 Pulliam served as a member of the American Society of News Editors's eleven-person special committee that reviewed Senator McCarthy's questioning of Wechler.Committee members did not agree that McCarthy's questions interfered with press freedom, but Pulliam, along with J. R. Wiggins, managing editor of the "Washington Post", Herbert Brucker, editor of the "Hartford Courant", and William M. Tugman, editor of the "Register-Guard" in Eugene, Oregon, filed a signed report that challenged McCarty's methods, believing his tactics were a threat to First Amendment rights.Eugene S. Pulliam, or "Young Gene" as he was known "was quiet and calm and did not allow his conservative views to leak into the news columns."