Evening star., 1952-12-27

and quoted Mr.. Caudle as saying:
I'VE knew that Washington
was a dangerous place, but we
wanted to take it on and see about
it," ..
Unfamiliar With Procedures.
This led the committee to say
that If Mr.. Caudle had been more
acute" or familiar with depart
ment procedures when he was
placed in charge of the Criminal
Division "he might have been put
on notice at once that the circum-
stances surrounding his accession
to Office were slightly unusual"
From this the subcommittee dis
cussed the actions of Mr.. Clark
as Attorney General and said:
Ordinarily, the burdens Of ad-
ministering the entire Department
of Justice and holding q cabinet
post are so great that the Attor-
ney General concerns himself ex-
clusively with policy decisions.
In this case, however, Tom
Clark transferred the files relat-
ing to several important criminal
cases (including the notorious
Amerasia case) directly to his own
Office, and continued to handle
them throughout. =. 1t is strongly
suggested in the record that Clark
|resorted to this unusual expedient
personally taking case files with
him-when he moved from the
antitrust division to the criminal
division, and also that he lifted
certain important cases from other
divisions during his incumbency
as Attorney General"
Kansas City Case Cited.
The subcommittee noted details
of the well-publicized Kansas City
vote fraud case and said that the
handling Of it was taken from Mr..
Caudle, while he headed the de-
partment's Criminal Division. by
Mr.. Clark and others.
"At least two conflicting in
ferences might be drawn from
Clark's puzzling action in remov-
ing this matter from the Criminal
Division, and from Caudle's juris-
diction where it properly be-
longed," the report said. "He might
have felt that Caudle was incom-
petent to handle its delicate rami-
fications; or he might have feared
Caudle's naive honesty as a liza
bility in other ways. Clark never
openly questioned Caudle's COM
petence and, in fact, promoted
him to more responsible post a
few months after this affair"
1t was in this connection that
the subcommittee said that it was
impressed with the extent to
which Mr.. Clark interfered with
the routine functionings of the
department. 1t also noted. in the
same connection. that only four
minor figures "in this national
scandal" were ever punished.
Departments Gravest Crisis.
The subcommittee's report noted
that the Kansas City vote fraud
case was "the gravest crisis that
challenged the Department of
Justice during the administration
of Tom Clark" and then pointed
out that Mr.. Ford, MIR. Caudle
and others received promotions
later.
As for the promotion Of Mr..
Caudle to head the Tax Division,
the subcommittee said:
"Caudle accepted and processes
to have been wholly unaware of
the persistent rumors circulating
at the time that Clark was either
paying him of for his compliant
part in the Kansas City case, or
was moving him out of the con-
troversial Criminal Division post"
The report devoted considerable
space to those who had exerted
pressure on Mr.. Caudle while he
was serving in the Justice Depart
ment either as head Of the Tax or
Criminal Division. One Of those
mentioned was the late David K.
Niles of the White House staff.
The subcommittee said he re
Ipeatedly flooded" Mr.. Caudle's
Office with .Jehovah's Witnesses.
conscientious objectors and others
protesting difficulties with Federal
criminal law.
1t listed q number Of lawyers
Mr.. Caudle was quoted as saying
were particularly active in tax