Video summary
The video transcript presents a scathing critique of government corruption across both federal and state levels, arguing that the integrity of public officials is essential for maintaining a democratic system superior to foreign adversaries. The speaker emphasizes that high taxes paid by citizens should not be wasted on graft or theft, especially during what he describes as a "cold war" where America's moral standing is at stake against accusations of being corrupt and decadent. He recounts his own history of exposing dishonesty in Democratic administrations, which led to the imprisonment of several officials including tax collectors Joe Nunan and Dan Bolick, Frankie Costello, John Maragon, and four congressmen. Despite facing personal attacks from President Truman himself after revealing how military aid general Harry Vaughan facilitated connections between government figures and racetrack owners, he declares his intention to continue exposing corruption regardless of whether the administration in power is Democratic or Republican.
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on scandals within the Eisenhower administration, which many hoped would bring a "clean as houndstooth" policy to Washington. The speaker details how top officials refused to provide information about Adolf Welch from First Boston Corporation, who was secretly embedded in the budget bureau to secure lucrative contracts for Dixon Yates at the expense of public interest. Although President Eisenhower publicly denied any conflict of interest involving bankers inside his administration, evidence eventually surfaced confirming Welch's involvement with atomic energy officials. Other federal cases highlighted include Air Force Secretary Harold Talbot, a wealthy fundraiser for Ike who served his own financial interests; Peter Strobe, who used his position to funnel army funds into his engineering company; and Justice Department official Edward Foot, whose wife secretly invested in oil companies he was tasked with regulating before approving their merger.
The critique extends beyond the federal government to state-level scandals that demonstrate how low moral standards have permeated American politics nationwide. In Illinois, Governor Stratton is criticized for failing to act swiftly despite his reputation for cleaning up corruption quickly; this failure allowed State Treasurer Warren Wright to accept luxury gifts like new cars and cash from bankers while neglecting audits of the treasury office where theft occurred. Furthermore, officials involved in cheating on school lunch programs were indicted but faced little consequence under Stratton's watch. Similar issues arise in Pennsylvania with a Republican-appointed toll bridge authority that paid burlesque dancers for fake stenographic work and awarded illegal salaries to its members, as well as Thomas J. Evans of the Turnpike Commission who secured millions in contracts for his son's company while filling abandoned coal mines he did not complete.
The speaker concludes by highlighting an ironic scandal in Kansas, Eisenhower's home state, where Warren Shaw was nominated for governor despite collecting a cent per gallon on gasoline specifically to fund Republican campaigns rather than public services. This arrangement meant that citizens paid extra taxes essentially to finance the political party of their own choice through inflated fuel costs. The narrator asserts that simply changing administrations will not fix these systemic issues because adult corruption at the top inevitably leads to juvenile delinquency below, and without honest government servants in every administration, free enterprise cannot survive or democracy can truly thrive. He urges viewers to recognize that while presidents may not always see every rotting apple slipping into the barrel of government, they must vigorously punish those who are brought to their attention rather than ignoring obvious misconduct as has frequently happened.
Read the full video transcript
Hello everybody.
I want to report you today on something
I think is terribly important to our
system of government. The honesty of our
public officials.
Now when we pay taxes and rather high
taxes, we don't like to have that tax
money wasted or stolen. And even more
important, we happen to be in a deadly,
serious, almost death battle or cold war
to show that our system of government is
better than that of another powerful
country which is trying to show us up to
the world as corrupt and decadent
capitalism. So, we've got to keep our
system clean. Now, some of you may
remember that I got into a lot of
trouble and was called some very violent
names because I pointed to influence
peddling and wire pulling and dishonesty
in Democratic administrations.
Some of the things I exposed helped us
convict Joe Nunan and Dan Bolick, the
tax collectors who collected your taxes
but didn't collect their own. Also
Frankie Costello went to jail and John
Maragon, the influence peddling friend
of President Truman and the owners of
the Tan Freran racetrack, four
congressmen and several others all went
to jail. And when I exposed how General
Harry Vaughn, the military aid to
President Truman, pulled wires for
Maragon and the Tanfaran racetrack,
President Truman let loose at me with
some names that everybody remembers.
Now, it isn't pleasant to be called
names by the president of the United
States. But as long as I am in
Washington, I intend to expose graft and
corruption, no matter what the
administration in power, whether
Democratic or Republican.
And I'll be back in a minute to give you
the inside story of what is happening
today.
Now, everyone had hoped that when
President Eisner was elected on the
issue of getting corruption out of
government that his administration would
relentlessly carry out such a policy.
And as one of those who first proposed
Ike for president and who personally
urged him to run, I know that I had
great hopes for a clean as a houndstooth
policy. I was a little concerned,
therefore, when I first learned that a
representative of the first Boston
company, a big investment corporation,
was planted inside the budget bureau to
swing a big electric power contract in
the Tennessee Valley to Dixon Yates. And
for 6 months, I tried to get full
information on this banker's agent. And
for 6 months, top officials simply
refused to give that information. I
asked Senator Hill of Alabama to try to
get the information, but he also was
rebuffed. I asked Senator Langanger of
North Dakota, a Republican, to subpoena
the information, but he again ran up
against the Eisenhower administration,
which refused to give it. Even a US
senator, was not able to get it.
President Eisenhower even officially
denied at a press conference that
bankers had anyone inside the budget
bureau working on the Dixon Yates
contract. But finally, it leaked out
that Adolf Wel of First Boston was
inside the budget bureau and was working
with atomic energy officials to promote
Dixon Yates. The Justice Department has
now finally made a matter of court
record this conflict of interest, which
previously was denied so emphatically
and so repeatedly. Now, let's look at
the rest of the record. There was
another conflict of interest case, that
of Secretary of the Air Force Harold
Talbat, which went right up into the
cabinet. You all remember it. Cal Talbot
was very wealthy, one of the biggest
money raisers for Eisenhower. Yet, he
was serving his own pocketbook interest
while supposedly working for his
country. Then there was Peter Stroba in
charge of government buildings whom I
exposed for using his official position
to get money out of the army for his own
engineering company.
Then there was Edward Foot of the
Justice Department who invested $68,000
through his wife in Gulf Oil and Warren
Petroleum.
One day after he was asked to okay or
block their merger, he okayed the merger
and then invested in it secretly.
Then there was the case of a state
administrator for the Farmers Home
Administration which is supposed to
protect and help small farmers, Carl
O'Hansen of Montana.
I reported that instead of helping
farmers, he was working on the side
buying wool for the Draper Company of
Boston. However, I want to give
Secretary Benson credit for firing him
immediately after I reported this. Now,
it's a fine idea to have businessmen in
government. But a businessman has to be
just as clean and honest as a career
civil servant. He can't work for two
masters. When he serves his country, he
has to serve his country. He can't serve
his own pocketbook. Of course, the
president of the United States can't
always keep his eye on all the rotten
apples that may slip into the government
barrel, but he does have to act
vigorously and punish the guilty when
those rotten apples are called to his
attention. That I regret has not always
been the case. Attorney General Brownell
did act vigorously when a Senate
committee revealed that EH Thornton, the
port manager of Galveastston, Texas, was
mixing Canadian hog feed with government
wheat and selling it as wheat for human
consumption. All a matter of sworn
evidence before the committee. So Mr.
Brownell quite properly indicted Thornon
and the officials of the Bang
Corporation, which owned the wheat, an
Argentine firm. But what Brownell didn't
know was that Thornon was the father of
Governor Shivers's campaign manager down
in Texas. So just a week before
Thornon's trial, Governor Shivers flew
up to Washington, had lunch with
Eisenhower alone, and 3 days later, the
criminal case against the age Thornton
was suddenly dropped on direct orders
from Washington. Now, as I said a minute
ago, the president can't always know
about corruption, but he can root it out
and punish the offenders.
Now, one scandal he didn't have to get
mixed up in was out in Illinois. But
when he spoke in Peori, he went out of
his way to praise Governor Stratton of
Illinois. He said, "I like a man who
when anything goes wrong in government,
cleans up fast. That is the way Governor
Stratton works." Well, like was
referring to the fact that Orville Hods,
the Illinois state treasur, had just
gone to jail for stealing a million half
dollars. However, it was not Governor
Stratton who sent Hods to jail, but the
US attorney. Governor Stratton could
have cleaned up fast, but he didn't. He
had a state treasur, Warren Wright, who
was supposed to audit the books every
three months, but Wright may have had a
scandal of his own. He's been presented
with a new trailer, a new Buick, a new
Jeep, and $25,000
cash expense money by the bankers, the
same bankers who want to get state funds
deposited in their banks. Obviously,
Wright wasn't watching State Auditor
Hajj very carefully.
Also, Governor Stratton, who's supposed
to clean up fast, had four state school
officials indicted on a charge of
conspiring to cheat on school lunches.
Vernon Nikuel, state superintendent of
schools, has been indicted along with
James Dunar, prominent Republican, who
has a contract to haul food to the
schools and who's charged with cheating
on that food to the tune of $114,000.
That was in April 1955 that Congressman
Fountain of North Carolina exposed the
fact that things were wrong in the
Illinois school lunch program. Thus,
Governor Stratton had 18 months in which
to clean up. Obviously, he did not clean
up fast. I sometimes think that
President Eisenhower just doesn't seem
to realize that he at the top and
everyone else in government, both state
and federal, have to be extremely alert
and have to set a fine example in order
to prevent corruption and that he must
not give his blessing to a governor who
obviously and definitely has not cleaned
up.
I'll be back in a minute with some other
scandals.
I regret to report there's been a lot of
government corruption in the past few
years, but it isn't fair to blame it all
on Washington. Up in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, a Republicanappointed Delaware
tollbridge authority was so free with
the taxpayers money that they paid $700
to Nani Brandt, a burles dancer. Nani
was build as Miss TNT of Gay Perry, but
she was paid for stenographic work.
Members of the Bridge Authority have now
been indicted for taking fancy trips all
over the country from Las Vegas to San
Francisco and for paying themselves
$78,000
in illegal salaries.
Also in Pennsylvania, there's another
scandal involving the Republican
chairman of the Turnpipe Commission,
Thomas J. Evans, who had a neat family
arrangement with the Manu Mine
Corporation, of which his son, Richard
Evans, was secretary treasurer, and
awarded the company some 9 million worth
of contracts to fill in abandoned coal
mines, which the company didn't do.
Well, these are state scandals, and as I
said, it isn't fair to connect them with
the Eisenhower administration, but they
are shocking indications of how low
government morality has dropped, not
merely in Washington, but all over the
nation.
One ironic twist of this low morality
was given in Kansas, the home state of
Eisenhower, where Ike's Republican
friends have just nominated Warren Shaw
to be governor, despite the fact that
Shaw as Republican chairman of Shauny
County collected one cent on every
gallon of gasoline used by the state in
that area. I have here the sworn
affidavit of Walter Van Black of City
Service admitting that after he got a
contract with the state of Kansas, he
had to go down to see Warren Shaw to
make regular contributions to the
Republican campaign fund. In other
words, the people of Kansas paid extra
for the state's gasoline
in order to finance the Republican
party, not the state. And the man who
engineered that deal and collected the
money is now the nominee for governor.
Not exactly clean as a hounds tooth. Now
I report this as one who punched pretty
hard at the Truman administration.
Punched hard at any administration where
there's any taint of graft. I don't know
that political change is the answer. I
do know that you can't cure juvenile
delinquency when there's adult
delinquency at the top.
I also report this as one who's
convinced that we must have honest
government servants in every
administration if we are to keep our
system of free enterprise and make
democracy live.
Heat. Heat.