President Eisenhower had engaged in a lot of conversation unrelated to the information sought. Now he indicated that he personally believed that officials of his administration had already put out all pertinent documents:
“At the time that I gave those instructions, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Strauss, whoever else was involved, got together every single document that was pertinent to this thing and put it out.”
The President concluded with a complete approval of the Wenzell role: “Now, as far as the Wenzell report, Mr. Wenzell was never called in or asked a single thing about the Yates-Dixon contract. He was brought into—as a technical adviser in the very early days when none of us here knew about the bookkeeping methods of the TVA or anything else. He was brought in as a technical adviser and nothing else and before this contract was ever even proposed.”
President Eisenhower seemed to have no information about Wenzell’s role after January 1954. His comments seemed completely contrary to the testimony already taken before the Kefauver Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly. I followed up the Van De Linden question.
“Mr. President,” I said. “A little while ago you stated that Mr. Wenzell was never called in about the Yates-Dixon contract, and there seemed to be some testimony before the SEC and before a committee that he served as a consultant. I wonder if you were—”
The President cut in to answer that “He [Wenzell] did serve as a consultant at one time.”
“Of Dixon-Yates?” I asked it fast.
“No; I think—now, I will check this up,” the President started. “My understanding is that quickly as the Dixon-Yates thing came up he resigned, and we got as our consultant a man named Adams from the Power Commission here itself to come over and be consultant so as to have him because he [Wenzell] was connected with a great Boston financial company.”
“Mr. President,” I asked. “Had you been informed that he had no connection at all with the Dixon-Yates—?”
“My understanding of it, and it may have been—that part of it there may have been—an overlap of a week or two, there I am not sure of,” President Eisenhower answered. It was difficult to understand he had so little information on the key issue at this late date.