xt7wwp9t2q46_104 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61.dao.xml American Liberty League 37 linear feet archival material English University of Kentucky This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed.  Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.  Physical rights are retained by the owning repository.  Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws.  For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Jouett Shouse Collection (American Liberty League Pamphlets), No. 107 "The Story Of An Honest Man: What happened to Major General Johnson Hagood when, at the request of a Congressional Committee, he dared to speak the truth as he saw it," March 2, 1936 text No. 107 "The Story Of An Honest Man: What happened to Major General Johnson Hagood when, at the request of a Congressional Committee, he dared to speak the truth as he saw it," March 2, 1936 2013 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61/59m61_107/Am_Lib_Leag_107_001/Am_Lib_Leag_107_001.pdf section false xt7wwp9t2q46_104 xt7wwp9t2q46 AN INVITATION T0 JOIN THE   * *
AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE  
We extend to every American citizen who believes in     N  
the fundamental principles which gave birth to the E
Constitution of the United States an invitation to be- E
come a member of the American Liberty League.   · M 
You may indicate your acceptance of this invitation   _
by filling in the necessary information as to your name E ‘
and address on the enrollment blank below and mailing   * * *
it to American Liberty League, National Press Building, § I
Washington, D. C.  
There are no fees or dues. If you are willing and able   .
to give monetary help for the League’s support your   what happened to Major General
contribution will be appreciated, as our activities are Q Johnson Hagood When, at the ro'
supported entirely by the voluntary gifts of our § quest of a. Congressional Com»
¤¤¢¤¤b¢¤'¤·   mittee, he dared to speak the
ENROLLMENT BLANK   truth as h° Saw "°
Date S V
E * .
I favor the principles and purposes of the American E
Liberty League and request that I be enrolled as a  
regular b j A General there was, named H agood,
"'contributing m°m cl"   _ Wha stated the truth—as he should,-
§ But, because 0] the truth,
Signature § He was banished, j0rs00th;—
E S0, telling the truth d0esn’t pay good.
Name (Mr. Mrs. Miss)   `
"'     ER IC-
E Street ` E YEA  4·i»
E P   u
3    
Town 5 ’?;·Y I Le'?
County State  
*As a contributing member I desire to give $  
to help support the activities of the League: Cash here-   AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE
  » National Headquarters p
with _________ Installments as follows: ______   1 NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING
  WASHINGTON, D. C.
_.........-..............   * *
(107) E Document No. 107
E March, 1936

 o Foreword
I T THE ROOSEVELT Administration’s discipli-
nary action against Maj. Gen. Johnson Hagood
i has xgnised the constitutional issue of free speech
» in a ramatic manner.
s “ The incident has demonstrated, apparently,
S that a citizen may not speak the truth as he sees
it——not even at the request of a Congressional
Committee——without exposing himself to official
retaliation if his views are uncomplimentary to
% those presently in power. Aside from the obvi-
ous infringement upon the rights of the indi-
vidual this is in effect an infringement upon the
j prerogatives of the Congress itself, since the re-
sult of such a policy is to deny to the legislative
j branch the benefit of receiving honest advice
{ from public servants concerning matters pecu-
f liarly within their knowledge.
  GENERAL HAGOOD appeared before a Con-
  gressional Committee at the Committee’s re-
T quest. He was told by the Chief of Staff that he
i Yas freedto explipess his]. views without rtistriction.
i n so o1ng e sai some uncomp imentary
  things about a pet Administration experiment-
  · things which many persons undoubtedly believe
  to be true. But true or not, he had a right to
4   express his views. His testimony was published
T and almost immediately he was deprived of his
j command. Apparently his distinguished mili-
A f tary career is ended.
f
j THESE facts must be emphasized:
Q T l. Any attempt to convince the public
i t that the disciplinary action against General
Hagood was taken without knowledge of
A President Roosevelt is an insult to the com-
.   mon sense of the American people and a
1 slander upon the intelligence of high of-
j ficials of the War Department.
y   2. Any pretense that General Hagood was
disciplined because he commented upon
i non-military subjects and not because of the
L substance of his testimony is refuted by the
_ T War Department itself. When the Depart-
p ment made public the memorandum of the
, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War rec-
i ommending action against General Hagood
` it also made public a separate statement by
Major General Malin Craig—the Chief
of Staff——commending WPA expenditures
n 3
l

 which General Hagood had criticized. That The Story of an Honest Man
is to say, in the Administration view it is
proper for General Craig, publicly and *
Witheet questioning bY e C¤¤sr¤S¤1¤¤¤l MAJOR GEN. HAGOOD appeared before the
C0m1¤1U€6» to cqmment feY0I`ab1Y “Pe¤ 3 Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ap-
NGW Peel eXPe1`1me¤t» while at the Same propriations on December 17 and made a state-
ume It IB 1mP1`ePeI' for General Hegeed te ment presenting the Army housing program for
comment u¤faV0¤`eblY uPe¤ the Sams _Sub' the Eighth Corps Area. He had come from
leet eVe¤ when requested bY e Cemmlttee Texas at the call of the committee and prefaced
of COug1°CSS to CXPYCBS his opinions freely. his remarks     Statement:
The factual record of the Hagood case which I have been told by the Chlef ef Stefi that I
follows is presented by the American Liberty em perfectly free te express any eplmene er
League for the information of the American emewef any queemene theemey be eekee by thle
people and it will be disseminated as widely ¤¤mI§¤1f;€€»Ib¤f I Weelld ills ge have it ungee
ee League resources may Permit stoo t at am not ere in t e capacity o_ an
e advocate. I am not here to urge appropriations.
I am only here as a witness, to answer questions
* as to the needs of my command."
,_ The General recited the efforts of the Army
Y to improve its housing conditions after the World
if War. He said the War Department received
about one hundred million dollars from the Pub-
e lic Works Administration in 1931 and that about
eleven million dollars was allotted to the Eighth
` · Army Corps. The money was used for the re-
building of three forts in Texas and Oklahoma.
INTRODUCING the subject of relief funds,
General Hagood said that some of the $4,800,-
000,000 appropriated for relief in April, 1935,
went to Army posts but that so far as the Eighth
Corps Area was concerned "it went into cheap
labor projects where the man-cost per year was
less than $900." He characterized this system
of using the funds as wasteful and inadequate.
After stating that $38,000,000 had been allotted
_ to the Eighth Army Corps, he said further:
· "In my opinion, if all the useless work and
all the fancy trimmings were cut out and if the
Government bought good material, and hired
competent labor, as has been its practice in past
years, from five to ten million dollars might be
flopped off this total. I am perfectly certain that
by the intelligent use of soldier labor, and other
similar methods, I could do a great deal of the
.. repair work at anywhere from a half to a fourth
g of the present estimates, and I have had a lot
j of experience along those lines."
l ,
DEPARTING from the economic problems of
Army housing the General made a vigorous plea
for more humane treatment of the soldiers and
their families. "We hear a great deal about re-
4 5

 moving slums out of cities," he said, "trying to His description of unsanitary housing conditions
encourage people to build their own homes, and is supported by the testimony of other officers
to improve the living conditions generally among before the same subcommittee. At the same
the people." He said that since the war he had hearing Major Gen. Hugh A. Drum, Commander
seen soldiers and civilian employees of the Army of the Hawaiian Department, testified as fol-
living under conditions worse than those suffered lows:
by Belgian refugees. "I have seen," he declared, “Second, the housing of the command. If
"families of soldiers and civilian employees liv- they knew about them, I am sure the American
ing in abandoned wartime buildings withogt ruin- people would cilbject seriously to somehof Ipfihe
nin water or toilets. In one case, at ma a, con itions in t is respect existing in t e a-
Neg., as late as 1929, there were 16 families with Tvaciign Islapds militaciryt forces. Wg (have ben-
onl one bathhouse and toi et among t em. 1S e men iving in en s, overcrow e in ar-
'lyhe witness asserted there were colored sol- racks, living in wooden shacks worse than any
diers living in Arizona in lodgiilagsdcompzifable to gs/panty ftowngi normally found neacr jlitiimp pile;
the little tin houses seen on t e ump eaps in any o our ne non-commissione o cers, wi
the outskirts of large cities. He told of boys their families, are forced to live in these shanties;
and girls of non-commissioned officers who are others live in small villages near our posts in
born and reared under living conditions Sworie ptgldings vgorsehthan tliiosel furnisgedh oriental
than those of colored tenements in the out . a orers an int e same oca ity wit t em ....
The General told of various theories as to the ', A whole regiment is living in cantonment ‘shan-
prospects of war in this country and og conflict]   tiesi’ Téie coigimigtie hashseen thers?<¤i1conditio1i)s, ’
in o inions as to roper measures o nationa · so nee not we ong t ereon. ey must e
defenge. "But therglis one thincg ylpu cannlot get   %$I`1'i€1b€\(§l\} This condition has existed since the
awa from," he dec ared, ‘an t at is t at i ‘ or ar.
youyhave an armylyou have got to provide it Also, on January 3, the same committee heard
with food, clothing and shelter." He continued: alstatement byf Igzqresegtative Lawrence Lewis
"You increased the Army by 50,000 men at emocrat , o o ora o, as to conditions at
the last session of Congress. I undersgfanbd thlat For} Logan, Colorado.hThe hwitnesg said: f h
18,000 have already been trimmed o y t e ‘ can assure you t at t e con ition o t e
Budget. I may be wrong. You have the esti- barracks, and quarters there is such that no one
mates and know more about this than I do. of you, I believe, would want any officer or en-
But I am inclined to think thathyou Qvill lose all listed main of tliie Alrmi of thedUniteddStates to
the rest of these 50,000 men wit in t e next 4 or ive in t em. n s oc ing an even angerous
5 years if the budgeteers are to determine their condition of disrepair, in lack of modern or even
fate. proper sanitary facilities, some of the barracks
"I am asking that you take the Army and its for enlisted men and quarters for officers at Fort
supplies out of wartime shacks and put it into Logan rival conditions in the much advertised
permanent buildings. You have got to do it. slums of larger cities. Such conditions would
You have no choice. If you do not do it this not be tolerated by the building and sanitary in-
year, you have got to do it next year, or the spectors in Denver. While immense amounts of
year after that, or you have got to abolish the Federal money are being spent for rural and sub-
army. urban housing and for city slum clearance for
"I am suggesting that you do it now when the benefit of persons not in the service of the
there is a lot of easy money floating around, United States, would it not be well to spend
and not to wait until you are skinning the something for the housing, in comfortable, habit-
budget to the bone in order to make up for past able, at least decent quarters of the officers and
extravagance." A enllsted men of the United States Army/’
IT IS EVIDENT in the foregoing portions of I NONE OF THESE statements was assailed as
General Hagood’s testimony that out of a life- ’ "political." No question was raised in the com-
time of army service he had acquired an almost mittee room as to the truth of General Hagood’s
passionate interest in the establishment of proper statement regarding almost incredible conditions.
and permanent housing facilities for the Army. The veteran soldier, knowing that at best the I
6 7

 appropriation for correction of these abuses forcing economy upon the Army. Gentlemen,
would be inadequate, addressed himself to the the tables are turned. I am begging you now to
use of WPA funds for these purposes. His con- ~ let me use some common sense and to spend this
viction was that they should be used for per- money in the best interests of the taxpayers.
manent improvement of those conditions de- "As to relief funds and other funds, I am not
manding most immediate attention. It was not familiar with the various pockets in which Uncle
a civilian matter to him, for the emergency relief A Sam keeps his money. I understand that there
funds used in his Corps area had, in fact, be- is Budget money, which is very hard to get;
come military funds. It was in exasperation ; there is P.W.A. money, which is not so hard to
because of the restrictions placed upon the use A get; and then there is a vast quantity of W.P.A.
of these relief funds that he, as commander of r money, which is very easy to get for trifling
the area, spoke out against temporary projects   projects but almost impossible to get for any-
which were giving employment to unskilled A thing worthwhile.
civilian employees, but which were not doing "The usual plan is to spread appropriations
the housing job so imperatively needed. y over a period of years. But at the present time
He had been told by the Chief of Staff that he there is a vast flow of silver—I won’t say gold-
was free to "express any opinions" and with spreading out all over the country like mud. It
that assurance he made the following statements: will soon dry up without anything permanent to
"I got $45,000,000 last year for the C.C.C. and show for it. I shall not be accused of profanity
I got a lot of this stage money from the W.P.A. s when I say, ‘For God’s sake, put some of it into
I call it stage money because you can pass it » stone and steel.’ I am not asking you to build
around but you cannot get anything out of it in pyramids. I am asking you to put up useful
the end. Now the C.C.C. is a fine thing—the y buildings that will be occupied by your men in
· best thing perhaps in the whole relief program. uniform for a hundred years to come."
But the $45,000,000 I spent on it last year will
all be gone away next year. Give me 38 mil- _
lions for Army housing and my great-grand,   HOUSE subcommittee released the
children will show it to your great-grandchildren P1`1nted repert ef the hearings en Febrpery to
50 yeam fyeyn new and the testimony of General Hagood immedi-
"I can put men to work—have put man to ately aroused nation-w1de comment. It is not
work. During the winter of 1931 to 1932 I was ef reeerd Whether the Genera} kneW that his
working more skilled labor in the city of Omaha teetnneny Was te he_rnade Pnhhe· He aPPeared
than was being Wgrked anywhere else in the 111 3,11 €X€Cl1t1V€ SGSSIOII and, 3,CCOI`d1I1g to PPBSS
State bi Nebraska. That statement was made reperte, he expressed regret that the eemrrrrttee
by the labor people to their organization in hed mede the Preeeedrngs Pnhhe Wrthent grvreg
Washington. And I did not have to ask Con- h1In_ en 0PPertnn1tY te delete any Pertren ef hre
gress for the money. I had saved it out of other teetirneny that might be regarded ee nnPrePer
pmjeete for use in the newspapers.   large port1on_of
Usinee that time I have pguyed a jet ef mtmey the General’s comments, relating to conhdential
down rat holes. It is harder for me to get 5 matters with regard to national defense _were,
cents to buy a lead pencil than to get a thousand in feet, deleted trern the reeerd ee Pnhhehed
dbiiahs tb teach hbbbias tb Goo. bays. I db Irreny eeee the General, when eeked ey the
not like the Government standard lead pencils A Chief ef Staff ef the Army Whether his teStnnQnY
and I cannot get by the Comptroller with the had heen aeenratelY_ reperted, PrernPtlY rephed
kind of pencils that I like. But C.C.C. hobbies that It Wae SnhStant1ahY eerreet-
are exempted from the Comptroller’s decisions. Then earne the eneeuneement that General
They do not have to come up to Government Hagood had been deprived of h1s command. Fol-
specifications. One man can be taught to collect l0W1ng IS the text ef the erderi
postage stamps while another man can be en- , “ _ _ _ _
couraged to take an interest in butterflies. By drreetrerr ef the Preeidenn MaJer
"Under the W.P.A. I can get $200 to build a Gen- Jehneen rrageeda U· S- ArrnY· re re'
gravel walk to the garden house but I cannot get heved from assignment te the eemmeed ef
$10 to repair a ‘busted’ steam pipe, the Eighth Corps Area and further duty
"For many years this committee has been et Fett Sem Heustena Texas- MaJ°r Gen-
3 9

 Hagood will proceed to his home and await V; ‘
orders. The travel directed is necessary ‘ 3
in the military service.” sf
The order was issued on February 24 and was
signed by General Malin Craig, Chief of Staff, —
by order of Secretary Dern of the War Depart- ·
ment. It is generally accepted that the order,
if it is not modified or rescinded, means the end —
of General Hagood’s military career. , .
e 10 i