The Charlotte News

Monday, October 27, 1952

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Stan Carter, that enemy artillery fire this night had driven U.S. Marines from the crest of "The Hook", a few hours after they had recaptured the western ridge line in close-quarters fighting in Korea. There was no indication yet as to whether the Chinese had moved up to occupy the high ground. Earlier, the enemy troops had attacked with 2,000 men along a three-mile front. The Communists had only made a small dent in the Marine line, about 10 to 12 miles east of Panmunjom, site of the armistice talks, currently in recess. Associated Press correspondent Milo Farneti indicated that at times the Marines and Communists were actually wrestling in the trench lines. By nightfall, the Marines had recaptured all except two or three outposts guarding "The Hook". The enemy on Sunday had knocked a hole in the U.N. lines and seized one end of the ridge, so named for its fish-hook shape.

The Air Force was leaving to its pilots and overseas commanders the decision of what to do should Soviet fighters again attack American planes flying peaceable missions over non-Russian territory. The spokesman for the Air Force indicated that crews had the right to fire back in self-defense, should a plane, such as the B-29 shot down by Russian fighters over Japanese waters earlier in the month, encounter such fire. That particular plane, however, had its guns tied down during the routine training flight. Commanders were authorized to assign fighter escorts when needed for planes on routine training and weather flights.

At the U.N. in New York, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky was scheduled to speak to the General Assembly's Political Committee during the afternoon, and refused to say during the weekend whether he would speak in answer to the indictment of Russia's participation in the Korean War, as charged the previous Friday by Secretary of State Acheson. The Secretary had appealed for the U.N. allies in the war to contribute more and prepare for further resistance, if the Communists continued to resist concluding an armistice over the issue of voluntary repatriation, which, he said, the allies would continue to insist upon. On the agenda this date was a decision as to whether U.S.-backed Yugoslavia or Soviet-backed Czechoslovakia would occupy a vacant slot on the Economic and Social Council. The two natons had tied in balloting, with ten votes each, on Saturday after five other vacancies were quickly filled. A two-thirds majority of 40 member nations was needed for election to the Council.

In Belgrade, Yugoslav radio reported that Bulgarian troops had fired across the border at a Yugoslav pillbox the previous day and that Bulgarian planes had made three illegal flights over Yugoslav territory. The border violations were reported around a strategic area which could be a major invasion route for Yugoslavia's unfriendly, Soviet-backed neighbors to the east. The broadcast did not say whether Yugoslav forces had returned fire or taken other retaliatory measures.

The Air Force put the entire city of Manchester, England, out of bounds to American airmen because of two recent gang attacks on U.S. service personnel. Manchester was the scene of frequent Communist Party demonstrations against the stationing of American airmen in Britain. Two weeks earlier, two Air Force M.P.'s had been attacked by a gang of toughs wielding knives and razors, and were badly beaten and cut, with a similar attack occurring the previous Friday against two other M.P.'s. No arrests had been made in either assault.

General Eisenhower, opening his final drive of the election campaign, said this date to a crowd of about 4,000 persons in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Railroad's 30th Street Station, that he would not be turned aside by criticism from the view that South Korean troops should man the major portion of the battlefront in Korea. He repeated his promise to go to Korea himself if elected to the presidency to try to end the war. He paid tribute to the dead of World War II, honored by a memorial in the station, saying that he brought up their sacrifice because the threat to the world now was a doctrine which said that man was nothing and a creature of the state, that such an attack had to be guarded against on every front, that freedom and peace had to be achieved through cooperation with the rest of the world, and that a population, such as those in Korea, who wanted to defend themselves should not be denied the right to contribute their utmost in that quest.

General Eisenhower's campaign chief of staff, Governor Sherman Adams, indicated that the General's political enemies planned to "stop at nothing this week" to win the election.

Governor Stevenson said this date to a crowd estimated at 2,000 in Quincy, Mass., that the nation would hear "the most magnificent of all smears of all times" this night when Senator Joseph McCarthy made a nationwide broadcast regarding Communism. The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos when he mentioned Senator McCarthy's name and replied "no" when he asked them if they were worried. He said that a week from the election, the country still did not know what General Eisenhower proposed to do about much of anything, that the prospects for foreign policy were the most confusing, a status which he believed was by design. He said that the General was "getting on the wrong bus" when he said that he would go to Korea to find ways to end the war, that the war would be settled in Moscow and not Korea.

The President began a tour of the Midwest this date, on his final swing of the campaign, having departed Washington the previous night after a conference with UMW president John L. Lewis, at which Mr. Lewis had given his assurance of cooperation in ending the soft coal strike. The President was therefore in unusually good humor as he departed early in the morning for Gary, Indiana, where this night he would deliver the first of six major speeches during his final tour, which would cover 4,500 miles, ending at his home in Independence, Missouri, where he and daughter Margaret would cast their votes before returning to Washington the following week. He had only two speeches during the afternoon, both in Ohio. He would make major speeches the following night at Hibbing, Minn., in Chicago on Wednesday night, in Detroit on Thursday night, in Cincinnati on Friday night, and in St. Louis on Saturday night, to wind up the campaign.

John L. Lewis ordered striking soft coal miners back to work immediately this date, after they had struck the previous week in protest of the Wage Stabilization Board's cut by 40 cents of their negotiated daily pay increase of $1.90. The union and the industry had jointly appealed the WSB decision to Economic Stabilizer Roger Putnam. Associates of Mr. Lewis said that they expected the full pay raise to be approved within a day or two.

The North Carolina Republican Party reported this date that it had spent over $24,000 in general election campaigning and had received over $23,000 in contributions, through October 28. The contributions had been made by about 200 donors, most of them giving less than $100, with about 20 contributions of greater than that amount, the largest being $1,000 given by Stuart W. Cramer, Jr., of Charlotte, and $500 by J. E. Broyhill of Lenoir, the Republican national committeeman and furniture manufacturer. The North Carolina Citizens for Eisenhower-Nixon Committee reported the previous day that it had spent about $7,800 and received contributions totaling a little over $7,000.

In Pisgah National Forest, officials indicated in the morning that help was needed in battling a forest fire in the Puncheon Camp section of Spring Creek in Madison County, the fire having burned over 500 acres of forest land and remaining out of control at mid-morning. Across the state line in Cherokee National Forest, a fire was out of control on a two-mile front and North Carolina firefighters were moving in to assist in extinguishing that fire.

On the editorial page, "Why United Appeal Deserves Support" urges giving to the new one-fund method of meeting local social welfare responsibilities, replacing the old piecemeal approach to charitable solicitations. The goal for the drive, opening this date, was $738,000, and it indicates that achieving it was a necessity if the city and county were to show the same generosity which they always had.