THE LATTIMORE AFFAIR
The chief count in the latest indictment for perjury against Professor Lattimore has again been dismissed by Judge Youngdahl. In May, 1953, the same judge, who was appointed by President Truman but is a former Republican Governor of Minnesota, threw out a charge against Lattimore which alleged that he had lied in denying that he had been a 'com- munist sympathiser.' The Department of Justice, impelled by folly or worse, then altered the charge to 'knowingly following the communist line,' and Mr. Rover, the Government lawyer, saw fit to defend this action On television. Anticipating that a judge who found the words 'communist sympathiser' too vague would not find the words 'follower of the com- munist line' any more satisfactory, the Government sank to the disreputable procedure of trying to change the judge. But• this manoeuvre failed, and Judge Youngdahl has now made the obvious decision. Professor Lattimore has been hounded since March, 1950, when Senator McCarthy charged that he was the 'top Russian espionage agent in the United States.' Since his inexcusable 'Harry Dexter White' speech, the Attorney-General, Mr. Brownell, has shown signs of changing from a party manager into something like a law officer. By ending this disgraceful persecution, he has a chance to show that the transformation is nearly complete.
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