For three weeks Tennessee's Senator Kenneth McKellar, an ancient knight on a spavined horse, had roared accusations at David Lilienthal in Washington. His arena was the Senate's Atomic Energy Committee, which was holding hearings on Lilienthal's fitness to head the Atomic Energy Commission. McKellar was not a committee member, but the Republican majority politely let him have his way.
He called up old enemies of Lilienthal as witnesses. He bludgeoned him with gossip, crackpot letters, unsupported charges. He insisted on knowing the birthplace of Lilienthal's parents, aged 72 and 78. "It was in the vicinity of...
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