“Would there be any change in your position on that if there was material that he [Wenzell] had served as a consultant on that [Dixon-Yates]?” I asked.
“If he had served as a consultant on that [Dixon-Yates] and brought in a definite recommendation to us I would be very delighted to make that public,” President Eisenhower answered. “But I just don’t believe there is a thing in it about it. However, I will have it checked again.”
Noting the press conference statement, Senator Kefauver fired off a quick letter to President Eisenhower:
“My Dear Mr. President: I have just been informed that in answer to questions of the press today you are recorded as saying that Mr. Adolphe H. Wenzell was never called in or asked a single thing about the Dixon-Yates contract, and that as quickly as the Dixon-Yates matter came up Mr. Wenzell resigned. However, you say you will have it checked again.”
Then Senator Kefauver followed up with a careful chronological study of the testimony of Wenzell and other key officials in the Eisenhower administration which showed that Wenzell had been a consultant on the Dixon-Yates contract. It also showed that high Eisenhower administration officials knew, or should have known, the precise role that Wenzell had filled.
At his next press conference, on July 6, 1955, President Eisenhower said Wenzell’s role was perfectly “proper” in Dixon-Yates, but indicated there was a chance the contract might be canceled.
Senator Kefauver sought an explanation of the Sherman Adams calls to the SEC that had postponed hearings on the financial arrangements for Dixon-Yates at the crucial point before the House took up the appropriation measure.
On July 21, Adams refused to testify before the Kefauver investigating subcommittee. In a letter to Senator Kefauver he stated that he could not give testimony because of his confidential relationship to the President, and also because “every fact as to which I might give testimony either has been or could be testified to fully by other responsible government officials.”
The same day Kenneth Fields, general manager of the Atomic Energy Commission, wrote to Kefauver declining to furnish documents on ground they were “privileged communications within the executive branch.” Earlier, SEC Chairman Armstrong had made his first refusal to testify on his conversations with Sherman Adams.
Senator Kefauver replied to Adams that there had been consistent claims of “executive privilege” that barred the investigators from obtaining the truth.