For nearly two months, 21-year-old Eugene Landy, No. 2 honor graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, had been officially dishonored. In refusing him the usual ensign's commission, the Navy said he had been "extremely close" to his mother, a former Communist.
As the Landy case flared across U.S. headlines, Navy Secretary Charles Thomas appointed a special board to review the decision. While the board pondered and Landy entered Yale Law School, the Air Force and Coast Guard cleared two men involved in similar kin-guilt cases. At length, the special Navy board arrived at a stubborn conclusion: still thumbs down...
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