"The Nation Can Relax"

Seldom had the talented minds of Hollywood or Broadway set a stage with more artful care. The title of the production was The Case of Colonel Nickerson, and for weeks the U.S. Army's drumbeaters were out proclaiming the coming attractions. West Pointer John C. Nickerson Jr., 41, World War II combat soldier (Silver Star, Bronze Star) and postwar missile .specialist, was risking 46 years' imprisonment as he faced Army court-martial charges ranging in effect from laxity through perjury to espionage. The plot line was that Nickerson, field coordinator of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., had been caught sending secret documents on the missile program to unauthorized businessmen, newsmen and Congressmen. The motivation: Nickerson was making a hero's fight on behalf of the Army missile program ("I was trying anonymously to influence certain key people") against the Air Force's assigned task of operating all the null 1,500-mile missiles, and was thereby (like Billy Mitchell, said the script) risking his career in obedience to higher duty.

The Partisan. Last week, before an Army court-martial at Redstone Arsenal, with the house packed with newsmen, the curtain went up on The Case of Colonel Nickerson. It was soon obvious from the first act, and to no one's surprise, that the great drama had turned into something akin to a forum for Colonel Nickerson. First off, Nickerson pleaded guilty in effect to charges of laxity, whereupon the Army dropped the tough specifications about espionage and perjury (and thus reduced the sentence). Then, Nickerson's civilian counsel Ray H. Jenkins (of Army-McCarthy fame) produced, one by one, a galaxy of star witnesses including the creator of Hitler's V2, Wernher von Braun, to deliver what he called "mitigating" evidence. "Is not Nickerson bitterly partisan?" he asked one witness, a German research scientist. "Yes--in favor of the Army," said the scientist.

When Colonel Nickerson himself took the stand, he delivered an earnest lecture on the Army's cherished conviction that it should have the right to operate missiles beyond the 200-mile-range limit laid down last fall (TIME, Dec. 10) by Defense Secretary Wilson. Then he had a few words for the Pentagon high command: "Their basic interests, the future they're seeking for themselves, is outlined by the money and jobs they expect to get in the aircraft industry. This is especially true in the Air Force."

The Philosopher. Jaws dropped momentarily when Nickerson's commanding officer, Major General John B. Medaris, began to testify. General Medaris told how he had ordered Nickerson not to get involved in Army v. Air Force bickering --Nickerson had disobeyed these orders "absolutely and diametrically," said General Medaris, and "he does not have any further value to the military service." Would Medaris ever want Nicierson back at the missile agency? "I would not." Reason: "Colonel Nickerson has violated the fundamental military code."

But the court-martial board pondered just 40 minutes and handed down a wrist-tapping sentence of $100 a month less in pay for 15 months, suspension of rank for a year, i.e., no command job, but eligible for staff work, loss of privileges, and a reprimand. "The nation can relax and breathe easier now," said Counsel Jenkins. "We did all right," said Colonel Nickerson. "What have I got to appeal? I was guilty and was properly punished. If there had been no sentence at all, it would have undermined discipline in the Army."

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