POLITICAL NOTES: Pas de Deux

At the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee's press party in Washington last week, newsmen were astonished to see Joe McCarthy approach his erstwhile adversary, John Foster Dulles, and greet him with a warm smile and an affectionate bear hug. What they overheard surprised the eavesdroppers even more. "Foster," said Joe, "you've been a pretty good boy over the past six months."

Foster wasn't flustered. "Joe," he replied coyly, "that isn't the question. The big question is whether you are going to be a good boy for the next six months." In a busy week, McCarthy also:

¶Told a Chicago press conference that he has no immediate designs on the presidency. "Ike is my candidate," said Joe. "Under no circumstances would I be a candidate in 1956."

¶Announced three "concessions" to the three dissident Democrats who walked out of his Senate Investigations Subcommittee last July (TIME, July 20). McCarthy agreed to 1) give up the sole hiring-and-firing powers and let other committee members have a say in staff employment, 2) permit the Democrats to have a minority counsel and clerk, 3) allow the Democrats to block public hearings by their own unanimous vote, unless overruled by the parent Government Operations Committee. The stray lambs, Senators John McClellan, Henry Jackson and Stuart Symington, agreed to rejoin the committee. Said Joe: "I was glad—strike the word glad—happy to compromise."