Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-04-06


~~~
This is one Of a series Of background
articles on the controversial iunioI
Senator from Wisconsin currently op.
peoring in The Stor.
that there are present in the
State Department a stable num-
Der of Communists. I made the
further statement that Of one
small group which had been
screened by the Presidents own
security agency, the State De-
partment refused to discharge
approximately 200.
1.-THE Secretary of State
promptly denied my statement
and said there was not a single
Communist in the whole State
Department. I thereafter sent q
telegram to the President"
Senator Mccarthy read a copy
Of this telegram. In it he said:
q. I have in my possession
the names of 81 Communists who
are in the State Department at
present.
while the records are not
available to me. know absolute
ly of one group of 800 certified
by the Secretary of State for dis
charge because of communism
He actually only discharged
80. ~
Demands Files.
The telegram demanded that
President Truman revoke his
executive order forbidding dis
closure of the contents of 10y
atty files and added: Failure
on your part will label the
Democratic Party as the bed
fellow of international commu-
nlSm.
The speech Senator Mccarthy
was delivering climaxed 10 days
Of the most intensive fidgets
that had beset his fellow men,
bers of Congress, the Truman
administration and newspaper
correspondents for some time.
The statement he described
had been made at Wheeling
w. Va, before a Republican
womens club.
Newspaper stories had quoted
him as saying at Wheeling: II
have here in my hand a list
OF 205 that were known to the
Secretary of State (then Dean
Acheson) as being members of
the Communist Party and who
nevertheless are still working
and shaping the policy in the
State Department"
2O5, Then 81.
The next day, having nOwl
to Salt Lake City. he was quoted
in a recorded radio Interview
as saying: Last night C..
stated I had the names sof 81
card-carrying members Of the
State Department"
If Senator McCarthy's listen
ers in the Senate had expected
him to clear UP this seeming
decentralization, they were to
be disappointed. Instead, he
went on-for six hours alto
gether-to rake the State De-
partment from every angle.
The attack continued thereaft-
er, not subsiding entirely even
after Dwight D. Eisenhower was
elected President and John Fos-
ter Dulles became Secretary of
State.
AS that evening, in 1850 wore
on, Senator Mccarthy began
reading into the Congressional
Record. what he said were the
case histories of Communists or
fellow travellers in the State De-
partment. He said he had now
compiled list of 81.
While I consider them all i'm
portant." he said. there are
three big Communists involved.
do not believe President
Truman knows about them.
To those who say why don't
you tell the State Department:
why do you not give the names
to the State Department. I say
that everything I have here is
from the State Departments
own files"
Senator Mccarthy named no
names. He said he would give
them to Senators in private or
to a committee and that if he
were called upon to testify on
them before a committee he
would appear under oath.
Numbers, But no Names.
He simply listed his cases as
"Case No. /" and so on through
81. For example:
THE man involved in Case No
! is employed in the Office of an
assistant secretary of state. The
intelligence unit Swallowed him
and found him contracting the
members of an espionage group.
The day after Senator Nc
Carthy's Wheeling speech, Sena-
tor Scott Lucas. Senate Demo
cratic leader from Illinois. called
q meeting of the Democratic
policy committee. He was for at
lacking Senator Mccarthy with
a demand that the Wisconsin
senator produce proof.
One willy Southern politician
recalled later that he advised
against such move.
II told them then" he said:
"'Don't do it. All you are COINS
to do is puff this man up anc
call attention to him. He's no.
body in the Senate and has ne
influence, but If you attack him
then you'll only give him stature
In the eyes of the people
"And that's exactly what hap.
pened."
The advice was ignored. TIVE