Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-31
Text Of Flanders Plea for Censure of Mccarthy

Followtng is the teri OF Sem
GtoT Flanders speech last night
urging the Senate to ce,tsnre
Senator Mccarthy:
Mr.. President: As / announced
on this floor on Tuesday. July
20, I am today presenting q
motion of cenSure which reads
as follows:
Resolved. That the conduct
of the Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr.. Mccarthy. is unbecoming IA
member of the United States
Senate. is contrary to senatorial
traditions, and tends to bring the
Senate into disrepute, and such
conduct Is hereby condemned.
I shall send this resolution to
the desk ct an appropriate time.
Now, a resolution of censure
of one of its members by the
Senate is serious but not un-
precedented matter. The most
recent case occurred in 1929
when a Republican Senate CEN
sured q Republican Senator for
introducing an unauthorized per-
son into the executive sessions
Of his committee. This matter
is indeed serious one. It Is
therefore important that q bill
Of particulars be offered to sup
port the motion of censure. My
own list of particulars I now
proceed to offer, though other
Senators will have hany other
matters in their minds besides
those which I am specifying.
Refusal to Answer.
Item /. In my talk on the Sen
ate floor of June II, called the
attention of the Senate to the
fact that in the closing days OF
the SD Congress serious charges
were made against the Junior
Senator from Wisconsin. A sub
committee of the Rules Commit
tee felt that those charges were
so serious that they addressed to
the junior Senator from Wiscon-
sin hereinafter designated as
"the Senator') q list Of queS-,
tions. Neither at that time nor
now do I pass any judgment on
the charges on which these ques-
tons were based. What I do
charge is that the Senator was
repeatedly asked to reply to the
questions and that he repeatedly
refused or neglected to do so,
CHASING them as "smears" and
ignoring them. In so doing. the
Senator showed personal con-
tempt for the subcommittee. He
likewise expressed doubts as to
their honesty and as to their
jurisdiction in the matters con-
cerned.
The Senate itself. by a vote OF
go to 0. upheld the honesty and
the jurisdiction of it's committee
and subcommittee. The personal
contempt of the Senator was
thereupon spread over the Sem.
ate as a whole and there it re-
mains to this day.
1t may be objected that all of
this relates to old and forgotten
matters. They are old but not
forgotten. The Senator cannot
pass them off lightly on that
account, however. because he
habitually digs up matters of
far greater age and does not
hesitate to use them against
any one whom he calls before
his committee or its subcom-
mittees.
Fifth Amendment Senator"
As a matter of fact, there is
no statute of limitations which
runs against this kind of con-
tempt because it is personal. not
legal. 1t remains upon us in
definitely unless and until the
Senator chooses to cleanse him
self by answering the questions.
If he continues to refuse
answering, he finds himself in
the same category as the fifth
amendment Communists. He is
quite evidently occupying the
same ground and can scarcely
avoid being called a fifth amend
ment Senator.
This first item of the bill of
particulars affects the Senate's
honor and is therefore pertinent
to the resolution which I have
just read and supports its i'm
portance and validity.
Item 2. In the spring of 1853
the Senator sent abroad pair of
investigators named Cohn and
Schine who were instructed to
seek for subversion. Communist
literature, and other Communist
influences In our embassies and
operational stats abroad. He is
for the words and
acts of these men. He appointed
them. He has never repudiated
their words and acts.
This ineffable pair was friv-
olous and irresponsible beyond
words to describe. We took that
expedition too lightly. We were
by it, albeit in a rueful
sort of way. But Cohr1 and Schine
caused no amusement in Europe.
They caused amazement that led
to serious doubts as to the seri-
BUSINESS, responsibility and in
telligence of this Government as
represented by emissaries of it's
upper legislative chamber. No
one can know the dismay which
was spread among our friends
smirk and laugh, what have you
done? What do you know about
the tremendous burden carried
by Senator Mccarthy"
Senator Dirksen concluded by