Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-20

Chief of Naval Operations. Col.
Smith ghosted the rolling ora
tory of 1t. Gen. Arthur G.
Trudeau. chief Of Army Re-
search and Development.
Speeches of the two high
ranking officers often encoun-
tered censorship difficulties,
but both speech writer's said
the blue pencil had been flour
ished no more under President
Kennedy than it. was in the
Eisenhower administration.
They testified yesterday aft
ernoon before the Senate Armed
Services Subcommittee inves-
tigating charges that military
leaders have been restricted in
talking about the menace of
communism.
To Quiz Officials at State
Subcommittee Chairman
Stennis, Democrat of Missis-
sippi, announced that the in
vestigation next week will turn
from Pentagon to State De-
partment reviewers, with hear
ings starting probably on Tues
day. Undersecretary of State
George Ball will be the first
witness.
Comdr. Overall, who holds
the Navy Cross and other dec
orations for flying exploits in
the Pacific in World War II,
said at least a couple of CEN
sors he encountered seemed to
have small degree of con-
tempt for the military, or at
least for some of the pro-
nouncements of Admira !
Burke" They were not iden-
titled.
He also testified that once
or twice he was told that Adm.
Burke was speaking about
something he knew nothing
about" Once the remark came
to him, the witness said, from
the Defense Department and
another time from State.
Both witnesses were asked
if they had detected a pattern
of softening Of harsh words
about Soviet Russia and COM
munism. 1t. Col. Smith said
there was definitely no pat
tern" that he could see, and
Comdr. Overall said the only
one he could discover was "a
pattern Of inconsistency" Some
words and phrases, they said,
might be left in one speech and
deleted from a later one.
Wrote About Is Speeches
The speech writer's disclaimed
any over = fondness for the
words they wrote, assuring the
investigators they never played
games in trying to run words
once deleted past the censors.
I'm my business" said Col.
Smith, II do not have time to
play games" Everything sub
mitted, Comdr. Overall said, II
Thought would be cleared"
The commander, who esti-
mated he wrote about rs
speeches for Admiral Burke,
said: II put words together; he
furnished the ideas"
Senator Bartlett, Democrat
of Alaska, wanted to know
about the professional writing
experience of the speech draft
ers. 1T is hard to say what a
professional writer is" the
Navy officer said and confided,
II have a drawer full of rejec-
ton slips"
Col. , Smith, who described
himself as an engieer by train
ing and an infantryman by
profession, said he never wrote
a speech prior to his present
assignment.
IF you should leave the
Army tomorrow, which hope
you won't do" said Senator
Bartlett, would you go into
engineering or writing?"
Engineering. sir" Col.
Smith answered.
Treated Censors Differently
The Army officer testified he
stayed within channels and
never dealt directly with the
censors. On the other hand,
Comdr. Overall said he con-
fronted the pencil-wielding
censors in their own dens-
Pentagon or State Department
to carry on the battle Of
prose.
Once, the commander said,
a censor took issue with pas
sage in a speech quoting either
President Kennedy or Secre-
tary of State Rusk on commun-
ism. when I brought 1t to his
attention" Comdr. Overall
added, che decided to let, it
stand"
"You and the President or
Secretary of State stood to-
gether," suggested Senat tor
Bartlett.