PACE TWO
THE DAILY TAR. HE EL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1953
Brownell's Big Boom
.
. The furore kicked up by the Brownell
charge that President Truman knowingly
appointed a Russian spy to high government
position is far from its end. Yet one stark
fact already stands clear above the continu
ing verbal crossfire. It is this: The Attorney
General of the United States tiasV for the
first time in history," used the resources of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation for pure:
ly political ends. That Brownell's object in
making his charges was to insure a Republi
can victory in the special congressional elec
tion in California, and not the protection
of our national security, no one has seriously
denied.
The fact that Brownell so used secret
data, collected by the FBI in a loyalty in
vestigation, may not at first appear to be as
significant as several other aspects of the
case. But this employment of the work-product
of a secret investigative agency to be
labor the administration's political opponents
conjures up grim images. Our fresh memory
of the Gestapo, and our knowledge of, the
current uses to which the secret police forces
of the Soviet Union are being put, are re
minders enough that we want nothing re
motely resembling a secret political police
force on American soil.
We readily concede that there must be
serious and sober concern over the question
of the loyalty of persons in position to injure
our national interests, should they be dis
loyal. To do the investigative work requisite
to a determination of questions of loyalty
and security, we obviously must have services
such as the FBI and the military intelligence
agencies.
But to use the - FBI. to investigate an
applicant for a government job, or an al
legedly disloyal ' person, and to use its ac
cumulation of data in presenting a case be
fore a federal loyalty board, or a grand jury,
or a court - its proper use is one thing.
To use the fruits of such investigations as
raw material for a political stump speech is
quite a different proposition. And. here, the
information was used by the Attorney Gen
eral as the basis for the conclusion that the
subject' was a communist agent, after a fed
eral grand jury had refused to indict the
same man on the basis of, the same informa
tion." v
Gossip, Hearsay, Lies and Truth
The long-range consequences, should
Brownell's precedent be followed in future
campaigns, are likely to be tragic. And the
tragedy will not be that of the Democratic
Party, but of America. ' '
Every person who , has sought a federal
job or a military commission in recent years
has a security file of some sort. Into it goes
everything the investigators pick rip with
regard to the person under investigation
gossip, hearsay, and lies, along with the
truth.
The FBI is neither authorized nor
equipped to detemine the real significance
of the data it acquires. For anyone active in
public life (and therefore possessed of vocal
enemies), the adverse data which will find
its way into his security file will likely be
considerable. For any Attorney General
desperate enuogh to use such data for strict
ly political purposes, . and irresponsible
enough to abuse this official control of such
resources by making them available for part
isan use, the files of the FBI provide an in
exhaustible bunker of political ammunition.
And if it is justifiable so to use such data as
is already in the files, what is wrong with
sending out a few agents to dig up some
special stuff to meet particular needs?
The tactic used by Brownell a sort of
white-collar McCarthyism, carired on with
a flourish of patriotic purpose is a danger
ous thing, not alone for the immediate harm
it does in misleading the public. As a politi
cal stratagem, it is cheap, easy, and apparent
ly successful.
An Addition To The System
Given those attributes, it is not impos
sible that it should be copied by the Demo
crats, when they return to office. Having
the sanction of use by the Republicans, its
retaliatory adoption would .in a sense be
supportable on precedent, and thus would
become an ineradicable part of our political
system.
And given such "an attitude towards the
utilization of the FBI as as political weapon,
what is to happen on the retirement of J.
Edgar Hoover, who is now past 60? Will we
see the appointment to his position of a man
with his scrupulous fair-mindedness and de
termined non-partisanship? Or will a suc
cessor be chosen who promises to be a will
ing helper in an attempted subversion of the
Bureau into a political tool?
These are fearsome things to think on,
and we hope they are more fantastic than
fearsome. But the time to curb any drift in
that direction, either in terms of official
action or public acquiescence, is now .before
such practices become condoned by tolera
tion. It is a matter for the President arid the
Congress to deal with forthrightly and soon.
More important, all of us must consciously
avoid the all-too-easy slip into the indiffer
ence which will condone such abuse of offi
cial power and such prostitution of patriot
ism for grossly partisan ends. .,
No Blue Blood
C. T. Andrews
First of all, we are not trying
to ref ight the war., between the
states, as is usual eaqji time some
thing like this comes up.
But the Carolina gentlemen
down at the Red Cross Blood
Donor Center the other day were
most unmannerly Carolina gen
tlemen we can remember ever
seeing.
We think of a true CaroKna
blue Carolina gentleman as a
handsome young man with a deep
Southern drawl, polite and man
nerly in his ways, with chivalry
at the top of his on-your-toes list
But the way these particular
Carolina gentlemen behaved be
fore, during, and immediately
following their giving blood was
terrible. They spoke to the nurs
es, attendants and Red Cross of
ficials in tones of disrespect that
we wouldn't even think of using
toward a fraternity brother or a
roommate.
We were taught way down in
the grammar grades that sassi
ness and disrespect did not mix
well with politeness, just as
whisky doesn't mix with beer.
We were taught to say "yes
ma'am" to our parents , and
teachers. They instilled in us the
fact that young men don't make
vulgar or disrespectful remarks
to young women.
Evidently someone has either
forgotten or never learned at ail
the first essentials of politeness
that were taught us when we
were just old enough to be taught
such things.
Or maybe it was just the strain
of the thought of being minus a
pint of blood.
Anyway, Carolina gentlemen
are inflicting serious wounds in
to the reputations of their con
temporaries. If . you've got to be
disrespectful, why not just go up
to Yankeeland, where it won't be
noticed?
Godfrey Wins
Over Coeds
Jenks Robertson
You'd better face it girls. . .
you can't compete with Arthur
Godfrey.
At least,such was the case
Wednesday night when Cobb
Dormitory held a reception for
the girls whom it sponsored
in the Yackety Yack beauty con
test. For anyone unfamiliar with the
Cobb social room arrangement,
it is this. There are two social
rooms on the first floor separated
by an entrance hall. In one room
Is the dormitory television set,
while the other is left for social
izing and studying.
At 8 o'clock on the night of the
reception, the party was going on
in one room while Arthur God
frey was cavorting on TV in the
other.
Attendance at the reception
26.
Attendance at the TV set 34.
So you might as well give up
girls. You were just born ten
years too late.
The Search For Peace
WASHINGTON The Repub
lican high command lias decided
to re-examine its earlier strat
egy of popping one big expose
after another during the coming
year in order to embarrassthe
Truman Administration and put
the Democrats on the defensive.
This strategy, as reported in
this column on Oct. 15, 1953, set
up a timetable
by which vari
o u s skeletons
were to be
yanked out of
the Truman
closet beginning
about January
1. A former as
sistant attorney
general was to "
Several Democrats
Washington Merry-Gc-Roynd Drew Pearson
by eminent Republicans, includ
ing John Foster Dulles. Mr. Dul
les, now Secretary of State, was
in exactly the same position in
regard to Hiss as Mr. Truman
was in regard to Harry White.
Just as Truman kept White on
for approximately one year . in
the International Monetary Fund
after ' receiving an unfavorable
FBI report, so Dulles continued
Hiss as president of the Carnegie
receiving unfavorable reports on
endowment even longer, after
Hiss's alleged connection with. a
communist spy ring. Dulles even
wrote laudatory letters support
ing Hiss, and denying that he had
any communist connections. On
Dec. 23, 1946, Larry S. Davidow,
prominent Detroit Unitarian
leader, wrote Dulles as follows:
"It has been brought to .my at
tention that Mr. Alger Hiss either
has been chosen, or is being con
sidered, for a position with the
Carnegie Endowment for Inter
national Peace. The information
we have would indicate that Mr.
Hiss has a .provable Communist
record. The information in this
regard comes to me from reliable
individuals in Washington.
"If you are interested in be
coming more familiar with this
situation these Washington
friends of mine would be glad
to arrange to have you meet with
one or more persons who know
the situation and will disclose
it to you in full confidence. What
I am writing you is done with
the purpose of affording you
with an opportunity to become "
familiar with the facts and there
by avoiding a situation which, if
publicized, might prove of sub
stantial embarrassment. I shall
be glad to hear from you re
gardiag this.
"Very truly yours.
"Larry S. Davidow"
PEARSON
be - indicted
connected with surplus-ship deals
were to be prosecuted. Various
alleged links between the Tru
man - Roosevelt Administrations
and the Communist ,Party were
to be revealed. :
The schedule had been care
fully worked out and a deal was
even arranged with Senator Mc
Carthy by which he Was to get
the green light for any of his
investigations. Orders already
had gone out to government de
partments to cooperate with Mc
Carthy 100 percent.
Simultaneously, Attorney Gen
eral Brownell announced that the
Justice Department could find
nothing in the Senate report on
Senator McCarthy's financial
transactions which merited pros
ecution. Brownell also let the
statute of limitations expire this
month on the Senate report al
leging corruption in the Mary
land senatorial campaign in
which McCarthy likewise figured.
The Harry Dexter White ex
pose was to be the first big gun
to be fired in the new GOP of
fensive., It was moved ahead, m
the schedule because some GOP
leaders got panicky over the New
Jersey defeat and figured some
thing must be done quickly and
before the California elections to
divert attention from Benson,
the drought, and recent defeats.
Herbert Brownell, trained in
the Dewey crime-busting school,
largely masterminded the offen
sive - an offensive which he
worked out in great detail, even
including a telephone call to
Jimmie Byrnes in South Carolina
to prime him to tell, newsmen
about his last-minute attempt to
stop Harry White's confirmation.
Several unexpected develop
ments have now caused the GOP
high command to re-evaluate
their strategy.
Development No. 1 was the
sour reaction to the subpoenaing
of ex-president Truman. Presi
dent Eisenhower, who joined in
this reaction, was genuinely sur
prised; for it was never intended
that Truman would be " drawn
into the controversy by such
blunt and abrupt tactics as the
issuance of a subpoena. Mr. Eis
enhower, however, was quite fa
miliar with the over-all strategy,
most of which was threshed out
in detail inside the White House.
Unexpected Development No. 2
was the disclosure that Ike him
self had lunched with' Harry
White at his south England head
quarters in August, 1944, at .
which time the European com
mander agreed with the general
idea of demolishing German in
dustry an idea which later led to
the famed Morgenthau Plan of
making German an agrarian state.
Unexpected Development No. 3
is the fact that Alger Hiss, now
in jail and apparently more in
volved in the Communist spy
ring than White, was protected
YOU Said It
Plenty Of Spirit
Editor:
Last Tuesday night, five members of the UNC
Cosmopolitan Club answered a .request made by
the Tubman branch of the Durham YMCA to at
tend as guests.a celebration of World Fellowship
week. . -.
The event was sponsored by a joint meeting of
five affiliate Negro women's clubs. As a part of an.
inspiring program, which laid stress on the oneness
of all peoples, some of our members delivered
short talks which, dealt with, among other things,
the particular role of women in their respective
countries.
We would like here to express our sincere ap
preciation for this invitation and for the warm
hearted, sincere, and throughly informal manner
in which we were greeted. A fine buffet supper
consisting of the national dishes of many different
countries topped the evening with an international
sparkle
In conclusion, we throughly enjoyed the meet
ing as a practical and real example of the world
fellowship whose espousal we celebrated. We could
not, however, but be struck by the incongruity oc
casioned by the fact that white and colored branch
' es of the Y in Durham deemed their mutual fellow
ship to be not so far advanced as to permit a joint
meeting.
John T. Chu
Colin J. Williams
Ram Y. Desikan
Morris Skibinsky
A. George
Lack Of Spirit
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.Editor:
In the dean of students office the Monday after
football game can be "blue Monday" -with the in
'evitable calls and comments of displeasure over the
game, the cheering, the conduct, the referee, etc.
Today, Monday, November 16,' 1953, all is joy and
pride even though we lost!
The fact is the playingwas inspired, the sports
manship exemplary, the cheering superb. The Ath
letic director is happy (see Tar Heel for Sunday)
and it looks like all that seemed impossible (ex
. cept for licking Notre Dame) has come true.
This should be made a matter of record; and
the students and all who are responsible for this
achievement are to be complimentel.
Fred H. Weaver
Dean of Students
Kirk's In The News Again
Kirk Kirkley, co DTH Editor:
I have never read the newspaper of which you
claim to be sports editor, but if your recent letter
to The Daily Tar Heel is indicative of the caliber
of the journalism found in the sports section, then
I haven't missed a thing. The letter was poorly writ
ten and incoherent, but the most apalling thing was
not the technical flaws but your childish reasoning.
If the "Tar Heels" are not, as you say, a "team
of importance," then I find it rather strange that
such teams as Notre Dame and Maryland, waste
their time with us.
You assume that withdrawal from the "big dollar
arena" of sports would diminish the "importance of
sports to any well-rounded school." At the present
time participation in varsity foetball is limited, and
rightly so, to a very select few. This is necessary
because of the ability of opposing teams. A more
modest schedule (which would be the direct result
of withdrawing from big-time football) would en
courage and facilitate greater participation on the
part of the student body. Since this would magnify
the importance of sports within the University,
your argument doesn't follow.
In the second paragraph of your letter, you
blame the mediocrity of our football team on "old
foggies" who are the "mama's boy" type. Frankly,
I fail to see the connection. What correlation is
there between the physical condition of the Tar '
Heel editor and the defensive play of the Carolina
line? Perhaps you are implying that our first string
v doesn't have "enough energy to do two consecutive
push-ups without blowing like an old bull."
The thing which I resent most is the derogatory
allusion to our school spirit. Have you been to a
Carolina pep rally this year or listened to the cheer
ing section at a game? The "real U.N.C. spirit" is
there, and it's just as deep-rooted and sincere as
ever.
In closing permit me to say that communist in
filtration here is due to "old fogiges like you who
don t realize" the importance of good editors to a
well-rounded football team.
Ken Pruitf
Wft JBrnlp titer, eel
The official student publication of the Publi
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North biri,Y4 -t
tuch firtf
opened ts loor
Editor
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Managing Editor
ROLFE NEILL
Business Manager
Sports Editor
LOUIS KRAAR
Night Editor for this issue: RolfeNefll
JIM SCHENCK
TOM PEACOCK