Evening star., 1950-07-18
An InconcIusiye Report

The most regrettable thing about the report
Of the Tydings subcommittee in the Mccarthy
case is that it is not apt to change any minds
that have already been made up. This Is not
the fault Of the report. It is the result of
curious mixture Of politics, distrust of the ad-
ministration and its foreign policy, postwar
disllusionment, the Hiss case and related matters
ali Of which have contributed to making the
Mccarthy case a phenomenon in itself.
As for the report, it seems to The Star that
the subcommittee's majority took the only prac-
tical course available to it in concentrating upon
the truth or falsity of what Senator Mccarthy
actually said. It found no evidence to support
the charges Nor did 1t make any real attempt
to follow up all the implications Of Mr.. Me-
Carthy'S scatter-gun statements on or off the
floor Of the Senate. It was ostensibly because
Of this decision to concentrate on the letter
Of the Mccarthy charges, rather than to follow
down all the leads suggested by the charges,
that Senator Lodge found himself unable to
concur in the report-although he is far from
expressing any concurrence Of his own with
Senator Mccarthy.
But the Lodge minority report contains
some contradictions Of its own. The Senator
concludes that the investigation by the sub
committee was superficial and inconclusive."
It was q "tangle Of loose threads" and leads
not followed up. A far greater amount of time
was given to proving or diSproving individual
charges than was given to the overall ferreting
out Of disloyal persons. In my view, the
emphasis was faulty in this respect" But in
almost the same breath Senator Lodge says that
the sort Of investigation which he could approve
sis obviously o job which is beyond the reach
of any Congressional committee and would
probably take O commission Of trained men a
good six months In other words, Senator
Lodge thinks the inyestigation was superficial,
but seems not to believe that any other kind of
Investigation could be made by committee of
Congress. sx
In It's positive findings of fact. the majority
report makes the repeated assertion that nothing
was proved to support the Mccarthy charges in
the slightest degree and that in making the
charges Senator Mccarthy knew he lacked sup
porting evidence, resorted to trickery to give his
charges a semblance of fact and thus deceived
and misled the Senate and the people The
committee majority attacks his methods and his
motives in language seldom If ever before used
in condemnation of another Senator. II the case
were anything but the Mccarthy case" !" it might
be presumed that the Senate in the circumstances
would move to expel the member guilty of such
tactics.
But the case is the Mccarthy case" People
are growing tired of it. They have more serious
things to think about. Senator Mccarthy prob
ably will survive one of the most biting indict-
ments ever leveled against Senator by his col
leagues. If the President and the Senate decide
to appoint another commission, as recommended
by the Tydings subcommittee's majority and by
Senator Lodge, something helpful might be done
in an appraisal of the whole loyalty program.
Whether it could succeed in removing the i'm
preston from many minds that Senator McCar-
thy is right in general but wrong in particulars
Is something else.