"THE CAPACITY TO MAKE TYRANNY TOTAL IN AMERICA"

CHURCH COMMITTEE OPENS HEARINGS TO INVESTIGATE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 27, 1975, a Senate committee chaired by Frank Church* (D-Idaho) opened hearings investigating the activities of Federal intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a.k.a. Church Committee, issued its final report on April 29, 1976.

As the work of the committee started, Senator Church said...

"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America and we must see...that (these agencies)...operate within the law and under proper supervision."

The Church committee held 126 full meetings hearing 800 witnesses and investigating 110,000 documents.  According to the U.S. Senate website, the committee found that intelligence agencies had "undermined the constitutional rights of citizens." 

In the aftermath of the investigations, the Congress would pass legislation to provide greater checks and balances of the intelligence community.

While the committee found no "direct evidence" that the CIA & FBI were involved in the assassination of JFK, it did criticize those agencies for withholding information from the Warren Commission and CIA plots to kill Fidel Castro.

JFK+50 NOTE

I have mentioned before on this blog that I spoke privately with Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) concerning what President Nixon meant when he said on the Watergate tapes, "If this thing about the Bay of Pigs comes out, it will blow the lid off everything."  Senator Baker replied, "John, I don't know and I think its a good thing I don't."  

What I did not know, and have just learned today, is that Senator Baker was a member of the Church Committee.  Senator Baker gained national prominence as Vice-Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Watergate.  He later would serve as President Reagan's Chief of Staff.

I was fortunate to get to know Senator Baker personally as a fellow of the Baker Institute held at the University of Tennessee School of Law.

*Frank Forrester Church III (1924-1984) was born in Boise, Idaho & served in military intelligence during WWII.  FFC graduated from the Stanford University School of Law & served in the U.S. Senate 1957-1981.  He gave the keynote address at the 1960 Democratic Convention which nominated JFK for POTUS.

SOURCES

"Church Committee Convenes," JFK+50, January 27, 2011, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/

"Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 1975-1976," United States Senate, www.senate.gov/

Senator Frank A. Church III

D-Idaho

1961 Congressional Portrait

HOLOCAUST DAY

INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE DAY

New York City (JFK+50) The United Nations designated January 27 as International Holocaust Rememberance Day in 2005 to honor all victims of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.

A candle-lighting ceremony is held to honor the day at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

United States Holocaust Museum 

Photo by John White (2007)

The significance of  the date January 27th is that the largest concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, located in Poland, was liberated by Soviet troops on this date in 1945. 

NUCLEAR BLASTS IN NEVADA 63 YEARS AGO

Las Vegas, Nevada (JFK+50) Sixty-three years ago today, January 27, 1951, the United States government detonated the first of a series of nuclear bombs at its new test site in Nevada.  

The site was located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The flash from the blasts could be seen as far away as San Francisco. 

By 1957, after having seen the effects of radiation on soldiers and nearby residents, testing was done underground.

CHURCH COMMITTEE MET 39 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) A committee of the United States Senate chaired by Senator Frank Church of Idaho opened its hearings 39 years ago today, January 27, 1975, here in the Nation's Capital. 

The Church committee was to investigate the activities of both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The committee's report was issued in November 1975. 

It will charge both agencies with practicing illegal activities.  The report will also say the CIA plotted to assassinate foreign leaders and stockpiled poisons despite a presidential order to destroy them.


RALPH YARBOROUGH DIED 18 YEARS AGO 

Austin, Texas (JFK+50) Former progressive senator from Texas, Ralph Yarborough, died eighteen years ago today, January 27, 1996, here in Austin.  

Senator Yarborough was elected to the Senate in 1957 and served until 1970.

                     

Senator Yarborough with JFK and LBJ

TELEVISOR DEMONSTRATED 88 YEARS AGO TODAY

London, U.K. (JFK+50) John L. Baird, the Scottish inventor, gave a demonstration here in London 88 years ago today, January 27, 1926, of his "televisor".  

This, the first public demonstration of the invention, was attended by fifty scientists.

The brief images shown on the televisor were of the heads of ventriloquist dummies which had been placed in front of a camera out of view of the audience.

In 1928, Baird will make the 1st overseas television transmission from London to New York City over telephone lines.  

He will also demonstrate the first COLOR TV that same year.*

*We bought our 1st "black and white" TV set in 1958 when I was 10 years old.  Imagine kids today living the 1st 10 years of their lives without TV.

Ten years later, we got our 1st "color" TV.  It was a small 10 inch GE "Porta-Color" but we thought it was wonderful.
    

  General Electric Porta-Color TV