Word: zandt
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Scintilla. When he had stated his repentance for every item of the statement, Carl Vinson thought it was about time for the committee to take a formal stand on the evidence to date. By unanimous agreement (including the vote of Pennsylvania's discomfited James Van Zandt, who had reported the anonymous charges on the House floor), the committee agreed that there was not "one iota, not one scintilla, of evidence . . . that would support charges or insinuations [of] collusion, fraud, corruption, influence or favoritism...
...Accused. Essentially Van Zandt's accusations centered on the personal motives of three...
...Secretary W. Stuart Symington, under whose regime the B-36 had been developed (by better power plants, etc.) from a slow but long-range aircraft into the fastest, longest-ranged, high-altitude bomber the air arm has ever owned. Van Zandt implied that there was some kind of skulduggery behind the Air Force's decision to concentrate on the B-36. He also implied that there was a plot afoot by Consolidated to absorb its unsuccessful competitors (for airplane contracts) and that, after that, Symington would resign to become boss of the great combine. Symington ridiculed the charge. Said...
Strange Assumptions. What did it all add up to? On the face of the memo furnished to Van Zandt, the charges, strewn with rumor and hearsay, and preceded by such hedges as "It is said," stated more suspicions than solid facts. If they were to be believed, the Air Force, first line of the nation's defense, was in a sorry state: its professional officers (who decide what aircraft to buy) were guilty of either corruption or of the vastest stupidity. By Congressman Van Zandt's implications they were ready to risk the nation's security...
This week the House Armed Services Committee would meet to consider Van Zandt's demand for an investigation. The Air Force let it be known that it welcomed a full airing of the charges, and said it would rather be asked about the B-36 than any plane it owns. If the charges proved without foundation, then an investigation into who had spread the charges, and why, was due. Either way, the nation and its military establishment were in for some nasty days...