INVESTIGATIONS: McCommitteeism

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Due for Dust. After indulging in too much McCommitteeism, the subcommittee concluded that it would make no recommendation about McCarthy's fitness to serve, but would leave that to the Senate itself. As for Benton, it filed only a brief report agreeing with him that in 1950 he "badly handled" $600 in contributions from Walter Cosgriff, a Salt Lake City banker, while Cosgriff was being considered for an RFC directorship. The question, observed the subcommittee, is more or less moot, since Benton was defeated last November.

Joe McCarthy's reaction to the report was McCarthy-like: It was "a new low in dishonesty and smear." He had labels for the subcommittee members: the Democrats, Missouri's Senator Thomas C. Hennings Jr. and Arizona's Carl Hayden, were "lackeys" of Harry Truman; the Republican, New Jersey's Robert C. Hendrickson, was a "living miracle . . . without brains or guts."

McCarthy foes began to buzz about preventing him from being seated when Congress reconvened, and he dared them to try it. He was sworn in without a sound of protest; his wiser foes were sure that a challenge would have been voted down by the Senate. As he walked back to his seat, Joe seemed relaxed. When he passed Senator Hayden, he clapped the "lackey" on the back and smiled a big smile. Hayden made a face.

This week the subcommittee's report was on its way to the Republican-controlled Senate Rules Committee, which probably will be chairmaned by Indiana's William Jenner, no foe of McCarthy. There it will almost certainly gather dust.