Memorandum for the President

#3-559 Memorandum for the President March 19, 1943 [Washington, D.C.] Confidential

With reference to the proposed trip overseas of the Truman Committee, it is understood that the Committee proposes to make these trips into foreign theaters as an extension of the investigation of the defense program which it has been pursuing in the United States. It does not propose to concern itself with military or naval strategy or tactics. Appropriate departments and agencies of the Government will be consulted in preparing plans for these several missions. I am also informed that the delegation on this first mission will be limited to three or possibly four Senators. So far as this particular Committee is concerned it is believed that the members will keep within bounds and that the visit will tend to satisfy Congressional curiosity or doubts as to conditions in the theatres visited, and I should be in favor of the plan. However, it is probable that a similar Committee from the House will be moved to propose similar visits, and quite possible that Senator Chandler's Subcommittee may also propose such visits.1 If it could be arranged through the leaders on the Hill that not more than one Committee from each House will be accorded the opportunity for such visits and that the size of the visiting Committee be restricted to four members it would greatly simplify the problem for the Army, and presumably for the Navy.2

Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia. Document Format: Typed memorandum.

1. Senator Harry S. Truman, chairman of the Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, had asked Brigadier General Frank E. Lowe to make arrangements for several members of his committee to visit the following theaters in order of priority: Europe-North Africa, Middle East-Central Africa, North America, Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Asia, western portion of North America, and Latin America. Senator Truman stated that his committee was not interested in strategy or tactical employment of troops but rather with the procurement and supply program. (Truman to Lowe, March 10, 1943, GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].) Senator Albert B. Chandler of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs informed General Marshall on April 8 that his subcommittee wished to visit overseas military establishments if it would not interfere with the army's plans. (Senate Committee on Military Affairs Motion, April 8, 1943, ibid.)

2. President Roosevelt wrote to the vice-president and various leaders in Congress regarding congressional visits to active theaters of operations. The president stated that General Marshall's March 19 memorandum, which he enclosed, indicated that there was no question of military support for a small number of congressional visits to the front. Roosevelt did say, however, that such visits burdened the transportation facilities; congressional personnel traveling overseas took the place of officers, men, or munitions which would otherwise use that transport to arrive at the front. The president expressed his hope that the last paragraph of Marshall's memorandum would be "made the guiding spirit of things both in the Senate and the House." (Roosevelt Memorandum for the Vice-President, Speaker, Senators Barkley and McNary, and Congressmen McCormack and Martin, March 23, 1943, ibid.)

Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), pp. 595–596.