90-Day Wonder

Recently, after a chat with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, Edward Corsi complained: "He was sympathetic but his mind appeared to be elsewhere, on the big international things, Quemoy and Matsu. " Last week the problem of Edward Corsi thrust itself forcefully upon Dulles--and the front pages--along with the big international things.

Title on Request. Secretary Dulles introduced burly, bald Ed Corsi to Washington newsmen on Dec. 30 as an "old friend" and newly chosen consultant, summoned from New York to help speed up immigration under the 1953 Refugee Relief Act. Dulles labeled him "the best qualified man in the U.S." for the job: Corsi came to the U.S. as an immigrant lad himself, rose to become U.S. Commissioner of Immigration, served as New York Industrial Commissioner, ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for mayor of New York and U.S. Senator.

In passing the Refugee Relief Act. Congress had specifically assigned its administration to the State Department's Security Director, Scott McLeod. Corsi. however, felt that his position should rank McLeod; he wanted to be named special assistant to the Secretary of State. While he was on a European tour, checking up on the refugee program, he was given the title in a cable from Dulles.

Corsi planned to recruit 10,000 refugee German farmers for field labor in California, in place of Mexican wetbacks. He hoped to bring in a shipload of 1,000 immigrant Italian cooks and bakers, and maybe a shipload of tailors, too, to come steaming up the Hudson in time for a July 4 picnic. He wanted to short-cut the act's delaying provisions, which require advance guarantees of jobs and housing for refugees. Unfortunately, some of his plans collided with the law as written by Congress; moreover, he initially refused to take his place as McLeod's deputy in charge of the refugee program.

On March 16 McLeod offered Corsi two choices: 1) become deputy, or 2) retire "gracefully and with dignity" by taking a special temporary job surveying immigration in South America. Corsi hesitated. He felt, McLeod said, that "the title [deputy] didn't have a very good ring to it." Furthermore, as Corsi said later, he was "ashamed" of his "rat hole in the wall" State Department office. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's Democratic Congressman Francis Walter attacked Corsi on the ground that he had once belonged to some Communist front groups. At his news conference on April 5, Dulles disclosed publicly for the first time that Corsi's job had only a 90-day tenure. Understandably, the press jumped to the conclusion that Congressman Walter's attack had prompted Dulles to fire Corsi. It kept jumping as Dulles and other Administration sources, on and off the record, made one bumbling explanation after another of the Corsi case.

Last week the 90 days were up and Corsi quit, with a letter to Secretary Dulles denouncing "an intolerant minority, both in Congress and within the State Department itself, which believes that in this world there are superior and inferior races. These people are sabotaging the refugee program and have brought about my elimination."

Who Does What? Near week's end, North Dakota's Republican Senator William Langer began an investigation. He summoned before his Senate Immigration subcommittee, as its first witness, the State Department's McLeod, who defended his administration of the refugee program. His report: 24,810 immigrant visas issued so far, and another 75,587 being processed out of 214,000 permitted by the act, with 20 months still to go.

As for Corsi, McLeod said unhappily: "I could never tie Mr. Corsi down as to what he was doing, or I was doing, or who was running the program."

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