k~T~-=-g]_~RQ~~CA_T_- __ ec._22~_192! (Ch rles Col l ing w ood substituting) GOOD ~ ENI G, r. V RY OD Y! At Alexandria, Virginia, outside Wa shington, a form r code b reaker at the to p secret Nat i onal S ecurity Agency, Joseph . Petersen Jr., pleaded guilty this evening to violating the eepiona g e laws. Petersen told Judge Albert V. Bryant that he was acting in the best interests of the United States. The charge had accused Petersen of "kno w ingly and willfu l ly" using classified information concerning the communication intelligence activity of the U.S. and foreign g overnments in a manner prejudicial to the safety and interests of the United States. After Petersen had een arrested by the F.B.I., it was determined that the country involved was not Russia. ! Both the Netherlands g overnment and the U.S. State Department confirmed that the Dutch had received sd'iJie oT · the information. Petersen reportedly had made fiz ■• friends with a Dutch Army officer stationed in Washington during r erld War II, a friendship which continued a fter the war. _:..!!... 1 22 / 54 - 2 - Over s e as , t l d a y 's d e a te i n the re nch N a ti onal ssembly fe a tured a n imoa~ c i o ne d ol e a by Me nde s - F r a . ce, wh o called f or a r a tification o f the P a r is accords t o re ar m W est Germ a ny b . an overfi h e l ming maj ority. There were out b re aks of oandemonium as he spoke; the Communists interru p ting wi th boos a nd catcalls. As Mendes-France cried t a t a heavy majority for the pact would be the qui c k est way to get a high level co ference with oviet Russia while if ratifica- tion f a iled France woul d be isolated from her ,estern a llies. The P remier em ph asized the importance of decisive ratification by a large majority, saying a weak ratification would be almo s t as bad as a fl a t rejection. He wants France to go strongly for ~est German rearmament and the la■ Saar valley settlement. The National Assembly is fr a nkly t~t• reluctant, hesitant. The word from Parle is t a t the F rench legislators are likely to do exactly wh a t Mendes-trance advises a gai nst. The proppects are - a small majority for the Paris a c cords, a weak ratification, and this a p p arently will come about because of a l a rge num b er o f abstainers. The most powerful op onent s o f Mendes- France, the P opular Re p ublican Party, h a ve dacided - J - they'll abstain from voting; they're all in favor of the test, but they won't sup ort the Premier. tkk ■ They reckon that by abstaining they'll assure the ratification of the pact - but it'll be by a small margin. This, tonight, is consi ered a proba- bility. The decision is expected on Thuriday or Friday PRISONERS ---------- The Secretary General of the United latione came back to Rew York today after a •uict trip to his native Sweden. He'll re ■ ain in New York for a few days then start otf to China, where he'll try to nw1otiate for the release ot the eleven A ■ erican airmen sentenced to prison on charges of epying. Dag Hammarskjold to leave for China soon after December 26th. Speaking of his trip to Stocthola, he aay1, 'I got d~ne exactly what I wanted to do.• Be flew to Sweden on a private ■ ission, to accept a place in the Swedish Acadeay; but that was not all. In ftockhol ■, Dag Bammartkjold confabulated with the Chinese Reds' ambassador to Stockholm, discussing arrangements of his trip in behalf of the American airmen. Be got things done in his talks with the Communist emissary. He wouldn't say just wh at , but seemed optimistic as he returned to the United States. flQft_f_!t_IH~ft Northwestern Europe is having a wil d winter s torm; winds up to a hundred miles a hour lashing the coasts from cotland on down toward the Mediter- ranean. A Belgian vess~ reported sinkin g off the Dutch coast; ~ German freighter aground on a sandbank in the North Sea; a French steamer aground near Antwerp. The list could be continued on and on; more than a score of ships in trouble as the gale howls out from the Atlantic. It see ■ s inap ropriate for Christmastide, but weather authorities in Europe are saying •tt•s lucky the tempest is blowing now and not three weeks later.• The spring tides are due in three ~eeks and the storm plus those high tides would bring about the same sort of disaster t~at struck two years ago, when there wero disastrous floids in England and Holland; dikes of Bolland broke and eighteen hundred lives were lost two years ago. Today the dikes are holding although there's some anxiety. In various pl a ces Dutch workers are piling sandbags to support the barriers a~ain . t the sea. - 5 - At ' E IC .N IIAT HE R ---------------- And the Americ a n weatherman has freakish tidings to report: bitter •inter in Florida and balmy temperatures in Montana. Today temperatures were well below freezing in northern Florida, w h ere winters are usually mil d . In Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas, this time of the year it's the usual thing to have sub-~ero cold. But at Billinis, ~ontana, today the . temperature was at 46 above, which is practically summer in these parts. But all is normal in Jew England; a blizzard for the Christmas season; laine and New Hampshire get- ting sixteen inches of snow. Thi! morning, by the way, brought the ■ o ■ ent when •inter begins of~icially; the sun at the point which marks the shortest day of the ear. FORMOSA ------- Formosa 1x• has given us an explanatiom of anti-aircraft shell fire that imperiled an airliner near Fnrmosa. The big plane, with twenty-a ven aboard, was fl y ing along hen shells began to burst in the sky, none of them coming close to the airliner, but it was alarming. The explanation - anti-aircraft practice by - 6 - a b a tt e r o g uns b elon g in g to t he N ati o n a li E t A rm y on F ormo s a. The y ~ eren't ho o tin g at the p l ane; the y , ere ho ot ing a t aeri al t a r g ~ t s , a n nobo dy had in f orm ed the air l ine ere of g un n ery p r a ctice a lon g the c o urse they were t king. B E LGIUM ------- A dispatch from B ? ussels relates that Belgium, today, asked Spain for the extradition of Leon Degrelle, which was like summoning a P,bost of World War II. Degrelle was then the leader of a pro- Fascist party, collaborating with Hitler's lazis in their occupation of Belgium. He led a Belgian Fascist legion in the lazi inTasion of Soviet fussia. After the war De.relle was tried for treason in absentia and oonde ■ned to death. But Degrella diaap p eared, hie wheaeabouta a ■ ystery for years. Last week, in Spain, however, there was a parade of Spaniards who served with Hitler's ar■ y in Russia and one of those attending was Degrelle, who gaTe an interview in a Spanish paper. That was the first inkling the Belgians had that the f ormer Fascist leader was alive, so now they're d emanding his extradition. - 7 - A T O IC ------ I've a letter here from a friend of mine, an at ■■■ atomic scientist, a physicist at the Carnegie In titute of Technology, Truman Kullman, who tells me of a n •••■ x■ •x unusual Christmas present, an atomic project for Christmas. •This idea,W he writes, •ta for the United States to make a Christmas present to the Holy Land of one or more nuclear reactors for power, medicine and research.• Dr. tullman goes on to say that a colleague, anoth e r atomic physieist, Profe1aor Coryell, Charles l ■ zzt ■t at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently returned fro ■ Palestine. •Be came back,• says the ~etter, •greatly impressed by the absence of real peace in the area where three of the major faiths of the world originated and by the difficulties caused by the low standards of li•tn1 there. It seemed to me and to bi ■,• Dr. lull ■ an goes on, •that the living standards ■ ight be raised substantially by ato ■ ic power, which might also provide an incentive for the Jews and the Arabs to work ~111t•1 together.• The atomic scientist suggests a reactor for Israel and one for the Arabs, too. Dr. Kullman says this atomic project has already been talke d about; i t - 8 - would be w orke d out th ~ u the Unite d Nations, which h a s approved President Eisenho w er's atoms-for- p eace plan, an d in f a ct la Gener a l Carlos Romulo, the l~iiiiJ Philippine dele g ate, has proposed something s imil a r; atomic power d evelopment, somewhere on the Israel-Arab frontier, in which the feuding Jews and Moslems would cooperate. Probably it can't be done before Christ■ as, but it would be a good Christ ■ as pres e n\ to the place where Christmas began, wouldn't it? FAMILY ------ A Cbrist ■ ae idyl has come to diaillusion ■ ent at Youngstown, Ohio, where Monday night the police noted a family trying to hitcb-•ite a ride - Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lilybridge and two children. The parents told a sad story; bow their ho ■ e in San Diego, C a lifor- nia had burnt down. They were hitch-hiking their way t a to w n in Maine where they had rel a tives. They said they'd been on the road for a hundred and five day~. The cops, full of the Christ ■ a! spirit,, took u p a collection amongst them s elves, provided the fami l y with food, shelter, Christmas p resents and money, then went them on their way east. We l l, it was fine Christ- L.T. - 1 2/2 2 / 5 4 - 9 - m a s s tor y for the Youn g sto w n ne ~ spap e rs, r a i o a nd television; after which, alas, a series of reports came in. A citizen of•• a neighboring town said he'd p icked up the same family a last week a nd helped them. They told the s~■ e h a rd -luck story, but the other way around. They told him their home in Maine had burned down; they were hitch-hiking their way to Ii C&lifornia. Another man in Ohio said he gave them 100 last summer. On that occasion their house in Florida had burned d~wn and they were hitch-hiking to lansas. One radio listener sent in a clipping fro ■ a newspaper of two years ago, showing that the Lilybridge family bad won the hearts ot the people at Cannonsburg, Penna,, telling how their ho ■ e in lan1a1 had burned down and they were on their way to Florida. Actually, it appears, they co ■ e fro ■ Baltimore. DOCTOR ------- At Lansing, Michigan, a petition to commit Dr. Charles Laughead and his wife to a mental hospital. The petition filed by Dr. Laughead•s sister, who claims that her brother and his wife h a ve b ecome reli g ious fanatics and neglect their three children. The doctor, you remember, was the one who as d ismi s sed - 10 - from the Michigan S tate Colle ge Hospital because of the gloomy predictions he h a d made. He' d said that Chicago and the Middle : est woul d be overwhelmed yesterday by a cataclysm of earthquakes and tidal waves, which p rediction, said he, emanated from outer space; a few people only to be rescued by flying saucers fro ■ Mars. W e l l, nothing of the sort happened yesterd a y - and today the doctor explained that a last-minute reprieve had co m e in, that Chicago and the Middle W est and other parts had been spared, reprieved at the eleventh hour by the "general• fro ■ outer apace. Wonder who that could be, Hugh? Maybe the coamander- in-cbiet on the planet Mars, maybe.