Evening star., 1950-03-02
Authority 10 Project
Witnesses in Probes
Asserted in Congress
House Committee Action
On .DenfeId 'ReprisoI'
Hits Copricious Power
BY David Lascrence

By David Lawrence
The legislative branch of the
Government, through an i'm
portant committee, has asserted
its full authority to protect wit
nesses before congressional COM
mittees.
BY a vote of % to the House
Armed Services Committee has
formally declared that the re-
moval of Admiral Louis E. Dem
field from the post of Chief of
Naval Operations was "reprisal"
inflicted on him as a punishment
for views expressed by him be-
fore the same committee last
autumn.
BY a vote of 10 members of
the committee, the facts in the
case will be sent to the Attorney
General for such action as he may
desire to take. For it was not
necessary that a majority should
request action from the Justice
Department-any citizen can call
formal attention of the Justice
Department to an alleged viola
ton of the criminal statutes.
Code Is Explicit.
The criminal code declares ex-
plicitly that anyone-it does not
exempt public officials-who at,
tempts to intimidate or who
Furnishes anybody for testifying
before a congressional commit
tee shall, upon conviction, be
subject to fine or Imprisonment
or both.
Inasmuch as the % members
of the House committee attributed
to Secretary of the Navy Mat
thews an act of "reprisal," this
formal vote of the majority of
the House Armed Services Com
mittee constitutes on it's face what
is termed a finding of fact" Ten
of the % members voting in the
majority have determined to send
their report to the Attorney Gen.
eral, believing it to be his duty
to determine now whether he
should submit the case through
a United States attorney to a
grand jury to determine If there
should be. any indictment filed.
There were eight other mem
bers of the House Armed Services
Committee who did not vote to
find that there had been a "re-
prisal." their argument being that
the Secretary of the Navy had
made up his mind to fire Admiral
Denfeld before he testified and
that he had already mentioned
the plan to the President.
Contradicting this line of argu-
ment. there has been presented to
the Senate Armed Services Com
mittee a letter from Admiral Den
field explaining in detail what
happened before and after he tes-
titled last October at the hearings
of the House Armed Services
Committee and maintaining that
the Secretary of the Navy did not
notify him prior to his testifying.
as publicly claimed by the Secre-
tary, that his usefulness as Chief
of Naval Operations had been
terminated.
Records Not Made Public.
This testimony of Secretary
Matthews, given last month, and
the rejoinder by Admiral Denfeld,
few days later. are part of the
records Of the Senate Armed Serv-
ices Committee given in executive
session and not yet made public.
Last week Senator Knowland of
California demanded that the
transcript of the hearing be made
public. together with Admiral
Denfeld's reply, but, owing to the
absence Of quorum, no vote was
taken.
A copy of the record in the
Senate hearing was furnished to
the House Armed Services Com
mittee at Admiral Denfeld's re-
quest, and another copy was
transmitted to the Secretary of
the Navy.
The members who are pressing
for criminal proceedings insist
that the statement by Secretary
Matthews that he did not recon-
mend removal of Admiral Denfeld
as a punitive measure and the
contradicting testimony by Ad-
miral Denfeld constitute matters
for jury and court to decide and
that the ends of justice are not
served by accepting denials from
those who are accused of violating
a Federal criminal statute.
The hullaballoo probably will
not result in prosecution be-
cause the Democratic Administra-
ClOn is not likely TO prosecute one
of it's own officials. But the case
will keep alive the contention that
witnesses before congressional
committees should not be infiu-
enced or intimidated by reason
of the authority of superior Of
f1cerS in the executive branch of
the Government to use their power
of removal arbitrarily and ca
priciously.
Under the Constitution the
Congress alone can make rules
governing the land and sea forces,
and hence protection of witnesses
becomes an essential instrument of
legislative power.
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