Change of Course

As the debate about the firing of State Department Immigration Consultant Edward Corsi (TIME, April 25) shrilled on last week, it took a sudden but inevitable change of course. Instead of focusing on how many immigrants can be brought to the U.S. under the 1953 Refugee Relief Act, the argument began to turn on how many Italian-American votes the Democrats can take away from the Republicans as a result of the Corsi affair.

Before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on refugee problems, New Yorker Corsi loudly played to the hilt the role of a martyred champion of refugees who are seeking to enter the U.S. The refugee act. he said, became a "national scandal" because of the way it was administered by "a security gang" led by Robert W. Scott McLeod, the State Department's security director. Cried Corsi: "The administration of the act is wholly dominated by the psychology of security. Refugees are investigated to death . . . The investigation, the police job, is the thing, not the admission of refugees. That is just incidental."

"Gang" v. "Team." After it echoed around Capitol Hill and the nation's press, Corsi's "security gang" label began to sizzle. At the next day's committee hearing. Indiana's Republican Senator William Jenner shouted at Corsi: "You used strong language here yesterday. You said Mr. McLeod heads a 'security gang.' I want to tell Mr. McLeod that he is doing a good job, and that won't be the last time he's called something like that. Anybody who does a good security job can expect to be smeared with that kind of language."

Having had his say, Senator Jenner rose and started to leave the hearing room.

"You ought to have the courtesy to stay here and listen to me." roared Corsi. "All the patriotism in America does not reside in you and Mr. McLeod." Jenner, halfway out of the room, turned back to shout: "I'll put my loyalty against yours any time, Mr. Corsi."

Scott McLeod was "amazed and astonished" by Corsi's testimony. Back on the witness stand, he told the subcommittee: "I had no intimation of any personal ill will while Mr. Corsi was in the department. I resent the vituperative appellation of 'security gang.' It's not a gang; it is the Eisenhower team. I believe in it. and that's why I'm on it."

McLeod and his boss, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, explained that they dropped Corsi because he insisted on assuming more authority than they had given him. From the first, McLeod told the subcommittee, Corsi refused to stay within the scope of his position, and complained bitterly that he did not have a worthy title. McLeod said that he told Corsi: "Title-schmitle--what do we care about title. If you want a big title, we'll get you one." Nevertheless, Dulles and McLeod waited until Corsi came under attack from Pennsylvania's security-sensitive Democratic Representative Francis Walter before they dropped him, with inept and conflicting accounts of their reasons.

A Bow for Votes. The noise in Washington provided a fine overture for a political play in New York, where the Italian-American vote is highly important. Catching the cue, Democratic Governor Averell Harriman announced that he was reviving the State Committee on Refugees, which had expired when he moved into the governor's office last January. Among Harriman's new members: Italian-American Edward Corsi, who was chairman of the committee under Republican Governor Tom Dewey.

While his office was preparing to announce the revival of the committee, Harriman, speaking at a Democratic dinner in Rochester, hurried to the defense of Republican Corsi. The firing of Corsi showed that the Eisenhower Administration is "insensitive" to the needs of the people, he said. When he had barely completed this bow to the Italian-American vote, Harriman made an announcement: he is sure that New York's Democratic Senator Herbert H. Lehman, 77, will run for re-election next year. "He is one of the great Senators in our nation," said Harriman, "and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be re-elected."

In Washington Corsi said that he had not heard of the Harriman appointment until a reporter telephoned him the news, but he would be "very happy to serve." Herbert Lehman said that he had not even given any consideration to whether he will seek reelection. Although Corsi had twice made a poor showing as a political candidate in New York, the Democrats obviously hoped that, as a martyr, he would be of great help to Lehman and other Democratic candidates in 1956.

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