Evening star., 1946-01-18

terday to call Mr.. Churchill, SEN
ator Ferguson contended Mr..
Churchill might be able to give
the committee information he has
been unable to obtain from the
State Department about the extent
to which parallel action by this
country and Great Britain in the
Far East was discussed by Mr..
Churchill and President Roosevelt
at their Atlantic conference four
months before the Pearl Harbor
attack.
The proposal brought immediate
protests from Democratic members.
who charged it was a discourtesy to
a distinguished visiting foreigner.
When the issue was put to a test
today, the six Democrats on the
committee stood solidly against ask
ing Mr.. Churchill to appear, while
Republican ranks were split.
The Democrats voting no" were
Chairman Barkley and Senators
George of Georgia and Lucas and
Representatives Cooper of Tennes-
see, Clark of North Carolina and
Murphy of Pennsylvania.
The Republicans who voted yves"
were Senator Ferguson and Repre-
sentative Gearhart of California,
The other two Republicans-Senator
Brewster and Representative Keefe
of WiSconsin-voted present"
Chairman Barkley opened the dis
cuSSlon by announcing fatty that
he, as chairman, would neither
issue a subpoena nor send a written
invitation to Mr.. Churchill unless
ordered to do so by the committee. )"
To force a decision, he then asked
II any one cared to make a motion.
Ferguson Makes Motion.
Senator Ferguson promptly did
so, but Senator Brewster broke in
to say that he was not prepared to
pass on the issue without further
debate.
Meanwhile, Representative Clark
summed up his examination of
Admiral Kimmel with this observa-
ton on the Pearl Harbor attack:
Isn't the essence of this whole
controversy that everybody from
the higher officials here in Wash
ington on down to the lieutenant
who ignored the radar at Pearl Har-
Dor, just muffed the situation and
let the Japs outsmart them?"
L think you should draw that
conclusion, and not me-" Admiral
Kimmel replied.
Senator Lucas led Admiral Kim
mel back to his conversation with
President Roosevelt in the spring
of 1941, when the fleet commander
protested against a proposal to
transfer detachment of battle
ships and cruisers from the Pacific
to the Atlantic. The Senator asked
for more details.
Il protested to the President
against sending this detachment to
the Atlantic the admiral recalled.
The President said, Well, they told
me that you could get along all
right with this reduced fleet 1 pro-
tested in the strongest language I
knew. I said Nobody in his right
mind could make such statement
He said he had thought that, too.
The ships remained in the Pacific"
No Contingencies for Job.
Admiral Kimmel said the Presi-
dent did not identify they" but he
assumed reference was made to off,
cialS of the Navy Department and
perhaps other advisers of Mr.. Roose-
welt.
In reply to other questions, Ad-
miral Kimmel told the committee
nobody ever said to him, We'll ap-
point you commander if you'll keep
the fleet in Hawaiian waters" He
added that there were no contin-
gencies in his appointment.
At another point, the admiral
said: THE thing I tried to impress
on the Navy Department was that
needed information"
you recognized the vulnerability
of the fleet at Pearl Harbor?" SEN
ator Lucas suggested.
Il recognized it's vulnerability."
said Admiral Kimmel, due largely
to the fact that we had only one
base"