OTHER EDITORS
SEN. JOSEPH McCARTHY
(A Labor Union Paper)
Sen. "Joe" McCarthy, Wisconsin's junior Senator, hasn't much influence
in the Senate. His colleagues regard him as "a windy fellow" who will
do anything or say anything which will get his name in the papers. As this is
being written, McCarthy is putting on one of his "shows" in the upper
chamber.
Recently he has been chasing around the country making speeches. In a talk
at Wheeling, W. Va., McCarthy declared he had "a list of 205 persons working
in the state department who were known by the secretary of state to be members
of the Communist party."
By the time he got to Reno, Nev., he had whittled his list down to "57
card-carrying Communists," and he named four of them. Investigation revealed
that one of the four had never worked for the state department, that two had
resigned four years ago and that one, after an exhaustive inquiry, had been
restored to his work with a "clean bill of health."
Reporters asked McCarthy to give out the names of the state department "Commies."
He replied he couldn't do that because he would be "deluged with libel
suits."
Then the state department issued a sweeping denial of the entire yarn, and
suggested that if the Senator had any information showing "reds" on
the state department payroll, it would be thankfully received.
McCarthy's reply to that was to break loose on the floor of the Senate, where
he enjoys "congressional immunity"- that is, he may say what he likes
without becoming subject to court action!
Finally, he has entered into a "deal" with some Byrd-Democrats in
the Senate to start a "probe" of his charges. Apparently Sen. Hoey
of North Carolina is a party to this performance.
After surveying the situation, the Washington "Post" announced in
a leading editorial that "Joe" was "playing sewer politics."
This is the same McCarthy who, according to the Supreme Court of that state
of Wisconsin, broke his oath of office. The bar association declared he violated
the ethics of his profession.
Probably one reason why "Joe" talks so much about "Commies"
in the state department" is that he hopes his constituents and his associates
in the Senate will not scrutinize the rest of his record. |