Oral History Interview with
H. Graham Morison
Assistant to the General Counsel of the War Production Board,
1941-43; Captain, United States Marine Corps, 1943-45; Special Assistant
to the Attorney General of the United States, 1945; Executive Assistant
to the Attorney General, 1945-48; Assistant Attorney General and head
of the Civil Division, 1948-50; Assigned to establish the Office of Economic
Stabilization, 1950; Acting Deputy Attorney General, 1950; Assistant Attorney
General and head of the Anti-Trust Division, 1950-52; and private law
practice in Washington, D.C., 1952-76.
Washington, DC
August 1, 1972
by Jerry N. Hess
[Notices and Restrictions | Interview
Transcript | Additional Morison Oral History
Transcripts]
NOTICE
This is a transcript of a tape-recorded interview conducted for the Harry
S. Truman Library. A draft of this transcript was edited by the interviewee
but only minor emendations were made; therefore, the reader should remember
that this is essentially a transcript of the spoken, rather than the written
word.
Numbers appearing in square brackets (ex. [45]) within the transcript
indicate the pagination in the original, hardcopy version of the Morison
oral history interview.
RESTRICTIONS
This oral history transcript may be read, quoted from, cited, and reproduced
for purposes of research. It may not be published in full except by permission
of the Harry S. Truman Library.
Opened 1978
Harry S. Truman Library
Independence, Missouri
[Top of the Page | Notices
and Restrictions | Interview Transcript
| Additional Morison Oral History Transcripts]
Oral History Interview with
H. Graham Morison
Washington, DC
August 1, 1972
by Jerry N. Hess
[1]
HESS: To begin, Mr. Morison, would you tell me a little about your personal
background: where you were born, where you were educated and what positions
you have held?
MORISON: I was born in Briston, Virginia-Tennessee.
HESS: Were you born on the Virginia side?
MORISON: No. I was born on the Tennessee side. It's hard for a Tennessee
mountaineer to just tell "a little," but I'll try.
I am the only living child of Judge Hugh G. Morison and Lucile Barker
Morison. My mother was the oldest child of Colonel J. M. Barker, a Confederate
veteran who had served with Mosby in the War Between the States, and Margaret
Kane Barker. My father
[2]
was the oldest child of Judge H.S.K. Morison and Annis Kyle Morison of
Scott County, Virginia. My father graduated from Virginia Military Institute
in the Class of 1899, and one of his roommates was General George C. Marshall.
After admission to the Virginia Bar he joined the legal staff of what
was to become the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad. In time, he
became its General Counsel and briefly served as president until he was
appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee in 1923.
As a teenager, the unexpected and premature death of my father from a
heart attack in 1926, was a deeply traumatic experience for, as an only
child, the relationship with him was close
[3]
and he was the center of my life. Because there was a depression at the
time, I worked my way through the academic school at Washington &
Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and its law school, graduating in
the law class of 1932. I then joined my uncle, A. Kyle Morison, in the
practice of law in Bristol, Virginia. Remember now, this was in the depths
of the depression and I took any case that came along. In most cases,
my fees were paid in produce since "cash was scarce."
I argued my first appellate case in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for
the Fourth Circuit in 1935, and won by a unanimous court. A partner of
a New York law firm was there to hear argument in the case that followed
mine and asked me to become an associate in the New York law firm of Miller,
Owen, Otis & Bailey. After some deliberation, I went to New York and
joined
[4]
the firm as an associate. (The firm name is now Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher.)
I introduced myself to the senior partner, Governor Nathan L. Miller,
and in time we became friends despite my lowly position in the firm. From
Governor Miller's beginnings as a country lawyer in upstate New York,
he was employed by Andrew Carnegie to effect the mergers that created
U.S. Steel Corporation and was vice President and General Counsel of U.S.
Steel continuously except during the term he served as Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of the State of New York and later when he was Governor
of New York State. Governor Miller and I, despite the disparity of our
ages, shared the same belief about the role of the lawyer and he took
a personal interest in me, which contributed much to my maturity as a
lawyer.
[5]
Governor Miller was called back to U.S. Steel to devote full time as
their General Counsel in 1941 as the war clouds in Europe deepened. It
was at this time that the Governor introduced me to John Lord O'Brian
whom he had come to know as an able lawyer and as "Governor Hughes' man"
in the State Legislature.
Mr. O'Brian had been appointed General Counsel of the War Production
Board which had been created to regulate the nation's resources and production
in order to provide armaments for our Western Allies and to fulfill the
massive needs for our Army, Navy, and Air Force. Mr. O'Brian had asked
Governor Miller to recommend capable young lawyers who might want to join
his staff. Governor Miller had measured my feelings rightly and knew that
I would welcome the experience and challenging opportunity
[6]
that this undertaking offered. So, I was named Assistant General Counsel
to the War Production Board in 1941, and served under Mr. O'Brian.
I met President Truman for the first time while he was a member of the
Senate and had been appointed Chairman of the so-called Truman Committee
whose task was to hold hearings on complaints of violations of the act
establishing the War Production Board, etc. This was prior to the declaration
of war in December by President Roosevelt and Attorney General Robert
Jackson had insisted that unless and until there was a declaration of
a state of war, the War Production Board had no authority to impose limitations
on material, etc. and that the industry committees which had been appointed
were suspect because of the probable agreements made by competitors
[7]
in such capacities. Mr. O'Brian took the position that although war had
not at that time been declared, its imminence was so probable and the
need for war production to supply our Allies with armaments so imperative
that the Justice Department should not set aside this structure and its
operation, agreeing to confer with the Attorney General at any time.
Senator Truman was aware of the position of the Department of Justice
and felt strongly that some area of accommodation should be provided by
the Department of Justice. At that time point, Mr. O'Brian suggested to
Don Nelson, the Chairman, that a meeting be held with Senator Truman and
Senator Truman invited Nelson, Mr. O'Brian and any others on the staff
they wished to bring to meet with him. I was asked to go with them and
met President Truman at that meeting and for the first time discovered
his
[8]
breadth of understanding of the problem of production and the function
his committee would perform in aiding the war effort. After stating briefly
his intentions as to holding hearings not alone in Washington but throughout
the United States on complaints of violations of the limitation orders,
the alleged theft and misappropriation of critical materials and all other
matters related to the needs of those times, he said something along this
line:
I have spent most of my adult life in studying ancient and modern history
and from this you find that from the decline of the Roman Empire until
the present, the venality and greed of man has occurred over and over
in times of great stress of the nations of the world. This is occurring
in our country today and I believe that my task with the Committee is
to unearth the truth and if there is found to be theft, misappropriation
of critical materials, particularly in industries that have been subsidized
by the taxpayers' money or if hurriedly made and defective weapons have
been delivered for our Allies abroad and this was occasioned by theft
or mismanagement, it
[9]
should be exposed as a lesson to all others that our Government will
not condone such venality.
Indeed, despite Bob Jackson's proper position as to the lack of a state
of war, I must take into account that in truth the United States will
be impelled to go to the defense of our Allies against Hitler and I
am sure that he can be persuaded to understand this.
I confess that I was overwhelmed for I did not know President Truman
and in what he said so pointedly, I had the first glimpse of the breadth
and earthiness of his understanding of the function of the Government
of our nation facing a state of war.
Senator Truman was a quiet-spoken and modest man. I knew that he had
been associated with Tom Pendergast of the Democratic organization in
Kansas City who had elevated him to be judge of the County Court, but
this seemed to me a thing of the past in view of his understanding of
this critical problem. He ended our conference by asking our group to
give
[10]
him guidance in the areas of violations suspected or known and where
the orders we had issued appeared to have not been followed. Mr. O'Brian
agreed that we would do so and thanked him although Donald Nelson had
little to say. On our way back to our offices, I talked with Mr. O'Brian
and the others and expressed my view that in Senator Truman we had a powerful
ally who completely understood the necessities of our function in the
interim and until a declaration of war should come.
I remained in that position until, by agreement with Mr. O'Brian and
with Donald Nelson's delayed approval, I secured my release and enlisted
as a private in the U.S. Marine Corps.
After "bootcamp" training at Parris Island, South Carolina, I attended
Officer's Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia and was appointed
[11]
a second lieutenant and joined in the formation of the Fourth Division
of the Marine Corps in Hawaii, under the command of General Clifford Cates.
The Division participated in several assaults in the Pacific -- Kwajalein-Roi-Namur,
Saipan, and Tinian. When I enlisted I gave my occupation as "steamfitter"
to avoid being commissioned and assigned to serve in some legal capacity
in Washington. Through a "fluke," however, my legal background was discovered
after the Division had "secured" at Saipan and I was ordered back to Washington
as an Intelligence Officer on the staff of the Commandant of the Marine
Corps.
The "spit and polish" life required of me as a member of the Commandant's
staff in Washington was just too much for me to bear. I tried every way
I could to be transferred back to the Pacific or -- if the war really
came to an
[12]
end -- to be released from service. Finally, I went to the only friend
I had in Government who I thought might help me; Tom C. Clark of Texas,
who was then Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division
of the Department of Justice and who is now a retired justice of the Supreme
Court. Tom said he would do his best, but thought all Marines "wanted
out" and it was not going to be easy.
Thereafter, President Roosevelt died and Vice President Truman became
President; "the bomb" was dropped on Hiroshima and the war in the Pacific
was ended. President Truman terminated Francis Biddle as Attorney General
and named Tom Clark Attorney General. Out of the blue, I received my discharge
from the Marine Corps!
When I went to Tom Clark to thank him, he told me there was a "trick"
to my discharge. He had requested my discharge on the basis that the Department
of Justice urgently needed
[13]
my services. He felt the "Biddle men" in the Department were bitter about
Attorney General Biddle's dismissal and were out "to do him in." He wanted
me to join the Department for about six months and, since I had no close
relationships with attorneys in the Department, to serve as his Special
Assistant and as a roving emissary to meet, come to know, and talk with
attorneys in the Department and advise him of what I learned about the
workings of the Department so that he could effect a sound reorganization.
He said he felt that in six months I could return to my law firm in New
York. During that six months period, however, I found that the challenge
to me as a lawyer of public service in the Department was most satisfying
and I served in the Department for over six years, resigning in 1952.
During my six years at Justice, I was,
[14]
successively, Special Assistant and Executive Assistant to the Attorney
General, Head of the Japanese Claims Program, Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Civil Division, during which time I was selected by Dean
Acheson, Secretary of State, to head the American delegation to the Economic
and Social Council at Geneva in 1948. Upon my return and at President
Truman's request, I took on the special assignment of organizing and preparing
for the establishment of the Office of Economic Stabilization at the start
of the Korean war. When I accomplished this the President requested and
the Attorney General appointed me Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division. After my retirement from Justice in 1952, I
established my own law firm here in Washington and still maintained an
active practice here.
[15]
Let me go back a little. Before permitting my name to be sent to the
Senate for confirmation as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Civil Division, I requested Attorney General Clark to arrange for an appointment
with President Truman. I met with him and explained that, although I had
been a life-long Democrat, I had organized and campaigned vigorously as
the head of the National Lawyers Committee Against the Third Term when
Roosevelt announced as a candidate for a third term. President Truman
replied that this was proper for me to have done and that history would
in time reveal that it was a tragedy that Roosevelt was persuaded to seek
a third term. He also said that he had introduced a resolution in the
Senate for a constitutional amendment to limit the Presidency to two four-year
terms. Shortly thereafter, my nomination was confirmed by the Senate
[16]
Judiciary Committee and the Senate.
My new post was a challenging one. The Civil Division is the largest
civil "law office" in the world, responsible for every type of civil action
involving the U. S. Government.
As head of the Division, I personally tried two lengthy and difficult
trials against the United Mine Workers and its president, John L. Lewis,
involving the national emergency created by strikes of the United Mine
Workers. Following the last United Mine Workers trial in 1948, my devoted
friend, the late Dean Acheson, suggested to Tom Clark that he needed a
proper official to head the American delegation to the Economic and Social
Council at Geneva and since I seemed a bit "weary," he thought I should
be the one to go and that the sea voyage would give me a good rest and
I
[17]
could take my wife with me. He said the staff that would accompany me
would do all the work and permit me to have a good rest.
My wife, my mother, and I went. We had ten days in Paris and then went
to Geneva. I found the work of the Committee at the League of Nations
Building a demanding but stimulating challenge. The task of the Committee
of the Economic and Social Council was to recommend to the Economic and
Social Council a means to resolve the tragic problems of the multitude
of displaced persons made "stateless" as a result of World War II.
At our first meeting, Ambassador Malik of Lebanon was elected Chairman.
The Russian Ambassador to Switzerland (seated next to me) then insisted
that we depart from accepted diplomatic precedent and that all remarks
be translated into French, English, and Russian!
[18]
On the second day the Russian Ambassador pre-empted the entire session
by vilifying the United States. I knew then that the Committee had in
the Russian Ambassador -- to say the least -- a mean problem! I worked
in my office at the League of Nations until 2 a.m. outlining a reply to
this slander and delivered it -- taking the entire session, with the three
translations, to complete it. I made a caustic historical review of the
brutal history of Russia under the Tsars to Stalin and the suppression
of freedom of its people. This quieted the Ambassador in later sessions.
The Russians opposed the grant of any humanitarian assistance for these
destitute, uprooted and stateless persons and thousands of orphaned children.
Following my response to the Russian Ambassador virtually all of the delegates
agreed to and worked with me night
[19]
after night to lead the attack against the position of the Russian Ambassador
which they felt they could not do. Finally, we were able to offer and
pass a plenary resolution providing the international machinery to rescue
the hapless displaced persons and children, with Russia and Poland opposing.
This set in motion the first international effort to ameliorate the human
tragedy and suffering of thousands of displaced persons and orphans.
Upon my return to the United States, President Truman asked me to establish
the Office of Economic Stabilization -- this was at the start of the Korean
war. He knew of my service with the War Production Board and believed
I was best qualified to undertake this difficult task. I took two members
of my staff at the Civil Division and we spent at least three months preparing
the basic
[20]
regulations, assisting President Truman's staff people in selecting and
appointing a knowledgeable man to be Chairman, and appointing a General
Counsel and staffing, particularly, the Division of Price Administration.
Now, I thought, I can finally get back to the Civil Division. That was
not to be. President Truman soon called me to his office and asked that
I accept appointment as head of the Antitrust Division. He advised that
Congress had enacted legislation requiring the Antitrust Division to review
the anti-trust aspects of all bids made to buy the multitude of plants
and production facilities built by and owned by the Government during
World War II and to determine if any bidder, by acquiring these plants,
might achieve a diminution of competition in their industries. Again,
because of my War Production Board
[21]
experience, he thought I was the one best qualified to accomplish this
important task.
HESS: What were your first impressions of the Department of Justice?
MORISON: Well, except for a few discerning and able career lawyers who
Attorney General Biddle had attracted and who were brilliant lawyers --
the majority I shall describe as sycophants who considered themselves
as the elite. They regarded Tom Clark as lacking scholarship in the law
and considered him a politician rather than a great lawyer. This dissidence
was most harmful to the esprit of the Department of Justice. I gathered
this from conversations I had with attorneys at lunch in the cafeteria.
I established friendly relationships with most of these men and found
the hard core of the dissidents. It was reasonably evident to me that
the honorable ones who disliked Tom Clark would
[22]
resign, but that the bitter ones who were constantly in touch with the
former Attorney General, Biddle, intended to try to demean the leadership
of Tom Clark.
At that point I couldn't argue as I felt inside my guts because I had
learned Tom Clark's capacities as a lawyer, his experience with his brother
in starting a law practice in poverty in Texas, his interest in politics,
which he believed to be a responsibility and which he thoroughly enjoyed,
and his measured ambition, which was coupled with a rare degree of humility.
He had come to the attention of President Truman because he, Tom Clark,
had been the moving leader in the convention to nominate Truman as Vice
President and he therefore had a strong affinity for President Truman,
as did President Truman for him, because they were both blessed in being
"political
[23]
animals" which term I use to mean a breadth of understanding of the "human
equation."
HESS: Did you ever discuss with Mr. Clark why he thought Mr. Truman would
make a good Vice President, or why he forwarded his cause at that time?
MORISON: I never did. I thought it would have been a little bit impetuous
for me to ask, but Tom did say that he was truly and measurably surprised,
but that he was greatly rewarded by what the President has done in this
expression of confidence in him and that...
HESS: By appointing him as Attorney General?
MORISON: Attorney General, yes. And that President Truman realized, he
thought, that if he was to be no longer a shadow of the dead Franklin
[24]
Roosevelt that he had to have members of his Cabinet -- and the Department
of Justice is a very important and significant Cabinet post -- whose capacities
he had measured carefully.
HESS: Would Francis Biddle have liked to have remained as Attorney General?
MORISON: Oh, indeed! Indeed! When he left, he was an embittered man.
Later President Truman made him a member of the U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. I got to know him latex
when I left the Department and became counsel for Drew Pearson in difficult
libel cases, in one of which he had agreed to be a witness for Pearson
-- a case brought against Pearson by Norman Littel who had served under
Biddle and had caused Attorney General Biddle considerable trouble to
the extent that Biddle fired him.
[25]
But, in any event, the six months were up, a lot of resignations had
been accepted. Tom Clark asked me to help him screen applicants for various
positions that were there, either by promotion of subordinates in the
various divisions to fill vacancies for those who left, or new applicants,
and I worked on that for a while until we got the place fairly well staffed
and under able leadership, I felt, on the whole.
HESS: Do you recall who you advised to be brought "on board" at that
time?
MORISON: I recommended the promotion of several men. One was Victor Kramer,
who then was down the line in the Antitrust Division. I recommended about
five, but I'd have to go back to my papers to recall their exact names.
These five were really the stellar performers.
[26]
Well, in any event, the six months were up and he said, "Now you're free
to go back to your law firm if you want to."
And I said, "Well, Tom, I might as well stay around and see this thing
through," because by that time I had developed a real appetite for public
service for it was most rewarding.
From that first assignment in which I was engaged in civil fraud actions,
in time Tom called me to his office and said, "Graham, somebody prepared
this two-page letter for me. They want to build a new court building here
in Washington and this letter to the Congress doesn't say what I want
to say. You take a hand in it, will you? And have it all on one page."
Well, in about forty minutes I had drafted the letter and took it to
him. He read it and said to his secretary, Grace Stewart, "Write
[27]
that up just like it is and I will sign it." He thanked me and said,
"That was a fine piece of work and the letter says exactly what I want
to say."
He then said, "Alexander Holtzoff is leaving for I have nominated him
to be a U.S. District Judge and I want you to come up here and sit right
with me." So I did. I took over Holtzoff's office. Among other tasks,
my job was to talk with all the people Tom Clark couldn't see and to handle
whatever problems they had. I also had a kind of unspecified and general
supervision of the operations of the Department. I found out who was doing
what. I also consulted with a Department lawyer named Ennis who was involved
with the Board of Immigration officials and from him learned the full
story of the plight of the American Japanese and citizens of
[28]
Japanese descent...
HESS: Did you feel it was necessary at the time, in 1941 and 1942, to
remove the Japanese from the West Coast?
MORISON: I didn't even know anything about it. You see by that time I
was in training and went on to the Pacific.
HESS: That's right.
MORISON: And I didn't know about the agony of this thing until after
I got back. I then learned through Ennis what General DeWitt had done,
and that Tom Clark had been involved as the legal aide to DeWitt and that
Tom protested DeWitt's actions which he thought was a denial of the rights
of these American citizens. In looking back on this event, Tom Clark said,
"everybody was scared and common sense went
[29]
out the window." I learned that unscrupulous American citizens just stole
the property of these Japanese-Americans who were bussed to camps for
they had to sell their businesses for fear they would be looted and destroyed.
It was an atrocious thing. The same thing happened to German-American
citizens. I had a classmate at Washington and Lee who came from New Braunfels,
Texas -- a little German community. Hell, his family had the biggest general
store in that little town and they put them all in these camps -- it was
atrocious!
But, in any event, from there as Special Assistant, I had to pass upon
every important letter addressed to the Attorney General that was forwarded
to me for preparation of an answer for the Attorney General's signature.
I prepared a host of them and most of them he would sign without even
reading. Occasionally, however,
[30]
he would want to talk one over with me.
Later, when I was named Executive Assistant, one of my most difficult
tasks was those little slips -- about just like this, not much larger
than that -- which would come in from J. Edgar Hoover for authority to
wiretap.
HESS: Requests from J. Edgar Hoover for wiretapping?
MORISON: Yes. I accumulated those damn things in my desk drawer until
1 had about fifty and then Edgar called the Attorney General and said,
"I want to know why some fifty requests for wiretap, were not acted upon."
He said, "Well, I guess Graham Morison has them. It is his job to first
review them."
So, he called and asked about them. I said, "Tom, you revere our Constitution;
I know you do, I've talked to you about it. There is no
[31]
authority in law and it is in contradiction of the civil rights of a
free people to permit this invasion of their privacy and to say that you're
going after gangsters and say that you're going after the remnants of
Nazi influences and all these things. To hell with it. If we're going
to have criminal prosecution against people, we don't have to make this
invasion of privacy in secret and in the name of the United States of
America."
And he said, "Well, Edgar's coming up. You have to carry the ball."
I said, "I'll be delighted to."
So he came up and the Attorney General asked me to state my position
to Hoover who had Ed [Edward A.] Tamm with him. I said, "Mr. Hoover, I
know a little bit about your background. You had an aunt who lived down
in Wytheville, Virginia, didn't you?"
[32]
He said, "Yes, as a boy I used to visit her in her home there in the
summer."
And I got him diverted. I said, "Well, do you remember the famous 'Hillsboro
massacre' and the trial of Floyd Allen of Hillsboro in the Circuit Court
of Wytheville, Virginia?"
He said, "You know, I haven't thought of that in years. As an eight year
old kid, my aunt took me to hear that case at the court at Wytheville."
I said, "It was a famous case where there were two mountain family 'clans'
at Hillsboro in Carrol County, Virginia. The beginnings of a feud involved
a hog killing. The Allens were a sound, honest and prudent mountain family.
They thought that what the members of another family clan had done in
making charges to the Commonwealth attorney, which resulted in a criminal
action against them, was a stratagem
[33]
for an entrapment and that they were going to get them into the courtroom
in Hillsboro and then they were going to shoot and kill them all at the
trial. So, two of the Allen brothers "jumped the gun" in the Court just
as the case was called for trial. Two of them drew pistols and killed
the judge, the clerk, and wounded the deputy sheriff and one juror, and
then fled. Two of the Allen brothers were killed by a posse. Floyd Allen,
however, escaped and the Baldwin-Phelps Railroad detectives found him
about two years after the killing. He was working in a grocery store in
Des Moines, Iowa. They brought him back to trial in Wytheville and he
was sentenced to life imprisonment.
And then he said, "it now comes back to me."
Then I said, "Mr. Hoover, about the requested
[34]
wiretaps. You studied law, as I did. I have a great reverence for our
Constitution, and as a lawyer, I am persuaded that you know and I know
that we have absolutely no authority -- however you may feel about it
and despite your desire to know about the actions of citizens -- to invade
their privacy in peacetime. It makes a mockery out of our Constitution
and as far as I'm concerned, I will not let you do it."
And he said, "Well, Mr. Attorney General, what about you?"
Tom Clark replied, "Well, whatever he says, Edgar, I will follow."
So, a strange thing happened. As a result of the fact that I opposed
him and although he previously had been riding roughshod over Attorneys
General for years, he recommended me to be the Commissioner of
Baseball when Happy Chandler stepped down. But I had no
[35]
interest in baseball.
After I left the Department he used to invite me to lunch, every two
weeks with him and Clyde Tolson, his deputy, at the old Harvey's restaurant
in Washington. Apparently I was the only one invited by his family, and
Ed Tamm, to attend his funeral."
You know that's a funny thing, I've got a picture around here he sent
me. It's a strange thing, but after this incident Tom said, "My God, I
thought I would never see the day when somebody would 'buck' Edgar! He
has walked over every Attorney General since Attorney General Stone. You
know he has a political line to the Congress."
And I said, "Well, blame it on me."
He said, "That's what I intend to do." We never had any repercussions,
but it ended the matter while I was there.
[36]
HESS: Did you block those wiretaps?
MORISON: Every one of them.
HESS: Were there no wiretaps by the FBI during the Truman administration?
MORISON: None that required the approval of the Attorney General were
authorized while I was Executive Assistant in '46 or '47. There may have
been some after I left that post.
HESS: And you became Assistant Attorney General in...
MORISON: In '48.
HESS: Were you Executive Assistant during that entire length of time?
MORISON: I was Executive Assistant for that stint. For about eight months
I was in the Civil
[37]
Division, in the section set up to handle these war fraud cases -- civil
fraud.
HESS: But there were no wiretaps?
MORISON: I do not know what my successors did.
HESS: Do you think he was that type?
MORISON: Yep.
HESS: Do you think that he would try to do that?
MORISON: I think he would. I think he would. I never will forget one
time Tom said, after I was made an Assistant Attorney General (and I'll
tell you about that), he called me up and said, "Graham, Mary and I have
got this trip lined up to go to Germany and I want you to be Acting Attorney
General while I'm gone."
I said, "Tom, that's something you should not do."
[38]
He said, "Why? It would be in safe hands."
And I said, "No, but it would cause you too much trouble."
"Why?"
I said, "Because the first thing as Acting Attorney General that I would
do, would be to move the FBI out of the Justice Building onto the grounds
across the street. The public tours of the FBI building lead the tourists
to believe that this whole building is the "FBI" building. They're taking
more and more of our space down in the Civil Division. They're constantly
encroaching upon our space and this is true on other floors."
Now he said, "Well, you're right. I better not do it. You're really serious?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Well, remembering the way you handled that wiretap discussion,
you just
[39]
might do it! I'll name one of the other Assistants."
Well, the next thing that came up while I was Executive Assistant is
this: The Kansas City vote fraud case "broke" and, of course, he's dead
now -- what is the name of the former editor of the Kansas City Star,
I can see him now.
HESS: Roy Roberts?
MORISON: Roy Roberts. Roy Roberts, of course, had a really hidden and
begrudging respect for Harry Truman, but he was a Republican. They had
bought out the other newspaper in Kansas City and they had a complete
monopoly. The Antitrust Division brought an action against the Kansas
City Star and Roy Roberts for monopolization in violation of the
antitrust law. But the vote fraud was all played up. The Star
[40]
published a report after an election in Jefferson County (Kansas City
is in the County) the remainder of the Pendergast organization had stolen
the ballots from the Jefferson County courthouse in Kansas City to prevent
the discovery of evidence of vote fraud in the election.
HESS: Jackson County.
MORISON: Yes, you are correct. Jackson County, and that...
HESS: Broke in the middle of the night.
MORISON: In the depths of night, and this was considered to be the work
of the remnants of the Pendergast machine which President Truman had fully
supported in Missouri. Despite criticism, the President attended Tom Pendergast's
funeral and so forth and so on.
[41]
So, the President called Tom Clark about it and Tom said he'd get right
on it. He called Edgar Hoover to the office to invite a full and complete
investigation of the charges. In any critical conversation with Hoover,
I had to be present so Edgar Hoover came with Ed Tamm at Attorney General
Clark's request and not Clyde Tolson, his first deputy.
HESS: You say you "had to be present."
MORISON: Attorney General Clark wanted to be sure I was present, as his
Executive Assistant.
HESS: Did he use you as a sort of buffer between himself and Hoover?
MORISON: Not so much as a buffer. He knew that I was not afraid to express
opinions which he invited me to make, for I had discussed this problem
with him many times.
[42]
HESS: Do you think that Mr. Clark was a little reluctant to express some
of the opinions that Mr. Hoover might have found unfavorable?
MORISON: It's hard to say. One, he knew that this situation had to be
"buffered" and that the Bureau did not proceed on "assumed authority."
He had to get along with the Congress in obtaining appropriations for
all aspects of the Department's needs in the funding of the Department
of Justice. He was being pushed and pulled politically in every way as
most Attorneys General are. And I think he found that in my brash forthrightness
and ability to meet such touchy issues "head on," I was a good "buffer."
If he agreed with me, he wouldn't duck it and would say, "Look, I agree
with what Graham Morison is saying. If I addressed the issue first and
spoke in
[43]
depth, it was, properly, only my view.
Well, in any event, he called Hoover in and, as I say, Ed Tamm was with
him and he said, "Edgar, you've seen the news reports about the stuffing
of the ballot boxes in Kansas City and the theft of the ballots?"
He said, "Yes, we have a report on it. We have our regional office there
in Kansas City," and he said, "Mr. Attorney General, what do you want
us to do?"
He said, "I want a full field investigation."
Well, five days later there was a further blast from the Kansas City
Star which stated that only a minimal investigation by the FBI
was underway and that the Attorney General had only ordered a "limited"
(quoting Edgar Hoover) investigation.
[44]
So, I said, "Tom, we've got to meet this head-on." I said, "Do you want
me to call Hoover?" He requested me to do so and to set the meeting as
soon as possible. I called Edgar and said, "Edgar, will you come and meet
with the Attorney General about this Kansas City matter?"
And he said yes he'd be there. So, he came in and had Edward Tamm with
him and Clyde Tolson, his senior deputy. The Attorney General asked me
to open the conference and I said, "Mr. Hoover, in a report from the Kansas
City Star, which appears in the Washington Star and
the Washington Post, you are quoted as saying that the Attorney
General directed you to make only a limited investigation." And
I said, "That's not true, I was there."
"Oh, no," he said, "you're wrong, the Attorney General said only to conduct
a
[45]
'limited investigation.’"
Clyde Tolson remained silent, but Ed Tamm spoke up and said, "Mr. Hoover,
I hate to disagree with you, but I was at the previous meeting with the
Attorney General and he directed that we conduct a full field investigation."
Well, Hoover turned white.
"Well," he said, "I may have misunderstood this, but I will certainly
see that it's a full field investigation."
As soon as he left I said to the Attorney General, "Tom, knowing Edgar
Hoover, Ed Tamm is ready for the 'axe' right now."
He said, "Well, what the hell can we do to avoid that?"
I said, "Well, as you know, there's a vacancy on the U.S. District Court
here, and if you'll call the President and get his approval about appointing
Tamm, I'll go up and
[46]
talk to our friends on the Senate Judiciary Committee and get clearance
by the Committee all the way ahead. This fellow has an able background
in law." I was able, with the Attorney General's help, to have his nomination
approved and Ed Tamm was confirmed as U.S. District Judge. He now is on
the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Every time I see Ed we laugh about this event; however, because we saved
Ed Tamm from dismissal, Ed's brother Quinn Tamm, was forced to resign
from the Bureau. He is now head of the International Association of Chiefs
of Police and is highly regarded by the police officials.
Well, then, he said, "Now, we've got to figure out how the hell we're
going to try these cases. We've got to obtain indictments as soon as possible."
He said, "There is a lawyer
[47]
out there who served under the U.S. Attorney who indicted and convicted
Tom Pendergast for fraud but who never made a record after that.
HESS: Maurice Milligan.
MORISON: Milligan. That's the only thing he ever did. He was a very poor
lawyer; he had the tide riding with him. And they found the young lawyer
who had worked with him as an assistant was then practicing in Springfield,
Missouri, named Dick Phelps. Phelps also had law offices in Kansas City.
Because he'd been with Milligan, Attorney General Clark got him to head
this investigation by the Grand Jury. The Attorney General said, "From
all our accounts Phelps is not very much of an activist. We've got to
get somebody to go out there who has really got a prosecutive zeal
and will see that the Regional office of the FBI makes a
[48]
thorough investigation and provides witnesses for the Grand Jury.
Well I said, "Tom, the best thing for me to do, is for you to accept
my resignation as Executive Assistant, make me a Special Assistant and
let me pick the two best trial men in the Criminal Division to go with
me to Kansas City." He agreed and we picked Eric Broome and William Paisley.
[Both of these men were superb criminal trial lawyers who were highly
respected as Government prosecutors.] I also suggested to the Attorney
General that I should go over and talk to the President, and he arranged
for me to go over and talk to the President. I talked first to Matt Connelly
and told him what I was going to do. And I said, "Do you have any recommendations,
Matt?" I also said, "That's the President's territory and I don't know
too much about Kansas City, but I'm going to fight this with everything
I've got."
He gave me the name of a man who was the manager of the President Hotel
stating that he
[49]
was a close personal friend of his. He said he had a wealth of information
and added, "If you need extra cash, because I know you're on a Government
salary, ask him for any amount you want and I'll see that you're taken
care of by the Department." And then he gave me the names of other close
friends of the President who would be helpful to me."
Well, I went out there and met Dick Phelps. He would come into our offices
at the Federal Building about 11 o'clock in the morning, and he wouldn't
do very much work. He had not conducted any Grand Jury hearing and no
indictments had been issued. The Grand Jury panels were being worked up
and I said, "Well, show me where the files are," and he took me into a
room and there was only one secretary in the office and the damn file
cabinets filled all the walls. And I said, "That's fine!" So, I
[50]
got Eric Broome and Bill Paisley, senior trial attorneys, from the Criminal
Division and we spent five days and nights reading every damn thing in
those FBI files and making notes. We then reviewed and discussed what
we had found and went to the FBI, and held numerous discussions with the
head of the regional office and their agents, to be sure we understood
the reports accumulated in the files. But we still couldn't get
a prosecutive grip on it. So, I went to this friend of the President's
at the hotel there and I said, "If you had a job of finding out what the
hell did go on in the theft of the ballots here, and you didn't have the
FBI or anything else, how would you go about finding out the facts?"
He said, "I'd get me about fifty or sixty dollars in one dollar bills
and I'd start at the cattle pens on Fourth Street at
[51]
just about 5 o'clock, and working from one end to the other of that long
street I would freely buy drinks for the bums and ask about the theft
of the ballots. If you do this," he said, "I believe that's the way you'll
get the facts quickly."
I said, "Well, can I draw the money needed from you?"
He said, "Here it is."
I started on this program at 4:30 p.m. and I covered 104 such bars. By
11 o'clock that night I had the whole story of exactly what had happened
and how it was set up. The business manager of the Kansas City Star,
through an emissary, had employed a safecracker from out of town to get
into the Jackson County Courthouse and steal those ballots from a flimsy
safe.
Well, we finally got one other thing in
[52]
Grand Jury examination. I got one fellow, an electrician, who was a drunk,
and asked if he had voted more than once. He said, "No, he hadn't voted
twice." Finally, his wife was outside and I worked on her. And I finally
got them in my office to confess that they had been directed to go to
five different precincts and use different names given to them and vote
and they had done it. And so I knew that I had an "important" drunk on
my hands. I knew the defense lawyers -- they were a man and wife, who
were smart and able criminal lawyers -- would go after these witnesses
and get them out of the state. So, I got an agreement out of the electrician's
wife, and the husband, and arranged with the FBI to take the husband far
outside of Kansas City to an ancient "drunk tank" or private hospital
for drunks. And we got him voluntarily to commit
[53]
himself out there. The defense lawyers couldn't find him. Eventually
I tried a couple of cases and got convictions and then pretty well got
the Grand Jury and trial schedules on the way, but before I left I damn
near broke the case.
I had an anonymous long distance call from a man who said he was a fugitive
and had skipped his bail bond and was hiding out and that a lawyer for
the bonding company that issued his bond had detectives looking for him.
He said he knew all the details of who had burglarized the courthouse
and removed the ballots and who hired them to do this. He said he would
meet with me and give depositions under oath about this, if the Department
of Justice would get the bonding company "off his back," and provide him
with immunity from prosecution. I cleared this with the Department of
Justice
[54]
some five days later and then tried to call this informer back about
this, but the man had "skipped."
Four days later an item appeared in the press that there had been a serious
automobile crash and a "shoot-out" in rural Indiana and this guy who had
called me had been killed. I also learned that the first news person
on the scene from outside the state was the Business Manager of the Kansas
City Star who took a private plane to the site to make sure he
was dead and could not talk!
So, that's what happened.
Well, I came back from that stint -- a long period of vicissitudes --
and I related to Matt Connelly that one of the President's friends who
was the U.S. Attorney in Kansas City, named Sam Wear, who was a great
character. I told this, at Matt's urging, to the President later.
[55]
Sam would get on drunks and his secretaries would all protect him. Eric
Broome and this other senior lawyer from the Criminal Division who were
with me would go to church every Sunday. We went to a different church
each Sunday. And one Sunday we went to a downtown church near the small
hotel where we were staying. It was a Methodist church and that Sunday
was the "Temperance Sunday." They ushered us right down to the front row.
And then they passed out checks and pencils for all to make donations
to the Temperance Union, and provided all of their literature.
Well, I stuck that in my pocket and I conspired with Sam Wear's secretaries
and I hand-pecked a letter myself on an old typewriter, one that was kind
of "banged up." It was addressed to Sam Wear, U.S. Attorney and it went
about like this: "Dear Mr. Wear
[56]
(spelled W-e-a-r-i-e), I have been for twenty years an evangelist proclaiming
against the evils of drink. My longtime friend and right-hand man, Tom,
has always sat on the platform with me and has been an example of the
evils of drink because his physical deterioration was evident. Tom has
just died and your name has been recommended to take his place." And then
I put all of this other Temperance literature with it in an envelope,
and got a stamp on it and it finally was delivered to Sam. When he read
it, the secretaries called me to come down to his office. They said, "Oh,
he's on the rampage." They said he told them, "The goddamn politicians
are after me." Finally he called me in my office in the building and said,
"You're behind this."
I said, "Sam, you know I wouldn't do a thing like that." But when I went
to see him,
[57]
I admitted that I had sent the letter. I told the President about that
and he said, "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard, you really had
him scared didn't you?"
HESS: Were there any times when Attorney General Clark would take Mr.
Hoover's position in opposition to yours?
MORISON: I never remember any. Not one. We discussed Hoover's position,
however, many times.
HESS: Early in the Truman administration there was a call for investigation
of employee loyalty in the Federal Government. I recall there was a commission
that was set up, the President's Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty.
And Clark's name has been mentioned by historians as one of the early
proponents of setting up some mechanism for looking into the question
of
[58]
Communists in Government. Some historians say that in his actions Tom
Clark was acting at the instigation of J. Edgar Hoover, that it was really
Hoover who was pushing for an investigation of Communists in Government.
Do you recall anything on that nature?
MORISON: I don't, certainly if it occurred and I had been privy to it,
it would have been when I was the Executive Assistant. In the other tasks
that he assigned to me, you know, I was up to my ears. Now Tom would consult
me about all kinds of things outside of my areas of direct responsibility
because we had a very close working relationship, one of absolute honesty
in the "give and take" of discussions.
HESS: The head of the Commission was A. Devitt Vanech.
[59]
MORISON: He was the head of the -- he was kind of a "hanger-on"...
HESS: Wasn't he in charge of the Lands Division for awhile?
MORISON: He was put in charge of the Lands Division, and I vaguely recollect,
but I'm not sure, that this may have come as a result of the Alger Hiss
case, and I don't know in time sequence when this occurred.
HESS: A11 right, the commission was set up late in November of 1946.
As you will recall, in the November elections of 1946, both houses of
Congress went Republican. One of the Republican issues in the campaign
was the possibility of disloyal employees being in the Government.
MORISON: I have so little recollection of this at all that it must not
have been very important
[60]
or I would have heard about it. It might have been a pro forma program,
but it would be important to know if, when set up, this was a sequence
following the Hiss case, in which Nixon was a stellar performer. I just
don't have any recollection about that.
HESS: I can't recall just now when the Hiss case came up.
MORISON: Yes, well I think that frame of reference would be important.
HESS: I think about that time, but I'm not sure.
MORISON: It might have been as a result of that, but these things, these
waves of events, came and went and I don't have any recollection of them.
HESS: Well, nevertheless, were there times when
[61]
Director Hoover influenced Mr. Clark on decisions that he had to make?
Just how much of an influence was Hoover?
MORISON: Well I think this: Tom had a thorough knowledge, having been
a subordinate in the Department of Justice, of the areas of domination
that Hoover had achieved in some areas and with past Attorneys General.
Every Congressman was convinced that Hoover had a dossier on him which
he was ready to spring on him anytime. And I think that Tom, who was a
political animal, knew he should not be intransigent in all matters involving
Edgar and he may have made some practical accommodations with Edgar. But
in the measure of the whole of Tom Clark's service as Attorney General
he measured up a greater degree of responsibility than many of his predecessors.
He saw to it that that department was run well, and worked
[62]
hard to see that that department was adequately funded. I don't think
that Hoover ever sought to tell Tom Clark what to do and what not to do
because this would be beyond his jurisdiction and function. He might try
to do so only with a weak Attorney General. He might suggest to Tom Clark
that he do certain things. Tom used to have luncheons up there in his
offices that I used to attend with Hoover and our Assistant Attorney General.
We would just talk about various things confronting the Department. But
I just don't have any recollections of any confrontation between Edgar
Hoover and Tom Clark.
HESS: At what time was that?
MORISON: That was in the forties, it was after the Kansas City case.
I came back and resumed my office as Executive Assistant and in early
[63]
'48 I was named Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division.
HESS: That's right.
MORISON: I don't know what went on there when Donald Cook became Executive
Assistant because Cook was an outstanding "accommodator" and he would
not "buck" Hoover or anybody of importance in the administration. Lyndon
Johnson was his mentor and got him the job. But when Lyndon became President
and asked Don to be Secretary of the Treasury, he turned it down.
HESS: One question on those dossiers that Mr. Hoover was supposed to
have had on people of importance. Do you think that he had information
like that squirreled away ready to pull out if somebody crossed him?
MORISON: I have no opinion one way or another, except
[64]
as later on, more supine Attorneys General maintained no oversight of
the Bureau. But while I was Executive Assistant I maintained oversight
as the Attorney General directed. Thus, it could be so. I have no information
one way or other.
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