Evening star., 1948-12-09
Truman Brands Spy Investigation
Headline Hunt; Mundt Amazed ;
MISSING Suspect Found Testifies
Prosecution Is MOI
Aim Of Inquiry
President Says
By Joseph A. Fox

President Truman today blast
ed the House spy investigation
anew as a red herring, and told
q news conference that the Un-
American Activities Committee
wasn't prosecuting any one but
only making headlines.
His comment Immediately brought
an angry bareback from members
of the committee. Representative
Nixon, Republican, of California,
declared that in the light OF evi-
dence the committee has uncovered,
"the Presidents statement is a.
fragrant flouting of the national in
terests of the people"
During the campaign Mr.. Truman
asserted that both House and Sen
ate committees delving into REQ
espionage were throwing up a red
herring to draw attention away
from Republican shortcomings IN
the 80th Congress.
At his conference today he was
asked if he still thought it was a
red herring, in view of recent dis
closures about stolen State Depart
ment records.
Well, that is what the people
thought, the President said, ana
then added fatty that he still con-
siders it a red herring.
Mundt Is Amazed.
Informed of the Presidents COM
ment, Representative Mmdt, Re
publican, of South Dakota, acting
chairman of the House committee,
voiced amazement and said:
"I just can't believe it. 1t is IN
credible. I'd like to challenge Presi-
dent Truman to write us a letter
authorizing us to publish all this
documentary evidence we have
Mr.. Mundt said he did not know
whether Mr.. Truman had been given
detailed information about the ma
ture and bulk of the microfllms and
other documentary evidence OBJ
tanned by the committee during the
last week. He noted that repre-
sentatives of the Justice Department
and the State Department had
visited the committee Offices to ex-
anime much Of the material but
that no one from the White House
or no specifically designated repre-
sentatiyes of the President had been
there or had asked to see the ma
terial.
Another thing that makes the
Presidents statement so incredible"
Mr.. Mundt added. "is that it comes
after Mr.. Sumner Welles and Assist,
ant Secretary of State John E. Puer-
ifoy testified in open session OF the
committee that publication of some
of those documents even now would
be dangerous to the national secu-
rity."
Mr.. Truman declared that II the
committee was in dead earnest. 1t
would have turned the spy case over
to the Attorney General, who, he
repeated, is working on the case.
Me Too Proposition.
It was then that the President
added his comment about the COM
mittee making headlines instead OF
making prosecutions.
When a reporter told the President
that Mr.. Mundt had described the
administration as a do-nothlng ad-
ministration, the President said that
was a sort of me too proposition.
The President said brusquely that
he had no intention of getting into
a controversy with this dead COM
mittee.
A reporter pointed out that the
committee is a regular standing
committee of the House and wanted
to know if Mr.. Truman felt that it
would be or should be abolished.
The Presidents answer was that
he thought Congress would take
care of that matter after the first
of the year.
Committee Death Denied.
Mr.. Mundt told reporters that the
Presidents reference to dead
corlmittee was lust an erroneous
statement"
"It's not dead" Mr. Mundt de-
clared, land if l can sense the tenn
permanent of the American people, 1t
will be continued in the 8lst Con-
gress."
Representative Nixon charged:
1.-The. President, by continuing to
obstruct the committee, is helping
to keep the facts about the stealing
of American top secrets by Com
(See TRUMAN, Page ABB