(7 of 9)
The defeat's full impact landed on the world's doorstep with the morning newspapers. Editorial writers, who had been championing Stevens all week, denounced him. Cried the Richmond News Leader: "Mr. Stevens has . . . contributed to the delusion that McCarthy bestrides this nation like some Colossus, while petty men walk about under his huge legs." Said the New York Times's Pundit Arthur Krock: "Officials who get into a slugging match with McCarthy had best be sure in advance that they have loyal seconds in their corners, a Sunday punch in both fists and the stamina to stay to the finish."
After this low point, the anti-McCarthy side rallied, and gained a little ground.
Meeting No. 6. Amid reports that Stevens was about to resign, Nixon, Rogers and White House aides went into Meeting No. 6. They drafted a statement which they hoped to get McCarthy and his committee Republicans to issue. Dirksen was summoned to the White House, where he chatted briefly with the President, who said: "I'd like to see if you can do this."
Meeting No. 7. Dirksen picked up the draft statement from its authors, repaired to the Senate cloakroom, where he huddled in Meeting No, 7 with McCarthy, Mundt and Potter. But the draft asked Joe to do three things he would obviously never consent to: 1) admit that he had abused Zwicker, 2) agree that Stevens had been given assurances of McCarthy's future good conduct, and 3) hint that calling Army officers in the Peress case might not be necessary.
McCarthy would agree only to a statement which called Stevens an able and friendly fellow. Since this would prove nothing, the White House said not to bother with further negotiations.
Meeting No. 8. Stevens and his Pentagon advisers met and drafted another statement. Acting Secretary Kyes, a massive man of massive will, took charge. He summoned Stevens to his office and said: "We're going to the White House." Kyes and Stevens crossed the Potomac, joined the still-cerebrating Meeting No. 5, which was now augmented by Presidential Chief of Staff Sherman Adams and others. While the conferees in the Cabinet Room sweated over their draft, President Eisenhower was practicing pitch shots on the nearby White House lawn. When Meeting No. 6 had finished its labors, it found Ike in his second-floor study and brought him the statement. The President strengthened the language in one spot, gave it his "100% approval."
Meeting No. 9. In the office of Press Secretary James Hagerty, Stevens read his statement to reporters while Kyes towered over him and Hagerty, a strong anti-McCarthy man, worked hard to keep his choler down. Stevens said that he had been misinterpreted; he wanted to make it clear that "I shall never accede to the abuse of Army personnel [or] to them being browbeaten or humiliated. I do not intend to allow them to be deprived of . . . counsel." He added that he had assurances from members of McCarthy's committee that "they will not permit such conditions to develop in the future."