Senator McCarthy was also advised that if he wanted to present any matter in connection with this to the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections, we would fix a time for this, and you are also advised that at that time it is the decision of the committee that you will have the privilege of being present without, of course, the privilege of crossexamination.

You have presented to us a very comprehensive document here which verifies the statement you made of the long time and effort that you have expended on it. I am sure the members of the subcommittee have not had an opportunity in the short time that they have heard it read and in many instances through excerpts, to give it the study and thought that they would want to give it.

Senator McCarthy has advised that he is out of the city and expects to be back. I know he is scheduled to appear before the Subcommittee on Foreign Relations on the matter of the Jessup nomination Tuesday morning. We cannot fix the time to hear Senator McCarthy, if he cares to appear before us, until we have contacted him, and you will be advised when that time is decided on so that if you care to, you can appear and attend the session at that time.

Senator BENTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator GILLETTE. We appreciate very much your courteous presentation here.

Senator BENTON. I must have appeared before congressional committees certainly more than a hundred times, and I must say I have never been listened to with such courteous attention, Mr. Chairman, as by your committee today, and I am very grateful for it. I have perhaps appeared before more congressional committees than other Members of the Congress.

Senator GILLETTE. On behalf of the members I thank you.

The subcommittee will rise and reassemble on call of the Chair. (Whereupon, at 4 p. m., the hearing was adjourned.)

INVESTIGATION OF SENATOR JOSEPH R. McCARTHY

MONDAY, MAY 12, 1952

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS OF THE
COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:20 a. m., in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator Guy M. Gillette (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Gillette, Monroney, Hennings, and Hendrickson. Also present: Senators William Benton and Eugene R. Millikin; Grace E. Johnson, chief clerk; John P. Moore, counsel; Philip R. Monahan and Israel Margolis, assistant counsel.

Senator GILLETTE. The subcommittee will come to order. This is the subcommittee popularly called the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections which is a duly appointed subcommittee of the Senate standing Committee on Rules and Administration charged with studies and investigations and responsibilities within a certain area laid down in the Reorganization Act as one of the areas for the Subcommittee on Rules and Administration.

The subcommittee meets this morning on the call of the chairman. This meeting was directed by the subcommittee in an executive session on May 7, 1952, when it was decided to hold further public hearings on some phases of Senate Resolution 187.

On August 6, 1951, Senate Resolution 187 was introduced in the Senate by Senator William Benton, of Connecticut, and was referred by the President of the Senate to the Committee on Rules and Administration. The resolution proposes an inquiry to determine whether the Committee on Rules and Administration should initiate action with a view toward the expulsion from the United States Senate of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, of Wisconsin.

On August 8, 1951, the chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration referred the resolution to the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections.

On September 28, 1951, the subcommittee received in open session an oral statement, under oath, from Senator Benton in support of the resolution, in which he summarized his charges.

At the meeting today, which is regularly called, there are present Senator Hennings, Senator Monroney, and Senator Hendrickson and the chairman, Senator Gillette, which under the rules constitutes

a quorum.

Senator Welker, the fifth member of the subcommittee, has informed the chairman that he is unable to be present today, but his administrative assistant is in attendance here to observe in behalf of Senator

Welker. We have a quorum for the purpose of transacting such business as shall be taken up.

An invitation was extended to Senator McCarthy to attend this public hearing and to appear before the subcommittee, relative to the matters to be taken up. However, Senator McCarthy rejected this invitation by letter dated October 4, 1951. That was the original meeting; not this meeting.

Thereafter, the staff of the subcommittee was ordered to investigate the matters involved.

In a series of communications addressed to the chairman of the subcommittee during the period between December 6, 1951, and January 4, 1952, Senator McCarthy charged that the subcommittee lacked jurisdiction to investigate such acts of Senator McCarthy as were not connected with election campaigns and attacked the honesty of the members of the subcommittee, charging that, in their investigation of such other acts, the members were improperly motivated and were "guilty of stealing just as clearly as though the members engaged in picking the pockets of the taxpayers."

On January 18, 1952, the staff of the subcommittee submitted a confidential report of its preliminary investigation of the charges.

On March 5, 1952, the subcommittee, in executive session, voted 4 to 1 to file a discharge motion and to seek a Senate vote of confidence on both the jurisdiction and integrity issues. Two days later, on March 7, 1952, the full Rules Committee in executive session supported the subcommittee by a vote of 8 to 3.

On April 10, 1952, the Senate, by a vote of 60 to 0, voted to allow the subcommittee to continue its investigation of the charges against Senator McCarthy.

On May 7, 1952, after the executive session of the subcommittee at which it was decided to hold further public hearings on Senate Resolution 187, I, as chairman, addressed a letter to Senator McCarthy in which I extended to him the opportunity to appear at this hearing. At this point in the record, unless there is objection on the part of the subcommittee, I should like to have incorporated my letter of May 7, to Senator McCarthy, together with his reply, and my further reply to him. Is there objection?

Senator MONRONEY. Is that the letter of May 11?

Senator GILLETTE. No.

Senator MONRONEY. No objection.

Senator HENDRICKSON. I think it is very appropriate to go into the record.

Senator GILLETTE (reading):

Hon. JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MAY 7, 1952.

MY DEAR SENATOR: The Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections in executive session this morning voted to hold public hearings on Senate Resolution 187 which was introduced in the Senate by Senator William Benton, of Connecticut, on August 6, 1951, and was thereafter referred to this subcommittee for action.

It was further decided that the hearings are to begin on Monday, May 12, and that the first charge to be heard will be Senator Benton's "case No. 2," wherein it was alleged that you had improperly received a fee of $10,000 in 1948 from the Lustron Corp., for an article on housing which was included in an advertising booklet published by that company.

The subcommittee has not yet determined the order of witnesses for this first case but we expect to do so by Friday after consultation with the staff.

In the meantime I do wish to extend to you the opportunity to appear at the hearings for the purpose of presenting testimony relating to this charge. The hearings in this case will probably continue for several days and we shall make whatever arrangements for your appearance are most convenient for you.

Sincerely,

GUY M. GILLETTE, Chairman.

That letter was dated, as I have stated, May 7, 1952. The next day the chairman received the following letter from Senator McCarthy:

Senator GUY GILLETTE,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MAY 8, 1952.

DEAR SENATOR GILLETTE: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 7, in which you state that your Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections plans to hold public hearings on Benton's "charge No. 2" against me, namely, that it was improper for me to sell the rights to my housing book to the Lustron Corp. You invite me to testify.

On what point do you desire information?

The following facts are all public information in regard to the sale of my book:

I held a press conference in 1948 when the sale was completed and announced: (1) The sale of the housing book;

(2) That Lustron was the buyer;

(3) That Lustron would be the publisher;

(4) That the book would be sold for 35 cents per copy;

(5) That the contract provided that I would keep the book up to date for 5 years, revising it whenever required by any changes in legislation, lending practices, or other matters affecting housing

Senator MONRONEY. Mr. Chairman, please refer back if you will to the preceding paragraph. I did not catch it all. Senator GILLETTE. Very well. I repeat:

I held a press conference in 1948 when the sale was completed and announced: (1) The sale of the housing book;

(2) That Lustron was the buyer;

(3) That Lustron would be the publisher;

(4) That the book would be sold for 35 cents per copy;

(5) That the contract provided that I would keep the book up to date for 5 years, revising it whenever required by any changes in legislation, lending practices, or other matters affecting housing;

(6) That I had been working on the book for over a year and that every line had been checked for accuracy by every Government agency concerned with housing.

At that time Lustron had been loaned money by the RFC but was apparently flourishing and producing an excellent prefabricated house.

During the housing hearings which were held throughout the country, I found that a vast number of young men were not even remotely aware of how to take advantage of the many housing aids which we had provided for them by law. I felt that writing a simple explanatory book so that every young man who desired to buy or build a home could easily understand how to take advantage of the aids which we had provided for him by law was even more important than passing the proper laws. I proceeded to do this task.

Lustron offered a royalty of 10 cents per copy and promised the widest circulation of any of those who were bidding on the book. The Congressional Record of June 19, 1950, contains the correspondence which I had with a great number of publishers whom I attempted to interest in putting out this book at a low retail cost. This correspondence starts on page A4764. The publishers' replies boiled down to the statement that they could not afford to publish such a specialized book at a low cost.

In 1950, after RFC had foreclosed on Lustron, Senator Fulbright's committee made a thorough investigation of Lustron. Senator Fulbright, who by the greatest stretch of the imagination could not be considered a friend of mine, was unable to produce any evidence that McCarthy ever directly or indirectly interIceded with any Government agency in behalf of Lustron. The unquestioned evidence before that committee was that "Senator McCarthy has never been

interested in Lustron, has never interceded for Lustron, has never done anything to influence any particular thing for Lustron" (p. 201, Senate Banking and Currency Committee, June 26, 1950). The evidence also shows (p. 200) that Lustron received $46,000 for the sale of this book with an advertising pamphlet. Apparently the purchase and sale of this book was Lustron's only profitable venture.

I understand that even though your investigators have beeh very painstaking in their attempts, they have been unable to find even a telephone call I made to anyone in behalf of Lustron. If the administration knew of a single contact which I ever made with RFC or any other Government agency in behalf of Lustron, they would hardly be keeping it secret to protect McCarthy.

I am curious to know what new facts you expect to produce for the benefit of the public at this public hearing.

Perhaps you are going to produce evidence to show that the day the contract was signed, November 12, 1948, 10 days after the Republicans lost control of the Senate and the House and were defeated in the Presidential race, Lustron bought this book from me because of the tremendous influence which I have with the Democrat administration. Or perhaps you hope to prove that the preparation of the book and the contract to keep it up to date for 5 years was worth less than 10 cents a copy. If so, I wonder if you plan on proving that some of the speeches which a sizable number of your Democrat friends make and magazine articles and books which they have written for a fee are worth less than the fee paid.

The announcement that you are holding public hearings after nearly a year of investigation carries the implication that there is some improper conduct in connection with the sale of the publication to Lustron. I would like to know what you claim that improper conduct to be. I assume you do not claim it is improper for a Senator to write a book or magazine article, because if so, you will have to call many of your Democrat friends before you.

Senator HENDRICKSON. Mr. Chairman, before you go any further, so that the record might be clear, did I understand this letter to say that we had been investigating this matter for nearly a year? Senator GILLETTE. That is correct.

Senator HENDRICKSON. I would like the record to show at this point just when the original resolution was introduced and when the first hearing was held thereon, because it certainly hasn't been a year or any substantial part of a year.

Senator GILLETTE. The resolution was introduced on August 6, 1951, and was referred on the same date to the Senate Committee on Rules. I believe it was 2 or 3 days after that the Subcommittee on Rules referred it to the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections, and this subcommittee, in response to the Senator from New Jersey, on September 28, 1951, held the first hearings on the measure.

Senator HENDRICKSON. May I ask counsel when the first investigations were started?

Mr. MOORE. I am sorry, sir?

Senator HENDRICKSON. May I ask counsel when the first investigations were started?

Mr. MOORE. My best recollection, Senator Hendrickson, in October 1951.

Senator HENDRICKSON. So it has been about 7 months?

Mr. MOORE. That is right, sir.

Senator HENDRICKSON. I just want the record to be complete in this whole matter.

Senator HENNINGS. Mr. Chairman, I think, too, that the record should show that the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections was occupied with various other investigations during the interim; that the first session of the Eighty-second Congress adjourned on or about October 23 of 1951, and that thereafter this committee entered upon