The Key West Citizen

Sizzling McCarthy-Symington Feud May Erupt Again Today

WASHINGTON (P) — The sizzling feud between Sen. McCarthy (R-Wis.) and Sen. Symington (D-Mo.) threatened to erupt again today to delay the McCarthy-Army hearings' progress toward a final windup.

Francis P. Carr was recalled to the stand in the 34th day of televised hearings before the Senate Investigations subcommittee, with McCarthy and Symington making belligerent noises at each other.

They have tangled repeatedly during the last few weeks.

Carr is chief of staff of the subcommittee, which McCarthy normally heads. The Wisconsin senator has stepped off the group while it investigates his dispute with high Army officials.

Acting Chairman Mundt (R-SD), seeking to conciliate the McCarthy-Symington row, said in an interview Symington had asked a "hypothetical question" about possible subversives on the subcommittee's staff at yesterday's session and that it was a "misunderstanding" when McCarthy lit into the Missourian.

But McCarthy told newsmen it is up to Symington to "put up or shut up." He accused Symington and Army Special Counsel Joseph N. Welch, with whom he had clashed before, of joining in attempting to fasten "guilt by implication" on McCarthy staff members.

Symington said he was "dumbfounded" by McCarthy's outburst at the close of yesterday's session, but he stuck to his contention that the subcommittee's files "had been dangerously handled" under McCarthy's regime and were potentially open to looting.

Symington said in a statement the point he was making was that all staff members had access to the files and some of them had not been cleared for "top secret" information.

"If by chance there was one rotten apple in the barrel—which there has been in other agencies—it might in turn be disastrous to our security," he said.

All of this had little direct bearing on the charges of Secretary of the Army Stevens and Army Counselor John G. Adams that McCarthy and Roy M. Cohn, subcommittee chief counsel, brought improper pressure in trying to get favored Army treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former subcommittee consultant.

The McCarthy side countercharged that Stevens and Adams tried to use Schine as a "hostage" to sidetrack a McCarthy investigation of alleged Communists in the Army. The subcommittee voted on party lines May 26 to dismiss Carr as a principal to the case.

Carr's testimony, generally given in short and laconic replies, supported the sworn accounts—already given by McCarthy and Cohn in flat disagreement with those of Stevens and Adams. Carr, a 37-year-old former FBI man, said he regards all the McCarthy camp's charges as true.

He testified that Adams once told him there was "a high-administration decision" to buck a move by McCarthy to call Army loyalty board members for questioning.

He also quoted Adams as saying there were "probably 200" Communists or fellow travelers in the Army who could be called for questioning by the McCarthy subcommittee.

McCarthy and Cohn have said Schine, while on weekend and evening passes from Ft. Dix, N. J., worked diligently on subcommittee business. Carr said he did not recall ever having seen a memorandum submitted by Schine.

McCarthy said at one point he had "an unwritten rule, a rather strong one, that when any member of the committee (staff) interrogates anyone who doesn't want his name known . . . I have requested that no memorandum be placed in the file, knowing that many people have access to those files."

Carr, robust and perspiring, worked his way steadily through three pitchers of ice water and hundreds of cross-examination questions before yesterday's climax came with Symington directing inquiries at him.

After Carr had testified that one member of the subcommittee staff of investigators has "top secret" clearance and others have "secret" clearance, Symington commented:

"It would be unfortunate if we had a subversive on our staff and he hadn't had clearance and then he examined an agency and in that agency he got information which made it possible for him to betray the country."

"It would be unfortunate and most unusual," Carr replied, adding that "there are no subversives on our staff."

When Symington asked if staff members had "clearance from the FBI," McCarthy broke in to say Symington was making "the implication . . . that he knows of some subversive on the staff."

"He does not," McCarthy said. "If he knows of any subversive, then he should take the stand and tell about him. Otherwise, he owes a duty to apologize to the young men who have been working day and night to get rid of Communists . . . without the help, may I say, of men like Sen. Symington."