One Editor Missing

In a TV discussion program called Starring the Editors, one of the stars has been James A. Wechsler, 36-year-old editor of the Fair Dealing New York Post. But last week when the weekly program was telecast, Editor Wechsler was missing. He had been tossed off the panel of editors, presided over by Christian Science Monitor Editor Erwin ("Spike") Canham, by the Grand Union grocery chain, the sponsor. The reason the grocerymen gave Wechsler was that he had become a "controversial" figure.

The controversy began three weeks ago when Wechsler appeared at a pretrial hearing in a $1,000,000 libel suit filed against the Post by Editor Jack Lait of Hearst's New York Mirror and Nightclub Columnist Lee Mortimer. They charged that they were libeled in the Post's review of their book, U.S.A. Confidential (TIME, May 26). At the hearing, Wechsler testified to some personal history that had already been widely publicized: at 18, when he was an undergraduate at Columbia University, he joined the Young Communist League and quit 3 1/2 years later. Wechsler has never concealed that part of his past, has made up for it by vigorously fighting Communism ever since.

The day after the hearing, the New York Journal-American ran a Page One story headlined: POST EDITOR ADMITS HE WAS YOUNG RED. WECHSLER TIES BARED.

The story carried no byline, but it was written by Hearst Reporter Howard Rushmore, who until 1940 was a member of the Communist Party himself and a staffer on the Daily Worker.

When Grand Union heard about the story, it ordered Wechsler banned from future programs, refused to discuss the matter with him. But last week other members of the panel had plenty to say. One of them was Alicia Patterson, publisher of Long Island's Newsday (circ. 138,957), daughter of the late great New York Daily Newsman, Joe Patterson, and kin of the Chicago Tribune. She refused to appear on the program unless she was allowed to condemn Grand Union's action over TV. There she said: "A dreadful mistake ... I rarely agree with the opinions of the Post, [but] I think it is most shameful to have banned [Wechsler] because at the age of 18 he happened to have belonged to a young Communist group."

Other panel members joined in. Edward P. Doyle, news editor of the Journal-American, which had touched off the row, said that he agreed entirely with Alicia Patterson. Editor Canham later pointed out that he had "argued every day for a week" to prevent Wechsler from being kicked off. But Canham did not feel strongly enough to resign as moderator, since he thinks that "the case is not as clear-cut as it might be, and I'm not sure the sponsor does not have some rights." To most newsmen, however, it was clear-cut: a clear-cut example of how not to fight Communism. Wrote New York Times Radio & TV Editor Jack Gould: "Particularly disturbing is the company's refusal to discuss Mr. Wechsler's dismissal . . . Instead of curbing Communism, [the ban] is helping it. For under the vicious credo of 'controversially,' one of the most articulate voices speaking out against Communism has been silenced on a TV program."

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