Evening star., 1951-08-11
You Could Be on McCorthy's List

In closing his Senate speech in which he
gave the names of State Department employees
who, he says,are suspected of diSloyalty, Senator
Mccarthy made this statement in the form OF
a rhetorical question addressed to himself:
If an individual is accused of reckless
driving, jumping stop sign, or embezzling
from bank, the American people get that
information. So why should not the Amer
lean people be informed when their servants
are accused of Communist activities as
result of FBI Investigations?
Senator Mccarthy knows the answer to his
own question. '-
When laws are violated in this country
such as laws against reckless driving, disobeying
traffic regulations, embezzlement etc.-the ac-
cused person has a right to public trial. The
= charges must be proved in court beyond reason
able doubt. The accuSers must face the accused
The accused has the right of counsel. the right
of appeal the right to jury and all the otner
rights free people have secured to prevent the
tyranny of injustice by Government or anybody
else.
charge of disloyalty, based on information
furnished to Government department by the
FBI or by other sourceS-other sources including
Senator McCarthy-does not necessarily mean
that the person so charged has violated any law
If there is valid reason to believe law has been
violated the accused is prosecuted in open court,
with resulting publicity.
There is no law against membership in the
Communist Party, unless such membership in
wolves charge of conspiracy against the Gov
ernment There is no law against membership
in the subversive organizations listed by the
Attorney General. Such membership, in itself,
involves no violation of law.
But the Government has wisely decided
of thoSo wh0
are affiliated with subversve organizations or
those whose associations with such organiza-
tions cast doubt on an employees loyalty If the
evidence against such an employe is not COM
plete yet doubt remains, that doubt is resolved
in favor of the employing Government-not, as
in a court of law, in favor of the defendant.
When the FBI obtains information which
reflects on the loyalty of an employe, that in
formation is forwarded to the Government de-
partment concerned. AS Senator Mccarthy
knows, and as FBI Director Hoover has taken
pains to point out time and again. that informa-
tion is not evauated by the F'BI. In other words,
the FBI does not undertake to say that the
information is to be accepted on its face as
evidence of dsloyalty or other guilt. The eval-
uation is left to Others such as the loyalty boards,
which investigate the nature of the information,
hear the accused, and attempt to reach a fair
conclusion. If doubt remains, the employe is
fired or permitted to resign.
In Senator McCarthys list of State Depart
ment employees, about half of them have already
been cleared after investigation Some are
awaiting hearings. Some of them are going
through the business twice. The question posed
by Senator Mccarthy is why they should be pro-
tected by secrecy during this process.
The Governments position is that it is I'M
fair to subject an employe to the opprobrium of
publicity linking his name with an improved
allegation of disloyalty and thus condemning
him, without the benefit of any semblance of
trial, to the resulting stigma.
Is that right or is it wrong?
Would you, citizen convinced of your own
loyalty to your Government, welcome publicity
If the FBI turned in a report to your employer
based on the unevaluated information of anony-
nous informerS to the effect that you were a
Communist, and if it were publicly announced
that you were under investigation for disloyalty
on the strength of "FBI investigation?
If you believe that this would be fair to you,
you agree with Senator Mccarthy in making
public the names of people who may be entirely
innocent of any disloyalty yet in Senator Nc
Carthy's own words, "are accused of Communist
activities as result of F'BI Investigations
But if you do agree that in your own case
this would be unjust, you cannot agree with
Senator Mccarthy.