Congressional Investigations Critical of the Executive Branch that Generated Twenty or
More New York Times Front-page Stories, 1947-1990. (Table 2.1 from Divided We
Govern, at pp. 13-25)
Coding:
UNI – unified party control
DIV – divided party control
2- or 3-digit number preceding each entry: number of days of NYT stories
the prose entries: brief documentation of the charges and the investigations
1947-48 – Truman – Republican Congress – DIV
29 - Improper influence in airplane contracts. Senate War Investigations
Committee. Chaired by Owen Brewster, R-Me; at subcommittee level by Homer Ferguson, RMich. Featured Elliott Roosevelt, Howard Hughes, generals, Hughes’s flying boat. 1947
27 - Inside-info commodity speculation by government officials. Senate Appropriations
Committee, chaired by Styles Bridges, R-N.H.; and subsequent House Select Committee to
Investigate Commodity Transactions, chaired by August Andresen, R-Minn. Featured
allegations against Edwin Pauley, dispute over release of list of traders. 1947-48.
90 – Disloyalty and espionage in or near government ranks. House Un-American Activities
Committee. Chaired by J. Parnell Thomas, R- N.J.; spearheaded by Richard Nixon, RCalif. Featured Dr. Edward Condon, Elizabeth Bentley, William Remington, Whittaker
Chambers, Alger Hiss, Hiss’s typewriter, the pumpkin papers. 1948.
1949-50 – Truman – Democratic Congress – UNI
26 – Mismanagement and security problems at the Atomic Energy Commission. Joint
Atomic Energy Committee. Chaired by Sen. Brien McMahon, D-Conn.; animated by
Sen. Bourke Hickenlooper, R-Ia. Featured defense of AEC by David Lilienthal. 1949.
26 – Influence peddling by and around the White House staff. Subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments. Chaired by Clyde Hoey, D-N.C.;
energized byKarl Mundt, R-S.D., and Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis. Featured “five-percenters”
label, Harry Vaughan, John Maragon, deep freezers. 1949.
67 – Disloyalty in the State Department. Special subcommittee of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, set up to investigate charges by Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis. Chaired
by Millard Tydings, D-Md.; dominated by non-member McCarthy. Featured controversy over
release of government files, McCarthy charges against Philip Jessup, John Stewart Service,
Owen Lattimore. 1950.
1951-52 – Truman – Democratic Congress – UNI
55 – Maladministration and favoritism in the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation. Subcommittee of the Senate Banking and Currency Committee. Chaired by J.
William Fulbright, D-Ark. Featured White House aides, dubious loans, mink coats. 1951.
53 – Truman Administration misconduct of the Korean War. Joint probe by Senate Armed
Services and Foreign Relations Committees. Chaired by Richard Russell, D-Ga. Featured
criticism by Gens. Douglas MacArthur (just fired), Albert Wedemeyer, Patrick Hurley; defense
by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Defense Secretary George Marshall, Gens. Omar Bradley
and J. Lawton Collins. 1951.
34 – Disloyalty in making of China policy. Internal Security Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary
Committee. Chaired by Pat McCarran, D-Nev. Featured assaults against Owen Lattimore,
Philip Jessup, John Carter Vincent, and other China hands. 1951-52.
58 – Corruption in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (then its title). Subcommittee of the
House Ways and Means Committee. Chaired by Cecil King, D-Calif. Featured T. Lamar
Caudle, Henry “the Dutchman” Grunewald, city machine operatives as revenue
collectors. 1951-52.
29 – Maladministration in the Justice Department. Subcommittee of the House Judiciary
Committee. Chaired by Frank Chelf, D-Ky. Featured resignation of Attorney General J.
Howard McGrath. 1952.
1953-54 – Eisenhower – Republican Congress – UNI
25 – Soviet spy rings operating under Truman. Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Chaired by William Jenner, R-Ind. Featured charges against Harry
Dexter White. 1953.
203 – Subversion in the State Department and the Army. Investigative Subcommittee of the
Senate Government Operations Committee. Chaired by Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis. Featured
probes of the Voice of America, overseas libraries, Fort Monmouth laboratories; Cohn and
Schine; who promoted Peress?; McCarthy vs. Joseph Welch in televised hearings. 1953-54.
1955-56 – Eisenhower – Democratic Congress – DIV
25 – Improper influence in Dixon-Yates power contract. Subcommittee of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Chaired by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn. 1955.
21 – Inadequate air-power planning. Special subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Chaired by Stuart Symington, D-Mo. Featured Defense Secretary Charles Wilson,
open interservice rivalry, charges of falling behind the Soviets. 1956.
1957-58 – Eisenhower – Democratic Congress – DIV
106 – Improper influence in the regulatory agencies. Special subcommittee of the House
Commerce Committee. Chaired by Morgan Moulder, D-Mo., then Oren Harris, DArk. Featured FCC Commissioner Richard Mack, Bernard Goldfine, vicuna coat, Oriental rug,
dethroning of Eisenhower aide-in-chief Sherman Adams. 1958.
1959-60 – Eisenhower – Democratic Congress – DIV
None
1961-62 – Kennedy – Democratic Congress – UNI
26 – Agriculture Department favoritism toward shady grain-storage dealer Billy Sol
Estes. Subcommittee of the Senate Government Operations Committee, chaired by John
McClellan, D-Ark.; and subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee,
chaired by L. H. Fountain, D-N.C. 1962.
1963-64 – Kennedy/Johnson – Democratic Congress – UNI
25 – Favoritism in award of TFX fighter-plane contract to General Dynamics, rather than
Boeing. Subcommittee of the Senate Government Operations Committee. Chaired by John
McClellan, D-Ark. 1963.
1965-66 – Johnson – Democratic Congress – UNI
26 – Misguided Indochina policy. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Chaired by J.
William Fulbright, D-Ark. Featured testimony by critics George Kennan and Gen. James
Gavin, defenders Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Early
1966.
1967-68 – Johnson – Democratic Congress – UNI
27 – Disastrous and deceptive Indochina policy. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. Chaired by J. William Fulbright, D-Ark. Featured charge that Johnson
Administration misled Congress on nature of 1964 Tonkin Bay encounter. 1967-68 (sporadic).
1969-70 – Nixon – Democratic Congress – DIV
31 – Continued U.S. overinvolvement in Indochina. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. Chaired by J. William Fulbright, D-Ark. Featured strong reaction against invasion
of Cambodia in spring 1970. 1969-70 (sporadic).
1971-72 – Nixon – Democratic Congress – DIV
28 – Justice Department awarded ITT a favorable antitrust settlement in exchange for a
$400,000 campaign contribution. Senate Judiciary Committee. Chaired by James Eastland,
D-Miss; energized by Philip Hart, D-Mich., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Featured Deputy
Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, ITT document shredding, damaging memo by fugitive
witness Dita Beard. 1972.
1973-74 – Nixon/Ford – Democratic Congress – DIV
187 – Watergate break-in and cover-up. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign
Activities. Chaired by Sam Ervin, D-N.C. Featured L. Patrick Gray, John Dean, James
McCord, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, the plumbers, hush money, the tapes,
executive privilege. 1973-74 (mainly 1973).
149 – Watergate break-in and cover-up. House Judiciary Committee. Chaired by Peter
Rodino, D-N.J. Ended in vote to impeach President Nixon. 1973-74 (mainly 1974).
1975-76 – Ford – Democratic Congress – DIV
69 – Dubious covert operations by U.S. intelligence agencies. Select Senate Committee to
Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. Chaired by Frank
Church, D-Id. Featured CIA, FBI; reports of moles in the media, secret dossiers and wiretaps,
mail surveillance, burglaries of leftist offices, and plots to assassinate foreign leaders. 1975-76.
46 – Dubious covert operations by U.S. intelligence agencies. House Select Committee on
Intelligence. Chaired by Otis Pike, D-N.Y. Featured CIA, FBI, reports of files on domestic
dissidents and members of Congress. 1975-76.
1977-78 – Carter – Democratic Congress – UNI
26 – Old shady bank dealings by Bert Lance, Director of the Office of Management and
Budget. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Chaired by Abraham Ribicoff, DConn. Featured Ribicoff call for Lance to resign, Lance’s resignation.
1979-80 – Carter – Democratic Congress – UNI
21 – Dubious use of President’s brother Billy Carter as intermediary to Libyan
government. Special Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chaired by Birch
Bayh, D-Ind. Featured report of $220,000 Libyan fee to Billy Carter, criticism of
Administration policy processes. 1980.
1981-82 – Reagan – Republican Senate, Democratic House – DIV
None
1983-84 – Reagan – Republican Senate, Democratic House – DIV
28 – Political favoritism, conflict of interest, and general laxness in toxic-waste cleanup by
the Environmental Protection Agency. Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee. Chaired by John Dingell, D-Mich. Featured struggle over access to agency files,
resignation of EPA director Anne Burford. 1983.
1985-86 – Reagan – Republican Senate, Democratic House – DIV
None
1987-88 – Reagan – Democratic Congress – DIV
95 – Ill-advised arms-for-hostages deal with Iran. Select Senate and House committees acted
as one unit. Chaired by Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Haw., and Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind. Featured
Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, Oliver North, testimony on covert funding of the
Nicaraguan Contras. 1987.
1989-90 – Bush – Democratic Congress – DIV
23 – Corruption in Reagan’s Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Subcommittee of House Government Operations Committee. Chaired by Tom
Lantos, D-Calif. Featured Samuel R. (“Silent Sam”) Pierce, Jr., former HUD Secretary. 198990.