Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1948-10-02
American Negro Professor Guards Pal
estine Truce After Bernadotte
Assassination
UN Post Most important international
Place Ever Held By a Negro
Heavily Guarded On Visit To Jerusalem

Haifa, Sept. 26 = DR.. Ralph
Johnson Bunche, acting United
Nations mediator since Count
Folke Beradotts assassination 8
days ago, is hard to scare.
The American Negro professor
is calmly keeping the lid on the
Palestine truce in spite of warn
ings from Jewish territorists that
he is the next man marked for
death.
cit was the counts policy not
to request personal protection but
to leave it to the responsibility of
the Jews and Arabs to determine
what protection was necessary,
the former Howard University
political science professor said
To-day, That's still our policy.
Last Wednesday when / went
to Jerusalem it seemed as if
half of Haganah had turned out
to guard me. I never felt so
safe! But I hadn't asked it,.
Officially, no threatening mes
sages have been sent directly to
Bunche in recent days but he is
aware of the enmity against his
as the symbol of the United Ma
tons. He said if any threats come
I'll throw them in the waste
basket
Recalls Sternist Threat
Bunche read with interest the
inflammatory headline in the
Stern gang newspaper last week
-'Bunche was United States in
telligence agent. He also recalls
the Stern leaflet distributed in
Jerusalem early in September
saying -"Bernadotte must go
blessed be the hand that does
it,.
IS new utCulciOl Ado DCC1 JOlu
how Scientists told Americans in
Tel Aviv a few hours after the
cold-blooded murder ofBernadotte
I'VE are ready to do away with
any man who succeeds him..
But there is no atmosphere of
dread around Bunche. With a hard
hitting American Marine, Brig.
Gen. William E. Riley, as the
head of his military observers,
Bunche has kept the truce mach
inerwy in full operation through
out the postassassina-tion crisis.
Today he leaves for his Rhodes
headquarters after more than a
week on the Jewish side of the
front, confident that the truce
will hold together until the UN
Assembly in Paris acts.
Won't Let BernadOtte Down
Probably no other Negro ever
held such an important interna-
tional post. His word is an order
for 800 white officers, including
generals assembled from the arm.
ed forces of the United States,
France and Belgium.
His staff sums it up this way:
HE will never let Bernadotte
down..
The son of a Detroit barbar,
Bunche neither soft-pedals nor
aggressive1y asserts his Negro
blood. His brown complexion is
lighter than that of many whom
he's negotiated in the Middle East
The 44-year-old mediator played
varsity basketball at Southern
California and made Phi Beta
Kappa grades. He was made a
doctor of philosophy at Howard
and the university still hollis open
his professorship as an OSS Of
ficer, he had a role in planning
the North African invasion and
joined the state department in
1914 - the first Negro desk of
ficer in its histohry.
The government loaned him to
the UN in 1916 a year later he
became director of the trusteeship
department and resigned his state
department post.
/ Authority On Colonial Issues
Never a soapbox agitator, Bun
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