Joe & the President

President Eisenhower took a deep breath, put on his glasses, picked up a sheaf of papers held together by a metal ring, and faced the 256 reporters at his news conference. Then the President began to read his "last word" on Joe McCarthy's Peress case against the Army.

"Standards'of Fair Play." The Army, Ike began, had made serious errors in its handling of Major Irving Peress, who was promoted and given an honorable discharge after his loyalty became seriously in doubt. But this fact did not reflect on the patriotism of U.S. military leaders who, said Old Soldier Eisenhower, have always been "singularly free of suspicion of disloyalty. Their courage and their devotion have been proved in peace as well as on the battlefields of war." Specifically included in the President's tribute was the immediate target of McCarthy's wrath—Brigadier General Ralph Zwicker, commander at Camp Kilmer, N.J., where Dentist Peress was stationed.

In the nation's fight against Communism, the President said, "we are defeating ourselves if either by design or through carelessness we use methods that do not conform to the American sense of justice and fair play . . . Obviously, it is the responsibility of the Congress to see to it that its procedures are proper and fair."

Then, without mentioning Joe by name, President Eisenhower came to the crux of the McCarthy problem. Said he: "There are problems facing this nation today of vital importance. They are both foreign and domestic in character ... I regard it as unfortunate when we are diverted from these grave problems—of which one is vigilance against any kind of internal subversion—through disregard of the standards of fair play recognized by the American people."

"This Silly Tempest." An hour after the President finished, Joe McCarthy scanned the wire reports, whipped out pencil and paper and started scribbling his answer. Soon he was barking orders to his scurrying staff: "Call the press gallery . . . Get a room where the television boys can operate ... Be a good girl, run some copies off." His reply to the President:

"This silly tempest in a teapot arose because we dared to bring to light the cold, unpleasant facts about a Fifth Amendment Communist officer ... It now appears that for some reason he was a sacred cow of certain Army brass." In clear reference to General Zwicker, McCarthy said: "If a stupid, arrogant or witless man in a position of power appears before our committee and is found aiding the Communist Party, he will be exposed."

Penciled out of the typewritten McCarthy text was another line: "Far too much wind has been blowing from high places in defense of this Fifth Amendment Communist Army officer." And some two hours after reading his statement for television, McCarthy sent another deletion around to newsmen. The word "now," he said, should be omitted from the sentence: "Apparently the President and I now agree on the necessity of getting rid of the Communists." It was just arrogant Joe's way of stressing the innuendo—and of sinking the blade a little deeper in the area between the shoulder blades.