was willing to enter peace negotiations with the Chinese ground commander and that if the U.N. authorized bombing of Chinese bases or coastal defenses the war would quickly be over and the Chinese defeated.
The White House refused comment on whether discussion at the White House this date between Secretary of Defense Marshall, Joint Chiefs chairman General Omar Bradley and the President had concerned possible action against General MacArthur for his letter to Representative Joe Martin, as reported the previous day, in which the General stated his differences with Administration policy on Korea and use of the Chinese Nationalist troops to fight the Communist Chinese as guerrillas in Communist China, as well as saying that the Communist main offensive was in Asia rather than in Europe.
Maj. General Kim Paik II, commander of the South Korean First Corps, had been missing in action since March 28 and was believed probably killed in an airplane accident, after leaving in a light plane following a conference with ground commander General Matthew Ridgway.
Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer had been issued an order to show cause re contempt by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for failing to carry out the Court's order to return the Government-owned President Steamship Line to its former owner, Dollar Co. The Government claimed it owned the stock in the Line as security for Government loans made to Dollar, which the company disputed. Meanwhile, a Federal District Court Judge in San Francisco ruled that Mr. Sawyer was not in contempt there on the same matter and issued a temporary restraining order, pending further litigation, against Dollar from taking over control of the Line.
The House Armed Services Committee announced that it would review the new rules set forth during the week for draft deferment of college students who qualified academically and for high school graduates who passed an aptitude test with a score of 70. The Committee had reportedly approved the deferment schedule in general outline when it approved the universal military service bill, authorizing lowering of the minimum draft age from 19 to 18 and a half. But several members said that they had since realized how liberal the deferments were. Representative Paul Kilday of Texas offered an amendment to kill the plan.
It was believed that a bullet-pierced helmet liner bearing two stars of a major general was a clue to the area where Maj. General William Dean disappeared the previous July. He was rumored to be a prisoner of North Korea but the report was not confirmed. General Dean, reported dead in many accounts, was a prisoner of war and would be released at the end of hostilities.
In Greensboro, N.C., union and management representatives continued trying to resolve their differences over the TWUA demand for a 13-cent per hour raise in the minimum hourly wage for union textile workers, to $1.14.5. Union and management representatives accused each other of trying to intimidate workers at the White Oak Mill and Cone Mills of Greensboro. The strike of some 40,000 workers across five Southern states, over half of whom were in the two Carolinas, entered its seventh day. There were reports of minor strike violence in Danville, Va., and Wake Forest, N.C.
Near Santa Barbara, California, a search plane said that it had found a downed airplane on Santa Ynez ridge, possibly a missing Southwest Airlines plane with 22 passengers and crew aboard, which had last made radio contact the previous night. The plane had only enough fuel to remain aloft until 11:15 p.m., three hours after the last contact. Two hitchhikers said that they had seen a plane circling the area at about 200 feet altitude. Another witness told of hearing a low-flying plane engine at about 8:30 and then the noise suddenly fading out. The plane had departed San Francisco the previous evening, bound for Los Angeles.
In Raleigh, the State House passed and sent to the Senate a bill to enable cities in the state of over 25,000 population to condemn property and clear land in pursuit of slum clearance and redevelopment.
In the State Senate, a new bill was introduced to legalize caps for toy pistols.
In Boston, the amount of money taken in the January 17, 1950 Brinks robbery by six masked gunmen was officially set finally at 1.28 million dollars, having previously been reported as 1.7 million.
In the sixth installment of Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, he tells of having visited Yellowstone National Park some years earlier and attending an outdoor demonstration of the grizzly bear, after food had been deliberately dumped in a forest clearing to attract it. The forest ranger on horseback leading the demonstration explained that the grizzly bear could whip any other animal of the Western world, with the possible exception of the buffalo and Kodiak bear. Mr. Carnegie noticed from his bleacher perch that a skunk was allowed by the bear to eat with him because the bear had found from experience that it did not pay to fight with a skunk. He had found out that lesson as a boy in Missouri, as well as when he encountered as an adult two-legged skunks on the sidewalks of New York City.
He suggests that hating one's enemies gave them power to cause worry, to their delight. He counsels against trying to get even with one's enemies as it would only redound to one's detriment.
On the editorial page, "The Mecklenburg Delegation", a by-lined piece by Editor Pete McKnight writing from Raleigh, tells of the 1951 Mecklenburg delegation to the Legislature, providing brief sketches of each member, Senator Harvey Morris and Representatives Robert Lassiter, Jr., Edward O'Herron, Jr., David H. Henderson and James B. Vogler, concluding that, according to one State House veteran, this biennial session's Mecklenburg delegation was the best the county had ever produced in his memory and that such was the prevailing opinion.
"A Realistic and Honest Action" finds the action by the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina, following the recommendation of its executive committee in adopting a resolution to admit qualified black applicants to graduate and professional programs not offered on a segregated basis by the State, to have been wise, as it followed the Supreme Court ruling in Sweatt v. Painter of the prior June, that a State, to maintain segregated facilities for graduate and professional schools, had to supply substantially equal facilities to pass Constitutional muster under Plessy v. Ferguson's separate-but-equal doctrine.
It finds the opposition on the Board by Wayland Spruill, John Kerr, Jr., and Dave Clark of Charlotte to be misplaced as defying the law of the land.
It also believes the Board had acted wisely in authorizing the State Attorney General to file a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court in the McKissick, et al. case, recently decided by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the Federal District Court in finding that the N.C. College for Negroes Law School at Durham was not substantially equal to the UNC Law School under Sweatt and so requiring admission to UNC of the four qualified black applicants. For the McKissick decision, the editorial believes, had exceeded the parameters of the Sweatt decision and made it virtually impossible to show that separate facilities were substantially equal.
"An Anniversary Worth Remembering" tells of CARE celebrating its fifth anniversary of existence, during which time it had delivered ten million packages of food and other supplies to Europe, all purchased through the private donations of individual contributors. It urges purchase of a CARE package for donation abroad, as the work was not done, with malnutrition and disease continuing to plague Europe and Asia.
"Let 'Em Eat Corn" tells of staff experts of the House-Senate Economic Committee reporting that meat was a luxury because, when fed on corn rather than grass or other products not usable for food, "livestock consumes several times the caloric value returned in the form of meat".
The piece says that when it ate its steak or calf's liver or country ham, it would bite down and recall these words and recite them repeatedly.
A piece from the Asheville Citizen, titled "Friend Jonathan", adopts the form of Biblical prose to describe the recent disclaimer by the White House regarding Jonathan Daniels's Collier's piece in which he claimed that the President wanted to extend the terms of Congressmen from two to four years and have twelve-year term limits in both houses. The White House had said that it was "entirely misleading" and that Mr. Daniels did not speak for the President.
"When this was read there was a wailing on the Hill and along the avenue, and the people were faint."
"Over much of the land there was laughter. For this, too, would pass."
R. F. Beasley of the Monroe Journal writes of the University Board of Trustees decisions on admission of qualified black applicants to the graduate and professional school programs not offered to black students separately and to file a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court in the McKissick case, supports both decisions on the same reasoning as the above editorial. He adds, however, that he thinks the Board ought limit admission to native North Carolinians or bona fide residents of the state to avoid an influx of Northerners seeking cheaper education than offered in the Northern states.
He expresses surprise that former Speaker of the State House, John H. Kerr, Jr., had adopted such a "childlike position" as to advocate cutting off of State funding to any State school which ended segregation.
He believes that the Supreme Court was adhering to the basic 1896 Plessy doctrine in making its rulings, to give the South time to comply with it in the public primary and secondary school facilities. He thinks the South ought be "adamant" in maintaining the grade schools in segregated status, and that to do that meant supplying substantially equal facilities. He believes that neither race wanted integrated schools.
Damn right! No little jiggaboo gon' come in heya and sit right down next to my little jiggaboos. It'll be like Little Rascals or sump'un. Don't want no smawt talkin' Yankee nigga comin' down heya neitha. They'll take ova, fust thing you know.
Drew Pearson tells of President Vincent Auriol of France visiting Mount Vernon and viewing the key to the Bastille hanging on the wall, one of the prized treasures of France for its symbolic significance to the French Revolution, as celebrated on Bastille Day, July 14, each year. General Lafayette had been presented the key from the leaders of the revolution who had used it to unlock the Bastille and release its political prisoners on July 14, 1789. He, in turn, had provided it to Thomas Paine, telling him to give it to General Washington, which was why it was hanging on the wall at Mount Vernon.
Given its significance to France, Mr. Pearson suggests that it be returned as a gesture of friendship, just as France had presented America the Statue of Liberty in 1886. He thinks the average American visitor to Mount Vernon did not appreciate its significance anyway.
Russia had its own scandal, not unlike the RFC scandal in America. The Russian boss of the uranium mine in Bulgaria, who received the U.S. equivalent of $1,200 per month as salary, had hired his wife at $900 per month. Three other Russian engineers hired their wives at the equivalent of $450 to $900 per month. Meanwhile, the average Bulgarian worker in the mine received only $54 per month. The Russians had also set up their own stores, stocked them with the finest foods of Bulgaria and set the prices well below the local competition. Bulgarians greatly resented this conduct, helping to fuel unrest.
Inflation was slowly coming under control in the previous three months after the consumer buying spree had tapered off and the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury had depressed the price of long-term bonds causing banks and insurance companies to retain them, resulting in less available credit.
Assistant Secretary of State McGhee had warned Prime Minister Nehru of India that the Russians might seek to stir up internal revolt in India and that he should therefore be wary of his general staff. The Prime Minister, however, was resentful of the warning, resulting in worse relations between India and the U.S.
Stewart Alsop tells of an astute observer of Washington politics suggesting that unless the Russians pushed the button, the mobilization effort would be completely bogged down by mid-summer. He finds the passage of the McClellan amendment by the Senate, that which advised the President to obtain Congressional approval before sending more than the approved four divisions in support of NATO, already showed a return to complacency of the type promoted by Senator Kenneth Wherry.
The passage of the McClellan amendment marked the first time since the war that a coalition of Southern Democrats and Republicans had united to form a majority on conservative foreign policy. Previously, the coalition had been limited to domestic issues. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., voted against the amendment but could not muster enough support for it among his fellow Republicans. Even Republican Senators Wayne Morse and Margaret Chase Smith, usually siding with the liberal faction, voted for the amendment.
The vote demonstrated how little power the President continued to have in Congress. The general view now was that it was smart to be against Truman. Moreover, the Democratic leadership was divided and weak. Senator Ernest McFarland, the Majority Leader, was well-intentioned but lacked the astuteness and force to be an effective parliamentarian. In the absence of Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg to galvanize Republicans in favor of internationalist foreign policy, the efforts of the Democrats usually fell on deaf ears.
By contrast, the Taft-Wherry leadership shrewdly maneuvered matters through the Senate, as was the case with the McClellan amendment—though sponsored by Democratic Senator John McClellan of Arkansas.
In addition, universal military training, which had passed the Senate, was stalled in the House and tax increases were likewise imperiled, as Southern fiscal conservatives drifted into the Taft-Wherry camp.
While the Senate had not given the McClellan amendment the force of law and the resolution did approve sending the four divisions requested by the Administration, it still sent a signal that unless Russia started a war, a return to complacency might be in the offing.
Robert C. Ruark again looks at the draft and finds it making no sense, that 18-year old college freshmen, provided they were within the top half of the class, or those scoring 70 on an aptitude test were receiving deferments while the college graduate who had earned his degree and was looking for a job but finding it difficult to find employers willing to take a chance with the draft looming, faced almost certain induction. He thinks it the reverse of rational thinking, that 18-year olds needed the discipline of the military far more than the college graduates, and had not invested the time and effort yet in obtaining higher education.
He concludes that the "educational imbecility, as a basis of separating soldiers from civilians, is a fine index to the thinking in our higher places, and eventually will build an army worthy of being commanded by Gen. Harry Vaughan."
The Last Moments: Memphis, Tenn., April 4, 1968
Dr. King spent the last day of his life, Thursday, April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel. Walter Lane Bailey, owner of the Lorraine, later recalled that the usually businesslike SCLC president was particularly jovial that day, "teasing and cutting up."
At an SCLC staff meeting that morning, the march, planned for the next day, was postponed until the following Monday, April 8. In addition, that morning, SCLC general counsel Chauncey Eskridge appeared before Judge Bailey Brown in Federal court and argued that the city's injunction against the proposed demonstration should be lifted. In the meantime, four members of the Invaders presented a series of demands to Dr. King, including one for several thousand dollars. He refused to entertain their demands. After the men left, he told a group of executive board members that he would not tolerate advocates of violence on his staff and was angry that two Invaders had been assigned to work with the SCLC.
At about 1 p.m., Dr. King and Reverend [Ralph David] Abernathy had a lunch of fried catfish at the motel, then Abernathy went to his room to take a nap, while Dr. King visited his brother in his room.
At about 4 p.m. on the afternoon of April 4, Abernathy was awakened from his nap by the telephone in his motel room. He answered, and Dr. King asked him to come to his brother's room, No. 201, so they could talk.
When Abernathy reached A.D.'s room, Dr. King told him that he and A.D. had called Atlanta and had spoken with their mother, who was pleased that her sons could get together in Memphis. He also said that they were all invited to the Kyles home for dinner. At King's direction, Abernathy called Mrs. Kyles to find out what she would be
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serving, and she said she would have a good dinner of prime rib roast and soul food such as chitterlings, greens, pig's feet and blackeyed peas.
At about 5 p.m., according to Abernathy, he and Dr. King returned to room 306 to shave and dress for dinner. He recalled Dr. King's use of an acrid, sulfurous depilatory to remove his heavy beard, part of his daily shaving ritual. As they were preparing to leave, Abernathy mentioned that he would not be able to attend the poor people's march in Washington in April because he had planned a revival at his West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta for that same day. Dr. King told Abernathy he would not consider going to Washington without him and attempted to make arrangements for someone else to handle the Atlanta revival. He called Rev. Nutrell Long in New Orleans but was unable to reach him.
Dr. King then told Abernathy to go to the West Hunter Street Church and tell his congregation that,
...you have a greater revival, you have a revival where you are going to revive the soul of this Nation; where you are going to cause America to feed the hungry, to have concern for those who are downtrodden, and disinherited; you have a revival where you are going to cause America to stop denying necessities to the masses....Abernathy agreed to go to Washington with Dr. King.
At about 5:30 p.m., [Rev. Samuel B.] Kyles went to room 306 and urged Dr. King and Abernathy to hurry so they would get to dinner on time. "OK, Doc, it's time to go," he urged. Kyles had arrived at the Lorraine at about 4 p.m. and had run into the Bread Basket Band, an SCLC singing group. He had been singing some hymns and movement anthems with them until shortly after 5 p.m. Dr. King assured Kyles that he had telephoned the preacher's home and that Mrs. Kyles had said dinner was not until 6. "We are not going to mess up her program," Dr. King insisted.
When he finished dressing, Dr. King asked Kyles if his tie matched his suit. He was in a good mood, according to Kyles, who told the committee that Dr. King teased him about dinner, saying he once had been to a preacher's house for ham and Kool-Aid, and the ham was cold. "I don't want to go to your house for cold food."
As Dr. King adjusted his tie, he and Kyles walked onto the balcony outside room 306. The room overlooked a courtyard parking lot and swimming pool. The two men faced west, toward the backs of several rundown buildings on Mulberry Street. Dr. King greeted some of the people in the courtyard below, and Kyles said hello to SCLC attorney Eskridge who had been in Federal court most of the day. Eskridge was challenging the injunction against the SCLC's proposed Monday march, and the court had decided to permit a demonstration, though it restricted the number of marchers and the route. After court had adjourned at 3 p.m., Eskridge went with Young to the Lorraine where they saw Dr. King in A.D.'s room and informed him of the ruling. At that time, Dr. King invited Eskridge to join him for dinner at the home of Reverend Kyles. Thus, Eskridge was standing in the Lorraine's courtyard parking lot shortly before 6 p.m., awaiting Dr. King's departure for dinner. Dr. King, leaning against the iron railing of the balcony, called to Eskridge and asked that he tell Jesse Jackson,
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a member of the SCLC's Chicago chapter, to come to dinner with him. Eskridge found Jackson, who was also in the courtyard, and invited him to dinner, suggesting that he change into something other than the turtleneck he was wearing.
Rev. James Orange of the SCLC advance team and James Bevel were also in the courtyard. Both had been assigned by the SCLC staff to work in Memphis with the Invaders in an effort to get the young militants to cool down. Orange had just arrived at the Lorraine with Marrell McCullough, a Memphis Police Department undercover officer. Orange and Bevel wrestled playfully in the courtyard. Dr. King spotted them and shouted to Bevel: "Don't let him hurt you"
Dr. King's chauffeur, Solomon Jones, was standing next to the funeral home limousine, which he had parked in front of room 207, below room 306. Jones had been parked in front of the Lorraine since 8:30 a.m. that morning, and he later recalled that this was the first time Dr. King had stepped out that day. Dr. King told Jones to get the car ready for their trip to Kyles' home, and Jones urged him to bring a top coat because it was chilly that evening. "Solomon, you really know how to take good care of me," Dr. King responded.
Dr. King's administrative assistant, Bernard Lee, along with Andrew Young and Hosea Williams, were also talking in the Lorraine parking lot, waiting for Dr. King to leave for dinner. Young recalled that Jones said, "I think you need a coat" to Dr. King. Ben Branch, leader of the Bread Basket Band, was also there, with Jesse Jackson. Dr. King called down to Branch, "Ben, make sure you play 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand' at the meeting tonight. Sing it real pretty." "OK, Doc, I will," Branch promised.
Meanwhile, in room 306, Abernathy recalled that at some point shortly before 6 p.m., he and Dr. King put on their coats and were about to leave the motel. Abernathy hesitated and said, "Wait just a moment. Let me put on some aftershave lotion."
According to Abernathy, Dr. King replied, "OK, I'll just stand right here on the balcony."
Kyles recalled that Dr. King asked Abernathy to get his topcoat and then called to Jackson, "Jesse, I want you to go to dinner with us this evening," but urged him not to bring the entire Bread Basket Band. Kyles chided Dr. King, "Doc, Jesse had arranged that even before you had." Kyles then stood on the balcony with Dr. King for a moment, finally saying, "Come on. It's time to go." Kyles turned and walked away to go down to his car. After a few steps, Kyles called to lawyer Eskridge in the-courtyard below. "Chauncey, are you going with me? I'm going to get the car."
At 6:01 p.m., as Dr. King stood behind the iron balcony railing in front of room 306, the report of a high-powered rifle cracked the air. A slug tore into the right side of his face, violently throwing him backward.
At the mirror in room 306, Abernathy poured some cologne into his hands. As he lifted the lotion to his face, he heard what sounded like a "firecracker." He jumped, looked out the door to the balcony and saw that Dr. King had fallen backward. Only his feet were visible, one foot protruding through the ironwork of the balcony railing. According to Abernathy, the bullet was so powerful it twisted Dr. King's body so that he fell diagonally backward. As Abernathy rushed out
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to aid his dying friend, he heard the cries and groans of people in the courtyard below.
Just below the balcony, Jones recalled that Young and Bevel shoved him to the ground just after the firecracker sound. He looked up and saw Abernathy come out of the room and then realized that the prone Dr. King had been shot. Lee, who had been talking with Young and Bevel, took cover behind a car and then noticed Dr. King's feet protruding through the balcony railing.
Memphis undercover policeman McCullough recalled that immediately before he heard the shot, he saw Dr. King alone on the balcony outside room 306, facing a row of dilapidated buildings on Mulberry Street. As he turned away from Dr. King and began to walk toward his car, McCullough, an Army veteran, heard an explosive sound, which he assumed was a gunshot. He looked back and saw Dr. King grasp his throat and fall backward. According to McCullough's account, he bolted up the balcony steps as others in the courtyard hit the ground. When he got to Dr. King's prone figure, the massive face wound was bleeding profusely and a sulfurous odor like gunpowder, perhaps Dr. King's depilatory, permeated the air. McCullough took a towel from a housekeeping tray and tried to stem the flow of blood.
Eskridge had heard a "zing" and looked up toward the balcony. He saw that Dr. King was down, and as Abernathy walked out onto the balcony, Eskridge heard him cry out "Oh my God, Martin's been shot." A woman screamed.
Abernathy recalled that when he walked out on the balcony, he had to step over his mortally wounded friend.
...the bullet had entered his right cheek and I patted his left cheek, consoled him, and got his attention by saying, "This is Ralph, this is Ralph, don't be afraid."Kyles, who had started to walk toward his car, ran back to room 306. Young leaped up the stairs from the courtyard to Dr. King, whom he found lying face up, rapidly losing blood from the wound. Young checked Dr. King's pulse and, as Abernathy recalled, said, "Ralph, it's all over."
"Don't say that, don't say that," Abernathy responded.
Kyles ran into room 306. Abernathy urged him to call an ambulance. Kyles tried to make the call, but was unable to get through to the motel switchboard.
Lee, Jackson, and Williams had followed Young up the steps from the courtyard to room 306. Dr. King's still head lay in a pool of blood. Abernathy, kneeling over his friend tried desperately to save Dr. King's life. Several of the men on that balcony pointed in the direction of the shot. Frozen in a picture taken by photographer James Louw, they were aiming their index fingers across Mulberry Street and northwest of room 306.
An ambulance arrived at the Lorraine about 5 minutes after Dr. King had been shot, according to Abernathy. By this time, police officers "cluttered the courtyard." Abernathy accompanied the unconscious Dr. King to the emergency room of St. Joseph Hospital. The 39-year-old civil rights leader described by Abernathy as "the most peaceful warrior
of the 20th Century," was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m., April 4, 1968 . —from the Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Section on Findings on the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., pages 282-285, United States Government Printing Office, 1979.
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