The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-06-18
by JOHN CHADWICK

vised probe of the Mccarthy Army
row started out with a tangle of
conflicting charges and wound up
with q mass Of conflicting testi-
1nony.
The drama, played out before
The Senate Investigations subcom-
mittee and vast Tv audience.
ranged far from the original out
line before the lights went out in
the Senate caucus room late yes
terday.
For IS days, beginning April r.;
the hearings went on compounded
Of a mixture of charges made and
denied, Of moments of Juror and
humor, Of political mitigating, of
the strengths and weaknesses Of
men.
The big-name. antagonists were
Sen. Joseph r. Mccarthy (R-Wis),
the subcommittee regular chair
man, and Secretary of the Army
Robert T. Stevens, appointed soon
after the Eisenhower administra-
ton came into office in January
1853.
Accusations Made
Mccarthy and two of his aides
were accused by Stevens and
Army Counselor John G. Adams of
exerting Improper pressures on the
Army in an effort to win preferen-
tial treatment for Pvt. G. David
Schine, q former unpaid subcom-
mittee consultant.
To this the Mccarthy side re-
torted that Stevens and Adams had
used Schine as "a hostage in an
attempt to '.blackmail" the sub
committee into dropping a search
for Communists in the Army.
At the windup, neither had
backed down.
In his opening statement, Acting
Chairman Mundt (R-SD) described
the charges as of "a grave and
serious nature He stated this
aim: "To make 4 full and i'm
partial effort to reveal that which
is true and 10 expose that which
Il false" 4
Flow OF Words
From that beginning flowed
like ia million words Of testimony
and oratory.
The first witness called, tall and
trim in his uniform, was Maj. Gen.
Miles Reber, former chief Army
liaison officer at the Capitol and
now q commander Of US. troops
in Germany.
Reber said Mccarthy told him
last July 8 that he was very much
interested In obtaining" a direct
Army commission for Schine and
felt Schine was fully qualified"
When Mccarthy later took the
witness chair, he swore he never
asked for q commission for Schine.
He said he had inquired of Reber
only whether Schine was qualified
and how to 60 about applying for
b commission.
This was just one of the many
conflicting statements now being
studied by the Justice Department
should be prosecuted for perjury.
Secretary Stevens, who did the
longest stint in the witness chair,
also testified on the opening day
and detailed incidents he said
showed continuing efforts by Nc
Carthy and his aides from last
July to mid-February to win IA
Sors for Schine.
Range Of Requests
He said requests in behalf. Of
Schine ranged from several for q
direct commission for the wealthy
New Yorker before he was induct-
ed into the Army last Nov. to
many for special assignments, re-
lief from routine KIP duties, and
extra time off while he was in
training at TT. Dix, M.
During my tenure as secretary
of the Army" Stevens said, "there
is no record that matches this per-
sistent, tireless effort to obtain
special consideration and privi-
leges for this man." He called it
an example "of the wrongful seek
ing Of privilege, Of the perversion
Of power"
What did Mccarthy have to say
about these charges? II state un-
der oath they are untrue" he said.
And just as emphatically McCar-
thy swore that his countercharges
against Stevens and Adams "are
true" - all of them, he said.
At the first hearing Mccarthy
made q statement that, in one
form or another, was 10 be repeat
cd over and over.
Repeated Statement
81 am firmly convinced" he
said, "the reason we are here
spending out time on the question
Of whether or not Pvt. Schine re-
ceived special consideration is be-
cause we are getting close to the
nerve center in the Pentagon of
the old civilian politicians over the
past 10 or 20 years who have COW
cred up"
The clashing nature of Stevens
and McCarthy's testimony can be
pointed up by what they had to
say about a charge termed per-
haps the most serious of all by the
Army's special counsel Joseph N.