G. David Schine

G. David Schine
Schine at the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954
Born	Gerard David Schine (1927-09-11)September 11, 1927 Gloversville, New York
Died	June 19, 1996(1996-06-19) (aged 68) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Airplane crash
Resting place	Westwood Village Cemetery
Nationality	United States
Education	Phillips Academy Harvard University (1949)
Known for	Army–McCarthy hearings
Spouse(s)	Hillevi Rombin 1957–1996
Children	F. Berndt Shine (1962–1996) J. Mark Schine Vidette Schine Perry Kevin Schine (twin of F. Berndt) Alex Schine Lance Schine
Parent(s)	Junius Myer Schine Hildegarde Feldman
Relatives	Renee Schine Crown (sister)

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.

Schine was born in Gloversville, New York to Jewish parents, hotel magnate Junius Myer Schine and Hildegarde Feldman. He attended Phillips Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1949. He entered Harvard in the summer of 1945, took 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 it was a civilian position, he wrote on his application for re-admittance 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." At Harvard he conducted the university band and served as its drum major. 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. 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.

In 1952 Schine published a six-page anti-communist pamphlet called Definition of Communism, and had a copy placed in every room of his family's chain of hotels. Although the pamphlet contained many errors, Time magazine called the pamphlet "remarkably succinct." The pamphlet introduced Schine to Roy Cohn through newspaper columnist George Sokolsky, and the two became friends. 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 pro-Communist material. Schine and Cohn conducted a much-criticised 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.Die Welt of Hamburg called them Schnüffler or snoops.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 Committee, called them "junketeering gumshoes."