CONTENTS Nominations: reference Nos. 203, 204, 7N, 212, 3AF, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 224, 225, 3A, 234, 4A, 237, 4AF and 243. S. 2395 (H. R. 5920)-A bill to provide for payments of amounts due mentally incompetent personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Capt. A. S. McDill, Judge Advocate General's Office, Navy L. R. Gourley, Counsel, American Osteopathic Association__ S. 2857-A bill to amend section 12 of the Missing Persons Act, as amended relating to travel by dependents and transportation of household and personal effects___ S. 3314-A bill to authorize the appointment of Joseph F. Carroll and Statement of Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, United H. R. 7635-An act to amend the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as H. R. 7708-An act to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to grant to the Monmouth Consolidated Water Co. certain easements and rights-of-way within the United States Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle, Ñ. J. MISCELLANEOUS BILLS THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1950 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m., in room 212, Senate Office Building, Senator Harry Flood Byrd, presiding. Present: Senators Byrd, Johnson of Texas, Kefauver, Bridges, Saltonstall, Knowland, and Cain. Also present: Justice M. Chambers, Mark H. Galusha, and Verne D. Mudge, of the committee staff. NOMINATIONS AS PER REFERENCE Nos. 203, 204, 7N, 212, 3AF, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 224, 225, 3A, 234, 4A, 237, 4AF, AND 243 There is no objec- Senator BYRD. The committee will come to order. Senator BYRD. Lt. Col. Charles H. Bonesteel, 218, to be Executive Director of the European Coordinating Committee, pursuant to the authority of section 406 (e) of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 and Private Law 412, Eighty-first Congress. Is Colonel Bonesteel present? Mr. MUDGE. No, he is not present. Senator BYRD. Is there any desire on the part of the committee to have Lt. Col. C. H. Bonesteel present? Senator BRIDGES. What is his background? Mr. MUDGE. This is the result of a previous authorizing bill passed about a month ago. The Director requested that this officer be made available for that assignment because he was doing that work and was particularly qualified. The authorizing bill was enacted. Senator BRIDGES. What is his background? They have some awful queer people over there, and I want to know what his background is. Mr. MUDGE. The only information that I can give you, Senator Bridges, is that he is a Regular Army officer, who has been on duty as a Regular Army officer since graduating from the Military Academy. His father was General Bonesteel, a Regular Army Officer also. He had been on that duty, assisting the director, and for that reason the director asked that he be allowed to continue on that duty without losing his status. 1 Senator KNOWLAND. Is this the man who testified regarding the arms implementation? Mr. MUDGE. Yes, Senator. Serator BRIDGES. A lot of things that have happened in Germany that certainly I do not approve of, and I would like to know a little more about him and just what his background is. He may be a good Army officer, but he may not be a good man for this delicate situation there now, which we have been so stupid about. Mr. MUDGE. Senator Bridges, the only answer we have is that Mr. Bruce appeared before the committee and requested the action to be taken, the authorizing language was enacted, and this is the actual nomination. Senator BRIDGES. He may be the best fellow in the world. I would like to find out a little bit about him. Senator SALTONSTALL. What is the issue before us? Senator BYRD. The nomination of Lt. Col. C. H. Bonesteel to be Executive Director of the European Coordinating Committee. Senator BRIDGES. Has he ever been before us? Mr. MUDGE. Mr. Bruce was before us. Senator BRIDGES. I mean Bonesteel. Senator SALTONSTALL. Wasn't he the gentleman who sat in the joint session of the Foreign Relations Committee and this committee last summer, and had all the technical knowledge, detailed knowledge, of the plan they were making up? Do you know, Mr. Mudge? Mr. MUDGE. I do not know from my own personal knowledge. We have Mr. Bruce's statement. Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Chairman, on January 26 Mr. James Bruce appeared before this committee in support of the bill which would authorize Colonel Bonesteel to be appointed as a civilian employee and not lose his status in the Army. At that time he put in quite a bit of information on Colonel Bonesteel. Colonel Bonesteel did not appear before us. Senator BRIDGES. Let me read it while we go to other matters. Senator BYRD. Among the nominations is that of Archibald Stevens Alexander, 221, of New Jersey, to be Under Secretary of the Army. Mr. Alexander has not been requested to come before the committee, inasmuch as he appeared on August 15, 1949, when he was nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of the Army, and this is the appointment to be Under Secretary. Senator BRIDGES. He has been Assistant Secretary? Senator BYRD. He has been acting as Assistant Secretary. Senator SALTONSTALL. I move we adopt that appointment, Mr. Chairman. I think he is a very high-type fellow in every way. Senator BYRD. We have a quorum now, and I suggest we take up the nominations, 4,633. Before Senator Kefauver and Senator Johnson came in, we discussed the nomination of Lieutenant Colonel Bonesteel. Senator BRIDGES. I have no objection. Senator BYRD. We also discussed the nomination of Archibald Stevens Alexander to be Under Secretary of the Army, who is now acting as Assistant Secretary. Otherwise, they are routine. Senator SALTONSTALL. I move we adopt them. Senator KNOWLAND. Second. Senator BYRD. The motion has been made and seconded that the nominations now before the committee be reported favorably. (The motion, covering the following nominations, was carried unanimously: Reference Nos. 203, 204, 7N, 212, 3AF, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 224, 225, 3A, 234, 4A, 237, 4AF, and 243.) H. R. 7635 Senator BYRD. We will proceed now with consideration of H. R. 7635. (H. R. 7635 is as follows:) [H. R. 7635, 81st Cong., 2d sess.] AN ACT To amend the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as amended, to provide graduation leave upon appointment as commissioned officers in the regular components of the armed forces of graduates of the United States Military, Naval, or Coast Guard Academies. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as amended, is hereby further amended by adding the following new subsection to section 3: "(c) Graduates of the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, or the United States Coast Guard Academy who, upon graduation therefrom, are commissioned in a regular component of the armed forces may, in the discretion of the Secretary concerned, be granted graduation leave not in excess of sixty days, which leave shall not be deducted from nor charged against other leave authorized by the provisions of this Act but shall be in addition thereto. Graduation leave granted pursuant to this subsection must be completed within three months of the date of graduation and no such leave shall be carried forward as credit beyond the date of reporting to the first permanent duty station or to a port of embarkation for permanent duty outside the continental limits of the United States." SEC. 2. The Act of December 20, 1886 (24 Stat. 351; 10 U. S. C. 1150), is hereby amended by deleting therefrom the phrase "and during his graduation leave,”. SEC. 3. The paragraph entitled 'Graduates of the Military Academy may serve as instructors", of chapter XVIII of the Act of July 9, 1918 (40 Stat. 892; 10 U. S. C. 445), is hereby amended by substituting a period for the comma appearing after the words "training camps" and deleting the words "and their graduation leave may be taken at the termination of their services as instructors at these camps". SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect as of June 1, 1950. RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. Senator BYRD. Mr. Mudge will make an explanation. Mr. MUDGE. Commander Blouin of the Navy is here to testify as a departmental witness, sir. Senator BYRD. State your full name, and proceed. STATEMENT OF COMMANDER H. J. BLOUIN, BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL, REPRESENTING THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Commander BLOUIN. I am Commander H. J. Blouin, Bureau of Naval Personnel, representing the Department of Defense. The purpose of H. R. 7635 is to amend the Armed Forces Leave Act of 1946, as amended, by the addition of a new section to authorize uniform graduation leave not to exceed 60 days for graduates of the Military Academy, the Naval Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy; such leave to be completed within 3 months of graduation. The Department of the Army has statutory authority (ch. 2, 24 Stat. 351, 10 U. S. C. 1150) to grant graduation leave to graduates of |