Welch Stresses Need For Better Chairmen In Senate's Inquiries

"Two or more committee members should preside at a Senate hearing; they're cooler headed than one chairman," Joseph N. Welch LL.B. '17 said last night.

Speaking at a Law School Forum, Welch, counsel for the Army in last spring's Army-McCarthy hearings, reaffirmed previous statements that "Congress' investigatory powers should be broad," and intelligence are returning to our Senate hearings."

The Boston attorney, however, stressed his original plea for more capable chairmen, saying, "what we need are higher type chairmen, not a new set of rules to restrict Senate powers."

In a panel discussion following his speech Welch replied to Professor of Law Arthur E. Sutherland, Jr. '25 that the hearings had not impaired the progress of the army, though many army officers were unjustly attacked. Replying to a question from W Barton Leach '21, professor of Law and chairman of the discussion, Welch said, "One adverse effect of the proceedings is that people now have a fear of courtrooms."

Reviewing the case of Major Irving Peress, Welch raked McCarthy, saying, "All he did was wave a bloody shirt." He emphasized that there was no law to prevent Peress from getting an honorable discharge at the time he received it. Concluding, Welch refused to discuss the Watkins' committee hearings. "I'll let it speak for itself," he said.