McCarthy INQUIRY

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 7

McCarthy INQUIRY

Majority Vote To End Hearing (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 pjm.) WASHINGTON, June 10.

Senator McCarthy entered a sworn denial to all the Army charges against him today and the Senate investigators voted four to three to end the ArmyMcCarthy hearings upon the completion of the cross-examination of Senator McCarthy ,and his two assistants, Mr Roy Cohn and Mr Francis Carr. The acting chairman, Senator Karl Mundt, said after a secret meeting of the Investigations Sub-committee that no special date for ending the public hearings was set. The sub-committee’s special lawyer, Mr Ray Jenkins, said earlier that he hoped to end them early next week. The three Democrats on the subcommittee cast their votes against ending the hearings. Senator Mundt said that they wanted to call as witnesses Private G. David Schine, pivotal figure in the dispute, Mr Clark Clifford, one-time adviser to former President Truman, and Major-General Kirk Lawton.

The sub-committee met in secret session after Senator. McCarthy in his second day on the stand described the Army Secretary, Mr Robert, Stevens, as an “honest” but “naive”’ man who had been “housetrapped” by politicians into the bitter dispute which exploded into the McCarthyArmy hearings. With two exceptions, Senator McCarthy said, there was nothing even “remotely approaching misconduct on the part of Mr Stevens.”

One exception was Mr Stevens’ action in circulating among committee members an affidavit by Brigadier General Ralph Zwicker alleging that Senator McCarthy “browbeat” the general during an investigation of Major Irving Peress, described by the Senator as a ‘‘Fifth-Amendment Communist.”

Senator McCarthy said Mr Stevens should not have protested until he read the transcript of the secret hearing with General Zwicker. The other exception, the Senator said, was the part Mr Stevens might have played in drawing up the Army charges. But he said he did not believe Mr Stevens “had very much to do with drafting the charges.” Senator McCarthy blamed the charges on Senator Stuart Symington and Mr Clark Clifford, former President Truman’s counsel, and on members of the Eisenhower Administration who attended a high-level Justice Department meeting on the dispute.

Those present at the meeting on January 21 were the Attorney-General Mr Herbert Brownell, the Presidential assistant, Mr Sherman Adams, the Deputy-Attorney-General; Mr William Rogers, Mr Henry Cabot Lodge, and the Army counsellor, Mr John Adams. Senator McCarthy said Mr Stevens never made a "single threat,” but did try last November 6 to get the Senator to call off his invitation of alleged Communists at the Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, radar centre. He said that he did not consider this improper, because Mr Stevens said the Army could take over.

Senator McCarthy said he did not feel that actual pressure was being put on him to halt the inquiry until January 21, when Mr Adams and Mr Stevens were in touch with other subcommittee members to try and block subpoenas for members of the Army Loyalty Board.

“Abysmally Incompetent” Senator McCarthy said that MajorGeneral Richard Partridge, head Army Intelligence when the Fort Monmouth investigation opened, was “abysmally incompetent.” He said that Mr Stevens did not want General Partridge to testify before the sub-committee for fear it would “give great aid and comfort to the enemy.” General Partridge subsequently was relieved by Mr Stevens. Senator McCarthy sail he believed Mr Adams was to blame for the decision which gave Major Irving Peress an honourable discharge after he refused to answer questions by the sub-committee.

Senator McCarthy also testified that on January 22 Mr Adams threatened to release a report criticisihg Mr Cohn if subpoenas were issued for members of the Army Loyalty Board. “He told me that it might wreck the committee,” Senator McCarthy said, “and that it would be better to cancel the call to the Loyalty Board members than wreck the committee.”

Senator McCarthy called this Mr Adams’s ’“boldest threat.” He said it was the turning point in his relationships with Mr Adams and Mr Stevens Until then their relations had been friendly. In denying Army testimony, Senator McCarthy swore that Mr Stevens asked to be photographed with Private Schine in the now-celebrated picture taken last November 17 at the McGuire Air Force base in New Jersey. In building up to a denial of the heart of the Army charges, that he used improper pressure to get favours for Private Schine, Senator McCarthy said: “I told Stevens: ‘Bob, lean over backwards and don’t give him a commission unless you are sure he is entitled to jt.’ ” The sub-committee’s chief counsel, Mr Ray Jenkins, then asked: “And all the time your chief counsel (Mr Cohn) was talking the other way?” “No,” Senator McCarthy replied. Mr Jenkins asked: “Wouldn’t you say that by and large Robert Stevens was a good Secretary of the Army?” Senator McCarthy replied: “I think this experience has made him a much better Secretary.”