Infringement

In the Page One furor about Senator Joe McCarthy's "blockade by subpoena," there was a rapid changing of tunes last week. Originally, the Wisconsin Senator boldly announced that he had succeeded where the State Department had failed: his investigating subcommittee had "negotiated" an agreement with Greek shipowners to prevent 242 merchant vessels from carrying cargoes to Communist ports. In answer, Mutual Security Director Harold Stassen boldly told McCarthy that he was "undermining" the State Department. Then the rewriting began.

With an air of "we'll see about this," McCarthy asked Secretary of State John Foster Dulles for an appointment. Dulles invited McCarthy over to lunch. For 75 minutes, Lawyer-Diplomat Dulles and Lawyer-Senator McCarthy ate and talked. Then they issued a weasel-worded joint communique.

Wrist & Hand. "It was noted that cooperation and advice of members of Congress is helpful," said the prepared statement. However, "it was pointed out the dangers that would result if congressional committees entered into the field of foreign relations, which is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Chief Executive."

The communique went on: "Senator McCarthy . . . pointed out that neither he nor his committee had made or contemplated making any agreement with any . . . foreign shipping groups, but that, as a byproduct of the committee's investigation, certain foreign shipping groups had voluntarily agreed among themselves to abstain from participation in the Communist China trade and inter-Soviet bloc trade, a result which both Secretary Dulles and Senator McCarthy felt was in the national interest . . . Senator McCarthy further advised that if in the future similar information would be developed it would be promptly communicated to the proper authorities."

Foster Dulles had slapped McCarthy's wrist, but he had also held his hand. Reporters surrounded McCarthy and asked about the wrist slap, and about McCarthy's new melody. How did it happen that his negotiated agreement had been reduced to a voluntary byproduct? Said McCarthy: "I don't recall what I said the other day." When a reporter pointed out that he had used the word "negotiations" (it was in the first line of his publicity handout), McCarthy asked: "Did we?" Then he headed for a holiday in Florida.

Happy & Not Unhappy. That left the hand-holding to be asked about. Reporters trooped into President Eisenhower's press conference to fire question after question on Dulles' failure to stand behind Stassen. The President was calm. He didn't think that McCarthy was really trying to take over the executive's responsibility for negotiating international agreements. How could McCarthy or anyone negotiate if he had nothing to commit? He didn't think that McCarthy's act, even if it were an error, was serious enough to undermine the State Department's efforts. Perhaps Stassen meant to use the word infringement (instead of undermine), said the President. He was not unhappy with McCarthy or with Stassen. Relations between the executive department and the Congress were getting better and better, and he wasn't going to let a little incident disturb him.

That was a cue for Stassen, who fixed a broad smile on his broad face and sang his new song: the President was right; infringe was a better word than undermine. He was "happy" about the outcome. His main aim had been to get McCarthy to acknowledge that the President and the State Department are responsible for foreign policy. Said Stassen: "This point has now been won."

Some confusion in the Eisenhower ranks had been apparent throughout the incident. Dwight Eisenhower's Administration obviously was trying to avoid the kind of public brawl that punctuated the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Accomplishing this laudable aim would require better staff work and more political skill than the Administration displayed last week.

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