Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-05
The Presidents Critics

It is interesting-and perhaps significant
to note that the Presidents SevereSt critics in
the Mccarthy affair never quite get down to the
point of saying exactly what it is that they want
him to do.
Take the case of the London Times highly
respected newspaper In the opinion of the
Times, President Eisenhower's statement was
great disappointment for "those who had hoped
that at the eleventh hour the administration
would realize the time had come when Senator
Mccarthy must be stopped-and stopped by the
only man left with enough prestige to be able to
fight him successfully" In one form or another,
this is the complaint which has been voiced by
the rest of the Presidents critics, both in this
country and abroad.
But precisely what does it mean? What,
exactly, do these critics want the President to
do? 1t is easy to say, as the Times puts it,
that Senator Mccarthy must be stopped" But
what does the Times think the President could
do and should do which would stop" Senator
Mccarthy?
Certainly no sensible critic wants the Pres
ident to descend to the level of name calling
contest with Senator Mccarthy. For that would
merely debase the Presidents position without
in any wise stopping" the Senator. The most
obtuse critic must realize that in contest of
= that sort Senator Mccarthy would be unbeat-
able. And of course the President, under our
system, has no magic power with which he
could gag the Senator or abolish his committee
What, then, can be done? AS The Star sees
1t, the most that the President can do Is to pro-
tect representatives of the executive branch of
the Government when they 60 before Senator
McCarthy's committee as witnesses. In this
sense, Senator Mccarthy can be stopped
stopped from browbeating and abusing en-
ployes OF the executive branch. Perhaps this
is what the critics want. If SO, however, they
have overlooked a significant sentence in Gen
eral EiSenhower'S statement.
It came toward the end Previously. the
President had reasserted his refusal to sur
render his responsibility as head of the execu-
tive branch. At the same time, he conceded the
right OF Congress to investigate the executive
branch, and gave assurance that employees SUBJ
ordinate to him would cooperate in such in
vestigationS except where the interests of the
Nation demand otherwise" Then came this
sentence:
Officials in the executive branch of the
Government will have my unqualified support
in insisting that employees in the executive
branch who appear before any type of execu-
tive or congressional investigative body be
treated fairly.
That sentence, if words mean anything and
If the President sticks to his guns serves notice
on Senator Mccarthy that henceforth he will
not be permitted to abuse witnesses subject to
the Presidents control. This, certainly is the
meaning the Senator placed on it. Perhaps the
critics of the President want something more.
If so, they should spell it out. On the other
hand, if their objective is to put stop to the
kind OF abuse to which General Zwicker was
subjected. 1t is a strange thing to find them
belaboring the President Instead of ridiculing
and denouncing his statement, they should be
giving him all possible support