The Press: The Senator's Round?

In his running feud with Columnist Drew Pearson, Wisconsin's Senator Joe McCarthy tried to hit Pearson where it hurt—in the pocketbook. In a speech on the floor of the Senate, he urged the U.S. public to protest to the 650 newspapers which carry Pearson's column and to boycott Adam Hat Stores, Inc., which sponsors Pearson's Sunday-night radio broadcast (estimated audience: 10 million). Last week Washington Columnist Doris Fleeson, an old friend of Pearson's, broke the news that McCarthy had won a round: Adam Hats had decided not to renew Pearson's $5,000-a-week contract when it expires Feb. 18.

Wrote Newshen Fleeson: "The McCarthy admirers have apparently obliged with threatening communications of a type extremely familiar to columnists and commentators who have ventured to comment on the Senator's un-American habit of making unsubstantiated charges and on his curious state income tax returns."

Adam Hat President Charles V. Molesworth denied the dropping of Pearson had anything to do with McCarthy. He insisted that it was "a planned change in advertising media." Pearson said that this was technically true, as he had been trying to negotiate a new contract with the sponsor. But, said Pearson, "we were in friendly discussions until last Friday afternoon [when McCarthy made the boycott speech]." Promptly Adam and half a dozen other potential sponsors scurried over the horizon.

Nevertheless, Pearson, a tough fighter when the chips are down, had no thought of making a truce with McCarthy. The American Broadcasting Co., which carries Pearson's broadcast, agreed to continue it on a sustaining basis if no sponsor is found. And since newspapers carrying Pearson's column showed no signs of being worried by McCarthy's threats, Pearson went ahead gathering evidence for an all-out attack on McCarthy in his column.