Evening star., 1946-05-23
Pearl Harbor Inquiry
Ends Despite Protests
OF Two COP Members
By Carter Brooke Jones

|
Congressional hearings on the
Pearl Harbor disaster were CLOSED
today over the protest of Senator
Brewster, Republican. of Maine
who charged the joint committee
had not been allowed to explore
certain twilight zones and brown.
outs" concerning events which lee
to the war.
Chairman Barkley said he would
ask Congress to extend from June !
to July l the time in which the
committee might file its report. He
also announced he would call the
committee into executive session
some time next week to begin COM
piling the report.
Senator Ferguson, Republican, OF
Michigan joined in voting against
closing the hearings at this time
charging that former Secretary OF
War Stimson had ignored certain
written questions the Senator has
asked while answering others.
Democratic members of the COM
mittee outvoted these minority
members, and Chairman Barkley
declared the hearings closed, in &C
cord with a vote of the committee
two weeks ago.
Documents Received.
At the final open session, the COM
mite received from Seth w. Rich
ardson, chief counsel, and his as
| soclates hundreds of new documents
requested by members, including the
written cross of Mr..
Stimson and former Secretary of
State Hull and the memoirs of the
late Prince Konoye, three times
Premier of Japan during the prewar
period.
In hitherto undisclosed portions
of Konoye's memoirs the committee
learned that in his letter resigning
with his third cabinet October 16.
194l. about seven weeks before the
Pearl Harbor attack, he said he
could not consent to plunging his
country into great war, the out
come of which is most uncertain" 3"
Senator Brewster made several
formal motions to continue the
hearings so that additional inform
alton which he specified could be
obtained. BY this time only three
other members of the committee
were present, all Democrats. and
they voted down the Maine Repub-
lican. They included Chairman n
Barkley, Representative Cooper of
tennessee, the vice chairman, and
Representative Murphy of Pennsyl-
vania.
Rent Case Recalled.
Senator Brewster wanted to 90
into the background of the Tyler
Kent case. with a demand for the
correspondence between Winston
Churchill and President Roosevelt
before Pearl Harbor. Kent, a clerk
in the United States Embassy in
London, was convicted by a British
court and sent to prison for violat-
ing the British War Secrets Act
through the alleged possession of
confidential documents taken from
the American Embassy.
Committee attaches said the re-
cord of the inquiry, including ls1
exhibits, will fill 36 printed volumes
OF 300 pages each, totaling approx
mately 8.500,000 words.
konoye Warned Emperor.
The exhibits placed in the records
today revealed that Prince Konoye
told Emperor Hirohito October is.
ls4l, that 'the possibility of reach
ing an agreement with the United
States is not hopeless" The retiring
Premier added:
In particular. I believe that even
the most difficult question involved.
namely. that of the withdrawal OF
troops (from China can be settled
if We are willing to sacrifice our ma
tional honor to some extent and
agree to the formula suggested by
America"
Prince Konoye was disclosed to