WASHINGTON, June 26 — John G. Adams, a former general counsel for the Army whose repeated clashes with the anti-Communist crusader Joseph R. McCarthy in the early 1950's ultimately helped bring him down, died today at his home in Dallas. He was 91.Despite a long career in public service during five decades spent in Washington, Mr. Adams is best known for his confrontations with Senator McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who galvanized the nation in 1953 with hearings to root out supposed Communists in the armed forces.
Mr. Adams was a reluctant foil for McCarthy and his zealous aide Roy M. Cohn, who had prompted headlines with accusations that the Army's Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, N.J., had been penetrated by traitors and spies. McCarthy's inquiries led to the suspension of 42 Army employees deemed to be "security risks."
As general counsel, Mr. Adams had to deal with the bullying tactics of McCarthy and Cohn as they sought to make their case against workers at Fort Monmouth, an electronic research facility. Appointed by Robert Stevens, Army secretary under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to be a "permanent liaison" with the senator, Mr. Adams wrote in his memoirs that he understood his role was to seek a friendly, even "fawning" relationship with McCarthy.
But Mr. Adams's efforts to ingratiate himself failed, and he became increasingly troubled by the senator's threats and demands. A case involving a Cohn friend later became central to the evidence that McCarthy had improperly interfered in the Army's affairs.
In November 1953, Pvt. G. David Schine, a close friend of Cohn, was drafted and assigned to Fort Dix, N.J. According to Mr. Adams, Cohn had persistently sought to have Mr. Schine assigned to New York and had threatened to "wreck the Army" if he was ever sent overseas.
When Mr. Adams rejected such favoritism, McCarthy called a news conference and accused him of trying to use Mr. Schine as a bargaining chip to end the anti-Communist purge in the Army. During the Army-McCarthy hearings, which were watched on television by millions of viewers for more than a month, Mr. Adams detailed McCarthy's actions, adding to a growing public sense that the senator was out of control.
Much of Mr. Adams's case against McCarthy was in written notes that painstakingly recorded the senator's demands. In his memoir, "Without Precedent," Mr. Adams said he would not allow members of the Army Loyalty Board to submit to McCarthy's questions. The publication of a 40-page memorandum submitted by Mr. Adams prompted the hearings that ultimately led to the senator's downfall.
McCarthy was censured by the Senate in 1954; he died an alcoholic three years later.
Mr. Adams did not emerge from the period unscathed. He was temporarily removed from his job as general counsel after McCarthy filed formal charges against his superior, Secretary Stevens.
The episode haunted him, relatives said. For nearly 25 years afterward, he could not find the fortitude to write about it, saying the "experience had been so repugnant to me." The memoir, which was published in 1983, tells of baseless accusations against Army employees and their humiliation before they were eventually reinstated.
John Gibbons Adams was born on March 23, 1912, in Ashland, Ky. He grew up in Sioux Falls, S.D., and received a law degree from the University of South Dakota in 1935. In World War II, he served in the Army as a commissioned officer in Africa, Italy and France. He was active in the reserves for 30 years after the war, rising to the rank of colonel.
For two years beginning in 1947, he served in the Senate as chief counsel and staff director of the Committee on Armed Services.
After the McCarthy era, Mr. Adams became a consultant and staff member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He spent six years as a member of the federal Civil Aeronautics Board and became a lecturer in law at American University in 1970.
Mr. Adams had deep roots in Washington, where he was a member of the Army-Navy Club and a founder of a group known as the S.O.B.'s, made up of Senate Office Building staff members.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Margaret Williams Adams; his daughter, Rebecca Cavner; and two grandchildren, Elizabeth and Jacob. He and his wife moved to Dallas in 1996 to be nearer their daughter's family.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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