U.S. LOYALTY PROCEDURE

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27702, 5 July 1955, Page 3

U.S. LOYALTY PROCEDURE

“Swing Towards Normalcy” [Specially/ written for the N.Z.P.A. by FRANK OLIVER] WASHINGTON, July 2. It is more than pleasant to record that the swing towards normalcy—some would say sanity—from security and nervousness—some would say madness—continues, and there is a much healthier feeling in the air. The American flirtation with methods that, to say the least, were scarcely democratic seems almost over and the national hysteria on the loyalty front has abated, while as a natural accompaniment McCarthyism has been buried by the Senate. Senator McCarthy tried to tie the President’s hands for Geneva, and the Senate, by 77 to 4, voted its confidence in the President and its lack of confidence in poor old Joe. The Courts finally were called upon to take a hand in the loyalty-security mess and in four decisions have ruled against the Executive and reaffirmed freedoms which are contained in the Constitution and dear to the heart and soul of the vast majority of Americans. In two cases, the Courts have ordered expunged from the departmental records findings of “reasonable doubt” about tne loyalty of government servants, and in two other cases the Courts have limited the power of the Executive to determine who may travel abroad. In these cases passports have been refused for periods running into years without explanations and without hearings. The Courts have been insisting on the “due process” without which citizens, by the Constitution, cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property. / The rulings show that the Courts believe that travel abroad is as much a citizen’s natural right as travel within the country. In yet another and Gilbertian case, a government servant was dismissed from the Agriculture Department as a security risk, but was cleared by the State Department and was hired again by a third department. After many months and oceans of adverse publicity, the Secretary of Agriculture finds that perhaps the case against the man was put rather too high.

In the now notorious Lattimore case, the Justice Department has at last admitted failure to bring against him any indictment on which it can hope to secure a conviction.