New Kind of Hearing for Joe

Above the humdrum buzz of the U.S. Senate caucus room, where a special committee met last week to consider censure action against Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, rose a throaty monotone in a familiar refrain: "Just a minute, Mr. Chairman, just one minute."

For two hours previously, Joe McCarthy had managed an outwardly serene silence, broken only by his prepared statement of self-congratulation for being against Communism ("Not material and relevant to the issues in this hearing," said Chairman Arthur Watkins). But now Joe was determined to advance his views as to the committee membership of Colorado Democrat Edwin C. Johnson, who--McCarthy had learned through a clipping sent him by a Denver elevator operator--told the Denver Post last March: "In my opinion, there is not a man among the Democratic leaders of Congress who does not loathe Joe McCarthy."*

High & Dry. Chairman Watkins already had informed McCarthy's lawyer, youthful (34) Edward Bennett Williams, that the status of Senator Johnson, who had been named to the committee by the full Senate, was not subject to committee review. And Big Ed Johnson, one of the coolest customers in the Senate, had explained that, even as quoted, he had not said that he personally loathed McCarthy. Said Johnson: "In response to a telephone call from Denver, I agreed that some of my Democratic colleagues did not like Senator McCarthy."* But McCarthy was far from satisfied with the Watkins ruling and the Johnson explanation. Trying to find out if Johnson had been accurately quoted. McCarthy cried: "Mr. Chairman, I should be entitled to know whether or not--" Arthur Watkins banged down his gavel and snapped: "The Senator is out of order." Concluded McCarthy: "--whether it is true or false." Again, down went the gavel. Said Watkins: "We are not going to be interrupted by these diversions and sidelines. We are going straight down the line."

Thereupon Watkins recessed the hearings and left McCarthy high and dry. Gasped Joe, in the week's best gasp: "This is the most unheard-of thing I ever heard of." Soothed Lawyer Williams: "Now, don't get excited."

It was clear from the first day that the circus of the Army-McCarthy hearings would not be resumed by the Watkins committee. The ban on TV reduced the temptation to digression and disorder. Watkins had made it impossible for McCarthy to grab a microphone and run away with the hearings; the sound system was so installed that only two mikes could be turned on at a time-and then only on signal from the committee chairman.

Hardly Disputable. While McCarthy sat almost silent, Committee Counsel E. Wallace Chadwick, in a dogged, dry-as-dust voice, read portions of the McCarthy story into the committee record. Items:

P: To document the charge that McCarthy was in contempt of the Gillette-Hennings subcommittee, which investigated him in 1951-52, Chadwick read the extensive correspondence to and from Joe. Time after time, the subcommittee invited McCarthy to appear before it; time after time, Joe refused, accusing the subcommittee of such things as "picking the pockets of the taxpayers and turning the loot over to the Democratic National Committee." lawyer Williams argued that, even if the charge were true, it does not now constitute grounds for censuring McCarthy. Said Chairman Watkins: "We do not agree with you. And that is obvious, or we would not have the charges before us at this time."

P: The only witnesses called last week were newsmen, to testify to the charge that McCarthy had ridiculed and abused fellow Senators, e.g., by describing Vermont's Senator Ralph Flanders as "senile" and New Jersey's Republican Senator Robert Hendrickson as "a living miracle in that he is without question the only man in the world who has lived so long with neither brains nor guts." Williams' cross-examination of the newsmen was brief.

P: Chadwick read the entire transcript of the hearing in which McCarthy called Brigadier General Ralph Zwicker unfit to wear the U.S. uniform. Then Chadwick put into the record the impressive list of General Zwicker's medals and citations. Williams said nothing.

P: Chadwick and an aide methodically read excerpts from the Army-McCarthy hearings as evidence that McCarthy had urged Government employees to violate the law by turning over to him classified documents, and that he had, in fact, on at least one occasion, received and made use of such information (in the 2 1/4 page summary Joe tried to pass off as a letter from J. Edgar Hoover). Williams contented himself with checking the ac curacy of the reading.

With surprising speed, the Watkins group completed in 2 1/2 days its introduction of the main body of evidence. The facts themselves were hardly disputable, most of them being from official records.

The committee's main business is to decide whether to advise the Senate that this record adds up to conduct by McCarthy that the Senate should publicly censure. Thus the committee's business was not so much hearing as thinking. Last week the Watkins committee gave an impression of men thinking, quietly and hard.

*Among others seen in print last week on the subject of McCarthy's social standing: Eleanor Roosevelt. Asked if it were true that she had said she would shake hands with Russia's Andrei Vishinsky but not far with McCarthy, Mrs. Roosevelt replied: "As far as I can recall, I hae never refused to shake hands with anyone. I have shaken hands with Senator McCarthy a number of times and certainly would do so again. I have shaken hands with Mr. Vishinsky on a number of occasions, and I would certainly do so again."

*Another aspect of Johnson's views on McCarthy was contained in a news letter last year to his Colorado constituents. Wrote Johnson: "Senator McCarthy with all his many and obvious faults has put the finger on many subversives in and out ot the State Department. Sometimes a mean guy renders a good service."

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