Evening star., 1958-07-02
Cop Ethics
And BungIing
HitbY Truman

Htby Truman
CANNES. France. July 2 CA1.
Harry s. Truman gave 'em
he'll yesterday on the Sherman
Adams case.
But as he put it. Mr.. Adams
was only incidental. In the old
familiar campaign style Of '48
he tore into the opposition clear
, TO the top.
In q statement read in angry
tones. the former President
said:
The lack Of ethics in the
White House and the corrup-
ton in other high places in
Washington should not divert
public attention from the much
more important failures and
bunglings Of the administra-
ton"
It was Mr.. Truman's first
public political comment since
congressional investigators be-
gan looking into the conduct Of
Mr.. Adams as assistant to Pres
ident Eisenhower.
Mr.. Truman pointed out that |
he had refused to talk about |
affairs at home while he was |
vacationing on foreign soil. He
observed yesterday that since |
he now was aboard an Ameri- |
can ship starting home he felt |
free to speak up.
Statement Given Press
The ex-President, dressed in
q brown suit and with his ex-
preston serious, met with re-
porters in the salon of the liner
Constitution and handed them
copies of his statement. Then
he read it to them.
There is no reason for me
to comment on the Sherman
Adams and Hagerty incident,
except to say that the facts
speak for themselves very elo-
quently." Mr.. Truman said.
"The people of the Omitted
States of America understand |
the facts now. They undoubt-
edly will express their views
about what has been going on |
in the White House next Mo-
vember and in November, 1860,
They will not be misled and
fooled as they once were by |
Mr.. Nixon, his little dog and a
Madison avenue script with |
Hollywood overtones."
Mr.. Truman didn't explain
what he meant by the "Hagerty |
incident" but he apparently |
referred to the flve-day stay |
Presidential Press Secretary |
James Hagerty and his wife
had free at a Florida Inn last
year. The Ponte Vedra Inn
near Jacksonville picked UP Mr.. |
Hagerty's check for $260.97 be-
cause, officials said, he was a
special guest. Mr.. Hagerty paid
for two golf lessons he had
from the club pro.
Recession Mentioned
Mr.. Truman gave this rum
down of what he called bum
Cling and failures by the Eisen-
hover administration:
e. the complete failure and
disastrous results Of its foreign
policy; its failure to take the
necessary steps Immediately
and forcefully to meet the
downturn of national property |
and full employment inherited
from previous Democratic ad-
ministrations.
"You may call it recession,
depression or whatever your po-
litical Affiliations suits you best. |
But there it is-high cost of
living, unemployment, business
failures by the thousands.
Were it not for the cushions
built into the economy of the
United States by two Demo-
cratic administrations, over the
violent opposition of the Re-
publican leaders, we would be
in as much trouble at home as
we are abroad with our foreign
policy - trouble which was
brought on by Scrapping our be-
partisan policy inaugurated by
Franklin D. Roosevelt and car
ried out by following (Truman)
administrations"
Mr.. Truman said his immedi-
ate objective on his return
home will be to prepare for the
fall elections.
He replied with a hearty
laugh and an emphatic no when
asked If he would be a candi-
date for public Office.
Asked for comment on other
issues. Mr.. Truman had this
to say of the situation in
France: II know Gen. de Gaulle
well. I am convinced that he
will ease the situation and cd
ell that is necessary to be
done"
He refused to say anything
on the rebellion in Lebanon.