The Charlotte News

Monday, May 7, 1951

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Olen Clements, that South Korean infantrymen had pushed the ends of the battle line northward across the 38th parallel to Inje this date, as other U.N. forces took up the slack in between, while armored patrols probed withdrawing enemy forces on the east-central front in Chunchon and all along the center, encountering no enemy troops. East of Uijongbu, the enemy fired rockets at allied tanks.

Thirty-five allied Shooting Stars bombed railroad yards in the Sunchon area.

Secretary of Defense Marshall told the joint Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, which the previous week had heard General MacArthur's testimony for three days, that the General's plan for winning the war in Korea would result in all-out war with Russia, as well as running the risk of losing the nation's allies and wrecking the U.N. coalition. He disclosed, however, that one of those proposals, to blockade the Chinese ports, was being discussed with other nations. He said that a January 12 memorandum from the Joint Chiefs which the General said supported his plan had actually been drafted in case of the necessary withdrawal of U.N. forces from Korea and was discarded when it became apparent that the U.N. forces had turned the tide of battle. The memorandum had contained 16 recommended courses of action in such event, only four of which had been named by General MacArthur. He said that the General was fired because of basic differences in judgment with the President, Secretary Marshall and the Joint Chiefs. He also said that the U.S. was prepared to hit China with air attacks if it were to strike American forces outside Korea.

The Secretary also said that he found it understandable that a theater commander could become so wrapped up in his own aims and responsibilities that some of the directives issued to him were not those he would have written, but that it was new for a commander to discuss publicly his displeasure and disagreement with the military policy, necessitating the removal of General MacArthur.

Senators explained afterward that much of the Secretary's testimony had dealt with future military plans and thus could not be made public.

General MacArthur said that he had ordered the return of his four-engined airplane, Bataan, to the Defense Department, as he felt it was no longer appropriate for him to use it.

The Labor Government in Britain said that it stood ready to cut off all exports of strategic materials to Communist China if the U.N. so determined. The U.S. was preparing to present such a resolution to the U.N. sanctions committee later in the day. An independent member of Commons, Raymond Blackburn, said that Great Britain had been supplying to China about ten times the exports required for their normal civilian usage. Sir Hartley Shawcross, newly appointed president of the Board of Trade, replied that he was unable to accept the figures or the conclusions. Winston Churchill said that the export of rubber to China had caused worsening relations with the U.S. and questioned whether it would not be better therefore to stop the practice forthwith. Sir Hartley said that the issue was about to be considered both in the U.N. and among the British colonial governments involved.

A contingent of about 200 American troops arrived in Iceland for the expressed purpose of of aiding that country's defense under NATO. Under the NATO agreement, Iceland had promised use of its airport for defense but that it would retain control of the airport's civilian operations and that the Icelandic Government would determine the number of troops sent to the country. A similar mutual defense pact had been reached with Greenland by Denmark and the U.S. a few days earlier.

Syrian troops fired into an Israeli settlement near the frontier area demilitarized zone between the two countries. Several homes were reported hit but there were no reported casualties. No new incidents were reported in Tel El Muteila, where fighting had transpired for three days. Israel said that it would not heed the U.N. ceasefire order as long as Syrian forces remained in the DMZ northwest of the sea of Galilee.

In El Salvador, an earthquake was reported to have killed about 200 people in Jacuapa and Chinameca, both about 90 miles east of San Salvador.

The Senate Banking Committee, starting hearings on the President's proposal to extend for two years the Defense Production Act, tossed aside for the nonce the President's recommendation to impose rent controls on commercial businesses.

John Daly of The News tells of many questions remaining after most of the TWUA textile workers had returned to work following their strike, after tentative agreement with management had been reached regarding submission of the dispute to Federal mediation. But the questions included whether already granted wage concessions, which had reached the ten percent maximum increase allowed by Government controls, could be hiked further, though the reconstituted Wage Stabilization Board had authority to do so.

About 10,000 of the 40,000 workers on strike continued the work stoppage.

On the editorial page, "Did You Vote Last Monday?" urges voters to turn out for the municipal general election the next day following the turnout of only 13,500 in the primary the prior Monday.

"A Study of Taxable Wealth" tells of a new study having been prepared by the Institute for Research at UNC regarding the state's taxable wealth. Mecklenburg County, the most populous in the state, ranked only third in taxable wealth and tenth in per capita taxable wealth. Only Forsyth County and Guilford County ranked ahead of Mecklenburg in total taxable wealth. Mecklenburg was only $214 above the state average for per capita wealth, suggesting that the County's wealth was listed far below its actual value.

The current revaluation of property in the County was expected to correct the inequities in local tax assessments. With a fairer basis for valuation, the City and County could better measure their ability to pay for basic public services.

"Spring Cleaning" tells of undertaking the task, alludes to a fable of Aesop: "Ah, Spring … verily a season of contrasts—to be a dancing grasshopper rather than a laboring ant."

A piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, titled "'Orthopocentrism'", tells of the newspaper having been deluged by inquiries regarding a word used in an editorial to describe the dogmatic attitude of the State Department in resisting a re-examination of foreign policy as sought by Senator Taft. What they had coined was a neologism formed from "anthropocentrism", the idea that the entire universe revolved around man, and "ortho-", meaning "correct", such that the word meant that the State Department was of the view that it, alone, knew what was right. The Department had refused to consult with General MacArthur before the decision the prior June to intervene in Korea. It had started something it did not know how to finish, for which it had not been prepared.

It apologizes to readers for coining this word without explanation and says it could as easily have used "megalomania" to describe the State Department attitude. "We resolve henceforth to stick to simple words in our aphlogistic prose."

Drew Pearson compares the career of General George B. McClellan and his row with President Lincoln regarding not prosecuting the war against the South aggressively enough, with that of General MacArthur and his dispute with President Truman. Unlike General MacArthur, General McClellan had never openly disputed in public with the President he served and the dispute between the President and General MacArthur was regarding the General being too aggressive, not the opposite. In both cases, the conflict was regarding civilian versus military control of the Government.

John Hay recounted in his diary that the President, Secretary of State William Seward and Mr. Hay visited General McClellan at his home in Washington in November, 1861 and were snubbed by him, walking right past them as he came in the door after they had waited more than an hour for the General to arrive home from a reception. The porter later informed them that he had gone to bed. Five months later, without the General undertaking any action toward the Rebel forces in the meantime, the President relieved him as commander in chief of the Army but retained him as commander of the Army of the Potomac. General McClellan continued to criticize the President and finally in the summer of 1862, President Lincoln relieved him of command of the Army of the Potomac, but then reinstated him the same summer. At the time, General McClellan was popular with the people, many of whom urged him to take over the Government to save the nation. After accepting reappointment as commander, he still refused to move until his men received better supplies, prompting President Lincoln finally to remove him for good in November, 1862, in favor of General Ambrose Burnside.

General McClellan then became the Democratic nominee for the presidency against President Lincoln in 1864. The war had dragged on so long that the people were tired of it. The Democrats were confident of victory until Generals Sherman and Sheridan won victories in the South to turn the tide of the election toward the President, eventually resulting in a landslide electoral victory for the President, 212 to 21.

Stewart Alsop, after reminding that General MacArthur had told joint Senate committees the prior Thursday that he believed that the Soviets would not enter the action in Korea if the U.S. bombed Manchurian supply bases of the Chinese Communists, reminds also that the General had been wrong about the Chinese entering the war when the U.S. penetrated to the Manchurian border the prior November. Mr. Alsop admits that he and his brother had also been wrong on this latter possibility, as had most of the press.

But George Kennan, former State Department planner, had not been wrong, had predicted after the September Inchon landings that if the U.N. forces went as far as the Manchurian border, the Communist Chinese would enter the war. He was ignored. He now believed that if the MacArthur plan were to be followed, with bombing of Manchurian bases and blockading of Chinese ports, then the Soviets, in obedience to the Sino-Soviet mutual defense treaty, would inevitably feel committed to enter the war, either by attacking Japan or, more probably, by committing the Siberian Air Force over Manchuria and Korea, in either event probably leading to general war. The latter move would likely trigger allied bombing of Siberian air bases and the Siberian Railway, which would almost certainly quickly escalate to general war.

Mr. Kennan believed also that, as an alternative, the real possibility existed for a negotiated peace as long as the mistake was not repeated to demand unconditional surrender.

Mr. Alsop concludes that Mr. Kennan might be wrong, but that he had been right often enough in the past that his opinion should be actively considered.

Marquis Childs tells of pronouncements from on high in the Republican Party heralding a ticket with General MacArthur at its head in 1952. Col. Bertie McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, wanted the General and Senator Taft running mates, to be the strongest ticket, he said, in his lifetime.

Mr. Childs, however, thinks that the job would be too demanding for a man of 71 but suggests that the General could be a formidable presence in the Congress were he elected to the Senate from Wisconsin, his home state. While most observers believed that Senator Joseph McCarthy would be re-elected from Wisconsin if he wanted to be in 1952, he might stand aside for General MacArthur, whom the Senator admired and backed wholeheartedly.

The Founders had conceived of the Senate as a body of elder statesmen who would pass on the weighty issues of the day. Few would doubt that the Senate had moved far beyond that original concept to politics and backbiting.

Repeated efforts had been made since the 78th Congress to allow all former Presidents to have the right to speak on pending legislation and become Senators-at-large. No such bill had been introduced thus far in the 82nd Congress. Former President Hoover was the only living ex-President.

When reports first surfaced that the President was considering not running again in 1952, it was said that he might run for the Senate again from Missouri, against Republican Senator James Kem. Mr. Childs says that Mr. Truman's record as a Senator had been far above average and if he were elected, he would bring with him the experience and perspective of the White House. Former President John Quincy Adams had served in Congress after being defeated for re-election to the presidency in 1828 by Andrew Jackson.

He concludes that whatever one thought of their views, a Senate with General MacArthur and former Presidents Truman and Hoover would be a more impressive and useful body than the one extant, and one needed to face the current crisis.

A letter writer favors re-election of R. M. Mauldin to the School Board in the following day's municipal elections.

A letter writer finds Senator Taft to be advocating in a single speech apparently contradictory positions: cutting the budget for arms; all-out war against China; reduction of the Army by one-fourth; no appeasement to the Communists in Korea; and bringing the boys home from Korea. He concludes: "[W]hat a man!"

A letter writer from Pittsboro comments on the editorial, "The Facts—At Last", regarding the joint committee inquiry into the MacArthur-Truman dispute on Far Eastern policy. This writer does not think it would be wise to parade before the public interdepartmental communications between the Pentagon and the State Department, as it would henceforth inhibit honest opinions being transmitted by the military.

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