The Charlotte News
Saturday, September 13, 1952
TWO EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that B-29's the previous night and early this date had hit the partially repaired Suiho power plant, the largest in Asia, in the first of two allied air attacks near the border of Manchuria and Russian Siberia. The attack on Suiho was the northernmost penetration of the war by the B-29s. Reports had indicated that the power plant, which had been struck in June by B-29s, was again ripening as a target after new transformers and transmission lines had been installed. At dawn, in the second attack, planes from the U.S. Navy carriers Bon Homme Richard and Princeton struck a troop concentration center at Hoeryong, 1.5 miles from Manchuria and 41 miles west of Siberia.
The U.S. Fifth Air Force said that its pilots had shot down 14 enemy MIGs without a single Sabre jet loss during the week ended the previous day. The MIGs had shot down three of the slower F-84 Thunderjets, and one F-80 Shooting Star had been lost to enemy ground fire.
In the ground war, on the central front, South Korean troops and U.N. artillery stopped three attacks by several hundred Chinese against allied-held "Capitol Hill". To the west of that position, South Korean troops encountered stiff opposition when they sought to recapture "Finger Ridge" from the Chinese. A U.S. Eighth Army staff officer said that at one time during the night battle, the South Koreans had captured the crest of the ridge, but by daybreak, it was impossible to tell who held it.
The State Department reported this date that the Western European allies now had more than two million men under arms, compared with four million by the Russians. The total did not include the 3.5 million men under arms by the U.S. or the armed manpower of friendly nations such as Australia, Yugoslavia and Spain, or the armies of Russia's satellites and Communist China. The report referred to Russia's possession of the atomic bomb as a major element in Soviet power. The President had announced three atomic detonations in Russia thus far, while other sources had estimated that it had a stockpile of 100 or more atomic bombs. But Carlton Proctor, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, with wide experience in Russia and the Iron Curtain countries, said in Chicago on September 3 that he did not believe Russia had developed any atomic bombs, that every one of its atomic explosions had been a premature detonation.
In Gourock, Scotland, NATO ships departed the River Clyde this date for their action stations in the North Sea in preparation for "Exercise Mainbrace", a 13-day naval war games involving 160 ships of eight nations. Their object would be the "enemy" Orange force, which was supposed to have invaded Northern Norway. The Blue force commander's task was to provide sea, air and land reinforcements for meeting the invasion and to stage an amphibious landing in Denmark. The maneuvers officially began at midnight and would be waged over a sea area of half a million square miles, and would involve 85,000 men, including 40,000 U.S. sailors and Marines. Other participating nations were Britain, Canada, Belgium, France, Holland, Norway and Denmark. Rain and knee-deep mud had slowed infantrymen and grounded planes in Italian war games in Northern Italy the previous day. In addition, more than 250,000 troops from Britain, Canada, Belgium, Holland, Norway and Denmark were taking up positions for the largest autumn maneuvers to be held in the British zone of Germany since World War II, consisting of two land-air exercises, dubbed "Holdfast" and "Scandia Three", starting the following week. "Mainbrace" would be directed by Britain's Admiral Sir Patrick Brind, commander-in-chief of Allied forces in Northern Europe, and the senior officer afloat would be U.S. Vice-Admiral Felix Stump.
General Eisenhower remained at his home in New York this date, telling cheering volunteer workers that a crusading spirit would go further than political organization in winning the November election. He said that instead of being known as a man who could bring peace, he wanted to be known as a man devoted to working toward peace, and that it would require the efforts of all of the people of the country to bring peace, a problem which could take years to resolve. He said that the ticket stood for "honesty and integrity". He was preparing to set out on a 12-day, 12-state whistle-stop campaign trip the following day through the Midwest and into Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
Governor Stevenson headed home to Springfield from his nine-state, eight-day Western tour, which ended the previous day in Albuquerque.
Meanwhile, the DNC approved of an 8,500-mile, 15-day whistle-stop tour by the President of 24 states, to begin September 27.
Republican Congressman Leonard Hall called for a more active role in the Eisenhower campaign by Governor Dewey, who had retired to the sidelines since the Republican convention, after an active role in helping the General achieve the nomination. The suggestion brought a cool reaction from Eisenhower headquarters, with Senator Frank Carlson and Ralph Cake, the Oregon national committeeman, indicating that they had heard no report that the Governor would expand his role.
North Carolina Republicans were hoping to concentrate their fire where they thought it would do them the most good by inviting General Eisenhower to the Piedmont region of the state. The General was scheduled to visit the area on September 26, with a 30-minute speech in Charlotte and a 15-minute speech in Winston-Salem. The Republicans hoped to capture a Congressional seat in the state for the first time since 1928, targeting Charlotte's Tenth District.
Television personality and former
stage and screen actress Betty Furness would appear in Charlotte on
September 23 and 24, being sponsored by Westinghouse for the
company's Carolina district. She was scheduled to participate in interviews,
make appearances, and attend social events. Currently, she advertised
Westinghouse appliances on the television anthology series, "Studio
One"
In Athens, Ala., a female snake charmer with 20 years experience ordered two cottonmouth moccasins, with their fangs removed, for her show at the county fair during the week, and when they arrived, the woman reached into the box and was nevertheless bitten, as one of the moccasins had given birth, baby moccasins being born fully teethed and venomized. The woman said the bite caused more nausea than any of the many she had previously sustained.
In Aberdeen, Scotland, officials who guarded the centuries-old protocol of British nobility were puzzling over a problem involving a female physician who claimed that she legally had become a man and thus was heir to a Scottish baronetcy, claiming to be in line to inherit it through her brother, who was a baron, at his death. She said that she had undergone medical treatment for several years to establish her masculinity and had not undergone any surgery. She said that she had discarded "all the relics of those years of torture" as a woman, including makeup, perfume, jewelry and the like. She said that she lived alone and that her housekeeper looked after the servants and domestic affairs. The inhabitants of the village which the doctor served were said to hold deep affection and respect for the doctor.
In Los Angeles, motion picture producer Walter Wanger was scheduled to be released from jail this date after serving 102 days for shooting in the groin Jennings Lang, the agent for his actress wife, Joan Bennett. Mr. Wanger said that he was now an ardent student of penology and provided newsmen copies of his "Phoenix" plan for aiding prisoners to return as better men to society, indicating that the prisons were overcrowded and that first offenders should be separated from sex and mental cases. His plan was to provide released prisoners a job, clothing, a place to live or funds for renting.
In Natchez, Miss., an entire cheering section was hospitalized the previous night after a wave of fainting swept through a group of Monroe, La., girls attending a high school football game. The 150-member group, known as the "Tigerettes", had been lined up at the goalposts at halftime and suddenly began fainting. An unidentified doctor said that it was the result of "mass hysteria", while another said that it was probably "food poisoning". Eight of the girls remained hospitalized overnight.
On the editorial page, "Blow Your Bugle, Ike" tells of Cale Holder, the state Republican chairman in Indiana, having been quoted as saying that "until Bob Taft blows the bugle, a lot of us aren't going to fight in the army." The previous day, Senator Taft had blown his bugle, indicating that he and General Eisenhower were in substantial agreement on all issues, with differences in foreign policy being only in degree. He said that the primary difference between the Republican Party and the New Deal or Fair Deal was the issue of liberty versus "creeping socialism in every domestic field". He believed that the General shared this view. He said that he would not abandon the principles for which he had fought during the previous 14 years or the friends who had supported him in the pre-convention campaign.
The piece indicates that it would not repeat the principles for which Senator Taft had fought since 1938, many of which General Eisenhower clearly did not support. Nor would it dwell upon reasons why "liberty vs. socialism" was not the issue of the campaign. Rather, it suggests that it was time that General Eisenhower blew his own bugle, shake off the "Old Guard barnacles" closing in on him during the previous week, and speak for himself. Otherwise he would forfeit leadership of the progressive Republicans, independents and many Democrats, who were becoming concerned with the trend of his campaign.
Reporters had noted that the General had appeared annoyed at Senator William Jenner having followed him around during the General's visit in Indiana, repeatedly holding up the General's arm, despite the General's obvious embarrassment and even anger. Edward Folliard of the Washington Post had written that the General "didn't say it was unpleasant, at least he didn't say so publicly, but he didn't have to. It was written on his face and could be detected in his actions."
The General had publicly stated that if he were elected, Senator Taft would be one of the greatest figures in his administration, and that his views and counsel would be most welcome. Senator Taft had indicated in response to a reporter's question the previous day that he had not sought any commitments from the General in writing. But the Senator had emerged from their conference, grinning broadly, and promising vigorous support during the campaign, after it had been widely reported that in order for him to support the ticket, there would have to be an agreement not to appoint particular Republicans as Secretary of State and to promise appointment of a number of Taft supporters to high positions.
It suggests that the General had made his gesture to the mossbacks and that it was time he assert his independence to let them know that he was boss and to reassure millions of Americans in the process that he had not abandoned his principles. It concludes that at present, it appeared that he was a "'captive candidate'".
"My, My, Such Brave Legislators" indicates that Western Europe was becoming one nation faster than most Americans realized, that henceforth the country would be dealing with the European Coal and Steel Community in all matters relating to those commodities. It had long been the position of the U.S. to look favorably upon European unification, breaking down the barriers of nationalism, which had led to both world wars.
But the country was not prepared for a United States of Europe, as shown by the report on the page from Peg and Pierre Streit, from the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Bern, stating that the American delegation to the Conference had determined to abstain on a vote of a resolution to encourage such a European Union on the basis that the resolution had employed the word "sovereignty". The majority of the U.S. delegation balked because that word would be misunderstood back home.
It indicates that with the billions of dollars in U.S. aid being sent to Europe, the country could not adequately help direct the future of the investment if Europe and the U.S. did not have considerable political ties, and yet, the delegation had been hesitant to discuss any resolution containing the word "sovereignty". It suggests that the notion needed discussion in the country by all thoughtful persons, including the presidential candidates.
A piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, titled "For Men Who Aren't Handy", tells of men who were not handy in conducting home repairs having probably read with interest on the Real Estate Page of the Sunday Times-Dispatch a story relating a study of 1,000 accidents by professional home contractors, revealing that 154 workers were injured while using hand tools working with nails and glass, that 152 had received eye injuries caused by chips of stones, splinters, cement and cement dust, and that ten were hit on the head by dropped tools or hurt by falling materials or falling ladders. The remainder of the thousand accidents included workers straining themselves while lifting, falling through holes in floors and stepping on nails, glass, tools and loose lumber.
It suggests that the man who was all
thumbs around the house could draw some consolation from this list of
perils
Drew Pearson tells of former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the tax division, Lamar Caudle, having made a better impression on the House subcommittee in executive session testimony than he had in public testimony before the House Committee previously investigating the tax prosecutions. The Congressmen got the impression that Mr. Caudle's overall record as a tax prosecutor was better than his incoherent testimony had indicated before the earlier committee. During the executive session, he had indicated that former Justice Department associates Peyton Ford and Herbert Bergson had been warming up future law clients while still in the Department, had defended his former boss, Attorney General Tom Clark, in 1949 appointed to the Supreme Court, indicated that it was probably the President's fault that James Finnegan, the IRB collector in St. Louis, had not been fired, as Mr. Caudle claimed that he had tried to fire him, reported that Matt Connelly, the White House secretary, had asked him to delay a tax fraud case against a man in St. Louis, and recited many tax cases which he had prosecuted despite delays by U.S. Attorneys, including some against big-shot gamblers.
He had explained that Mr. Finnegan had not been fired right away because the President had a vendetta against the judge who had demanded that he be fired, and that the President was not going to allow the judge to tell him how to run the Government. He also recalled a meeting at which he and the U.S. Attorney in St. Louis, Drake Watson, and others met with Senators John Williams of Delaware and James Kem of Missouri, during which the latter railed at Mr. Watson so harshly that Mr. Caudle had handed a note to Senator Williams to ask Senator Kem to relent as Mr. Watson was ill, not long after which Mr. Watson had died, Mr. Caudle testifying that he believed the rough treatment had shortened his life.
In all, notes Mr. Pearson, the Congressmen decided that influence was not as important with Mr. Caudle as the fact that "the milk of human kindness ran heavy" in his heart.
Pierre and Peg Streit, presumably related to Clarence Streit, report from Bern, Switzerland, as indicated above, on the 41st annual Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, discussing a proposal put before the Union regarding a United States of Europe, consistent with the Schuman coal-steel plan and the common European army, awaiting ratification. The resolution read: "Each delegation shall undertake, in its own country, to work for the adaptation of constitutional laws with a view to rendering participation in international collaboration most effective, both from the political, economic and the cultural points of view." It went on to say that to have full effect, it would require "certain sacrifices and certain compensations through partial relinquishment of sovereignty" and that "the constitution of joint authorities, to which certain powers would be delegated, should therefore be encouraged, each country nevertheless retaining the greatest number of the prerogatives of sovereignty."
The American delegation had split on the vote, with the majority asserting that the wording of the resolution would be misunderstood at home, while a minority, including Senators Estes Kefauver and Paul Douglas and Congressmen Albert Gore of Tennessee and Hale Boggs of Louisiana, believed that the U.S. support of the resolution would give the Europeans the encouragement they were seeking. Eventually, after attempting without success to have the issue postponed, the delegation voted to abstain, with many of the delegates admitting that the problem with the resolution was the term "sovereignty", which would cause it to meet with a negative reaction at home.
Despite this abstention, the resolution was passed by a vote of 219 to 6. The authors point out that the Union had no official capacity, had been founded in 1889 and was a body devoted to making recommendations, with each delegate attending being uninstructed by his native country and therefore primarily a spokesman for himself.
Joseph Alsop, in Indianapolis, writes in the aftermath of a speech by General Eisenhower, in which he had captured all of his "old power to move and stir an audience", while also "distastefully" embracing Senator William Jenner, who had described General Marshall as a "living lie" and a "front man for traitors". Those events, it was said, had assured the General of victory in Indiana in November.
But that event was overshadowed by the large victory in Wisconsin in the Republican primary by Senator Joseph McCarthy, a victory at which the Eisenhower high command was appalled with regard to its magnitude. During his primary campaign, the Senator had publicly shown contempt for General Eisenhower by indicating that even "well-meaning persons" deplored "character assassination" and "witch-hunting", phrases which had been used by the General. The Senator had also implied that he, alone, could carry the Republican Party to victory in 1952 by exposing Governor Stevenson, in the typical McCarthy style.
Despite the local Republican organization in Indiana being solidly pro-Taft, it had given a warm welcome to General Eisenhower for the sake of Senator Jenner. The Senator promised the General that he would rise above principle and follow all of the Eisenhower policies were he elected president.
Whereas the Senator had maintained a firm grip on the General's coattails while the General visited Indiana, when news came that Senator McCarthy had won a resounding victory in the primary, the mood changed, with one of Senator Jenner's henchmen indicating that it was what the Senator needed, as Senator McCarthy would now be able to put Senator Jenner over the top for re-election. Thus, it was believed that his dependence on General Eisenhower was greatly reduced, without reducing the General's dependence on the local Republican organization in Indiana. Mr. Alsop concludes that the General, therefore, had not solved his problem in Indiana, and that the problem had been made worse by the victory of Senator McCarthy.
A letter writer from Greensboro indicates that the controversy over the religious affiliation of the presidential candidates was interesting but irrelevant, that both men were of high moral character and sincerely religious, to which their records and public statements testified. He points out that Abraham Lincoln had not belonged to a church, that he had once said that when a church inscribed over its doors the simple aim of love for God and one's fellow man, he would join. Thus, he finds it of no consequence that General Eisenhower did not belong to a church. Thomas Jefferson had also not belonged to a church, but had stated several times his preference for the Unitarian faith, that to which Governor Stevenson belonged.
A letter writer comments on the recent editorial which agreed with the resolution of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Minister's Association that Sunday burials be discouraged, commenting that doctors had to deliver babies on Sunday, and that when a person died it was not a sin to conduct a burial on Sunday. Commercial establishments operated on Sunday, and the undertaker had to receive the dead to embalm them when they had died on a Sunday. So, he suggests, most people would not agree with the position.
A letter writer from Monroe suggests that the country had learned from "the builders of Buchenwald" in the Third Reich how to silence the voice of dissent and non-conformity. He suggests that the Government was erecting "concentration camps for political prisoners" at Tule Lake, Calif., Wickenburg, Ariz., El Reno, Okla., Avon Park, Fla., and Allentown, Pa. He wants the American people to awaken from their sleep and put an end to the "hell-bent trend of Fascism and militarism". He mentions the case of Myron Ross—the UNC Law School graduate and former labor organizer who had been prohibited from taking the North Carolina Bar exam based on "moral character" objections by the Board of Law Examiners—, "caught in the web of 'thought control' without recourse to a fair trial before an objective and just judicial body governed by constitutional law", that his case might become that of millions of Americans.
His reference to the "concentration
camps" in the five locations is not explained, but the
reference to Tule Lake, one of the relocation centers for Japanese
Americans and Japanese nationals during World War II, and El Reno,
one of the prisoner of war camps for German and Italian soldiers
during the war, suggests his probable meaning, though in the case of
prisoner of war camps, and, for that matter, the relocation camps,
obviously not in the least comparable to Buchenwald and other Nazi
sites of atrocity. To call them "concentration camps" is
an extraordinary misnomer, doing violence to the memory of the
Holocaust and suggesting a false analogy to the deliberate starvation, inhuman treatment and genocidal extermination which transpired in the actual concentration camps of the Nazi Reich. Those
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