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APPENDIX C
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATING TO THE
PEARL HARBOR INVESTIGATION
PEARL HARBOR ATTACK 284
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PEARL HARBOR ATTACK 285
APPENDIX C
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATING TO THE
PEARL HARBOR INVESTIGATION
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, October 13, 1945.
Hon. ALBEN W. BARKLEY,
United States Senate, Washington, D. C.
DEAR SENATOR BARKLEY: Replying to your letter of the 5th, regarding the
appointment of someone in the Executive Offices to consult with the
committee and its counsel, I am appointing Judge Latta, who has been in
charge of all the files in the White House for the past 28 years.
Any information that you want will be cheerfully supplied by him.
For your information all the files of the previous administration have
been moved to the Archives Building and Hyde Park. If there is any
difficulty about your having access to them I'll be glad to issue the
necessary order so that you may have complete access.
Sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN.
[Copy]
AUGUST 28, 1945.
Memorandum for-
The Secretary of State.
The Secretary of War.
The Secretary of the Navy.
The Attorney General.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Director of the Budget.
The Director of the Office of War Information.
Appropriate departments of the Government and the Joint Chiefs of Staff
are hereby directed to take such steps as are necessary to prevent
release to the public, except with the specific approval of the
President in each case, of-
Information regarding the past or present status, technique or
procedures, degree of success attained, or any specific results of any
cryptanalytic unit acting under the authority of the United States
Government or any Department thereof.
HARRY S. TRUMAN.
Restricted.
286 PEARL HARBOR ATTACK
Memorandum for-
The Secretary of State.
The Secretary of War.
The Secretary of Navy.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In order to assist the Joint Congressional Committee on the
Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack in its desire to hold public
hearings and make public pertinent evidence relating to the
circumstances of that attack, a specific exception to my memorandum
dated August 28, 1945, relating to the release of information concerning
cryptanalytic activities, is hereby made as follows:
The State, War, and Navy Departments will make available to the Joint
Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, for such use
as the committee may determine, any information in their possession
material to the investigation, and will respectively authorize any
employee or member of the armed services whose testimony is desired by
the committee to testify publicly before the committee concerning any
matter pertinent to the investigation.
(Signed) Harry S. Truman,
HARRY S. TRUMAN.
Approved October 23, I945.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, November 7, 1945.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF ALL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS,
AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, AND BUREAUS, INCLUDING THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
Section 3 of the concurrent resolution creating the Joint Congressional
Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack reads as
follows:
SEC. 3. The testimony of any person in the armed services, and the fact
that such person testified before the joint committee herein provided
for, shall not be used against him in any court proceeding or held
against him in examining his military status for credits in the service
to which he belongs.
In order to assist the joint committee to make a full and complete
investigation of the facts relating to the events leading up to or
following the attack, you are requested to authorize every person in
your respective departments or agencies, if they are interrogated by the
committee or its counsel, to give any information of which they may have
knowledge bearing on the subject of the committee's investigation.
You are further requested to authorize them whether or not they are
interrogated by the committee or its counsel to come forward voluntarily
and disclose to the committee or to its counsel any information they may
have on the subject of the inquiry which they may have any reason to
think may not already have been disclosed to the committee.
This directive is applicable to all persons in your departments or
agencies, whether they are in the armed services or not and whether or
not they are called to testify before the joint committee.
HARRY S. TRUMAN.
PEARL HARBOR ATTACK 287
MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF ALL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS,
AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, AND BUREAUS, INCLUDING THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
With further reference to my letter of November 7, 1945, addressed to
the above executives, you are requested further to authorize every
person in your respective departments or agencies, whether or not they
are interrogated by the committee or its counsel, to come forward and
disclose orally to any of the members of the Joint Congressional
Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack any
information they may have on the subject of the inquiry which they may
have any reason to think has not already been disclosed to the
committee.
This does not include any files or written material.
(Handwritten) O. K.
H. S. T.
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Page maintained by Larry W. Jewell, lwjewell@omni.cc.purdue.edu. Created: 12/5/96 Updated: 12/5/96
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