Marines protest Hearst editorial
Delegation calls at San Francisco paper
SAN FRANCISCO – The 12th Naval District reported today that the shore patrol was called last night to the San Francisco Examiner, a Hearst newspaper, to disperse 75 to 100 Marines who had gathered in protest against a front-page editorial yesterday.
The editorial, which was printed in the various Hearst papers, claimed that the high casualties on Iwo Jima were due to poor leadership and that Gen. Douglas MacArthur should have commanded the assault.
The shore patrol found the Marines were “peaceable,” the naval district reported. They had appointed two representatives to discuss the editorial with the editor. The Marines dispersed and left “quietly,” the district reported.
The editorial was headed “MacArthur Is Our Best Strategist.” It said in part that “American casualties (on Iwo) apparently run more than 10 percent of the original invading force… There is awesome evidence… that American forces are paying heavily for the island, perhaps too heavily.”
“Fortunately,” the editorial said, “it is not the sort of thing that occurs everywhere in the Pacific.” In MacArthur’s operations, it added, “there has been neither decimation nor exhaustion of American forces.”
The San Francisco Chronicle attacked the editorial Wednesday without mentioning the Examiner.