Evening star., 1954-04-18
Here Is What McCorthy-Amy Ruckus Is All About
By Cecil Holland

Within q few days now, the in
vestigation of the bitter Mccarthy
Army controversy should begin to
unfold on Capitol Hill. No one is
exactly happy over the approaching
spectacle that may be extremely
dirty business. For personal passion,
for unadorned give-and-take, If not
for drama, the public hearings
promise to be one Of the roughest
ever held under the Senate's tolerant
indulgence.
In all the sound and fury antici.
pated in the hearings, the issue basic
in the investigation may become OBJ
scured. It is simply one of veracity.
The hearings will have nothing to
do with Senator McCarthy's charges
that the Army has been "coddling"
Communists. They should not be
concerned with the investigation of
alleged espionage at the Army's Fort
Monmouth IN. j. radar laborato-
ries, or with any other of the Wis
consin Republicans Communist
hunting activities.
Big Issue: Verocity
The investigation, to put it blunt
ly, is a matter of determining who
is lying-Secretary of the Army
Stevens and his counsel, John G
Adams, on the one hand, or Senator
Mccarthy and his Senate Investi-
eating subcommittee counsel, Roy
M. Cohn. on the other hand.
The Army has charged that Sen
ator Mccarthy and Mr.. Cohn, over
period Of several months. exerted
pressure on it to obtain special
treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine,
wealthy young New Yorker and for
mer subcommittee consultant who
was drafted into the Army last
November.
Senator Mccarthy and Mr.. Cohn
deny these accusations. They add a
countercharge: That Mr.. Stevens
and Mr.. Adams used "blackmail"
tactics in trying to head on an in
veStigation Of Communists In the
Army by diverting the subcommit-
tees inquiry to the Navy, the Air
Force and the Defense Department
itself.
These charges. in turn. were de-
MED by the Army offlcials. Thus
the issue has been Joined on the
question Of veracity.
The issue may be simple enough.
But resolving it Is another matter.
That Is expected to require days Of
public hearings, Of new charges and
countercharges to be presented by
witnesses under oath
Bosics of Controversy
In the long run, of course, it will
be the public that will be the final
arbiter in the matter-the jury that
decides who is lying. For the public
then. as with any jury. it will be i'm
portant to keep in mind the two
basic groups of documents in the
controversy.
One is the Army's 34-page report,
made public March IL, detailing the
charges against Senator Mccarthy,
Mr.. Cohn and, to some extent,
against Francis Carr, the subcom,
mittee's staff director. The other
set of documents is the compila-
ton Of memoranda released by Sen
oOOA 4NSSoA I1lJ III 4CUuGLdl.
Bolstering these are detailed Army
charges and the reply of the other
side. These were called for last
week by the committees special
counsel, Ray Jenkins.
The Army report covers a period
from mid-July. 1858, to February
Is, 1854. The Mccarthy documents,
less comprehensive, consist of nine
memoranda. Six bear the name of
Mr. Carr. two that of Mr.. Cohn, one
by Senator Mccarthy that is not
particularly pertinent to this i'm
mediate controversy, and two, hav-
ing no indication Of authorship,
which bear on the grave charges of
"blackmaif"
Three Issues
Three separate issues emerge
when the Army report and the Nc
Carthy documents are considered:
Did Mr.. Cohn use not only
pressure but threats in seeking
preferential treatment for his pal,
Pvt. Schine?
. To what extent was Senator
Mccarthy himself involved in seek
ing favors for Pvt. Schine? This Is
especially pertinent in view Of the
Wisconsin Republicans efforts to
dismiss the whole controversy as
"a blown-up squabble" between Mr..
Cohn and Mr.. Adams.
. Did the Army use 'blackmail"
and seek to turn an investigation
to other branches of the services?
Through September. according to
the Army report, Senator Mccarthy
and Mr.. Cohn appeared to center
their efforts on obtaining a COM
mission for young Schine. When
these efforts failed and young Schine
was faced with being drafted. the
report indicates that efforts were
directed toward having him. once
he was in the Army, assigned to
the New York area.
AS an example, the Army report
in an entry for the october 18-No-
yember period contains state
ment that during these two weeks
Mr.. Adams and Mr.. Cohn spoke
in person or on the telephone almost
every day concerning an assignment
for Pvt. Schine to the. New York
City area"
The same entry says Mr.. Adams
claimed the national interest" re-
CURED that no preferential treat
ment be accorded Pvt. Schine. To
this, according to the Army. Mr..
Cohn replied that "if the national
interest was what the Army wanted
he'd give it a little and then pro-
ceeded to outline how he would ex-
pose the Army in its worst light and
show the country how shabbily it Is