WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R001100670095-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2013
• Sequence Number: 95
• Publication Date: April 19, 1953
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/14: CIA-RDP74-00297RO01100670095-6
..~ , =F, ? ' ~? 111; :>~ *?2, ? w`=ice, ~
WASHINGTON, April 18-Occasionally,
hard-working defense boss Charlie Wil-
son gets all tangled up trying to follow
some of the brass-hat reasoning at the
Pentagon.
While Wilson has one of the most complex,
jobs in the world, the generals ard* admirals
sometimes make it eve]v more so with their
upside-d o w n
logic. 0 n c e,
says Wilson,
he ran into
the same back-
handed Iocic ii??''3 c :.~\k\
running Gen-
eral Motors.
"Some years
ago," Secre-
tary Wilson re-
calls, "we
thought that
C. M. was in
danger of los-
ing its supply
of rubber. So
another fellow
and I scouted
around trying
-to buy up,as
much rubber
as we could
find.
"One day I
happily t o l d
my associate
that I'd lo-
SEC. CHARLES WILSON
Stymied by Pentagor, logic...
cated thousands of tons of rubber-we could
have it at once for 10 cents a pound.
"I was flabbergasted, however, when he said
10 cents was too high a price. Despite all my
pleas, he ife fisted on paying less.
"A few clays later he walked in and said he'd
changed his mind about the price question. He
now agreed that 10 cents was a .;retty good
figure. Then he explained his change of heart.
"`Well, Charlie,' he said, `over the week end
I went into a store to buy soma. fertilizer for my
garden. Believe it or not, I had to pay 20 cents
a pound. That got me thinking, and I finally
decided that if fertilizer. is '20 cents a pound,
rubber is certainly worth 1.0 ceids a pound."
-ProbabEEiVes of Peace
HE HARDEST thing in the world is to find
out whal's.going on inside the Kremlin or to
fathom relations between Russia and her chief
Far Eastern ally-Red China.
UPS Tnt 1 "once is notconsidered as good
as the British on tali s] subject, so'we lean heavily
on the British, the Indians, and the Yugoslavs.
Frhe latter seem to he pretty good, probably
because 'Tito's top men once,served in Moscow,
still know a lot of people.- in Communist
countries. I
Bearing these difficulties in i-imnd, here are
various evaluations of how genuine is the Com-
munists' desire for a truce in Korea: '
The Indian embassy in Peking reports that
the Chinese wanted the Korean War to end last
Fall, now are taking the lead in forcing the
S _ truce talks.
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. IDSHIPM' 'AN WILLIAM STER-
LING COLE, ,son of the New York GOP
2ongressman, is permitted under Annap-,
olis regulations to own a car and ride in
it, but not drive it. So his- fiancee, Nancy
Davidson, daughter of History Professor
Captain Davidson, drives- the car for him
. Estimates of married mid~hipmen at
Annapolis range from S0 to 20f'. Midship-
men are honor bound not to get married.
If caught, they're fired.
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CHOU EN-LAI
First to do talking...
can embassy
in Yugoslavia.
sends the,
same report.
It's based on
Tito's. own in-
telligence.
U. S. reports
.from Far East
head quar-
ters- merely?
specula that
the Chinese
may be taking
the lead in'
the truce talks.
It's pointed,
out that, last
year at the
U. N., Andrei-
Vishinsky took
the lead in
vetoing t h e
Indian t r u c e
plan, and it
was not until,
two days later
China echoed Vishinsky. Now, however,
Chinese Foreign Minister Chou En-lai was first
to do the talking. Two days later, Moscow'did
the echoing.
However, prevailing belief in Washington.
based on CIA evaluations, is that Russia is still
dictating-a`11-in aves in Korea. The Korean peace
bid, it's claimed, is part of a Soviet pattern to
start peace offensives all over the world, Includ-
ing Europe, for the effect on the Italian elec-`
lions, the coming. Japanese elections, and the
French vote on the European army.
This European peace bid, significantly, got
started in the West before it got started In ;
Korea.
Furthermore, some of our experts are now
convinced that the death of Stalin has had noth-
ing whatsoever to do with the change of policy
in Russia.. The present peace propaganda was
j planned some time ago, it's believed, in order to
lull the West into complacency. Stalin's death
was merely a happy coincidence that didn't
change things at all. .
Those are the different intelligence reports.
If you're an armchair strategist, you can step
up and take your choice.
payroll Reperctssioi s
IT DIDN'T COME out in the open, but Repub.
lican House Leaders faced a delicate problem
in selecting the new clerk of the House of
Representatives. _
Ordinarily the job should have gone to
Irving Swanson, the minority clerk tinder the
Democrats. Normally, the minority clerk moves
up to the top spot automatically when his parry
-- t-_,
take-
over
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/14: CIA-RDP74-00297RO01100670095-6
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/14: CIA-RDP74-00297RO01100670095-6
Last year, however, this column revealed
that Swanson's wife, Margaret, had been put on"
the payroll of Rep. Ernest Eramblett of Cali-
fornia at 54,700 though not working for the
Congressman either in his home district or in
Washington.
Bramblett and Swanson wc"o close friends
d S
an
wanson was fully aware gravy-train
job his wife held at the taxpayers' expense.
Other data unearthed by this column about Rep.
Bramblett's fancy payroll juggling was later
turned over to the Justice Department and
Bramblett now faces grand jury action.
Republican leaders also knew of the "Gram-
blett Story" and of Mrs. Swanson's connection
with it. Therefore, when the time came to choose
the clerk of the House, speaker Joe' Martin was
faced with the choice of either following tradi-
tion and appointing Swanson, or avoiding pos-
sible embarras
sment, by selecting somebody else.
Calling. a meeting-of other Republican leaders,
including .co Allen of Illinois, powerful chair-
man of the Rules Committee, Speaker Martin
outlined".hFc problem. Finally it wa
d
id
s
ec
ed that
tradition `--Was less important, than political
storms. So--Lyle : Snader, former secretary to
Leo Allen
wa
,
s named clerk of the House.
(Copyright, 1953, DS B01I Syndicate, Inc.)
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/14: CIA-RDP74-00297RO01100670095-6