O’donnell, “daily News” Columnist, Apologizes to Jews; Says His Charges Were Untrue

John O’Donnell, Washington columnist of the New York Daily News, today publicly admitted that there was no truth in his column of Oct. 8, in which he asserted that Jews were responsible for the removal of Gen. Patton from his post as military administrator of Bavaria. He expressed regret for having made the anti-Jewish statements against which leading Jewish organizations in America had protested.

O’Donnell’s apology, published in the Daily News today as part of his column “Capitol Stuff,” is given the same prominenoe as his anti-Jewish remarks. It reads as follows:

“On Oct. 3 this column attributed the removal of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. from his command of the U.S. 3d Army and as military administrator of Bavaria to pressure applied by influential members whose racial background was Jewish. Their antagenism to Patton, it was stated, came from the slapping by Patton of a soldier hospitalized in Sicily during the Summer campaingn of 1943. The slapping was described as accompanied by derogatory references to the victim’s Jewish origin.

“After careful investigation we have determined that the one identified soldier whom-Patton slapped is Charles H. Kuhl of Mishawaka, Ind. He is not a Jew, but of German extraction. He is a member of the Nazarene Church, akin to the Methodist.

“Named among those who pressed for Patton’s removal were Henry Morgenthau, former Secretary of the Treasury; Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court associate justice; David K. Niles, administrative assistant to the President, and Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and chairman of the CIO-Political Action Committee. Each of these gentlemen except Justice Frankfurter has categerically denied any participation in the Patton removal. Justice Frankfurter, because of his judical position, does not issue statements for publication.

“On the evidence, our statements in Capitol Stuff were untrue. We regret having made them.”