Evening star., 1950-08-08
Mccarthy Says Press
Fails 10 Report Fully
His Anti-Red Drive
BY the Associated Press

=
Of his campaign to rid the State
Department of the Communists
he insists are employed there.
I, Senator Mccarthy last week
sent a letter and several exhibits
to the editor of each daily news
paper in the country. He gave
a copy of the letter and exhibits
to a reporter yesterday.
Several of the exhibits con-
cerned an aff1davit which Senator
Mccarthy read to the Senate on
August / purporting to link Owen
baltimore with a prewar Russian
spy ring.
Senator McCarthy's letter to the
editors noted the Associated Press
did not carry story on the aftl-
davit.
Called Not Newsworthy.
CIn New York, the Associa-
ted Press stated: THE AP has
reported in great detail all news
worthy aspects of Senator Nc
Carthy's charges of Commu-
nism-in- Government and re-
sponses thereto. In this case, it
was concluded the Senator's
statement lacked news value"
The Stars editors who read the
statement shared the same
viewD
Senator Mccarthy told the ed
itors that up TO the time the
American Society of Newspaper
Editors met in Washington last
April "the press coverage OF our
fight to rid the State Department
Of Communists left much to be de-
sired" He added:
Fortunately, many of the edi-
tors during the days they were
in Washington, personally saw the
news being made in this case. and
also witnessed the press coverage
out Of Washington. -.
Apparently the situation was
rather forcefully called to the at
tention of the wire services and
some Of the Washington CORE
spondents. The result was that
the coverage greatly improved.
Unfortunately. however, the i'm
provement was only temporary"
Senator Mccarthy then recited
the lack OF A. P. distribution OF the
afidavit he read to the Senate Au-
gust /. In his Senate speech, Sen
ator Mccarthy said the affidavit
was made in Switzerland last May
Is by Willy Rudolf Forester,
German born engineer who said
he lived in Japan from 1882 to
l947.
Convicted Spy Cited.
In the aff1davit, Mr.. Forester
said that in 1898 a man named
Max Clausen, later convicted by
the Japanese as a Soviet spy, had
prevailed on Mr.. Foerster's wife to
take a letter to the United States
for him. IA.
Mr.. Forester said Clausen told
him the letter contained delicate
family matters and he did not
want it to pass through Japanese.
censorship.
Mr.. Forester said his wife
opened the letter, fearing that
she might be bringing money or
5 other matter illegally into the
United States I, and discovered
it was signed By DR.. Richard
Sorge. He said his wife could
not read English and hence did
not know what the letter said.
Senator Mccarthy noted that
q report of Gen. MacArthur's
intelligence staff listed Sorge as
the director of a prewar Soviet
spy ring in Japan and Clausen
as his assistant.
Both were convicted by the
japanese in 1943. Sorge was
hanged and Clausen was SEN
fenced to life Imprisonment but
later was released.
Remembers Address.
The affidavit continued:
II remember distinctly, as
my ClauSen business file and my
former wife's diary will prove,
that the address on this letter
was Owen baltimore (Which Il
believed at that time was a fem
mine name) and l believe the
address was somewhere in Cali
fornia."
Senator Mccarthy broke into
his reading of the affidavit at that
point to remark, incidentally
baltimore was the head of the
owl in California at that time"
Later, reporters pointed out to
Senator Mccarthy that the aff1-
davit said the letter incident oc-
CURED in 1888, and Senator Nc
Carthy replied: Obviously the
Owl was not in existence then"
Senator Mccarthy told the
Senate that during the war Foers-
ter was picked up by the Japanese
as spy for the Allies, and in his
afhdavit, Mr.. Forester referred to
a conversation he had in 1914 in
Tokyo prison with Sorge.
Mr.. Forester said he asked
Sorge about the meaning of the
letter his wife had carried.
He said Sorge "very excitedly
asked me not to divulge to the
japanese police that my wife had
taken the letter. He said it would
not help me to do so and it would
only 'endanger his innocent
sister"
The affidavit carried q paren-
thetical notation that "a German
expression was used which could
mean not only sister but also
comrade."
Attached to Senator McCarthy's
let 2r to the editors were photo
graphic copies of the affidavit.
stories which appeared in the
August 2 editions of the New
York Herald Tribune and the
Washington Times Herald, a re-
print of Senator McCarthy's SEN
ata oddraSS AYo1yct a,d 49, -