Salt Lake Tribune Nov 20 53 DAVID LAWRENCE Truman Erred in Making Name-Calling Address WASHINGTON The whole truth, and nothing but the truth would have been a better defense for former President Truman than the attempt in his talk Monday night to make a political speech of the give em hell variety which he has used so often in the past. Merely to call Attorney General Brownell a liar was not an answer to the nationwide demand for the facts and all the facts of the episode wherein Harry Dexter White, admittedly known by Mr. Truman in February, 1946, to have been accused in FBI reports of being tied up with a Communist spy ring, was nevertheless given a government post of international importance. Curious Argument The curious argument that Mr. Truman retained White in office in order to keep him in surveillance sounded impressive on the radio elevision because it implied that the whole thing was known to high officials and that the FBI was party to such an agreement. Now, on the sworn testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, the American people know that the FBI didnt favor that course and that it would have been impracticable to carry it out and that, indeed, if it was ever anybodys intentions to do so, no precautions actually were taken as the FBI chief testifies to prevent Harry White from continuing his dangerous activities in transmitting information through subordinates and close associates who were also accused of being in the Soviet spy ring. Also Mr. Truman failed to tell the people why he wrote two effusive letters of commendation one when White became U. S. executive director of the international monetary fund in April, 1946, and the other on April 7,1947, just after White resigned. Mr. Trumans outbursts of indignation against the attorney general sound hollow indeed now in the face of the testimony of Mr. Brownell and Mr. Hoover. It would have been far better for the former President if he had from the very start admitted that he had received the FBI report, that he regarded it seriously but that he didnt fire White because he wasnt completely convinced by the record then, or because those persons to whom he delegated the reading of it didnt convince him it was a clear case. Maybe Mr. Truman got mixed up between a matter of security inside the government and a matter of espionage in the courts. In the latter instance, wire tap evidence cannot be used, and in the former it wasnt necessary to furnish any evidence to anyone except the President himself to get a suspect fired. Many Dont Understand Many people generally have not understood the difference between a loyalty procedure which involves the right of the government to dismiss an employe without a court proceeding, and a grand jury indictment and prosecution thereafter. Mr. Truman might well have made a clean breast of the whole business and told the country that the climate today is different than what it was in 1946, and that many things have been verified today that werent as clear then. It would have been a more plausible defense politically. Tried to Confuse Issue As it is, the former President with an emotional speech Monday night endeavored through political tactics and name calling to confuse the issue and leave an impression that it is all just partisan politics. It would be most unfortunate, indeed, if, in spite of the fact that so many Democrats in Congress have fought intensely against Communist infiltration in the government, the Democratic party would now range itself on the side of softness toward communism inside the government. It would make voters hesitant to return the Democratic party back to power because it had not frankly acknowledged the mistakes made in handling Communists in government during the last 20 years.