What state was he from and what senator recommended him?
Congressmen also have the power to nominate 2 people for the military academies per year; thus the nomination process is not limited to senators. I think a congressman from Pennsylvania appointed him. And, if he was turned to communism by the professor who has been suspended, then a probably good soldier was turned bad from within West Point.
I read somewhere that because he was an active duty ranger, he could get in without a Senator’s recommendation.