Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1950-12-08
Guarding the President

Until the recent attempt on his
life, President Truman had given
little thought to his personal safety.
He once told my assistant, Fred
Blumenthal, that he had figured out
what he would do if an assassin
came into the room Most assassins.
he said, would expect the presi-
dent to get under the desk, but he
was planning to reverse things and
attack the attacker-just as An
drew Jackson did when attacked in
the halls of congress . When last
weeks shooting started, Mrs. Tru-
man rushed into the presidents
bedroom where he was mapping, to
tell him a secret service man was
lying wounded on the street. Actu-
ally she mistook assassin Collazo
for plain-clothes man One
secret service man was in front of
Blair House at the time of the
shooting, the others were in the
rear eating lunch. The White House
police, which bore the brunt of the
attack, are under the secret serv-
ice :. The secret service have
been under some criticism in recent
years for having become partially
political. Maj. Gen. Harry Vaughan
interviewed in the early days of the
Truman administration, fired Mike
Reilly, who operated under Roose-
welt, and gave the impression he
wanted to run the service. This
would not have been tolerated in the
old days of Chief William Moran
Later, during the senate five
percenter probe, Reilly was hastily
rehired and given $4,000 job in
the interior department.. (He knew
too much about how the secret serv-
ice gave special pass to Vaughan's
friend, John Maragon, and about
other political wire-pulling.)
Despite occasional politics, however,
the secret service does a good Job.
Problem for U.N.
The North ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
area is an ideal one for United Ma
tons cooperation-if Moscow would
permit it. Reason is that the Japs,
which once controlled both Korea
and Manchuria, developed power
and industry regardless of interna-
tional boundaries, just as Grand
Coulee and Bonneville dams serve
several states, regardless of state
boundaries . Seven major dams
are reported on the Yalu river be-
tween Manchuria and North Korea.
The Suiho dam, one of the largest
in the world, is 1928 feet high, 2,788
feet long, has a reservoir 40 miles
long and delivers 100000 kilowatts
of power q. Another dam, Mann
poshin, delivers 234,OOO XIV. The to-
tai system, when completed, will
produce 100000 kilowatts and will
operate industries as far south as
Port Arthur at the southernmost
tip of Manchuria Two other
reservoirs are south of the Yalu
river, wholly in North Korean ter
ritory, and about 20 miles north of
the present U. N. 'front.' 1t was
about the time U. N. troops ap-
preached these reservoirs that Chi
nese troops crossed the border
The only possible way these power
projects can be operated is under
some form of United Nations CON
troll, since they are located in and
supply power to two countries. This
is ticklish situation and one that
the U.N. has to be doubly careful
about in the solution to prevent war.
Behind the Iron Curtain
RED ARMY CHIEFS MEET
The American legation reports that
a mysterious meeting of eastern
European Communist bosses is now
going on at the Russian resort town
of Sochi in the Crimea. This is
Prime Minister Stalin's favorite
hideaway and it's believed he may
be present. A number. of Polish and