Conant Faces Fight for Job In Committee

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy is prepared to lead Senate opposition to the appointment of President Conant as German High Commissioner, it was reported yesterday.

McCarthy has already informed Vice-President Nixon that he is "unhappy" over the choice of Conant, and indicated that he will object on the following grounds:

1. Conant's criticism o private schools, presumably Catholic.

2. Conant's alleged advocacy of the Morgenthau plan to de-industrialize Germany and make it a farmland, following World War II.

3. The claim that Conant has been overly lenient with alleged Communists on the Harvard faculty.

Misinterpretation Charged

It was further reported that Conant, who has been working with state department officers concerning a possible attack before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Monday morning, will emphatically deny all three charges.

Conant has said that the first two charges are based on misinterpretations of his speeches.

In his controversial Mechanics Hall speech last April, he said he did not question the right of religious and other organizations to organize private schools. He said, however that "I do question the honesty of their tactics when they attack public schools in an attempt to undermine confidence in secular education." He also objected to public funds "flowing in some form or other to private schools."

Conant is expected to defend himself against McCarthy's second objection by pointing out that the speech which is alleged to be his support of the Morgenthan plan was made before the war was over and the plan publicized.

It is expected that world-renowned astronomer Harlow Shapley will be cited by McCarthy as evidence of Conant's laxity in keeping faculty members with questionable political affiliations on the Harvard faculty. Shapley was prominent in Henry Wallace's Progressive party, and has been associated with organizations considered subversive by the government.