Roanoke Rapids daily herald., 1948-12-30
Blames Pearson And Winche1 For
Belaboring Robert Stripping


He cracked Alger Hiss, the ov-
er educated Harvard study
boy, by detecting a thespian
tremolo in his voice when he
held up his hand and declaim.
ed, so help me god! so help
me God!"
Many American soldiers were
worse of than Stripping but the
facts and politics of his Axper-
ience set his case apart. T he
reasons must be sought in, the
fact that his work threatened
certain persons. Now, through
the Alger Hiss disclosures, we
observe that Franklin D. Roose-
welt, as well as his wife, was
due for trouble from the COM
mittee under Stripling's direc-
tion.
Stripping was a Pre- Pearl
Harbor father" Pearson ham,
mered him as a Stacker on Sum
day nights and the citizens who
believed that propaganda m ay
now desire to revise their opin-
ions of the victim and the broad
caster. Certainly the scornful
publicity which was poured on
one potential yard-bird was ab-
surdly out of proportion to his
military importance, especially
at time when the atom bomb
was almost ready and the army
about 100000 over-manned.
Throughout this radio cam
paign, Alger Hiss was High in
the State Department. He was
eligible for military service.
His wife was capable of SELF
support. And he was one day to
be unmasked by the same Strip
ling, the yard bird, as an old
accomplice Of Whitaker Cham
bers who swears that Hiss stole
State apartment documents for
him. Hiss, Of course, denied it,
but the grand jury indicted him
on perjury charges
Isaac Don Levine, q great old
reporter, swears thai in August,
1899, he warned Adolf Berle, as
sistant Secretary of State, OF the
Hiss Chambers affair. Levine
testified further that IN Febru-
ary or March, 1910, he ypent two
hours in Miami Beach trying to
persuade Winchel to expose tn
wholething on the air as IN act
Of patriotism. About that time,
Winchell was filling the airNwith
endorsements for a naive Aops-
and robbers farce called un-
dercover" by timid professan-
al sneak so unreliable th@t
lost three court actions and war
called liar by on- of the lvs-
ges.
winch ell recently admit
ted that he held the secret of
the treachery in the State De-
partment about ten years. He
said he took it to his 'comman-
der in chief" Roosevelt. Win
chell was in a technical sense
a reserve naval officer serving
at the Stork Club, New York,
and the Rony Plazea, Miami
Beach. Actually, officers in such
cases report to their immediate
superiors hut that is, hardly
worth laboring. Winchell was not
qualified for his rank at sea and
couldn't meet the exactint stan.
dards of true Naval inteHgenc.
Roosevelt, however, was actual
ly a defendant in the case be-
cause Hiss was a Frankfurter
man and Roosevelt later took
Hiss along as advisor to the fate
full Yalta conference.
Stripping was drafted Jan. %,
1945. In Septmber he landed at
Fort Meade, Md. In October, the
war being over, the committe
asked the Army to release him.
In "a hours he was put under or
ders for Tokyo. The committee
asked tn Secretary OF War to
explain. The Army said Tokyo
needed a man of Stripling's tai
ents. The committee said it was
queer that Tokyo required a
man who couldn't even make
private first class.
A few days later, Stripping
was selected to start and teach
course in subversive activities
with 1000 students, all officers.
Still, the Army wouldn't let
him 60 back to the committee.
On July 28, 1885," Mr.. Strip
ling said, 1.-THE commanding Of
ficer wrote to General So1ner-
veil. He said: While this man
should be discharged, I wish
to point out that Drew Pearson
and Walter Winchen have had a
lot to say about this man and
the Army will be in for severe
criticism if he is discharged I
have copy of the letter.
Pearson got on the air and
said my discharge would dam
age Gneral Marshall's future
plans for the army Pretty i'm
portant yard bird.
Last March, the Army War
College invited me to lcture on
SithverSivo ocfiyi<;ae