Nearing the end of the almost endless and infamous Army-McCarthy Hearings, this installment of the drama comes from June 15, 1954. The daily wrapup, with George Herman and Griffing Bancroft of CBS Radio, encapsulates the day-long hearings into a half-hour program which ran at 10:00 pm every evening.

This installment winds down the proceedings and features, among others, cross-examination of McCarthy Aide Francis Carr and McCarthy Chief Council Roy Cohn. Anticipated for the next (and possibly last) day was Joe McCarthy. Everything on this day went smoothly and, with the exception of the Press being distracted by a disturbance elsewhere in the building, was pretty humdrum by comparison with other days.

No fireworks and no wild accusations, but theater nonetheless.

Here is that daily wrapup from CBS Radio for June 15, 1954.

Buried in the news on this June 4th in 1954 were several stories that would come back to haunt.

Starting with the tragic news of the explosion and fire aboard the USS Bennington, due to a hydraulic spark igniting explosive fuel, with the result of 102 crewmen dead.

The Secretary of Commerce admitted "we're in a Recession" with the disclosure of 16 more cities added to the list of 123 major cities with substantial unemployment. The figures come in at well above 5 million unemployed, although the government claimed its figures to be around 4 million. The numbers didn't take into account the unemployed whose benefits had run out in recent weeks.

Another harbinger of things to come - General James van Fleet was reported to have said he didn't think U.S. ground forces were needed in South East Asia. That sending military aid would be enough. This came hot on the heels of Secretary of State Dulles, joining a growing list of officials predicting U.S. involvement in a shooting war in Indo-China (i.e. Vietnam) was imminent.

There was a report on a preview of the upcoming 1955 cars, with a lot more V-8 engines available as standard equipment. The irony was an accompanying report that the major Oil companies were purposely keeping gas prices up by making claims that extra additives for improving performance of these V-8 engines was a way of jacking up gas prices, while marketing claims that these new fuel formulas were better for car performance. A claim not substantiated.

It was also reported that some Army engineers had developed a Solar Panel that, when installed on the roof of a family home, would provide enough heat and electricity to fuel the average house completely from the sun. In 1954, no less.

From Capitol Hill - much anticipated wrangling over President Eisenhower's Farm Bill. An FCC Commissioner, favored by Sen. McCarthy was re-appointed by President Eisenhower and the Army-McCarthy Hearings were droning on, with more noise than progress.

And that's what happened on this June 4, 1954 as reported by Frank Edwards And The News.

This first week in May of 1954 saw the beginning of the infamous Army-McCarthy Hearings regarding Communist infiltrators within the Military. This broadcast, from May 5th, wraps up the days proceedings from May 4th, which was Day Nine in the seemingly never-ending hearings.

This was one of the first gavel-to-gavel live Senate hearings to be broadcast on radio and television. The first was the legendary Kefauver Crime Committee Hearings, and the audience for those hearings went through the roof.

Likewise with the Army-McCarthy Hearings, some four years later. These hearings were epitomized by the now-famous showdown between Chief Counsel Welsh and Sen. Joe McCarthy several weeks later that ended in the quote "Have you no shame, Senator?".

These days, with C-Span, we take hearings like this for granted. But in 1954 it was a first glimpse for many into the inner-workings of Capitol Hill.

So here is Day 9 as reported by George Herman and Griffing Bancroft of CBS Radio with excerpts from the days proceedings (for those who missed it live).

At the end of over 30 straight days of broadcast hearings (on radio and TV), which included the now-famous "At long last Senator, have you no sense of decency?" between Attorney Joseph Welch and Senator Joe McCarthy, the seemingly endless display of innuendo, character assassination and dirty laundry was coming to an end.

On June 15th 1954, it was a comparatively calm day, with closing statements, cross examinations and a general feeling of winding down the proceedings, which were to conclude within the next two days.

So here is a half-hour recap of the days testimony, offered by CBS Radio as part of their daily broadcast of the hearings, hosted by CBS Newsmen Griffing Bancroft, Daniel Schorr and George Herman.

If you were around on this day, no doubt you would have been glued to the radio or TV.