June 2, 1954 – Telephone Takes Witness Stand – Ava Gardner To Divorce Frank Sinatra – Situation In Indo-China “Grave, But Not Hopeless”.

Senator McCarthy – even telephones were dragged into the proceedings.

Another day of drama on Capitol Hil, this June 2, 1954.

Roy M. Cohn said today that Attorney General Herbert Brownell or his assistant “instigated” the Army-McCarthy hearings and that this constituted a “stacked deck” against the McCarthy side if perjury charges develop from the hearings. Cohn threw out this charge in the twenty-sixth day of the Army-McCarthy hearings in Washington.

Senator Henry Jackson (Dem., Wash.) pressed a series of “true or false” questions to Cohn. Cohn testified under oath it was “true” that the Army filed its charges against McCarthy and him after failing in “blackmail attempts” to try to halt the McCarthy subcommittee investiga- Earlier, when Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens Army Counselor John G. Adams were witnesses, Jackson had pursued a similar “true or false” line of questioning. Jackson read the perjury laws to Cohn and reminded him Stevens and Adams had testified the “blackmail” charge was false.

Cohn insisted this charge had been “proved” by testimony from senators on the subcommittee itself. Cohn referred to testimony by the senators that Adams had visited them “to try to kill” a move by the McCarthy subcommittee to subpoena members of the Army Loyalty Board. Cohn said one of the senators (Everett Dirksen, Rep., Ill.) had said Adams “hinted” that if the subpoenas were not dropped, “something else would be done.” Cohn said Brownell’s office had “instgated” the proceedings, adding that Brownell would be the one to review the testimony and decide who, if anyone, should be proecuted for perjury (lying under oath).

In the midst of Cohn’s testimony, the first of the much disputed monitored telephone calls was put into the record. This came when Senator Dirksen read a transcript of three talks he had with Secretary Stevens.

Since the early days of the televised hearings, begun April 22, there has been off-and-on wrangling over introduction of telephone calls on which Stevens his appointment John Lucas, Jr., take shorthand, notes. Dirksen asked whether there were any objection to his reading his calls with the Army Secretary. He was permitted to go ahead. All bore on the alleged mistreatment of Brig. Gen. Ralph Zwicker by McCarthy during an investigation of alleged Communist infiltration of the Army. In one Stevens • he (Stevens) appeared to be a “yellow belly” in the row with Senator McCarthy, Dirksen quoted Stevens also as declaring, “I have been absolutely crucified and the (armed) services with me.” The calls were last February. Dirksen proceeded to read his calls after a long argument over whether transcripts available to investigations subcommittee, should be spread on McCarthy and Cohn stuck to their stand that their own calls to army officials should not be used unless the Army also supplied transcripts of talks between army officials. They made no objection, however, to use of Dirksen’s calls. Cohn charged Stevens is deliberately trying to withhold calls from the investigation because they would be damaging to the Army’s side of the dispute.

Meanwhile: Hollywood Actress Ava Gardner was reported to be heading to Las Vegas to file for divorce from singer Frank Sinatra. However, they wouldn’t officially divorce for another four years. Still, even a rumor made the news.

And Indo-China (Vietnam) was in the news – Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said today the Indochina situation “is grave but by no means hopeless.” Dulles said Communist China has been supplying to Red rebels in Indochina “an ever-increasing volume of munitions and military supplies” in an effort to take over all of Southeast Asia. He said there is evidence Soviet arms have been supplied in increasing quantities to the Red forces. “The situation in Indochina is fraught with danger, not only to the immediate area but to the security of the United States and its allies in the Pacific area,” Dulles told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee is holding hearings on the administration’s 3½- billion-dollar proposed foreign aid program. Red’s Attitude Not Encouraging Dulles said the United States and its allies are trying to find a formula at the Geneva Far East conference to end the Indochinese fighting but that “so far the Communist attitude is not encouraging.”.

And that’s just a little of what happened, this June 2, 1954 as reported by ABC Radio News.