John Adams, 91; Termed McCarthy Tactics a Vendetta

John G. Adams, whose criticism of Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communism campaign helped lead to the senator’s downfall, died Thursday of lung cancer at his Dallas home. He was 91.

Adams was chief legal advisor to Army Secretary Robert T. Stevens in 1953, when McCarthy’s inquiries extended to the Army.

Adams wrote in his 1983 memoirs, “Without Precedent: The Story of the Death of McCarthyism,” that he and McCarthy were cordial at first, but Adams soon began suspecting that the Wisconsin Republican was carrying out a personal vendetta against the Army on behalf of an aide’s friend.

Adams detailed his suspicions in a 40-page memorandum that initiated weeks of televised hearings. The senator called Adams a liar and accused him of trying to end the Army investigations through blackmail, but the American public was beginning to doubt McCarthy. The Senate censured McCarthy in 1954; he died three years later.