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{{Infobox person |
{{Infobox person |
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|name = David Schine |
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|image = G. David Schine in 1954.jpg |
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|caption = Schine at the [[Army-McCarthy hearings]], 1954 |
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|birth_name = Gerard David Schine |
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1927|9|11}} |
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|birth_place = [[Gloversville, New York]], U.S. |
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|death_date = {{death date and age|1996|6|19|1927|9|11}} |
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|death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S. |
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| death_cause = [[Airplane crash]] |
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|education = [[Harvard University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}} |
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| resting_place_coordinates = |
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| residence = |
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|children = 6 |
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| nationality = United States |
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| education = {{nowrap|[[Phillips Academy]]<br/>[[Harvard University]] <small>(1949)</small>}} |
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| children = {{nowrap|F. Berndt Shine <small>(1962–1996)</small><br/>J. Mark Schine<br/>Vidette Schine Perry<br/>Kevin Schine <small>(twin of F. Berndt)</small><br/>Alex Schine<br/>Lance Schine}} |
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| parents = [[Junius Myer Schine]] (father) |
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⚫ | '''Gerard David Schine''', better known as '''G. David Schine''' or '''David Schine''' (September 11, 1927 – June 19, 1996), was the wealthy heir to a hotel chain fortune who became a central figure in the [[Army–McCarthy hearings]] of 1954 in his role as the chief consultant to the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]].<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=gds>{{cite news |title=G. David Schine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/05/archives/g-david-schine.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|quote=G. David Schine, an Army private who had been chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Senator Joseph R. McCarthy headed. ... |date=June 5, 1977|access-date=1 April 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations |year= 2003|publisher=[[United States Congress]] |isbn= 9780160710148|quote=G. David Schine, chief consultant | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMQ1AAAAIAAJ }}</ref> |
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⚫ | '''Gerard David Schine''', better known as '''G. David Schine''' or '''David Schine''' (September 11, 1927 – June 19, 1996), was the wealthy heir to a hotel chain fortune who became a central figure in the [[Army–McCarthy hearings]] of 1954 in his role as the chief consultant to the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]].<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=gds>{{cite news |title=G. David Schine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/05/archives/g-david-schine.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|quote=G. David Schine, an Army private who had been chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Senator Joseph R. McCarthy headed. ... |date=June 5, 1977|access-date=1 April 2008 }}</ref |
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⚫ | Schine was born in [[Gloversville, New York]], to [[Jew]]ish parents, hotel magnate [[Junius Myer Schine]] and Hildegarde Feldman.<ref>{{cite news |title=J. Myer Schine, 78, Hotel Man, Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/10/archives/j-myer-sghine-78-hotel-man-dead-65-sale-of-his-150million-holdings.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 10, 1971|access-date=16 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=J. M. Schine, Hotel Chain Founder, Dies |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/642930612.html?dids=642930612:642930612&FMT=ABS& |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 9, 1971 |access-date=1 October 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717112631/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/642930612.html?dids=642930612:642930612&FMT=ABS& |archive-date=17 July 2012}}</ref> He attended [[Phillips Academy]] and graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1949.<ref name=nytobit/> He had entered Harvard in the summer of 1945, taken a leave of absence in the spring of 1946, and returned in the fall of 1947 after a year working as an assistant [[purser]] for the [[Transportation Corps|Army Transport Service]]. Though this was a civilian position, he wrote on his application for re-admission to Harvard that he was a "lieutenant in the Army," and other students resented his calling himself a veteran. Said one, "We were all veterans and his pretending to be one went over like a lead balloon."<ref name=boy>{{cite news |title=Schine at Harvard: Boy With the Baton |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1954/5/7/schine-at-harvard-boy-with-the/ |work=[[Harvard Crimson]] |date=7 May 1954 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> |
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⚫ | At Harvard he lived, according to a later ''[[Harvard Crimson]]'' portrait, "in a style which went out here with the era of the Gold Coast," the years before [[World War I]] when wealthy Harvard students lived apart from their classmates in private accommodations.<ref>[[Samuel Eliot Morison]], ''Three Centuries of Harvard: 1636–1936'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936), 419–21; Jerome Karabel, ''The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 44, 51</ref> College administrators denied his requests to use his dormitory room as an office and to allow a female secretary to visit outside of regular visiting hours.<ref name=boy /> He did, however, conduct the university band and also served as its drum major.<ref>{{cite news |title=University Band Revamped |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1945/10/19/university-band-revamped-first-appearance-saturday/ |work=[[Harvard Crimson]] |date=October 19, 1945 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> |
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⚫ | Schine was born in [[Gloversville, New York]] to [[Jew]]ish parents, hotel magnate [[Junius Myer Schine]] and Hildegarde Feldman.<ref>{{cite news |title=J. Myer Schine, 78, Hotel Man, Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/10/archives/j-myer-sghine-78-hotel-man-dead-65-sale-of-his-150million-holdings.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 10, 1971|access-date=16 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=J. M. Schine, Hotel Chain Founder, Dies |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/642930612.html?dids=642930612:642930612&FMT=ABS& |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 9, 1971 |access-date= |
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⚫ | At Harvard he lived, according to a later ''[[Harvard Crimson]]'' portrait, "in a style which went out here with the era of the Gold Coast," the years before [[World War I]] when wealthy Harvard students lived apart from their classmates in private accommodations.<ref>[[Samuel Eliot Morison]], ''Three Centuries of Harvard: |
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==Anti-communism and Army–McCarthy hearings== |
==Anti-communism and Army–McCarthy hearings== |
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In 1952 Schine published a six-page [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] pamphlet called "Definition of Communism"<ref>{{cite book |last=Schine |first=Gerald David |title=Definition of Communism |year=1952 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3HHHAAACAAJ }}</ref> and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels.<ref>Olson, James C. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qltcRiZX8EEC&pg=PA278& ''Stuart Symington: A Life''], via [[Google Books]], 278</ref> Although the pamphlet contained many errors, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' called it "remarkably succinct."<ref name=rovere>{{cite book |author= Richard Halworth Rovere |author-link= Richard Halworth Rovere |title = Senator Joe McCarthy |publisher = [[University of California Press]] |year= 1959 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5GOLPhg954C |pages = 194 | quote = [Schine] confused Stalin with Trotsky, Marx with Lenin, Alexander Kerensky with Prince Lvov, and fifteenth-century utopianism with twentieth-century Communism. ... |isbn = 0-520-20472-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite |
In 1952 Schine published a six-page [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] pamphlet called "Definition of Communism"<ref>{{cite book |last=Schine |first=Gerald David |title=Definition of Communism |year=1952 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3HHHAAACAAJ }}</ref> and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels.<ref>Olson, James C. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qltcRiZX8EEC&pg=PA278& ''Stuart Symington: A Life''], via [[Google Books]], p. 278</ref> Although the pamphlet contained many errors, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' called it "remarkably succinct."<ref name=rovere>{{cite book |author= Richard Halworth Rovere |author-link= Richard Halworth Rovere |title = Senator Joe McCarthy |publisher = [[University of California Press]] |year= 1959 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5GOLPhg954C |pages = 194 | quote = [Schine] confused Stalin with Trotsky, Marx with Lenin, Alexander Kerensky with Prince Lvov, and fifteenth-century utopianism with twentieth-century Communism. ... |isbn = 0-520-20472-7}}</ref><ref name="inflate">{{cite magazine |title=National Affairs: The Self-Inflated Target |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819554-3,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202022013/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819554-3,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 2, 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=March 22, 1954 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> The pamphlet introduced Schine to [[Roy Cohn]] through newspaper columnist [[George Sokolsky]], and the two became friends.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Man in the Middle |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823411-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321072201/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823411-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 21, 2009 |magazine=Time |date=May 24, 1954 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> Cohn at that time was Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s chief counsel, and he brought Schine onto McCarthy's staff as an unpaid "chief consultant". |
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McCarthy-era opponents of Communism sought to stamp out material they viewed as pro-Communist. Schine and Cohn conducted a much-criticized tour of Europe in 1953, examining libraries of the [[United States Information Agency]] for books written by authors they deemed to be Communists or [[fellow travelers]].<ref>{{cite book| author = Fred J. Cook| author-link = Fred J. Cook| title = The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy | publisher = [[Random House]] | year = 1971 | pages = 411–413 | isbn = 0-394-46270-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author = Geoffrey C. Ward | author-link = Geoffrey C. Ward | title = Roy Cohn | publisher = [[American Heritage Magazine]] | year = 1988 | url = http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/5/1988_5_12.shtml | access-date = 12 March 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071115021911/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/5/1988_5_12.shtml | archive-date = November 15, 2007 }}</ref> ''Die Welt'' of Hamburg called them ''Schnüffler'' or snoops.<ref>{{cite |
McCarthy-era opponents of Communism sought to stamp out material they viewed as pro-Communist. Schine and Cohn conducted a much-criticized tour of Europe in 1953, examining libraries of the [[United States Information Agency]] for books written by authors they deemed to be Communists or [[fellow travelers]].<ref>{{cite book| author = Fred J. Cook| author-link = Fred J. Cook| title = The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy | publisher = [[Random House]] | year = 1971 | pages = 411–413 | isbn = 0-394-46270-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author = Geoffrey C. Ward | author-link = Geoffrey C. Ward | title = Roy Cohn | publisher = [[American Heritage Magazine]] | year = 1988 | url = http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/5/1988_5_12.shtml | access-date = 12 March 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071115021911/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/5/1988_5_12.shtml | archive-date = November 15, 2007 }}</ref> ''Die Welt'' of Hamburg called them ''Schnüffler'' or snoops.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Schnuffles & Flourishes |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,822731,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222120158/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,822731,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=April 20, 1953 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> [[Theodore Kaghan]], Deputy Director of the Public Affairs Division in the Office of the U.S. [[High Commissioner]] for Germany and a target of the subcommittee, called them "junketeering gumshoes."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Germany: Verboten Volumes |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935997,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222124552/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935997,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=June 22, 1953 |access-date=25 March 2015 }}</ref> |
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In November 1953, Schine was [[conscription|drafted]] into the [[United States Army]] as a [[Private (rank)#United States|private]].<ref name=lat/> Cohn immediately began a campaign to obtain special privileges for Schine. Cohn met with and made repeated telephone calls to military officials from the [[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]] down to Schine's company commander. He asked that Schine be given a [[Commissioned officer|commission]] (which the Army refused due to Schine's lack of qualifications) as well as light duties, extra leave, and no overseas assignments. At one point, Cohn was reported to have threatened to "wreck the Army" if his demands were not met.<ref |
In November 1953, Schine was [[conscription|drafted]] into the [[United States Army]] as a [[Private (rank)#United States|private]].<ref name=lat>{{cite news |author=José Cardenas, Doug Smith |title=Plane Crash Kills McCarthy Aide |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-20-me-16801-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=20 June 1996 |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref> Cohn immediately began a campaign to obtain special privileges for Schine. Cohn met with and made repeated telephone calls to military officials from the [[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]] down to Schine's company commander. He asked that Schine be given a [[Commissioned officer|commission]] (which the Army refused due to Schine's lack of qualifications) as well as light duties, extra leave, and no overseas assignments. At one point, Cohn was reported to have threatened to "wreck the Army" if his demands were not met.<ref name="inflate" /> During the [[Army-McCarthy Hearings]] of 1954, the Army charged Cohn and McCarthy with using improper pressure to influence the Army, while McCarthy and Cohn counter-charged that the Army was holding Schine "hostage" in an attempt to squelch McCarthy's investigations into Communists in the Army. |
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The hearings were broadcast live using the relatively new medium of television and were viewed by an estimated 20 million people. Just prior to the hearings, Schine and Cohn appeared on the cover of ''Time'' on March 22, 1954, under the banner "McCarthy and His Men".<ref>{{cite magazine | title = Cohen and Schine. The Army |
The hearings were broadcast live using the relatively new medium of television and were viewed by an estimated 20 million people. Just prior to the hearings, Schine and Cohn appeared on the cover of ''Time'' on March 22, 1954, under the banner "McCarthy and His Men".<ref>{{cite magazine | title = Cohen and Schine. The Army got its orders | magazine = Time | date = March 22, 1954 | url = http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101540322,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050411173309/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101540322,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = April 11, 2005 | access-date = 12 March 2008 }}</ref> |
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The Army–McCarthy hearings absolved McCarthy of any direct wrongdoing, blaming Cohn alone. The exposure of McCarthy and his methods before a television audience, however, is widely considered to have heralded the beginning of the end of his career.<ref>{{cite book | first=David|last=Oshinsky|author-link=David Oshinsky | title = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| location=Oxford, England|date = 2005| pages = 464–465 | isbn = 0-19-515424-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first=Thomas C.|last=Reeves|author-link= Thomas C. Reeves | title = The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography | publisher = Madison Books | location=Seattle, Washington|pages = 639 et seq | date = 1982 | isbn = 1-56833-101-0}}</ref> Cohn resigned from McCarthy's staff shortly after the hearings.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Cohn Resigns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/07/21/archives/mr-cohn-resigns.html |quote=The only valid explanation of Roy Cohn's resignation as chief counsel of the McCarthy committee is that he wished to beat the gun to avoid a certain dismissal. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City|date=July 21, 1954 |access-date=October 19, 2012 }}</ref> |
The Army–McCarthy hearings absolved McCarthy of any direct wrongdoing, blaming Cohn alone. The exposure of McCarthy and his methods before a television audience, however, is widely considered to have heralded the beginning of the end of his career.<ref>{{cite book | first=David|last=Oshinsky|author-link=David Oshinsky | title = A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| location=Oxford, England|date = 2005| pages = 464–465 | isbn = 0-19-515424-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first=Thomas C.|last=Reeves|author-link= Thomas C. Reeves | title = The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography | publisher = Madison Books | location=Seattle, Washington|pages = 639 et seq | date = 1982 | isbn = 1-56833-101-0}}</ref> Cohn resigned from McCarthy's staff shortly after the hearings.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Cohn Resigns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/07/21/archives/mr-cohn-resigns.html |quote=The only valid explanation of Roy Cohn's resignation as chief counsel of the McCarthy committee is that he wished to beat the gun to avoid a certain dismissal. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City|date=July 21, 1954 |access-date=October 19, 2012 }}</ref> |
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==Later years== |
==Later years== |
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After the hearings, Schine left politics and refused to comment on the episode for the rest of his life, so his view of his relationship with Cohn remains unknown. He remained active in the [[private sector]] as a businessman and an entrepreneur, working in the hotel, music, and film industries. He was for a time a member of the [[Young Presidents' Organization]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/06/archives/business-and-art-new-and-encouraging-developments-looking-toward.html |author=Aline B. Saarinen |author-link=Aline B. Saarinen |title=Business and Art |date=June 6, 1954 |access-date=March 8, 2011}}</ref> On October 22, 1957, he married [[Miss Universe]] of 1955, [[Hillevi Rombin]] of [[Sweden]].<ref name=wpobit/><ref>{{cite news |title=G. David Schine Is Married |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/10/23/archives/g-david-schine-is-married.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 23, 1957 |access-date=11 March 2008 }}</ref> They had six children |
After the hearings, Schine left politics and refused to comment on the episode for the rest of his life, so his view of his relationship with Cohn remains unknown. He remained active in the [[private sector]] as a businessman and an entrepreneur, working in the hotel, music, and film industries. He was for a time a member of the [[Young Presidents' Organization]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/06/archives/business-and-art-new-and-encouraging-developments-looking-toward.html |author=Aline B. Saarinen |author-link=Aline B. Saarinen |title=Business and Art |date=June 6, 1954 |access-date=March 8, 2011}}</ref> On October 22, 1957, he married [[Miss Universe]] of 1955, [[Hillevi Rombin]] of [[Sweden]].<ref name=wpobit>{{cite news |author=Bart Barnes |title=G. David Schine Dies at 68. Key Figure in McCarthy Era. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/06/21/g-david-schine-dies-at-68/a3cde328-d2f7-4ef7-8756-3154a1fd1d13/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=21 June 1996 |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=G. David Schine Is Married |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/10/23/archives/g-david-schine-is-married.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 23, 1957 |access-date=11 March 2008 }}</ref> They had six children and were married for nearly 40 years.<ref name=wpobit/> Also in 1957, Schine's father named him head of Schine Enterprises, though in 1963 Schine's father resumed his position as head of the company.<ref name=time>{{cite news |title=A Towering Empire |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834085,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307055202/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834085,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 7, 2008 |magazine=[[Time magazine]] |access-date=15 March 2008 | date=July 30, 1965}}</ref> In 1977, Schine described himself as "retired."<ref name=gds /> |
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Schine made a [[cameo appearance]] as himself on a 1968 episode of ''[[Batman (TV): Guest appearances and episodes|Batman]].''<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.tv.com/batman-1966/the-entrancing-dr.-cassandra/episode/6927/summary.html |title = The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra |publisher = TV.com |date = March 7, 1968}}</ref> Schine was executive producer of the 1971 film ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]],'' which was nominated for eight [[Academy Awards]] and won five, including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=gds/> In 1977 he produced ''That's Action!'' |
Schine made a [[cameo appearance]] as himself on a 1968 episode of ''[[Batman (TV): Guest appearances and episodes|Batman]].''<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.tv.com/batman-1966/the-entrancing-dr.-cassandra/episode/6927/summary.html |title = The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra |publisher = TV.com |date = March 7, 1968 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120917183146/http://www.tv.com/shows/batman-adam-west/the-entrancing-dr-cassandra-6927/ |archive-date=17 September 2012}}</ref> Schine was executive producer of the 1971 film ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]],'' which was nominated for eight [[Academy Awards]] and won five, including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=gds/> In 1977 he produced ''That's Action!''<ref name=gds/> Shortly afterwards, Schine was involved with music by [[The DeFranco Family]] that achieved ''[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]'' gold and platinum and ''[[Cash Box magazine|Cash Box]]'' No. 1. Schine's company, Schine Music, also provided songs to [[Lou Rawls]] and [[Bobby Sherman]], among others. A musician himself, Schine had music he composed published. He once conducted the [[Boston Pops Orchestra]] in place of [[Arthur Fiedler]] at a concert celebrating his [[Harvard University]] 25th reunion in a performance of Sibelius' ''[[Karelia Suite]].'' Some of the musicians refused to play for him and one commented later: "That man ruined my father's life. No way I was going to play for him."<ref>Thomas Urquhart, ''For the Beauty of the Earth: Birding, Opera, and Other Journeys'' (Shoemaker & Hoard2004), p. 76n</ref> Schine's post-production video house in Hollywood, Studio Television Services, handled clients such as [[HBO]], [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]], [[Orion Pictures|Orion]], and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA]]. His [[Public company|publicly traded]] [[research and development]] company, High Resolution Sciences, endeavored for years to bring [[High-definition television|high definition]] to [[Terrestrial television|broadcast television]]. |
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==Death== |
==Death== |
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Schine died on June 19, 1996, at the age of 68, in a private airplane accident in Burbank, California. Also |
Schine died on June 19, 1996, at the age of 68, in a private airplane accident in Burbank, California. Also killed in the crash were his wife, Hillevi, and their 34-year-old son, Berndt, who was piloting the plane.<ref name=nytobit>{{cite news |author=Lawrence Van Gelder |author-link=Lawrence Van Gelder | title=Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69 <nowiki>[sic]</nowiki>, McCarthy-Era Figure |quote=G. David Schine, a catalytic figure in the fierce drama that brought to a climax the chapter in American history known as the McCarthy era, was killed on Wednesday when a single-engine plane piloted by his son Berndt crashed shortly after takeoff from Burbank, Calif |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E1DC1E39F932A15755C0A960958260& |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=21 June 1996 |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref><ref name=lat/><ref name=wpobit/> They were buried at [[Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery]] in Los Angeles. |
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==Legacy== |
==Legacy== |
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* A documentary film, ''[[Point of Order (movie)|Point of Order!]]'' (1964), was edited by [[Emile de Antonio]] from the [[kinescope]] recordings of the Army-McCarthy hearings.<ref>Internet Movie Database: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058481/ Point of Order (1964)]. Retrieved June 12, 2011</ref> |
* A documentary film, ''[[Point of Order (movie)|Point of Order!]]'' (1964), was edited by [[Emile de Antonio]] from the [[kinescope]] recordings of the Army-McCarthy hearings.<ref>Internet Movie Database: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058481/ Point of Order (1964)]. Retrieved June 12, 2011</ref> |
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⚫ | * Following Schine's death, playwright [[Tony Kushner]], who previously wrote the Pulitzer-prize winning ''[[Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes|Angels in America]]'', wrote a one-act play titled ''[[G. David Schine in Hell]]''. The play takes place on the day Schine died and portrays Schine as he arrives in hell and is reunited with [[Roy Cohn]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[Whittaker Chambers]], and [[J. Edgar Hoover]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisher |first=James |title=The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope |year= 2002 |publisher= Routledge | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCNKSCEJsxsC&pg=PA185 | page= 185| isbn=0-415-94271-3 }}. An excerpt is available: ''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/29/magazine/a-backstage-pass-to-hell.html Tony Kushner, "A Backstage Pass to Hell," December 29, 1996]. Retrieved March 8, 2011. For the full text: Tony Kushner, ''Death & Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays'' (Theater Communications Group, 1998)</ref> |
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* In the 1992 HBO film ''[[Citizen Cohn]]'', Schine is portrayed by [[Jeffrey Nordling]].<ref>Internet Movie database: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103973/fullcredits#cast Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV)]. Retrieved June 12, 2011</ref> |
* In the 1992 HBO film ''[[Citizen Cohn]]'', Schine is portrayed by [[Jeffrey Nordling]].<ref>Internet Movie database: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103973/fullcredits#cast Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV)]. Retrieved June 12, 2011</ref> |
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⚫ | * Following Schine's death, playwright [[Tony Kushner]], who previously wrote the Pulitzer-prize winning ''[[Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes|Angels in America]]'', wrote a one-act play titled ''[[G. David Schine in Hell]]''. The play takes place on the day Schine died and portrays Schine as he arrives in hell and is reunited with [[Roy Cohn]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[Whittaker Chambers]], and [[J. Edgar Hoover]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisher |first=James |title=The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope |year= 2002 |publisher= Routledge | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCNKSCEJsxsC&pg=PA185 | page= 185| isbn=0-415-94271-3 }}. An excerpt is available: ''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/29/magazine/a-backstage-pass-to-hell.html Tony Kushner, "A Backstage Pass to Hell," December 29, 1996]. Retrieved March 8, 2011. For the full text: Tony Kushner, ''Death & Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays'' (Theater Communications Group, 1998)</ref> |
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* In the 2012 comic novel ''Nick & Jake'' by [[Tad Richards]] and [[Jonathan Richards (author)|Jonathan Richards]], Schine is presented as a boyish innocent who accompanies [[Roy Cohn]] to Paris.<ref>[http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=55970100128110&CFID=3154273&CFTOKEN=753943e90e86eca3-27C46959-C29B-B0E5-3E73D80721899C9A&jsessionid=8430d2aa9f57e0b98c223a58542510777772 Arcade Publishing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110005117/http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=55970100128110&CFID=3154273&CFTOKEN=753943e90e86eca3-27C46959-C29B-B0E5-3E73D80721899C9A&jsessionid=8430d2aa9f57e0b98c223a58542510777772 |date=November 10, 2013 }}</ref> |
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*''[[Where's My Roy Cohn?]]'' (2019) |
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* Schine appears in the first five episodes of the 2023 [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] miniseries ''[[Fellow Travelers (miniseries)|Fellow Travelers]]'', portrayed by Matt Visser. |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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Revision as of 16:41, 13 May 2024
David Schine | |
---|---|
![]() Schine at the Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954 | |
Born | Gerard David Schine September 11, 1927 Gloversville, New York, U.S. |
Died | June 19, 1996 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 68)
Resting place | Westwood Village Cemetery |
Education | Harvard University (BA) |
Known for | Army–McCarthy hearings |
Spouse | |
Children | 6 |
Relatives | Junius Myer Schine (father) Lester Crown (brother-in-law) |
Gerard David Schine, better known as G. David Schine or David Schine (September 11, 1927 – June 19, 1996), was the wealthy heir to a hotel chain fortune who became a central figure in the Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954 in his role as the chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.[1][2][3]
Early life
Schine was born in Gloversville, New York, to Jewish parents, hotel magnate Junius Myer Schine and Hildegarde Feldman.[4][5] He attended Phillips Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1949.[1] He had entered Harvard in the summer of 1945, taken a leave of absence in the spring of 1946, and returned in the fall of 1947 after a year working as an assistant purser for the Army Transport Service. Though this was a civilian position, he wrote on his application for re-admission to Harvard that he was a "lieutenant in the Army," and other students resented his calling himself a veteran. Said one, "We were all veterans and his pretending to be one went over like a lead balloon."[6]
At Harvard he lived, according to a later Harvard Crimson portrait, "in a style which went out here with the era of the Gold Coast," the years before World War I when wealthy Harvard students lived apart from their classmates in private accommodations.[7] College administrators denied his requests to use his dormitory room as an office and to allow a female secretary to visit outside of regular visiting hours.[6] He did, however, conduct the university band and also served as its drum major.[8]
Anti-communism and Army–McCarthy hearings
In 1952 Schine published a six-page anti-communist pamphlet called "Definition of Communism"[9] and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels.[10] Although the pamphlet contained many errors, Time called it "remarkably succinct."[11][12] The pamphlet introduced Schine to Roy Cohn through newspaper columnist George Sokolsky, and the two became friends.[13] Cohn at that time was Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel, and he brought Schine onto McCarthy's staff as an unpaid "chief consultant".
McCarthy-era opponents of Communism sought to stamp out material they viewed as pro-Communist. Schine and Cohn conducted a much-criticized tour of Europe in 1953, examining libraries of the United States Information Agency for books written by authors they deemed to be Communists or fellow travelers.[14][15] Die Welt of Hamburg called them Schnüffler or snoops.[16] Theodore Kaghan, Deputy Director of the Public Affairs Division in the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany and a target of the subcommittee, called them "junketeering gumshoes."[17]
In November 1953, Schine was drafted into the United States Army as a private.[18] Cohn immediately began a campaign to obtain special privileges for Schine. Cohn met with and made repeated telephone calls to military officials from the Secretary of the Army down to Schine's company commander. He asked that Schine be given a commission (which the Army refused due to Schine's lack of qualifications) as well as light duties, extra leave, and no overseas assignments. At one point, Cohn was reported to have threatened to "wreck the Army" if his demands were not met.[12] During the Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954, the Army charged Cohn and McCarthy with using improper pressure to influence the Army, while McCarthy and Cohn counter-charged that the Army was holding Schine "hostage" in an attempt to squelch McCarthy's investigations into Communists in the Army.
The hearings were broadcast live using the relatively new medium of television and were viewed by an estimated 20 million people. Just prior to the hearings, Schine and Cohn appeared on the cover of Time on March 22, 1954, under the banner "McCarthy and His Men".[19]
The Army–McCarthy hearings absolved McCarthy of any direct wrongdoing, blaming Cohn alone. The exposure of McCarthy and his methods before a television audience, however, is widely considered to have heralded the beginning of the end of his career.[20][21] Cohn resigned from McCarthy's staff shortly after the hearings.[22]
Later years
After the hearings, Schine left politics and refused to comment on the episode for the rest of his life, so his view of his relationship with Cohn remains unknown. He remained active in the private sector as a businessman and an entrepreneur, working in the hotel, music, and film industries. He was for a time a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.[23] On October 22, 1957, he married Miss Universe of 1955, Hillevi Rombin of Sweden.[24][25] They had six children and were married for nearly 40 years.[24] Also in 1957, Schine's father named him head of Schine Enterprises, though in 1963 Schine's father resumed his position as head of the company.[26] In 1977, Schine described himself as "retired."[2]
Schine made a cameo appearance as himself on a 1968 episode of Batman.[27] Schine was executive producer of the 1971 film The French Connection, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture.[1][2] In 1977 he produced That's Action![2] Shortly afterwards, Schine was involved with music by The DeFranco Family that achieved Billboard gold and platinum and Cash Box No. 1. Schine's company, Schine Music, also provided songs to Lou Rawls and Bobby Sherman, among others. A musician himself, Schine had music he composed published. He once conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra in place of Arthur Fiedler at a concert celebrating his Harvard University 25th reunion in a performance of Sibelius' Karelia Suite. Some of the musicians refused to play for him and one commented later: "That man ruined my father's life. No way I was going to play for him."[28] Schine's post-production video house in Hollywood, Studio Television Services, handled clients such as HBO, Disney, Orion, and MGM/UA. His publicly traded research and development company, High Resolution Sciences, endeavored for years to bring high definition to broadcast television.
Death
Schine died on June 19, 1996, at the age of 68, in a private airplane accident in Burbank, California. Also killed in the crash were his wife, Hillevi, and their 34-year-old son, Berndt, who was piloting the plane.[1][18][24] They were buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Legacy
- A documentary film, Point of Order! (1964), was edited by Emile de Antonio from the kinescope recordings of the Army-McCarthy hearings.[29]
- In the 1992 HBO film Citizen Cohn, Schine is portrayed by Jeffrey Nordling.[30]
- Following Schine's death, playwright Tony Kushner, who previously wrote the Pulitzer-prize winning Angels in America, wrote a one-act play titled G. David Schine in Hell. The play takes place on the day Schine died and portrays Schine as he arrives in hell and is reunited with Roy Cohn, Richard Nixon, Whittaker Chambers, and J. Edgar Hoover.[31]
- Where's My Roy Cohn? (2019)
- Schine appears in the first five episodes of the 2023 Showtime miniseries Fellow Travelers, portrayed by Matt Visser.
Notes
- ^ a b c d Lawrence Van Gelder (June 21, 1996). "Crash Kills G. David Schine, 69 [sic], McCarthy-Era Figure". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
G. David Schine, a catalytic figure in the fierce drama that brought to a climax the chapter in American history known as the McCarthy era, was killed on Wednesday when a single-engine plane piloted by his son Berndt crashed shortly after takeoff from Burbank, Calif
- ^ a b c d "G. David Schine". The New York Times. June 5, 1977. Retrieved April 1, 2008.
G. David Schine, an Army private who had been chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Senator Joseph R. McCarthy headed. ...
- ^ Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. United States Congress. 2003. ISBN 9780160710148.
G. David Schine, chief consultant
- ^ "J. Myer Schine, 78, Hotel Man, Dead". The New York Times. May 10, 1971. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ "J. M. Schine, Hotel Chain Founder, Dies". Los Angeles Times. May 9, 1971. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ^ a b "Schine at Harvard: Boy With the Baton". Harvard Crimson. May 7, 1954. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard: 1636–1936 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936), 419–21; Jerome Karabel, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 44, 51
- ^ "University Band Revamped". Harvard Crimson. October 19, 1945. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ Schine, Gerald David (1952). Definition of Communism.
- ^ Olson, James C. Stuart Symington: A Life, via Google Books, p. 278
- ^ Richard Halworth Rovere (1959). Senator Joe McCarthy. University of California Press. p. 194. ISBN 0-520-20472-7.
[Schine] confused Stalin with Trotsky, Marx with Lenin, Alexander Kerensky with Prince Lvov, and fifteenth-century utopianism with twentieth-century Communism. ...
- ^ a b "National Affairs: The Self-Inflated Target". Time. March 22, 1954. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ "The Man in the Middle". Time. May 24, 1954. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ Fred J. Cook (1971). The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy. Random House. pp. 411–413. ISBN 0-394-46270-X.
- ^ Geoffrey C. Ward (1988). "Roy Cohn". American Heritage Magazine. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2008.
- ^ "Schnuffles & Flourishes". Time. April 20, 1953. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ "Germany: Verboten Volumes". Time. June 22, 1953. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ a b José Cardenas, Doug Smith (June 20, 1996). "Plane Crash Kills McCarthy Aide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ^ "Cohen and Schine. The Army got its orders". Time. March 22, 1954. Archived from the original on April 11, 2005. Retrieved March 12, 2008.
- ^ Oshinsky, David (2005). A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 464–465. ISBN 0-19-515424-X.
- ^ Reeves, Thomas C. (1982). The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography. Seattle, Washington: Madison Books. pp. 639 et seq. ISBN 1-56833-101-0.
- ^ "Mr. Cohn Resigns". The New York Times. New York City. July 21, 1954. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
The only valid explanation of Roy Cohn's resignation as chief counsel of the McCarthy committee is that he wished to beat the gun to avoid a certain dismissal. ...
- ^ Aline B. Saarinen (June 6, 1954). "Business and Art". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- ^ a b c Bart Barnes (June 21, 1996). "G. David Schine Dies at 68. Key Figure in McCarthy Era". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ^ "G. David Schine Is Married". The New York Times. October 23, 1957. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
- ^ "A Towering Empire". Time magazine. July 30, 1965. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
- ^ "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra". TV.com. March 7, 1968. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012.
- ^ Thomas Urquhart, For the Beauty of the Earth: Birding, Opera, and Other Journeys (Shoemaker & Hoard2004), p. 76n
- ^ Internet Movie Database: Point of Order (1964). Retrieved June 12, 2011
- ^ Internet Movie database: Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV). Retrieved June 12, 2011
- ^ Fisher, James (2002). The Theater of Tony Kushner: Living Past Hope. Routledge. p. 185. ISBN 0-415-94271-3.. An excerpt is available: New York Times: Tony Kushner, "A Backstage Pass to Hell," December 29, 1996. Retrieved March 8, 2011. For the full text: Tony Kushner, Death & Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays (Theater Communications Group, 1998)