The Charlotte News
Wednesday, August 6, 1952
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via William C. Barnard, that U.S. Sabre jet pilots had shot down six enemy MIG-15 jets this date and damaged two others in seven dogfights over North Korea, bringing the three-day total to 11 enemy jets destroyed and 13 damaged. In one instance, a MIG pilot hit another MIG as the allied jet giving chase to the other enemy jet suddenly swerved out of the way of the trailing enemy jet. In all, 82 enemy MIGs were spotted this date. One wing commander indicated that he was glad that the enemy jets were coming up as it gave them more opportunity to blast them down. His wing had been credited with five of the enemy kills this date.
In ground fighting, the U.S. Eighth Army reported that an advance position west of the Pukhan River on the central front had exchanged hands three times in 13 1/2 hours of sporadic fighting.
Sweden was preparing for the U.N. a full account of its quarrel with Russia regarding the shooting down of two Swedish planes in June, with diplomats viewing it as a possible prelude to a U.N. fight against Russian domination of the Baltic. One of the two planes was still missing, having lost contact after June 13. The second plane had been shot down June 16 by Russian jet fighters and its seven-man crew had been rescued. Russia had refused to allow the International Court of Justice to consider the Swedish charges that the two craft had been shot down over international waters. The Soviets contended that the aircraft had fired first or had been flying over Soviet territory. The Swedish Government had countered that neither plane had been armed.
The South Carolina Democratic convention this date endorsed the national ticket by a large majority, after Governor James Byrnes advised the party members to take that stance. Senators Burnet Maybank and Olin Johnston had been booed as they spoke in support of Governor Stevenson. Several speakers advocated naming General Eisenhower as the state party's nominee. At base of the dispute was the conflict with the national party on civil rights legislation. Governor Byrnes had stated that if this date were election day, he would vote for Governor Stevenson and Senator Sparkman, but he wanted to hear the views of both parties' candidates before finally making up his mind as to how he would vote in November. He said that to support the Republican candidates would not be right, and reminded that even in 1948, when the state voted for the Dixiecrat ticket of Governors Strom Thurmond and Fielding Wright, it was still voting for Democrats. He also reminded the convention that a 10,000-name petition could get on the state ballot in the fall a slate of electors, other than those of the Republican Party, which would be pledged to General Eisenhower, should Democrats want to vote for the General while avoiding a vote for the Republicans. He said that in 1956, the state's delegation would have to take the loyalty oath which had been refused in 1952.
In Springfield, Ill., Governor Stevenson's campaign manager, Wilson Wyatt, hinted this date that the Governor would keep a strong hand on the conduct of his presidential campaign and perhaps shift the center of influence from the DNC to his Springfield headquarters. Mr. Wyatt strongly denied at a news conference that he was a "left-wing" influence on the campaign or that the Governor was a captive of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, of which Mr. Wyatt had been former chairman. He characterized himself as a moderate who supported the Governor's views on civil rights, domestic and foreign policies. He indicated that the Governor would make a major speech before the American Legion in New York on August 27, which would be "non-political" in nature. Plans would also be worked out to dovetail the Governor's and the President's campaigning in the weeks ahead. He said that he had opposed a move within the ADA in 1948 to draft General Eisenhower as a presidential candidate. Later in the day, the Governor would meet with Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, amid growing support in the Deep South for the ticket.
The previous night in Los Angeles, General Eisenhower, speaking before the 53rd annual encampment of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, had provided a soldier's prayer in the form of a ten-point program for a peaceful, prosperous and happy America—as further explained in an editorial below. He said that he believed the ten points were attainable and represented the outline of a dream of the soldiers with whom he had served. The 12-minute speech had been the General's first since winning the Republican presidential nomination. The small crowd in attendance was nearly lost in the 103,000-seat Memorial Coliseum, with attendance estimates by police ranging between 10,000 and 16,000. The event had been free to the public. A supporter of the General expressed the hope that the Democrats would not exploit the fact of the small turnout, while others suggested that the fact that the speech had been televised throughout Southern California and was delivered at an early hour had accounted for the sparse attendance.
In St. Louis, Stuart Symington achieved a landslide victory this date in the Missouri Democratic Senatorial primary, soundly trouncing the President's choice for the nomination, State Attorney General J. E. Taylor. Out of some 500,000 votes cast, Mr. Symington led by 170,000. It was the third time since the President had come to office in 1945 that he had supported a Missouri candidate who had lost. Mr. Symington would face incumbent Senator James Kem of Kansas City in the November election.
In Kansas, a State Administration move to purge Lt. Governor Fred Hall in his bid for Republican renomination appeared to be failing, as Mr. Hall led by more than 9,000 votes over State Senator Wayne Ryan, who had the full backing of Republican Governor Edward Arn.
In Detroit, Governor Mennen Williams and Fred Alger, Jr., would contest one another in the Michigan gubernatorial race in the fall after the respective party primaries nominated each. In the Senatorial race, interim incumbent Democrat Blair Moody would be opposed by Congressman Charles Potter in the fall. Mr. Moody had been appointed to the seat by Governor Williams following the death of Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg.
In Los Angeles, after a six-month trial, the longest in local Federal Court history, 14 leaders of the California Communist Party had been found guilty the previous day by a jury of advocating the violent overthrow of the Government. The judge delayed sentencing until after arguments on defense motions for a directed verdict of acquittal. Defense counsel indicated that they would appeal the verdicts. One other defendant in the case had been granted a severance because of a heart ailment and she would be tried later.
In San Francisco, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton left the previous night on a Pan American Airways flight to Honolulu, in what her friends called a trip for her health and to get away for awhile. She had been living in the Bay Area for the previous two months.
Mack Bell of The News tells of the Mecklenburg County tuberculosis sanatorium being unable to accommodate the county's 131 tuberculosis patients and being unable to do so in the foreseeable future, according to the State director of the three sanatoriums. The County could not expect to obtain any Federal or State aid in building a proposed $450,000 unit for white patients. The State's tuberculosis hospital building program would, however, be able to take care of all the tubercular patients in the state in the long run. The County Commissioners had voted the prior Monday to call for bids on the first section of a proposed new building, with two wings to follow.
In Charlotte, a couple, a minister and his wife, claiming that a Southern Railway engine had crept up on them "stealthily" on November 6, 1950 and smashed their car, had filed suit in Superior Court for $150,000 in damages. They claimed that they had been lulled into a "sense of security" by the negligence of the defendants and that they could not know of the approach of the train because it operated without a light on the front or "with an invisible light" and that the engine had not slowed down, rung a bell or blown a whistle as it traveled at a "high and dangerous rate of speed".
In Washington, reporter W. H. Shippen of the Evening Star reported this date that Army engineers, working with a vacuum bell in a laboratory, had produced atmospheric phenomena which might explain the widespread recent reports of "flying saucers". The experiments had created airborne objects which could speed up, hover indefinitely, or disappear and reappear in a flash. The objects also occasionally flew in formation and were believed to have substance enough to be detectable by radar. Two atmospheric forces had been reproduced in the vacuum bell, very low air pressure balanced against static electricity in such a way as to emit light. An Air Force spokesman said that a recent sighting of a flurry of mysterious objects over Washington had occurred at about the same time as a thunderstorm hitting the area.
On the editorial page, "Ike Lays Down His Opening Barrage" tells of General Eisenhower's speech the previous night to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Los Angeles, setting forth a ten-point program which would likely become the foundation for his forthcoming campaign. It thus examines the ten points individually. The first was to increase America's strength spiritually, creatively and materially, with the spiritual component being the most urgent. The second point was to win a just and lasting peace secured by the strength of the free world. The third was to build a prosperity not based on war. The fourth was to make America's promise of equality a "living fact" for every American. On this point, the piece wonders what the General's formula would be, though not questioning his sincerity in putting it forward. The fifth point was to strengthen and extend the measures for the security and welfare of the people. The sixth was to protect the earnings and savings of the people from a double toll of high prices and taxes. The seventh was to serve the worthy interests of every group of people in the country and make the test of each policy whether it was good for the country. The eighth was to restore honesty to government. The ninth was to ensure, by means guarding basic rights, that those who served in government were Americans of loyalty and dedication. The tenth point was to revive in every American the faith that he could achieve a better future for himself and his family.
It finds that every point was one with which every American ought be able to agree.
It concludes: "Eisenhower's 10-point program intrigues the mind, tugs at the heart, and speeds the pulse. But it must be developed in greater detail in the coming weeks, as we are sure it will be, before its full impact will be felt."
"The Epitome of Folly" finds that the South Carolina Democrats-for-Ike had shown bad judgment after 350 of them had met in Columbia during the week and decided to press for a third set of electors on the ballot, pledged to the Republican ticket labeled as the States Rights Democrats for Eisenhower Party. The piece indicates that it could understand their irritation with the President and their desire to vote for General Eisenhower, but could not understand the reluctance to vote for the Republican ticket outright. It finds the effort to be taking a chance on dividing the Eisenhower vote between the Republican electors and the States Rights electors. It counsels that it would be better simply to vote for the Republican ticket.
"A Warning" tells of the Charlotte Auditorium Authority and the City Council at times having been pressured to increase the size and capacity of the planned Charlotte Coliseum. The example most often used as an argument for greater capacity was Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of N.C. State. During the week, State Auditor Henry Bridges and the college business office had reported on the first three years of operation of Reynolds Coliseum, showing that it was running a deficit of $118,000.
The piece suggests that with the hot N.C. State basketball team as the number one drawing card for the Coliseum, it still could not make ends meet, and so served as warning for the Charlotte Coliseum planners.
"Squeeze Play in Korea" finds that the decision by the U.N. command to bomb 78 North Korean towns after giving ample advance warnings so that the civilian populations could clear out, was intended to apply pressure to the Communists to stop stalling the truce negotiations and finalize the armistice. The method chosen had psychological advantage as well as military benefit. It represented a humanitarian move and gave the lie to the oft-repeated Communist charge that the U.N. forces were causing unnecessary and inhumane slaughter. It also would indicate to the people of North Korea and to the whole Communist world that the Communists were no longer superior and that the effort to invade and conquer South Korea had failed. If the Communist military commanders took the bait and attempted to halt the bombing with their own air forces, they would face defeat and the shattering of their myth of invincibility. If they stood by and did nothing, they would risk a psychological setback.
The piece asserts its belief that the strategy had a good chance of success.
Drew Pearson tells of making a firm resolution not to eat any more pink peppermints, at least not in the entrance to the Mayflower Hotel dining room, as, according to the testimony in the case of U.S. v. Charles Patrick Clark, had Mr. Pearson not dallied to pick up a mint, he would not have been punched in the neck by Mr. Clark, a lobbyist for Generalissimo Francisco Franco's Spain, in the lobby of the Mayflower. Thus far, Mr. Pearson had refrained from commenting on the matter while it was before the court, but since the jury had provided its verdict, he ventures some observations on how it felt to be punched by Mr. Clark. He indicates that it made him feel like a fool, as he had stood there groggy with scores of people rushing to the doors of the dining room to see what was going on. He saw Mr. Clark in front of him shouting, gesticulating, and jumping up and down, while other people were trying to calm him. Mr. Pearson had not known what to do. He had thought at the time that if he did not retaliate, the public might think him scared. All of that had taken place in a matter of seconds, though it felt like hours, and eventually Mr. Clark was led away by the hotel detective.
As reported on the front page Monday, Mr. Clark had been charged and convicted of a misdemeanor assault and fined the prior Monday $25 by the court. He could have faced up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
Mr. Pearson wishes to make one point he was not allowed by the court to put before the jury and that was that in writing about Spain, he was not personally interested in Mr. Clark, but was merely calling attention to a principle, as Mr. Clark had drawn $75,000 per year from Franco to try to obtain money from the U.S. Government for Spain, and received a bonus whenever he persuaded Congress to grant more aid to Spain. The principles he was primarily interested in discussing were that members of Congress who had been used by Mr. Clark to secure cash for Franco and, in at least one case, had received money from Mr. Clark after making speeches in Congress urging support for Franco, were prostituting themselves, and that the U.S. foreign policy was being directed by paid lobbyists rather than, as it was supposed to be, by the President and the State Department, both having taken a strong position against aid to Franco. Congress, however, had overridden those wishes and had voted 162.5 million dollars in aid to Spain. He indicates that he regarded it as a newspaperman's duty to reveal those facts to the public.
He says that such a story took months of careful research to write, and he was certain, in that case, he had gotten nothing wrong. Mr. Clark had been given three opportunities to explain his position before anything had been printed, and the two Congressmen mentioned in the report had also been given that opportunity.
He indicates that when he did make mistakes, he tried to correct them. For instance, he had stated that Governor John Battle of Virginia had been privately critical of Democratic candidates and had said that he was for General Eisenhower, but the Governor stated that he had never so indicated.
He had also erred recently in reporting that Ray Sprigle of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette received his information in 1937 on Justice Hugo Black's former 1922-23 membership in the Klan from Frank Prince, a private detective who had worked for Republic Steel, but Herbert Bayard Swope, editor of the old New York World, who had first exposed the Klan, had informed that he had given the information to Mr. Sprigle, and Mr. Pearson was glad to set the record straight.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of Governor Stevenson having declared his independence from the President and of the President's gracious acceptance of a subordinate role in the campaign. Both positions, they posit, spoke well for both men.
Prior to the convention, the President had told his confidantes that he intended to make a whistle-stop campaign, one as extensive and vigorous as in 1948. Such a campaign, however, would have been to assert dominance over his successor, and Governor Stevenson, after receiving the nomination, objected to this plan, believing that he needed to assert his own positions with the voters before the President set off on any campaign in the Governor's behalf. The Governor also wanted to name his own DNC chairman, rather than have Frank McKinney continue in that role.
Initially, the President had been wounded by this rebuff, but finally acquiesced, saying that he had split the party in 1948 because it had to be done but that what was needed in 1952 was unity and that he was not the man to bring that about. He declared that he was "just a private in the rear ranks" of the party.
The Alsops indicate that this declaration of independence by the Governor and the magnanimous acceptance of it by the President had considerably increased the difficulty of General Eisenhower in winning the fall election.
Robert C. Ruark tells of Congressman Emanuel Celler of New York having objected to General MacArthur retaining his $19,548 annual salary after the General had accepted a position as chairman of Remington Rand Corp. Mr. Ruark believes General MacArthur was completely entitled to his pension after he had given such illustrious service to the country through World War II and through the rebuilding of Japan after it. He believes Mr. Celler was completely out of line. He indicates that the General could have cashed in on a memoir after being fired by the President in spring, 1951 from his Korean and Far Eastern commands. But as long as he had been engaged in politicking, he had refrained from taking any money other than his military pay. Mr. Ruark believes that he had been humiliated long enough by the Government he had served and that Mr. Celler's added insult was "a little too much".
A letter writer from Cheraw, S.C., tells of the majority of South Carolinians disagreeing with what their Democratic delegation had done at the national convention in refusing to take the loyalty pledge to do everything in their power to place the party nominees on the state ballot. He indicates that they had represented only themselves. He was glad that the convention chose Governor Stevenson and Senator Sparkman as the nominees of the party. He hopes that South Carolina would never send another group like the delegations of the previous two Democratic conventions.
A letter writer from Lincolnton appears to respond to the letter which had taken issue with the bands of roaming dogs in the community, though not particularly referencing that letter, rather taking the high road, indicating that it was his opinion that dogs were a man's or woman's very best friend at all times, especially when the chips were down. He tells recently of having taken care of a neighbor's dog named Sparky, and had gone swimming and pretended to drown to see what Sparky would do. Sparky jumped off a high bank into the water over its head in order to come to his rescue. He reiterates that a "sensible dog is man's best friend whenever the chips are down".
You better not holler "wolf" again, or Sparky is going to turn around and head back home and leave you to drown should you get into real trouble in the water. And we would not blame Sparky one bit.
A letter writer from Pinehurst thanks the newspaper for its Saturday editorial, "No 'Loyalty Oath' Was Involved", indicating that it was neither an "oath" nor even a "pledge" involved at the Democratic convention, but only an agreement to do the obvious and honorable thing. Only three states, South Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana, had refused to take the pledge. He finds that some Southern politicians should not hesitate to vote for General Eisenhower as a Republican, as their every action and Congressional vote was as Republicans, though nominally Democrats. He finds Senator Harry F. Byrd to be an excellent representative of that group and that one of the North Carolina Senators—presumably referring to Willis Smith—could also be included.
A letter writer wonders why another letter writer took so much joy in throwing mud at Democrats, finds that he must not have heard of the time when the last Republican President was in office, and there were fewer jobs, the people received nothing for their work and went hungry. The previous letter writer had made it sound like all of the war troubles had originated with the Democrats. She indicates that there would always be wars and unhappiness as long as people lived in sin and left God out of their lives. She indicates that President Truman was not perfect but that he had done the best he could, and recommends asking for God's guidance in helping to vote for the right man in November.
A letter writer, a minister who had written previously on the subject of civil rights and had sparked a controversy with other letter writers regarding his approval of interracial marriage, indicates that after four years of parish work in Sampson County, he and his family had bought a comfortable house in Charlotte. They had received a copy of the restrictive covenants which applied to the property, one of which provided that no person of any race other than Caucasian could use or occupy any building on the lot. He indicates that his failure to repudiate such discrimination would be "an infamous compact with perdition", and that the covenant could not be enforced in light of a recent Supreme Court decision. He states that when all segregation was abolished, democracy, religion and science would have formed an alliance of power, vision and wisdom. "Proper application of this high trinity of values can establish the abundant life, with good will the rule of race relations."
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