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Scuba

(53,475 posts)
Tue Nov 17, 2015, 02:01 PM Nov 2015

Harry Truman is the reason the MIC can't allow a Sanders presidency

"I have never yet found a contractor who, if not watched, would not leave the Government holding the bag,” said Harry S. Truman, 56, the junior senator from Missouri and a member of the Military Affairs Committee and the Military Subcommittee on Appropriations.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Committee

The Truman Committee, formally known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, was a United States Congressional investigative body headed by Senator Harry S. Truman.[1] The bipartisan special committee was formed in March 1941 to find and correct problems in US war production—problems with waste, inefficiency and war profiteering. The Truman Committee proved to be one of the most successful investigative efforts ever mounted by the US government: an initial budget of $15,000 was expanded over three years to $360,000 to save an estimated $10–15 billion in military spending, and thousands of lives of US servicemen.[2][3][4] For comparison, the entire cost of the Manhattan Project was $2 billion, at the time

...

Truman heard about needless waste and profiteering from construction of Fort Leonard Wood in his home state of Missouri, and he determined to see for himself what was going on. He traveled in his personal Dodge car not only to Missouri but to various military installations from Florida through the Midwest; approximately 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of driving. Everywhere he went he saw hard-luck poverty among the working people contrasted with millions of government dollars going to military contractors. Too many of the contractors were reaping excess profits from cost-plus contracts, without being held accountable for the poor quality of goods delivered. He saw that too many contracts were held by a small number of contractors based in the East rather than distributed fairly around the nation.

...

In May 1942 the committee was reorganized. "Contracts Under" was dropped from the name to make it the "Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program". Democratic Senator Clyde L. Herring joined the effort.[16] The Committee generally followed a pattern of sifting through the great quantity of received mail and other messages from whistleblowers to determine the largest problems facing the US military war effort. Investigators were sent to confirm that a real problem existed, then, at one of the Truman Committee's official fortnightly meetings, one of the senators was offered the task of heading a formal investigation of that problem. Sometimes several senators joined forces to cover the most complex issues. Senator/investigator teams would travel to various US cities to visit factories, construction sites, military bases and war production plants where they would talk with managers and workers.[33] A report would be prepared, and an early copy of the report would be sent to the leaders who were discussed in the report, so that they would have a chance to prepare themselves for the consequences.[34] The reputation of the Truman Committee grew so strong that fear of an investigation was sometimes enough of a deterrent to stop underhanded dealings. An unknown number of people performed more honestly in war production because of the threat of a Truman visit.

...



In March 1943 at the second birthday of the Truman Committee, Time magazine put "Investigator Truman" on the cover, showing Truman's craggy face squinting in the mid-day sun, in the background a spotlight shining on government and industry. The issue carried an associated article titled "Billion-Dollar Watchdog", describing the Committee "as one of the most useful Government agencies of World War II" and "the closest thing yet to a domestic high command."[36] The article raised Truman's importance in the eye of the man on the street, cementing his well-earned position as one of America's most responsible leaders.[37]

...

The largely apolitical Truman Committee is also known for setting a high standard of practicality and neutrality in congressional investigative committees. Observers have occasionally compared the situation faced by the Truman Committee in the early 1940s with later political and military issues. In January 2005 in the face of an additional $80–100 billion requested by President George W. Bush to increase the Iraq War, columnist Arianna Huffington recommended that the resolution sponsored by Senators Larry Craig and Dick Durbin be passed to create a bipartisan oversight committee "modeled on the one Harry Truman created during WW II to root out war profiteering."[44][47] The next month, Huffington said "it's a good time to open a history book" to learn about how a Truman-style committee might be used to counter the Iraq War's US-based problems with "waste, fraud, ineptitude, cronyism, secret no-bid contracts, and profiteering cloaked in patriotism."[48] Huffington's endorsement came three months after a press release by Taxpayers for Common Sense titled "Bring Back the Truman Committee" in which Truman's record of stopping war profiteering in the 1940s was said to be "the most famous and the most successful" example, a model needed as a corrective measure to stem US military contractor improprieties in the War on Terror.[49] The problem was still not solved by 2007 when Senator Charles Schumer wrote, "The lesson of the Truman Committee is sorely in need of learning today".[44] He described how Republican Representatives blocked "for more than a year" a bipartisan proposal for an investigative committee to look into military "scandals and abuses" in Iraq.[44] When Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri – who held the same Senate seat as Truman did – formed a Truman-type committee in January 2008, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush said it was "a threat to national security."[44]



That's $10-15 Billion in 1940 dollars. I'm betting Bernie could find a trillion.
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Harry Truman is the reason the MIC can't allow a Sanders presidency (Original Post) Scuba Nov 2015 OP
Thanks for the post. Wellstone ruled Nov 2015 #1
The DoD doesn't want pesky do-gooders snooping around their budget Cheese Sandwich Nov 2015 #2
 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
1. Thanks for the post.
Tue Nov 17, 2015, 02:16 PM
Nov 2015

Wonder how many on this board have any idea how effective Harry was. How many ever heard of the Truman Board. Better yet,did anyone every read anything in their American History Class about the Graft and corruption and the Families or so called Industrialist involved in the Government Contracts of the time. And to think,the same Families or Industrialist are playing the same game today. Truman nailed several hides to the wall.

Ike warned the Citizens about the Military Industrial Complex and the major threat coming from a group of Rich Oil Men from Texas. Do you think Ike was visionary?

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