The Olsen Affair

A onetime Marine captain and a widely experienced journalist, Arthur J. Olsen joined the State Department four years ago as public affairs adviser for the Bureau of European Affairs. Earning a reputation for integrity, accuracy and diplomatic expertise, he rapidly became known to State Department reporters as "one of the press information people in Washington who are really worth talking to," in the words of the Washington Post's Chalmers Roberts.

When Olsen was appointed last month to become the department's chief of press relations, both reporters and diplomats were generally enthusiastic. But the approval in Washington was not unanimous. Arizona's Senator Barry Goldwater fired off a note to Secretary of State William Rogers declaring that Olsen's appointment was "personally obnoxious" to him and implying that it be withdrawn.

Report from Bonn. The Senator's grudge against Olsen dates from July 15, 1964 when, in the midst of the Republican National Convention, the New York Times published a story from its Bonn bureau reporting that Goldwater had been exchanging letters with right-wing West German politicians. Most notably, said the story, quoting "competent informants," Goldwater had been in "frequent and friendly" correspondence with Hans-Christoph Seebohm, a conservative who was then the West German Minister of Transport. The byline on the story: "Arthur J. Olsen," then the Times's Bonn bureau chief.

When the story appeared, Goldwater called it the "damnedest lies," and Seebohm's staff issued a denial that the two men had ever met or exchanged letters. Today, Olsen sticks by his story, claiming that he confirmed it with Seebohm and other sources.

After Goldwater's first letter of objection, Rogers promised to support Olsen. The "personally obnoxious" phrase is a term usually reserved to block appointments that are subject to Senate confirmation; Olsen's job would not require Senate approval. Sometimes, by protocol. Senators can effectively use the phrase to stop other appointments if the man involved comes from the Senator's state--but Olsen has never lived in Arizona.

Throwback? Then Goldwater dispatched a second letter, repeating his objection and this time threatening to make "trouble" for the State Department in Congress. Finally Rogers backed off. Last week the State Department announced that, "in light of all considerations," Olsen will remain in his present job on the European bureau.

The New York Times called the Olsen affair "a throwback to McCarthy-type repression." It was not that by any means, but because of a personal vendetta, Goldwater was allowed to exercise a veto to which he had no legal or privileged right, and a man well qualified for a job was denied it.

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