The Three Barons

by J. W Lateer

  As an illustration of how high were the tensions in Washington surrounding the Red Scare, McCarthy himself, at a party, became involved in a physical brawl with journalist Drew Pearson in which he pinned back Drew Peason’s arms, kneed him twice in the groin and took a swing at him. It took Richard Nixon to break up the fight. (The reader can recall that Joseph McCarthy was a former amateur boxer). McCarthy was the ranking member of the Executive Expenditures Committee under which the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee was formed.

  This relationship between the budgeting of expenditures and investigations of Communists was a prime example how a committee (or in this case a subcommittee) can start secret investigation of a topic which is totally unrelated to the mission of its parent committee. We will see in the following pages how Robert F. Kennedy was addicted to this rogue committee process. The atmosphere of the rogue committee played right into the high-handed (one might say sneaky) methods of the political Kennedy family members.

  In January, 1951, the Republican Committee on Committees decided to name Joe to both the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations. The latter Subcommittee had jurisdiction on State Department funds. So McCarthy gained the power of the purse over the State Department.

  Notes:

  The information about Senator Joseph McCarthy presented in this chapter and the following chapter is derived mainly from the definitive biography on McCarthy by University of Wisconsin-Parkside Professor Thomas C. Reeves. It is cited as follows: The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography (1997) by Thomas C. Reeves.

  More information of the same type about McCarthy and Wisconsin politics can also be found in a similar, almost a companion volume. This biography of Governer Kohler contains much information about the guerilla war which supposedly was waged between McCarthy and Eisenhower, some important aspects of which occurred in Wisconsin. The latter work is cited as follows: Distinguished Service: The Life of Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler, Jr. (2006) by Thomas C. Reeves.

  The personal papers of McCarthy have been either entirely withheld (for about 50 years) or culled, edited or otherwise sanitized by the family with the help of the Archives at Marquette University where the papers have resided since his death. Just as the behavior of McCarthy brought shame on himself and many others, the furtive manner with which his personal papers have been dealt allowed him to continue bringing a shadow over his associates even from the grave. Some say sunlight is the best disinfectant. But those who harbor darkness such as would (by inference) be found in his papers, are a testament to what should be avoided at all costs by scholars. When people having something to hide, that speaks for itself. If McCarthy were merely an honorable foe of Communism, then his papers should have been a shining beacon for like-minded idealists. Apparently not so much.

  The books by Reeves were largely put together based on the exhaustive newspaper coverage, mainly by Wisconsin newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal and Capitol Times. These newspaper knew McCarthy best. Since the material in Reeves’ books is mostly from public newspapers, none of his information is particularly controversial and thus needs no special citations due to doubt or controversy over its nature. Between the two books, Reeves leaves out no details. These are model products of the scholarly enterprise.

  The books by Reeves are not in any way biased against McCarthy, in the judgment of this author. However, there are two other works which paint a positive picture of McCarthy and whose authors felt McCarthy’s measures were necessary and justified. These can be cited as: God, Church, and Flag: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the Catholic Church, 1950-1957 (2011) by Donald Crosby and Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies (2009) by M. Stanton Evans.

  Chapter 11

  High Drama Engulfs The McCarthy Committee

  There was a theoretical balance of both parties on the anti-Communist committees. But the lopsided allocation between liberals and conservatives from both parties was a crucial act which enabled the assassination of JFK. In fact, one could point to the stacking of these committees as the most critical act of any that contributed to JFK’s demise.

  SubversivWe have to consider that the McCarran Act (which was the basis for the activities of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee) passed by a two-thirds vote of a Democratic-controlled Congress despite the fact it was vetoed by Democratic President, Harry S. Truman. This arrangement seemed to signal the seizure of control of the U.S. government by a coalition of Southern Democrats, big city eastern ethnic Catholic anti-Communist bosses and Republicans who were very conservative. In the Senate as of that date, there were 22 Senators from the former Confederate southern states. 19 of them were strong conservatives. When combined with the 37 Republicans most of whom were also conservative, that yielded a total of as many as 57 conservative votes. With such a nearly two-thirds majority of conservatives at hand, and an extreme right-wing group at that, you could wonder why this faction didn’t just impeach Truman and remove him from the picture. They clearly had the numbers.

  This process eventually led to a literally fatal confrontation between the executive and legislative branches. The conservatives viewed this divide as no less than one between capitalism and those who were enablers of Communism. The executive branch by its very nature must make practical decisions based on fact and not on hysteria. If strict anti-Communism were the only priority, then President Roosevelt could not have allied our country with Stalin’s Russia. We could have wound up fighting Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Japan all at once. Or we, the U.S., could have sided with the strongly anti-Communist Hitler. Either way, the U.S. could have lost badly and our way of life could have been irretrievably lost for a very long time. Our government couldn’t function at all if pure anti-Communism were the only priority.

  Some people like Joseph P. Kennedy, urged the U. S. Government to simply ignore Communism. These people felt that Communism would eventually collapse under its own weight. In hindsight, we know that this is exactly what happened almost 30 years later.

  In hindsight, we now know that the American people wound up with the best of both worlds in the 1950’s as a result of the battle between Capitalism and Communism. Following the tradition of anti-colonialism begun in the American Revolution, the U.S. applauded the demise of the British Empire. Ironically, this end to British domination of other countries only happened under the threat of Soviet power and the faithfulness on the part of FDR to the ideals of Washington and Jefferson.

  One could suggest that, from the grave, the ideals of Washington and Lenin teamed up to bring freedom to billions of subject people. And further, because of the threat of Communism, FDR was able to pass the Social Security program, unemployment insurance, workman’s compensation and many other progressive programs of the New Deal. Some would call the New Deal a bribe to persuade the American people to reject the economic security offered by Communism. Yet Americans did not have to live even one day under Soviet Communism to enjoy these benefits. There were no American Gulags. There was no American Berlin Wall.

  So who lost badly under the dominance of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his extremism? Maybe it was the blacklisted people in Hollywood. Or perhaps it was the 50,000 soldiers killed in both Korea and Vietnam. Or then it might have been the weakened executives, Truman and Eisenhower. But the main victim was Kennedy; most especially Kennedy.

  There was at the time a second Senatorial anti-Communist committee. It was known as the McCarran Committee or SISS for short. On it sat Pat McCarran, James Eastland of Mississippi, William Jenner of Indiana, and Homer Ferguson of Michigan. All three were militant ultra-conservatives. Then came Herbert O’Connor of Maryland, Willis Smith of North Carolina and Arthur Watkins of Utah. They were also conservatives but were not fanatics.

  Almost every member of the SISS committee had gone on record to claim that there were a great many traitors in the State Deparmen
t. This committee was essentially a verbal hit squad taking aim at both the President and the makers of foreign policy, the State Department and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in particular. This conflict continued and was not resolved until JFK was killed on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.

  At first, Joe McCarthy had a great deal of influence over the SISS committee. He named his friend and employee, Robert Morris as Chief Counsel. Let the reader make sure to remember the name Robert Morris. We will follow the activities of Morris from this early beginning in the 1950’s right up almost to the day of the assassination. Morris was soon joined as a staff worker on SISS byBenjamen Mandel, hand-picked by McCarthy as Director of Research, a post Mandel had held at HUAC. McCarthy also designated Don Surine (one of his allies) for the staff of SISS as an investigator. After this, though, Surine still remained identified with McCarthy. At least for a brief time, (during the period of the Red Scares), there was a right-wing counter-revolution of sorts led in the U.S. by just one man, Joe McCarthy. No one, not even the President, dared stand in his way.

  On February 10, 1951, SISS seized the documents of the Institute of Pacific Relations from a farm in Massachusetts where they were stored. Although the FBI had examined these IPR files, the FBI had kept the contents secret even from McCarthy and McCarran. As will be discussed in a later chapter, the attitude of the Institute of Pacific Relations with regard to Communism is an enigma. Even at this writing, there is a dearth of information about the IPR. SISS staffer Don Surine smuggled the IPR files from the farm to the Hearst Newspaper Office. HUAC was also involved with these actions.

  SISS began intensive hearings on IPR from July 25, 1951 to June 20, 1952. During that same time, SISS also held hearings on the following:e aliens in the United States;

  Communist tactics in youth organizations.

  Subversive infiltration of radio, TV and entertainment.

  Subversive control of the Distributive, Processing and Office Workers’ Union.

  Subversive infiltration of the telegraph industry.

  Subversive influence in the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers’ Union.

  Unauthorized travel behind the Iron Curtain.

  Subversive control of the United Publishing Workers of America and

  Espionage of attachés at embassies.

  Headlines inspired by these investigations led to a Second Red Scare.

  In an attempt to fight back against the McCarthy-induced paranoia, Truman proposed a President’s Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights. This Commission would hopefully provide objective information on the issues inflamed by McCarthy. Truman tried to placate the fanatics. He had named Republican Seth Richardson to the Subversive Activities Control Board. This Board was yet another, fourth anti-Communist body. Also, Truman appointed Herbert Hoover’s conservative friend Hiram Bingham as Richardson’s cohort on the State Department Loyalty Review Board. This Loyalty Review Board worked full time just on “loyalty” issues with State Department employees.

  The Chairman of Truman’s Security Commission was Admiral Chester Nimitz. It soon became known as the Nimitz Commission. This would soon be derailed as the Democratic Chairman of the Judiciary Committee was able to use legislative means to sabotage the Nimitz Commission, and it was soon dissolved. It is to be noted that McCarran, a Democrat was eager to inflict this kind of damage on a Democratic presidency, which was especially ironic since Truman himself was a fairly conservative former Southern Democratic Senator. But Truman was not nearly as fanatically conservative on the issue of Communism as were the “Irish radical” twins, McCarran and McCarthy.

  Truman’s PCIC commission was able to change the State Department rules regarding the Loyalty Review Board. The old standard for “convicting” an employee by the Board was changed from “reasonable grounds exist for belief that the person involved is disloyal,” to “a reasonable doubt as to the loyalty of the person involved.” This was Executive Order 10241 and, among other things, it relieved the board of having to show that the employee was disloyal at the present time. Past associations with anything smacking of leftist political beliefs, even long ago, could be grounds for firing from the State Department.

  Under the aggressive leadership of Hiram Bingham, a self-proclaimed “old-fashioned conservative,” the Loyalty Review Board went quickly into action. By March of 1952, it had reopened the cases of 2756 employees who had previously been reviewed. This was out of a total of 9300 employees. One can only imagine the disruption this caused to State Department workers trying to do their jobs. Using legally privileged libel and slander tactics, these McCarthyite fanatics struck terror into the State Department.

  We will see certain names crop up at this point. These same names will still be in play ten years later, up to the month of October, 1963, just three weeks before the assassination. In June, 1951, “China hand” John Paton Davies was suspended by the State Department. Employee O. Edmund Chubb was also suspended following action by HUAC. Chubb was then cleared by Secretary of State Dean Acheson and he was finally demoted to the Division of Historical Research. In December 1951, John Stewart Service, a perennial whipping boy of the extreme right, was fired by the State Department.

  A woman named Anna Rosenberg, who was up for nomination for Assistant Secretary of Defense, was investigated by the Senate. Senators Richard Russell and Lyndon Johnson were given erroneous information about her. As it turned out, McCarthy was proven wrong because hers was a case of mistaken identity and Ms. Rosenberg was confirmed.

  The following story, which hit the newspapers on February 12, 1951, should be of the utmost interest to JFK assassination researchers. This was the case of Charles Davis. Davis was a young African-American who was born in Dallas in 1927. He had become a Communist before he was twenty years old. The case of Charles Davis is an obvious precedent to the story of Lee Harvey Oswald. The Davis case was an example which shows it is possible to grow up in a conservative state and community, and then after becoming a Communist, enlist in the U.S. Military for purposes of infiltration.

  Charles Davis was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after only one year on grounds of homosexuality. Davis then returned from the Navy to California and began working as a Communist journalist there. After joining a left-wing organization called the California Labor School, that organization sent Davis to Europe, with the purpose of participating in Communist activities there.

  Shortly after arriving in LeHavre, France, Davis approached the U.S. Embassy in Paris wanting money. He also attended meetings and was even asked to make some speeches. Unfortunately for him, he stole an overcoat and was arrested. In November, 1949, Davis went to the American consulate in Geneva, Switzerland, offering to begin spying for the United States against the local Communists.

  The Vice-Consul of the U.S. Embassy in Geneva, S.R. Tyler, took Davis seriously enough to suggest that he report on his continuing Communist relationships and activities to the U.S. Embassy on a periodic basis. Davis, in his new role as a would-be spy, followed up with Tyler on these instructions, but Tyler was not able to pay Davis for these services.

  According to testimony given later by Davis, the Vice-Consul suggested to Davis that he contact Senator Joe McCarthy because, he said, McCarthy may have money available to pay for Davis’ anti-Communist information. On June 5, 1950, Davis wrote to Senator McCarthy and described his repudiation of Communism and willingness to spy on Communists in Europe.

  Davis’ letter apparently was first routed to McCarthy’s investigator Don Surine who showed it to McCarthy. McCarthy decided to send SISS committee counsel Robert J. Morris to meet Davis in Paris where he was living. There’s that name Robert Morris popping up again. Morris suggested that instead of himself (Morris) traveling to Europe, that contact with Davis could instead be made by John E. Farrand, a thirty-two year old attorney living in Paris with whom Morris was acquainted.

  McCarthy wrote Davis a letter in which he cautiously expressed interest in whatever documents Davis
could provide concerning “certain persons” in Europe. Coincidentally with Davis contacting McCarthy, the American Embassy in Paris suddenly had a small amount of money to pay to Davis, encouraging him to continue his espionage activities. The person who gave Davis this money was Jack West, a legal attaché at the Embassy who was later determined to be an FBI agent.

  Although McCarthy should have realized by this time that Davis was not going to be helpful, he sent a letter to Davis telling him that he would be contacted by Attorney John Farrand, the acquaintance of Counsel Morris. Farrand told Davis that what he wanted most was information on John Carter Vincent and John Stewart Service. Farrand gave Davis between $200 and $250 which McCarthy had sent him by wire transfer.Farrand met Davis three more times in the next two months.

  Apparently on his own initiative, the Oswald-like Davis concocted a plan to incriminate John Carter Vincent. Davis sent a telegram to Vincent signed “Emile Stamphi.” Stamphi was a well known Swiss Communist. The telegram instructed Vincent to send information on Alex Jordan. Jordan was a young left-wing black American. Davis made a transatlantic phone call to McCarthy, reaching him at his home, then sent a copy of the fake telegram which ostensibly incriminated Vincent.

  McCathy’s investigator Don Surine sent the bogus telegram to the FBI. McCarthy called it to the attention of the CIA. Soon, Davis was arrested by the Swiss political police. He was convicted of espionage by the Swiss, sentenced to eight months in jail, and then ordered out of the country. McCarthy and Surine immediately backtracked, creating a false story claiming that they knew almost nothing about Davis. Davis went on to file a $100,000 lawsuit against McCarthy alleging that McCarthy broke a contract between McCarthy and himself. The alleged contract was described by Davis as being for the purpose of spying on the State Department. The lawsuit was dismissed and the case disappeared from the news columns.