An Ambassador Is Confirmed

One day last week two U.S. Senators strode into a State Department office, seated themselves at a table and began poring over a 30-page document. Ohio's Robert A. Taft and Alabama's John Sparkman had come over from Capitol Hill to go through the FBI report on Charles E. ("Chip") Bohlen, nominee for Ambassador to Russia. Both Taft and Sparkman were already satisfied with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' judgment that Bohlen was a good security risk, but the hue & cry raised by Bohlen's opponents about reports of his past association with "dissolute persons" (TIME, March 30) had forced a Senator's-eye view. All afternoon the two Senators studied the FBI summary--a synopsis of interviews with Bohlen's friends and enemies, material which the FBI had not and would not evaluate for credibility.

Collapse & Retreat. Next day, on the Senate floor, Bob Taft rose to give his verdict. Said he: "I could not find anything which seemed to . . . supply any prima facie evidence that Mr. Bohlen had in any way done anything which would make him a bad security risk. The associations he had were those which anyone might have had . . . I could see nothing which could create the most remote guilt-by-association accusation that could be thought of." John Sparkman quickly agreed.

With that testimony from the Republicans' majority leader and the Democrats' 1952 candidate for Vice President, the security case against Chip Bohlen collapsed. As suddenly as they had picked up the security charge in the midst of the Bohlen battle, the anti-Bohlen forces dropped it. They retreated to their original (and less marshy) ground: Bohlen should not be confirmed because he was a key man in the Roosevelt-Truman-Acheson foreign policy, and, in the Republican year, 1953, was still defending the Yalta agreement.

Soon the debate was dizzily racing off on another tangent. New Hampshire's Republican Styles Bridges, president pro tem of the Senate, recalled that Bohlen's supporters had said that a three-man committee of venerable career diplomats--Joseph C. Grew, Norman Armour and Hugh Gibson--had recommended Bohlen. He now had definite word that Gibson did no such thing. Within a few minutes, Illinois' Everett Dirksen had something to add: he had left the Senate floor and telephoned Mr. Gibson, who confirmed exactly what Bridges said.

Tread & Needle. That brought California's Senator William Knowland to his feet. Foster Dulles had sent him a letter signed by Grew, Armour and Gibson, recommending an accompanying list of prospects for diplomatic posts. On the list: Chip Bohlen, as Ambassador to Moscow. The letter and memo were classified documents and could not be read on the floor, said Knowland, but they clearly recommended Bohlen.

This made a natural opening for the measured tread of the man from Wisconsin: Joe McCarthy. Said he, in a quiet voice: "I think [Dirksen] is a fairly good security risk, and I think he should be allowed to see the letter, so that there may be no question about it." Knowland, flushed, shouted: "I do not know whether the Senator from Wisconsin is suggesting that my veracity should be questioned on the floor of the Senate . . . This is the first time that has happened ... I am serving as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, and I would not misrepresent . . . the facts."

Joe McCarthy said that there was no need for Knowland to "become so excited"; Everett Dirksen was quick to purr that he had "no desire to see the letter." But McCarthy needled on. Didn't Knowland think something should be done to check further on Gibson's position? Said an exasperated Knowland: "When a letter comes to the Senate from the Department of State, from a responsible officer of that department, I do not want to have to call in a handwriting expert to determine whether a forgery has been committed. If we have so destroyed confidence in men who have been selected to hold high places in the Government of the United States, God help us . . ."

sb"I Hope It's Poison." The argument rolled on until it was too late to vote that day: Bob Taft had announced that he didn't want a vote after 5 p.m. because he had to be home at 5:30 for a tea in honor of Mamie Eisenhower. At the Tafts' red brick Victorian house in Georgetown, men who had been snarling at one another over the Bohlen case met, chatted and sipped. Everything was as sweet as California port until one of the guests, American-turned-Briton Nancy Astor, sidled up to Joe McCarthy. Said razor-tongued Lady Astor, eying Joe's drink: "I hope it's poison." Said Joe later: "I've been informed that some nice, kindly old lady did make that remark . . ."

Before the Senate met again, Dwight Eisenhower took occasion at his press conference to say a word for Chip Bohlen: he knew Bohlen and his charming family personally, had visited their home; he thought Bohlen, with his working knowledge of Russians and their language, was the best man available for the job. He was not disturbed by Bohlen's connections with the previous Administration, because in government a man must be loyal to his superiors.

Then ailing Hugh Gibson cleared up his position by issuing a formal statement: he had neither recommended nor opposed Bohlen at a conference with Foster Dulles, because he did not know Bohlen well. But he had, as a matter of routine, signed the three man committee's general letter endorsing a list of prospects which included Bohlen. That was the letter Knowland had brought to the Senate floor.

When the Senate met again, everyone knew what the result would be. Dwight Eisenhower and Foster Dulles wanted Bohlen, and most of the Republicans were ready to follow their Administration's lead. Bob Taft had carried the ball expertly for the President and the Secretary of State. Most of the Democrats, who had quietly enjoyed the Republican v. Republican battle, had no objection to Bohlen. The vote to confirm: 74-13.*

This week Chip Bohlen took the oath of office and headed for Moscow.

*Two Democrats: Nevada's Pat McCarran and Colorado's Ed Johnson. Eleven Republicans: Bridges, McCarthy. Dirksen, Ohio's Bricker, Idaho's Dworshak and Welker, Arizona's Goldwater, Iowa's Hickenlooper, Nevada's Malone, South Dakota's Mundt, Kansas' Schoeppel.

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