Evening star., 1945-12-15
Pearl Hurbor BIowup

reorI 0oIDor DIOWup
The most important question
raised by the unexpected resignation
of all four attorneys acting as
counsel for the Pearl Harbor In
vestigating Committee has to do
with the future status of this in
vestigation. Shall the committee
give up the ghost, or shall it secure
new counsel and proceed with the
inquiry?
Chairman Barkley, who has indi-
Gated that he, too, may resign from
the committee, says that he has
grave doubt that new counsel, who
would be acceptable to the commit
tee ard who would be willing to
undertake work already so far in
progress, can be found. AS for him
self, he cannot now foresee" what
the solution would be. On the other
hand, William D. Mitchell, former
Attorney General and chief of the
present counsel, says that if the
committee will act with reasonable
promptness in choosing new counsel,
he and his associates will cooperate
with them into January and that
there should be no serious break"
in the hearings.
The latter would seem to be the
more reasonable view, and there
certainly is every reason why the
majority members of the committee
should exert themselves to obtain
new counsel and proceed with the
hearings. For four years Admiral
Kimmel and General Short, who
have borne the onus for the fiasco
at Pearl Harbor, have been awaiting
an opportunity to present their side
of the story Perhaps, on the basis
of the facts, it is right that these
men should be blamed for what
happened on December 7, 1941. But
they are entitled to their day in
court, and it would be bitterly
ironical indeed if this privilege
should be denied them now merely
because counsel for an investigating
committee want to relinquish their
posts, or because some members OF
the committee feel that they should
be devoting their time to other
duties.
Meanwhile, there will be differ
ences of opinion as to the soundneSs
of the reasons which impelled Mr..
Mitchell and his associates to resign.
These reasons have been stated by the
former Republican Attorney General,
a highly respected individual, and
there is nothing to indicate that
any other considerations entered
into his decision. Essentially, his
complaint is that the hearing is
going to take a great deal longer
than he had anticipated, and that
some of the Republican members
seem too much disposed to take the
conduct of the hearing into their
own hands.
There is no doubt that some of
the minority members, at times,
have engaged in what has seemed to
be unnecessarily protracted exami-
nation of witnesses. But on the
whole the hearing has been con-
Quoted about like most congressional
Investigations, few of which are
models of precise and orderly pro-
cedure. Furthermore, it is some
what surprising to learn that Mr..
Mitchell should have believed it
possible to begin a hearing of this
sort on November Is and finish it
by January 3. That would have
meant six weeks in ala period of
time which simply is not sufficient
for an investigation of this character.
However, Mr.. Mitchell has made his
decision and there is no reason to
suppose he will change it. The loss
of his services in this important
matter will be generally regretted,
but the important thing now is to
make the necessary adjustments and
get on with the hearing. That can
and should be done.