Calling a Halt

After 2,000,000 words of testimony, it was time, said Senator Millard Tydings, to take a breather. Over the protests of its two Republican members, the Tydings subcommittee voted to hear no more from Senator Joe McCarthy or any witnesses until it had produced an "interim report" on charges of Communists in Dean Acheson's State Department.

On the whole, lean, shrewd Millard Tydings had run a good and fair hearing. And after four months of wild charges and black headlines, Joe McCarthy had yet to document a single card-carrying Communist in the State Department, let alone the 57, 81 or 205 he had promised to prove. Without even waiting to see the Tydings report, McCarthy announced that it would be "a disgrace to the Senate." Unfortunately for him, however, there were other headlines being made these days.

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