Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-20
The Political Mill
Flanders Puts Senate
In a Delicate Position
Many Of His Colleagues
Don't Relish AIternqtives
By GouId Lincoln

By Gould Lincoln
Senator Flanders, Vermont Republi.
can who does not like Senator Joe Nc.
Carthy Of Wisconsin or his methods.
has the Senate across q barrel. If he
persists In offering his resolution Of
censure Of Senator Mccarthy, the SEN
ate must vote it up or down. table it, or
send it to committee.
A vote to table (Which means to kilD
or vote to send to committee would
be headlined across the country and
abroad as . Mccarthy victory. And, Of
course. vote to defeat the resolution
directly would be victory with Q big v
Tor the Wisconsin Senator. Many Sena-
tors would not be pleased to see such a
Mccarthy victory. Their alternative is
to vote censure-and that some Of them
dislike for two specific reasons. One is
political. They don't care to have the
Mccarthy following turn on them
and that goes for some Of the Demo-
Gratis as well as some Of the Republic
cans. The other Is that blanket cen.
sure Of Senator Mccarthy would give
JOY to the Communists, both In this
country and abroad.
Plans Action July 80.
Senator Flanders has announced he
will not offer and call up his resolution
OF censure until July 80. He has taken
this course, he said, to accommodate
Senator Mcclellan of Arkansas, rank
ing Democrat on the Mccarthy investi-
eating NnYnrnjftao De-
primary campaign which ends July 81.
and to give the Republican leadership
Of the Senate an opportunity to move
the Eisenhower legislative program
toward completion. Senator Knowland.
Republican leader, had complained that
the intersection Of the Flanders reso-
luton at this time would delay adj
1ournment and the Presidents program
I'VE days or week.
Unless some way is found to persuade
Senator Flanders not to 60 forward
with his resolution, or some parliament
tary maneuver not yet disclosed fol.
lows, the Senate will have to express
itself on the Mccarthy censure pro-
posal. His resolution has q privileged
status In that If, when he offers 1t. he
asks for immediate consideration the
resolution must be taken up, sent to a
committee by vote, or tabled. It cannot
be referred to q committee under the
ordinary procedure, without a vote, II
Senator Flanders or another Senator
demands vote.
Some OF the best minds In the Sonata
are trying to work out q plan to get
the Senate OF the hook. Should Sena-
tor Mcclellan come back to Washing.
ton and declare his intention of voting
Tor the Flanders resolution, he would
influence a considerable number of
Democratic Senators in the matter
perhaps enough, Joined with the Re-
publicanS who support Senator Elan.
ders. to put through the censure reso-
luton. That is looked upon with mis-
givings by those Republicans who still
wish to use the Wisconsin Senator in
the coming congressional campaign.
Most Democrats Silent.
In the absence Of Senator Mcclellan,
most Of the Democrats have CLAIMED
up. One Of their leaders, for example,
said he wanted to see the final Flanders
resolution which he had to vote on.
There have already been two YER
entail Democrat took the position that
there must be bill of particulars If
the Senate is to vote censure. I'VE
would be acting as court-indeed, q
court of last resort" he commented.
The charge must be specific" The
present Flanders resolution censures
Senator Mccarthy on the ground that
his conduct as chairman of the Senate
Investigations Subcommittee "is unbe-
coming member of the United States
Senate, is contrary to senatorial tradi-
tionS, tends to bring the Senate into
disrepute." The contention of this
Senator was that charges should be
pointed up, by report of commit
tee, presumably the investigating COM
mittee, even a minority report. It
would be something the Senate could
act on intelligently. Another Demo-
crat, however, took the position that
the charges could be defined in debate
and need not be written into the
resolution or even into committee
report, before action.
There is, to be sure, the possibility
that the Senate might conclude its
work and adjourn before Senator Elan
ders brings up his resolution-but it
does not look as though 1t could end
its labors by July 80.
Resolutions Of censure have been
adopted by the Senate-though rarely.
Back in 1902, by vote Of 81 to IL,
the Senate censured the two Senators
from South Carolina, Tillman and Nc
Laurin, because Of fist fight on the
Senate floor. And in 1929, former
Senator Bingham, Republican from
Connecticut, was censured, 81 to %,
because he permitted an assistant to
the president Of the Connecticut Manu-
facturers Association to attend Finance
Committee sessions while it was con-
sidering tariff bill. No corrupt mo-
tives were charged against Senator
Bingham. In both cases there were
committee reports.