Evening star., 1944-11-02
Fly
Continued From First Page

time that Price Administrator
Chester Bowles and Beardsley Ruml.
widely publicized for his pay-as-
Ncu-go tax proposal, would be men,
berS of the board of the new or
ganiza ton.
Mr.. Fly. 46-year-old Texan. has
headed the FEC since September.
1899. He first entered Government
service in 1929 when President Hoo
yer appointed him special assistant
Attorney General, In 1884 he be-
came head of the legal department
OF the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Paul Porter Mentioned.
Paul A. Porter, Democratic Ma
tlonal Committee publicity director
has been mentioned prominently as
probable successor to Mr.. Fly.
Mr.. Fly's resigna ton ends a FIVE
year period of stormy dissension
that at times involved other mem
bers of the FEC, members of Con-
gTess, Navy officials and executives
of broadcasting companies. Mr.. Fly's
most turbulent controversy began
when representative Cox, Demo-
Crat, of Georgia. accused him, early
in 1912, of maintaining IAN active
and ambitious Gestapo," and an
nounced he would call for a con-
gressional investigat ton
Subsequently Mr.. Cox was named
to head special House investi-
eating committee which began it's
hearings during the summer of 1943.
Among those who testified was T.
A, M. Craven, then a member of
the FEC, who said that many
things went on at FEC which he
and other commissioners knew
nothing about. Mr.. Craven ex-
pressed himself in favor of new
legislation, rewriting communica-
tions laws.
Soon after the hearings began
Mr. Fly charged the committee with
Joining with the military, the radio
monopoly and Wall Street interests"
in move to wreck the commits
sion. Mr.. Cox replied that his COM
mittee did not intend to be drawn
away from the constructive Job 1t
has undertaken" and said Mr.. Flv
had been thrown into "a state of
hysterical wrath"
Many Controversies.
Later, Mr.. Cox resigned from the
committee after an FEC member
fled a petition asking his removal
on grounds that he had a financial
interest in an Albany (Ga) radio
station.
At about this same time, Congress
passed legislation barring payment
of salaries to two officials of the
FEC. DR.. Goodwin B. Watson and
DR.. William E. Dodd, jr.. who previ-
ously had been declared unfit by
congressional committee but who
we're retained in their jobs by
the FEC
The FEC also became involved in
a dispute with the armed forces
when it was charged it's monitoring
service and foreign broadcasts dupli-
Gated and in some instances inter-
fered with their own plans.
During the congressional hearings
Admiral Stanford C. Hooper, who
was a naval intelligence executive
late in 194l, charged that the FCC's
opposition to wire-tapping and to
banning Japanese Language broad
casts in Hawaii hindered defensive
plans which might have averted the
Pearl Harbor disaster.
Accused of Interference.
Mr.. Fly and the FEC have been
accused, at various times, of inter-
fering with freedom of the air.
Radio executives have warned that
the danger of the FCC's seizing con-
troll of the air was imminent so long
as the agency's powers were not cir
cumscribed by legislation. Mr. Fly's
reply has been that his commission
sought to prevent radio monopoly
by commercial interests which could
exercise control over the Nations
most important medium for free
speech.
The long investigation of the FEC,
which proceeded after Mr.. Coxs
resignation under the chairmanship
OF Representative Lea, Democrat, of
California, was. suspended finally
last spring. Opponents of Mr.. Fly
charged that the committee had
"whitewashed" the FEC under ad-
ministration pressure.
When rumors began to circulate
last summer that MI. Fly planned to
resign. he denied the reports and