Evening star., 1950-03-24
Communists
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tor Mccarthy added, has a desk
in the State Department; at least
he did up to four or five weeks
ago. and has had free access
to the files"
The Wisconsin Senator also de-
clared that Senator Tydings
knows it is untrue because he has
in his possession a sworn state
ment from State Department
official that this man was a con-
sultant of the department on Far
Eastern affairs as late as last De-
cember."
Senator Mccarthy said that If
the man he has accused of being
top Russian spy is brought be-
fore the investigating committee
and If he is allowed to question
him, he'll indict himself or per-
jure himself.
Will "Stand or Fall' on Case.
Senator Mccarthy reiterated
that he is willing to stand OF
falP on this case. If it is dis
proved, he said. the committee
would have "the right to discredit'
the other charges.
If I'm 100 per cent right. and
l have no doubts about that" he
added. then the committee should
recognize the seriousness of these
charges"
Senator Tydings earlier had dis
closed that he had asked formally
for the loyalty files in letters sent
out Tuesday. He said he had re-
quested the files in 81 cases men,
toned by Senator Mccarthy in q
February 20 Senate speech that
led to the present Investigation
and others that Senator Mccarthy
has named in public hearings as
being "pro-Communist."
Senator Tydings said he had re-
quested these files since some
manner Of charges, however frag-
mentary, have been lodged
against those individuals.
Refuses Comment on Report.
Senator Tydings refused to
comment on a report that the
committee is sending an investi-
gator to Wheeling, w. Va, tc
seek information about a speech
Senator Mccarthy gave there in
opening his charges against the
department.
Herman A. Gieske, editor of the
Wheeling Intelligencer, said Lyon
Tyler. jr., former FBI agent, had
come to Wheeling to question the
reporter who covered Senate,
Tydings' Lincoln Day speech there
on February 9.
The reporter, Frank Desmond
said MIR. Tyler asked him last
night to sign an affidavit as te
the accuracy of his report of Sena-
tor McCarthy's speech.
Mr.. Desmond said he refused
on grounds it was not fair to sign
the affidavit since Senator Nc
Carthy was not present at the
interview with Mr.. Tyler. Francis
j. Love of Wheeling, a former
Republican House member, sat in
on the interview as an adviser to
Mr.. Desmond and voiced a SINH
lar opinion.
Democrats have been reminding
Senator Mccarthy that he was
reported as saying in Wheeling
that there are 205 Communists in
the State Department, while else
where he has said there are 81
card-carrying Communists in the
department.
Senator Mccarthy told The Star
that an error in his Office in typing
his speech led to the report that
he had used the 205 figure. What
happened, he said, was that a
Wheeling reporter asked for ar
advance copy of the speech ano
that he gave it to him after warn
ing that he had not checked II
and probably would deviate large.
ly from the text.
Explains Confusion.
He said the confusion about the
205 figure arose because he quoted
in the speech from a letter from
former Secretary of State Byrnes
that was inserted in the Congress
sional Record in 1946.
That letter, he added, said that
in one group of State Department
employees, screened by the Security
Board, 284 were listed as disloya
or a bad security risk, and that
OF this number only .79 were dis
charged. This left 2O5 still in the
department, Senator Mccarthy
said, and added that he had not
charged all of these were Com
munist.
1T should be unnecessary to
spend time and money to investi-
gate this matter in view of the
fact that I understand that each
OF my speeches was either re-
broadcast or recorded" Senator
Mccarthy said.
However. it was reported from
Wheeling that the recording had
been destroyed.