JOHN MCCONE, PUBLIC SERVANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000400030111-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: January 17, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For
HARRISON GRAY OTIS;188i,
TIMES EDITORIAL
John McpnJ~bJjc LerServant
btic servants. The job sought the'
McCune consented last fall to be-
come chief of the Central Intelligence
,Agency, one of the most difficult places
in the government.
A, One of his rewards for accepting this
John A. McCone's it a cue intpottt* onerous post is a current series of st-
and the case history serves as a;gener. tacks on his integrity as A public serv-
al answer to the complaint. ant by the widely published columnist
1ticCdne made his own way, p the ' Drew Pearson. The articles have been
ladder to president of a shipbuilding published on Page S of this section of
ty at any time In their lives, to.'n ak
ticularly if they had applied their'=a
luctant to serve the government,
this republic Is that able mnen.,@x
. A frequent- complaint heard"ar I
rporation for which he set prodtie The Times. The motive of the Pearson
Lion goals nobody be "crusade" is obscure, hut the treatment
first Sputnik was orbited.
Although he resigned as Air Force
'undersecretary 1T1 1951, he was re-
with full authority and control of funds
to exercise "absolute power over the
entire effort." He gave president Ei-
senhower the same advice after the
Set High sieved coup Abe' of McCone is sheerly vindictive. The'
Ship Goals achieved. The rAs l t technilque is the smear: the charges are
was 467 wartime hips made but the answers are suppressed
worth a billion dollars. In his pursuif:of unless they serve the accuser's purpose.
private fortune McCone found time for Pearson based his columns on three
public service as a direct6r of Stanford congressional hearings, with quotations
Research Institute, a trustee; of Cal- torn out of the context of several hun-
tech, a regent of Loyola University, an
organizer of the Los Angeles World A[- deers pa; rs of record. The first, in 1046,
World an inquiry into shipbuilding profits
fairs Council. while McCone was still president of the
President Truman drew him Into na- California Shipbuilding Corp. This was
tional affairs, although he Is a Republi- followed shortly by his summons to na-
can, by appointing him to the Alr Poli- tional service under President Truman.
cy Commission where he helped Thom-+ The second, about plane contracts, was
as K. Finletter write the famous report held in 1953 while McCone was be-
"Survival in the Air Age. He became tween public jobs, but he was recalled
Air Fdf?ce undersecretary .under Fin- to service in 1954. The third, held in
letter !h,1950, and in that year, sig- 1958. rehashed older charges, and it
nificantly, he recommended to Press- was followed-by McCone's unanimous
dent Truman that the embryo guided confirmation by the Senate as a mem-
missile program be conducted by a man her of the AEC.
Three Presidents and the U.S. Senate
could find no conflict between McCone :s
public service and the service he gave
his private interests.
The Pearson charges will not have
any effect on Senate
Approved For Release 2004/05/05 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000400030111-6