National Affairs: Not Needed

At one of the bleakest moments in the Korean fighting last September, the Defense Department took over the 48,000-ton United States, standing one-third finished at Newport News, Va. and announced that the ship (biggest passenger vessel ever built in the U.S.) would be converted into a carrier for troops. Last week, without giving any reason, Defense Secretary George Marshall returned the ship to its owner, the United States Lines, told the line to go ahead and finish its $70 million dreamboat as a luxury liner.