WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 1954 (UP) - Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy declared today that his condemnation by the Senate will make his anti-Communist campaign more difficult. But he vowed he will carry on without letup.
"This censure will have no effect whatsoever on my attempt to expose Communists in government," he said. "I will continue the same as in the past. But it will be more difficult because of the vote."
In the first move of its kind in 26 years, the Senate yesterday voted 67 to 22 to condemn the controversial Republican for "repeatedly abusing" a 1951-52 elections subcommittee and for calling the Senate Censure Committee an "unwitting hand maiden" of the Communist Party.
It completed action after substituting the word "condemn" for "censure" in the final resolution and entirely dropping one count, sponsored by the committee, that accused McCarthy of abusing Brig. Gen. Ralph W. Zwicker.
The big vote - climaxing a day of hectic maneuvering and months of stormy debate - sent the Senate into final adjournment at 7:10 p.m. and touched off a wave of speculation on the effect it will have on McCarthy's future, Republican unity, the Democrats, and the prestige of the Senate.
Democratic leaders said privately the vote will give McCarthy a big shove toward political eclipse although it leaves his powers and rights as a senator intact. Pro-McCarthy senators in the GOP camp weren't sure.
The Democrats voted solidly for McCarthy's rebuke in the final vote, but the Republicans split straight down the middle with 22 voting for and 22 against. It was a yawning chasm - with pro-Eisenhower Republicans roughly on one side and the old Taft wing on the other - and it runs deeper than the McCarthy issue alone.
Sen. A.S. Mike Monroney (D., Okla.) predicted that some Republicans will attack the Democrats because they went down the line for McCarthy's reprimand. McCarthy expressed disappointment at this unanimity today.
McCarthy's friends claimed a partial victory because the final resolution "condemned" rather than "censured" McCarthy as earlier drafts had proposed.
But McCarthy apparently felt it was a distinction without a difference. He referred to the action as a "censure" and quipped that in any case it could hardly be called a "vote of confidence."
In any event, the condemnation was the stiffest rebuke the Senate can give one of its members short of expulsion - which was never seriously considered in McCarthy's case.
In the second count of the resolution - accusing McCarthy of abusing the Censure Committee - Bennett originally used "censured."
But in resubmitting his proposal yesterday as a substitute for a proposed second count by the Censure Committee he changed the word to "condemned." Sen. Arthur V. Watkins (R., Utah), the committee chairman, explained the purpose was to make the language consistent with the last Senate censure action in 1928 when "condemned" was used.
The censure committee itself agreed to let Bennett's count substitute for Zwicker when it became apparent the latter faced a close vote and possible defeat.
There was a strong feeling among some senators that adoption of the Zwicker charge would impair relations between the Senate and the military. Others said it might imply Senate approval of the Army's admitting bungling in the discharge case of an Army dentist about whom McCarthy was questioning Zwicker.
McCarthy, his sore elbow still swathed in bandages, was absent most of yesterday but showed up an hour before the climax and voted, "present."
The first count, accusing McCarthy of abusing the elections subcommittee, was approved Wednesday night, 67 to 20. In the first action yesterday, the Senate voted, 55 to 33, against rejecting the Zwicker count outright - the biggest show of strength the pro-McCarthy forces made.
Later, however, the Senate voted, 64 to 23, to replace the Zwicker charge with the Bennett count rebuking McCarthy for attacking the Censure Committee and the Senate itself during the formal censure debate.
The final 67-to-22 vote on the package resolution then followed.
The Republican breakdown on the final vote was:
For censure:
Abel (Neb.), Aiken (Vt.), Beall (Md.), Bennett (Utah), Bush (Conn.), Carlson (Kans.), Case (S.D.), Cooper (Ky.), Cotton (N.H.), Duff (Pa.), Ferguson (Mich.), Flanders (Vt.), Hendrickson (N.J.), Ives (N.Y.), Payne (Me.), Potter (Mich.), Saltonstall (Mass.), Smith (Me.), Smith (N.J.), Thye (Minn.), Watkins (Utah) and Williams (Del.).
Against censure:
Barrett (Wyo.), Bridges (N.H.), Brown (Nev.), Butler (Md.), Cordon (Ore.), Dirksen (Ill.), Dworshak (Ida.), Goldwater (Ariz.), Hickenlooper (Ia.), Hruska (Neb.), Jenner (Ind.), Knowland (Calif.), Kuchel (Calif.), Langer (N.D.), Malone (Nev.), Martin (Pa.), Millikin (Colo.), Mundt (S.D.), Purtell (Conn.), Schoeppel (Kans.), Welker (Ida.), and Young (N.D.).
Ohio's GOP Sen. John Bricker, who is abroad, was paired against the final resolution.
