On December 9, Gerald Morgan, Deputy Assistant to the President, requested a ruling from Attorney General William P. Rogers, and thirteen days later Rogers wrote President Eisenhower (see Appendix C). The Attorney General, as would be expected from his earlier espousal of the most extreme interpretation of “executive privilege,” declared Comptroller General Campbell’s ruling “erroneous.” In his opinion, the President had a constitutional right to withhold whatever he wanted to withhold. Rogers advised President Eisenhower that he had the authority to direct the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of State to disregard the ruling of the Comptroller General cutting off funds for the Office of Inspector General and Comptroller.
With this advice in hand, President Eisenhower, on December 23, overrode the disclosure provisions of the Mutual Security Act of 1959 and the ruling of the Comptroller General he had appointed. In letters to Secretary of Treasury Robert B. Anderson and to Secretary of State Christian Herter, President Eisenhower told them to use federal funds to pay the Office of Inspector General and Comptroller.
He called attention to Campbell’s contention that such payments were to be cut off under the law passed in 1959, and added:
“This position, I am advised by the Attorney General, is based upon erroneous interpretation of law which would reach an unconstitutional result and that mutual security program funds continue to be made available for expenses of the Office of Inspector General and Comptroller.”
“Accordingly, you are hereby directed, until the end of my term of office on January 20, 1961, to cause disbursements to be made for such expenses upon the receipt of certified vouchers presented for that purpose.”
Chairman Hardy continued the investigation of Peru. But he had need for documents that would be crucial in establishing the degree of mismanagement and corruption in the ICA program there. The most he could do now was to hope for better success under the new administration. However, he did not want to present President-elect John F. Kennedy with a problem for solution on or before the January 20 inaugural ceremonies.
He talked to Theodore Sorenson, Administrative Assistant to Senator Kennedy and later counsel to the President, and informed him of the pending problem. Hardy stated that he would withdraw his request which could prevent payment of OIGC personnel if he received assurances from the President-elect that the new administration would review the problem immediately after the inaugural.
On December 31, 1960, Hardy received a telegram from President-elect Kennedy asking that he postpone action on the documents until the new administration had “an opportunity to review [the] situation.” Hardy complied.
The night of January 18, 1961, President Eisenhower went before a nationwide audience to give his “farewell address.” He appealed for an “alert and knowledgeable citizenry” to combat the military-industrial complex that could “endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience,” President Eisenhower said. “The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the Government.