Evening star., 1953-03-21
AcidTest

Charles E. BOhlen, nominated as Ambassador to
Russia, is the acid test of whether the new
administration is going to clean out the State
Department. Secretary Dulles has retorted that
it is the acid test of something else-of the
orderly processes of Government.
Both of these men are mistaken. The
Bohlen case is the acid test of whether
corporals guard of reckless Senators is going
to be able to butcher the reputation of a re-
Spected public Servant-and get away with it.
Three Senators-McCarran Mccarthy and
Bridges-head up the Bohlen opposition Others
may join them but they have not yet come for
ward. Their opposition apparently rests on the
report of an FBI investigation of MIR. Bohlen
which has not been made public In one way
or another however, these Senators have con-
veyed the impression that they know of some
thing in the report that it is sufficiently detri-
mental to dsqualify Mr.. Bohlen. Have they
actually seen the report? If not, has some one
told them what it says? If so who was the
informant and how reliable is he?
On the other side are these facts: The For
eign Relations Committee has voted unani-
mously in favor of recommending the Bohlen
nomination. Senator Taft says this vote was
taken after Secretary Dulles gave the COM
mittee 1.-The full story of what was in the file,
good and bad" Mr.. Dulles says there was no
fact of any kind in the FBI report that cast
any doubt on Mr.. Bohlen's loyalty or security
He said there were three or four instances Of
suspicion, wholly unsubstantiated, and based
only on rumorS.
Senator McCarran suggests that Secretary
Dulles concealed from the committee the fact
that r. w. Scott Mcleod, State Department
security officer, had refused to clear Mr.. Bohlen
on the basis of the FBI report, and that Mr. Nc
Leod had been "summarily overridden" by Mr..
Dulles. The Secretary says that is not true
that Mr.. Mcleod made no attempt to evaluate
the report and that there is no difference
of opinion between them on Mr.. Dulles final
evaluation.
In the face of all this, plus President Eisen-
hower's firm support of his nominee, the dis
senting Senators are threatening to attack
Mr.. Bohlen from the floor of the Senate unless
the full FBI report is made available to any
Senator who wants to see it.
It is true that the Constitution gives the
Senate concurrent voice in finally approving
an appointment such as Mr. Bohlen's. But this
does not mean that an FBI file, which properly
contains every scrap of information and every
bit OF improved gossip about nominee, should
be put in the hands Of 96 Senator'S Any mans
reputation might be ruined that way, and, come
what may, this demand should be refused.
If a majority of the Senate does not believe
that Secretary Dulles is telling the truth. the
nomination can be rejected. But, of course, this
will not happen. What may happen is that the
dissenting Senators will take the floor and
expound on what Mr.. Dulles describes as the
wholly unsubstantiated rumorS set forth in
the report.
No one can stop them If they want to do
this. But if they do it the American people
should know that they are trading in gossip and
rumor. They will be saying, in effect, that the
President, the Secretary of State and the For
eign Relations Committee are unworthy of be-
lief. They will set themselves up as being better
judges of an FBI report, which they presumably
have not seen, than are those who have read
and studied it. If this is what they intend to
do, they may succeed, using unsubstantiated
rumor as their weapon, in damaging Mr.. Bob
lens reputation and in impairing his usefulness
as an ambassador. But if they dabble in this
dirty business, the consequences will be on
their conscience, and theirs alone.