Excerpts from the Army’s 34-page report:
MID-JULY, 1953
Major General Miles Reber, then chief of the Army Legislative Liaison, received a phone call stating that Senator McCarthy desired to see him. He went to the Senator’s office, and Senator McCarthy there informed General Reber that he was very interested in securing a direct commission for Mr. G. David Schine, a consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, on the basis of Mr. Schine’s education, business experience and prior service with the Army Transport Service.
Senator McCarthy said that speed was desirable, since Mr. Schine might be inducted into the armed forces under the Selective Service Act.
During the meeting, Mr. Roy Cohn, chief counsel of the subcommittee, came in the room and emphasized the necessity for rapid action . . .
JULY 15—30
Mr. Schine called the Office of the Chief of Legislative Liaison (O.C.L.L.) Department of the Army on the telephone and asked whether he could come to the Pentagon that afternoon and “hold up his hand.” He was advised that it would be necessary to submit an application for a commission.
He came to O.C.L.L. in the Pentagon, where he was assisted in completing the necessary application blanks. He was also taken to the Pentagon dispensary for a physical examination.
Mr. Schine’s application for a commission was considered by the Chief of Transportation, the Provost Marshal General and the Commanding General of the First Army. All three determined that Mr. Schine was not qualified for a direct commission . . . During the period from the time of the initial request by Senator McCarthy . . . to the time of the final decision . . . there were inquiries from the committee staff as to the status of the application.
AUGUST 1
Mr. Cohn requested the O.C.L.L. to explore the possibility of obtaining a reserve commission for Mr. Schine in either the Air Force or the Navy. These explorations were undertaken with negative results . . .
OCTOBER 2
Mr. Cohn and Mr. Francis Carr, executive director of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee, conferred with Secretary Stevens for approximately 35 minutes. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss . . . plans for the Fort Monmouth investigation.
During the course of such discussions, Mr. Cohn asked the Secretary about an assignment in the New York City area for Mr. Schine when inducted. Mr. Cohn stated that it was desirable to have Mr. Schine available for consultation to the staff of the committee to complete certain work with which Mr. Schine was familiar, and that the Army must have several places in the New York City area where Mr. Schine could perform Army work.
The Secretary did not agree with this suggestion and pointed out that Mr. Schine should follow the same procedures for assignment as any other private in the Army . . .
MID-OCTOBER
During the course of hearings in the courthouse in Foley Square in New York . . . at one time Senator McCarthy, Mrs. McCarthy and Mr. John G. Adams, Department of the Army counselor, were together.
Senator McCarthy at this time told Mr. Adams that Mr. Schine was of no help to the committee, but was interested in photographers and getting his pictures in the paper, and that things had reached the point where Mr. Schine was a pest
Senator McCarthy further said he hoped nothing would occur to stop the ordinary processes of the draft procedures in Schine’s case . . ..
On the next occasion when Secretary Stevens, Senator McCarthy and Mr. Adams were together, which was within a very few days, Mr. Adams raised the subject of Mr. Schine. Senator McCarthy told Secretary Stevens and Mr. Adams that Mr. Schine was a nuisance, but that Senator McCarthy did not want Mr. Cohn to know of these views on Mr. Schine.
OCTOBER 18—NOVEMBER 3
During this two-week period, Mr. Cohn and Mr. Adams spoke in person or on the telephone almost every day concerning an assignment for Private Schine in the New York City area . . .
It was on these occasions that Mr. Adams first stated that the national interest required that no preferential treatment be given to Mr. Schine . . . Mr. Cohn replied that if national interest was what the Army wanted he’d give it a little and then proceeded to outline how he would expose the Army in its worst light and show the country how shabbily it is being run.
NOVEMBER 3
Mr. Schine was inducted into the Army and was placed on 15 days’ temporary duty in New York to complete committee work. The day following, Senator McCarthy said to Mr. Adams that members of the press and others might ask why Private Schine was still in New York. Senator McCarthy requested Mr. Adams to have the temporary duty in New York canceled . . .
NOVEMBER 6
At the invitation of the Secretary of the Army, a luncheon attended by the Secretary, Mr. Adams, Senator McCarthy, Francis Carr and Mr. Cohn was held in the Pentagon. The principal subject of discussion at the luncheon was the Fort Monmouth investigation. During the course of the luncheon, however, Mr. Cohn asked when the Army would be able to arrange for a New York City assignment for Private Schine. Senator McCarthy also stated that he was interested in Private Schine’s receiving a New York City assignment and suggested that Schine might be sent to New York with the assignment of studying and reporting to the Secretary on evidence of pro-Communist leanings in West Point textbooks.
Mr. Cohn also requested that Private Schine be made available for committee work while he was undergoing basic training at Fort Dix. Mr. Stevens said that, if necessary to complete pending committee work, Private Schine would be permitted to leave the post on weekends [and] in the evening . . . Normally, said the Army, soldiers in their first four weeks of basic training at Fort Dix are not permitted to leave the post in the evenings nor are they given weekend passes. This rule is a local one and is subject to modification . . .
NOVEMBER 23
Private Schine commenced eight weeks’ basic training cycle with Company K, 42nd Infantry Regiment.
NOVEMBER 25
Private Schine was given a pass from the end of duty hours on Wednesday until 2300 hours on Thursday, 26th November. (Thanksgiving holiday, no training scheduled.)
NOVEMBER 28
Private Schine was given a pass from the end of duty hours on Saturday until 2400 hours Sunday, 29 November . . .
DECEMBER 6
General Ryan telephoned Mr. Adams from Fort Dix and stated that the matter of handling Private Schine was becoming increasingly difficult, since the soldier was leaving the post nearly every night. General Ryan stated that Private Schine had been returning regularly to the post very late at night . . .
DECEMBER 8—10
The committee began open hearings [on Fort Monmouth] in Washington …
Just before the hearing opened in the morning [Dec. 9], Mr. Cohn spoke to Mr. Adams concerning the Army’s prospective assignment of Private Schine, and Mr. Adams explained, as he had many times before, that Private Schine was going to be handled the same as any other private soldier. Mr. Cohn broke off this conversation in the middle, turning his back on Mr. Adams . . .
At the conclusion of the morning hearing, Mr. Adams followed Senator McCarthy to his office and conferred with him concerning the inquiries of Mr. Cohn about Mr. Schine. As a result of Mr. Adams’ request, Senator McCarthy told Mr. Adams that he would write the Secretary of the Army a letter in which he would state that the committee had no further interest in Private Schine and that he hoped that Private Schine would be treated the same as other soldiers . . . This letter, under date of 22 December, 1953, was written by Senator McCarthy and received by the Secretary of the Army.
Mr. Adams returned to the Pentagon, and in the middle of the afternoon, received a telephone call from Mr. Cohn. Mr. Cohn stated to Mr. Adams that he would teach Mr. Adams what it meant to go over his head.
The Washington hearings for that week concluded at noon on Thursday. At Senator McCarthy’s request, Secretary Stevens and Mr. Adams lunched with Senator McCarthy and Mr. Francis Carr at the Carroll Arms. According to Mr. Carr, Mr. Cohn was too upset to attend the lunch because of the Private Schine situation and the Army’s unwillingness to settle on Private Schine’s future assignment, and had departed for New York immediately after the conclusion of the morning hearing.
At this luncheon there were extensive discussions led by Senator McCarthy as to the possibilities of an immediate New York assignment for Private Schine. The Secretary stated that Private Schine must complete his basic 16 weeks’ training before his future assignment could even be discussed . . .
DECEMBER 11
On this day Private Schine was informed that thereafter, training would be expanded to include Saturday morning duty . . . During the afternoon, Mr. Adams had extensive long-distance conversations with Mr. Cohn from New York, all of them initiated by Mr. Cohn, and one of which lasted nearly an hour. During these conversations, Mr. Cohn, using extremely vituperative language, told Mr. Adams that the Army had again “double-crossed” Mr. Cohn, Private Schine and Senator McCarthy.
The first double-cross, according to Mr. Cohn, was when the Army had not given a commission to Schine after promising one to him; the second double-cross, according to Mr. Cohn, was that the Army had not assigned Private Schine immediately to New York; and another was that the Army canceled Private Schine’s availability during week nights. The requirement that Private Schine perform duties on Saturday mornings was a new double-cross . . .
DECEMBER 17
Senator McCarthy spoke to Mr. Adams at 10:30 a.m. at the entrance to the U.S. Courthouse in New York . . . He stated that he had learned of the extent of his staff’s interference with the Army in reference to Schine and that he wished to advise Adams thereafter to see that nothing was done on the committee’s behalf with reference to Schine.
After the hearings, Senator McCarthy, Mr. Cohn, Mr. Francis Carr and Mr. Adams were present together. Mr. Adams, in order to have Senator McCarthy state his views in front of Messrs. Carr and Cohn, suggested discussing the Private Schine situation.
The discussion became heated, and Mr. Cohn restated all the arguments which he had used before and referred to a so-called commitment that Private Schine be assigned to the New York City area immediately on finishing basic training.
Mr. Cohn was vituperative in his language. During this discussion, Senator McCarthy remained silent.
The party rode uptown in Mr. Cohn’s car, and Mr. Cohn continued his statement. Twice during the ride uptown and as Mr. Adams was getting out of the car, Senator McCarthy asked Mr. Adams to ask Secretary Stevens if the Secretary could find a way to assign Private Schine to New York.
Senator McCarthy again suggested the possibility that the Secretary should put Private Schine on duty at headquarters, First Army, with an assignment to examine the textbooks at West Point and to report to the Secretary as to whether they contained anything of a subversive nature . . .
JANUARY 9, 1954
Mr. Adams was at Amherst, Mass. filling a speaking engagement at Amherst College. In the middle of the afternoon, Mr. Adams received a long-distance call from Mr. Francis Carr, who said he had been trying to reach him since the previous evening. Mr. Carr stated that Mr. Cohn had been trying to reach Mr. Adams from New York and that the purpose of Mr. Cohn’s call was to have Mr. Adams intervene with the commanding general at Fort Dix because Private Schine was scheduled for KP duty on the following day, a Sunday. Mr. Adams told Mr. Carr that it was absolutely impossible for him to do anything from Amherst . . .
Private Schine was allowed to go on pass (weekend leave) until Sunday afternoon, when he was required to return to Fort Dix.
JANUARY 11
On or about this date, Mr. Cohn called Mr. Adams and asked extensive questions with reference to Camp Gordon, Ga. and the exact number of days Private Schine would be required to serve there.
Mr. Cohn also desired to know if it were necessary for Private Schine to live on the post, if Private Schine could have his car on the post, and the name of the person at Camp Gordon that could serve as the contact between Mr. Cohn and Camp Gordon for the purpose of relieving Private Schine of duty when necessary . . .
JANUARY 13
Mr. Adams went to the Capitol and called on Mr. Cohn and Mr. Carr in Mr. Cohn’s office in the Senate Investigations Subcommittee. General discussion was had concerning the Private Schine situation and the progress of the McCarthy committee investigation at Fort Monmouth. Knowing that 90% of all inductees get overseas duty and that there were nine chances out of ten that Private Schine would be facing overseas duty when he concluded his tour at Camp Gordon, Mr. Adams informed Mr. Cohn of this situation.
Mr. Cohn, upon hearing this, said this would “wreck the Army” and cause Mr. Stevens to be “through as Secretary of the Army” . . .
JANUARY 22
On Friday evening, at Senator McCarthy’s request, Mr. Adams went to the Senator’s apartment. The visit lasted from about 8:30 p.m. until about 11:15 p.m. Mrs. McCarthy was present, in addition to Senator McCarthy and Mr. Adams.
The principal topics discussed were:
1) Senator McCarthy’s request that members of the Army Loyalty-Security Appeals Board be made available for interrogation by the committee, and
2) the possibility of an immediate assignment to New York City for Private G. David Schine.
On many occasions during the evening, Senator McCarthy said he did not see why it would not be possible for the Army to give Private Schine some assignment in New York and to forget about the whole matter; on at least three occasions he attempted to secure such a commitment from Mr. Adams.
Senator McCarthy pointed out that the Army was walking into a long-range fight with Mr. Cohn and that even if Mr. Cohn resigned or was fired from the committee staff, he would carry on his campaign against the Army from outside Washington . . .
FEBRUARY 16
Mr. Carr telephoned Mr. Adams and requested the Army to produce . . . before an open hearing . . . the commanding general of Camp Kilmer [N.J.] . . . Mr. Carr [said] rather facetiously that if the Army would only do all that had been requested of it, the Army’s problems would be at an end.
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