Editorial Note
Immediately after Senator McCarthy began his series of charges against the Department of State, the decision was made to place all responsibility for dealing with Congressional charges against and investigations of the Department in the Office of the Deputy Assistant [Page 1381] Secretary of State for Administration, John Peurifoy, rather than in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Affairs, Jack K. McFall. McFall described the making of this decision in an oral history interview in 1967. He stated, inter alia:
“Inasmuch as politics would inevitably be injected into the continuing charges and the Department’s denials, I brought the matter before the Secretary at the morning staff meeting, with the view of settling the issue as to which office in the Department should be given the responsibility of handling the Department defense against the McCarthy charges. I pointed out that I was seriously concerned that if my office were to take on this charge, it would essentially draw me and my office into the vortex of the issue and would serve seriously to impair the bipartisan approach to all issues I had scrupulously endeavored to follow. Again, it became clearly evident that if this office was to become involved in this type of activity, we could do so only at the cost of our effectiveness in furthering the Department’s legislative program. The Secretary agreed fully with the reasoning and the responsibility for the whole matter was placed in the hands of the Deputy Secretary for Administration.”
McFall’s oral history interview is in Cornell University Program in Oral History; Interview of Jack K. McFall, April 18, 1967.