The Press: The Army's Guests

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Who fouled up the peace news? At bars where newsmen gather, pinning the blame will be a soul-searching pastime for years to come. But that miscarriage of news and the possibilities of similar miscarriages posed a bigger problem than the morals of the Associated Press's Ed—ward Kennedy, whose "scoop" went sour.

Off the Record. The full story, thanks to the whims of SHAEF censorship, was slow in coming out. On Sunday afternoon at an airport outside Paris, 16 newsmen had been assembled—on 15 minutes' notice—and told they were to cover an important out-of-town assignment. After their big C-47 was in the air, Brigadier General Frank A. ("Honk") Allen Jr., SHAEF press chief, shouted above the engines' roar to the 16: "Gentlemen, we are going ... to cover the signing of the peace. . . . This story is off the record until the respective . . . Governments announce [it]. I therefore pledge . . . you on your honor not to communicate the results of this conference or the fact of its existence until it is released by SHAEF."

No one objected—not even the A.P.'s Edward Kennedy.

Back in Paris that afternoon Ed Kennedy broke his word. He first made some attempt to warn SHAEF (but not his colleagues) of what he was up to. He tried to reach General Allen by telephone, but was told that the General was too busy. According to Kennedy, he then warned Allen's aide, who said: go ahead and try to get it out, Ed; it's impossible. After also serving warning, just for good measure, on Lieut. Colonel Richard Merrick, chief U.S. press censor, Kennedy sneaked his story to London by telephone.

How the call reached London without being censored, Kennedy would not say. (He dramatically pledged his Paris A.P. staff to secrecy—"no matter what pressure they bring to bear, even under torture." Moaned one earnest A.P. staffer: "Gee, Ed, I might break under torture.")

Burned Up. A trusted veteran of 20 years' reporting, and the A.P.'s European war chief, Kennedy had rashly risked his reputation. Why? He had sat on stories before: like some other newsmen in the Mediterranean, for example, he had known all about the Patton face-slapping incident, and had kept it quiet—only to have Drew Pearson spill it.

Kennedy gave as his reason for breaking the peace news that there was no military security involved. General Allen had told him, he said, that the surrender story was being held up only for Big Three political reasons.

For 24 hours, Ed Kennedy had a scoop which the A.P. touted to the fullest. But, as his colleagues in Paris irately pointed out, it was a scoop that anyone might have had if he were willing to break his word. The New York Times's Drew Middleton cabled that it was "the most colossal 'snafu' in the history of the war. I am browned off, fed up, burned up and put out." Fifty-four correspondents at SHAEF signed an angry soo-word protest, calling Kennedy's action "the most disgraceful, deliberate and unethical double cross in the history of journalism."