The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-12
AS Pegler Sees It
BY PEGLER

BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.)
NEW YORK, Aug. II. - Ken Pettus, late |
candidate for chairman, or national comman-
der, Of the American Veterans Committee,
has disclosed that many chapters are dying
on the vine. This is a strange organization of
service veterans and of seagoing civilians who
profiteered and racketeered in the war on
the merchant ships. Among the latter are
many communists and aliens Of all breeds.
The AVG. appealed to mob avarice last year
by advocating a federal dole Of at least $25
a week for 26 weeks "for unemployment OF
all kinds, including time lost due to labor
disputes" This meant that this dole might
be paid for life inasmuch as one period of 26
weeks could flow into another.
Mr.. Pettus gives several reasons why many
chapters have died. None of these reasons
is as important, however, as the character,
the background and the r%eticence OF Ken Pet
tus himself.
Last wear Pettus was elected to a place
on the national governing body called the
planning committee. He had been managing
editor OF the Pacific edition of the Stars and
Stripes in Tokyo after the war and had been
removed because Of a negative report on a
loyalty check"
Before the war, he had been. an editor Of
a publication Of a CLIO. union notorious for
it's communist policies. The national head
/ quarters Of the AVG in New York deliberate
ly deceived the rank and file veterans and
all prospective members to whom it was ap-
pealing for adherence. The official bulletin OF
the v published a false biographical sketch
Of Pettus. This biography said nothing about
the n negative report on a loyalty check in
General MacArthur's command. It did not
mention his work as editor for the mine, mill
and smelter workers, whose rank and file
membership last winter threw out the presi-
dent, Reid Robinson, who had been Pettus'
did hncS nnlv offor a 1OnC and fiarra RAM.
paign that ragged across the country. The AVG
bulletin did say that Pettus, at that time,
July, 1916, was employed as a new editor
by the National Broadcasting Company.
When this statement vas published, Mrs.
Irene Kuhn, the public relations director of
N.B.C., Immediately announced that 1t was a
lie. Mrs. Kuhn wrote that Pettus had been
employed by MIC. before the war and that
the company had been required by law to
offer him the same job after his discharge.
However,, he had declined and now the broad
casting company was glad to be spared the
problem Of inspecting his copy for editorial
bias.
Charles G.. Bolte, then the chairman of the
AVG, explained that the editors of the bulletin
accepted the biographical data offered by
Pettus without question. Bolte and other ma
tional officers Of the AVG were in a position
to know the truth about Pettus. Nevertheless
the bulletin published a sketch that was de-
ceptive and misleading, when the truth would
have deferred some prospective members
from joining.
This years convention was held in Mil
waukee. Bolte withdrew to 60 to England and
study.
An idea of the character of the AVG may
be derived from some data on a number of
members Of the national planning committee.
One is Michael Straight, 30, OF New York,
educated in England, where his mother lives
on an old fortune derived from the firm of
T D MOrdSr Chn ic tho fin oncio1 onoo1 If
Henry Wallace's pro-Soviet magazine, The
New Republic. Straight somehow obtained
pre-war jobs in the State and Interior depart
ments in Washington.
Hubert Will, Chicago, Roosevelt bureaucrat,
attorney, former secretary to Sen. Robert
Wagner, author of the Wagner Act. former
special assistant to the U. S. Attorney-General
and assistant to general counsel OF O.P.A.
Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., lawyer and habitual
offender against the traffic laws, married
rich.
Morris Polish, born in Odessa, Russia. For
mer bureaucrat, as head of the O.P.A. en-
forcement unit.
Robert Nathan. The AVCs own handout
says Nathan's war service extended only from
May through December, 1913, and that little
with the office of strategic services. Drafting
was a difficult problem. lnveterate bur-
eaucrat, with five government jobs in this
country and one with the new French govern
lA1SA1t LII viz Ia otS ~ I'LL - |
economist, Nathan wrote the notorious reports
for the CLIO. which held that American in
dustry could pay a Is per cent wage increase
without increasing prices or reducing profit
margin.
Meyer Bernstein, former organizer for
CLIO. steel workers. Now CLIO. veterans
representative" in Washington union bureau
cracy.
Bernie Bellush, Bronx. active in teachers
guild. Conducts panel discussions for adult
education council.
Fred H. Schmidt. First president Louisville
CLIO. council.
Chat Patterson, the new national COM
mander. Professional bureaucrat with student
with coordinator of inter-American affairs.
The AVG frankly boasts in its bulletin for
July, 1947, that it uses box office pressure
to suppress freedom Of speech and Of the
press. A Column by one Buddy Burnside
reports that a group OF women members in
Topeka stopped buying milk" from a dairy
company which sponsored the news broad
casts OF Fulton Lewis, Jr., the best radio re-
porter in the world and the only initiative
news reporter in the entire radio industry.
The milk company then dropped the broad
cast and thus silenced Lewis, who had ex.
posed many corrupt deals by crooked officers
who were pets of the Roosevelt administra-
ton.
The same column in the AVG bulletin in
vites the members to organize similar pres
sure against newspapers to suppress equally
embarrassing disclosures (such as this essay
by John ODonnell, of the New York News,
and Westbrook Pegler, OF King Features.
E11ko~1o1 C0~~onk