National Affairs: Progress Without Joe

• Share

Joe McCarthy and his friends have cried—again and again—that the fight against internal subversion came to a standstill during the nine months that Joe was embroiled in fights with the Administration and with his Senate colleagues. After censure was voted last week, McCarthy told newsmen that he was "very happy to get this circus over with" so that he could "get back to the job of digging Communists out of the Government."

This line is intended to suggest that Joe is the mainspring of antisubversion activities and that such efforts stop when his energies are turned elsewhere. In fact, during the last nine months the Eisenhower Administration—with nary an assist (or an acknowledgment) from Joe—has achieved the following:

¶ Under the Smith Act, ten indictments, accusing 49 persons, have been returned. From these, 20 convictions have been won, with other cases still pending.

¶ Under the seditious conspiracy laws, two indictments, involving 28 persons, have been brought. There have been 16 convictions, with other cases still pending.

¶ Four persons have been convicted for harboring a Communist fugitive, Robert Thompson.

¶ Ten persons have been indicted for making false statements under the Communist affidavit clause of the Taft-Hartley Act. Of these, one conviction has been won so far.

¶ Eight persons have been indicted on charges of contempt of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Since his Feb. 9, 1950 speech at Wheeling, W. Va., McCarthy has accused scores of Government employees of being Communists. But of these, only one man, former State Department Official Val Lorwin, was indicted. Lorwin turned out to be a lifelong antiCommunist, and the case against him was dismissed. In addition, indictments have been returned against three persons charged with contempt of the McCarthy committee.

The comparison strongly indicates that Joe's inactivity did not hurt the antisubversion fight a bit. In fact, it probably helped.