New Taft-Hartley - Bobo
WILLIAM LANGER, N. DAK., CHAIRMAN
ALEXANDER WILEY, WIS .
WILLIAM E. JENNER, IND.
ARTHUR V. WATKINS, UTAH
ROBERT C . HENDRICKSON, N . J .
EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN,ILL .
HERMAN WELKER, IDAH O
JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, MD .
PAT MCCARRAN, NEV.
HARLEY M. KILGORE, W . VA .
JAMES O . EASTLAND, MISS.
ESTES KEFAUVER, TENN .
OLIN D. JOHNSTON, S . C.
THOMAS C. HENNINGS, JR.. MO.
JOHN L . MC CLELLAN, ARK .
'Unitas Zfafez ,Sjenafe
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
October ., ., 1953
Dear . .
The position asserted by the President through Vice Presiden t
Nixon at the A . F . of L . Convention in St . Louis bears out wha t
I have said in earlier letters with reference to this matter .
When the so-called Taft-Hartley statement appeared I made dil igent inquiry concerning this proposal and was advised from to p
sources that the document which was supposed to be a message t o
Congress recommending nineteen modifications of the Act was i n
reality only a working sheet designed for the consideration o f
an informal committee which was considering the matter .
Let me point out that only Congress can amend the law and I am
confident that no action will be taken which would repeal o r
emasculate the Taft-Hartley Act .
Sincerely ,
Everett McKinley Dirksen
Arlene
hobo - Taft-Hartley
Arlene
WILLIAM LANGER, N . OAK. . CHAIRMAN
ALEXANDER WILEY, WIS .
PAT MCCARRAN, NEV .
WILLIAM E . JENNER, NO .
HARLEY M . KILGORE, W. VA.
ARTHUR V . WATKINS, UTAH
JAMES O . EASTLAND, MISS .
ROBERT C . HENDRICKSON, N. J .
ESTES KEFAUVER, TENN .
EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN, ILL. WILLIS SMITH, N. C .
HERMAN WELKER, IDAHO
OLIN D . JOHNSTON, S . C .
JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, MD.
THOMAS C . HENNINGS, JR ., MO .
'1 Cnif eb ,.hthez .
enafe
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
September . . ., 195 3
Dear . . . :
In response to your letter of recent date, let me advise tha t
throughout the first session of the 83rd Congress a very sub stantial number of amendments were introduced and are pendin g
with respect to the Taft-Hartley Act . Hearings were held at
some length both in the House and Senate but neither committe e
took any action .
Since that time a sort of working memorandum of possible change s
in the Taft-Hartley Act was prepared for group discussion an d
somehow the intimation went abroad that this memorandum wa s
identic with a message which the President would send to Congres s
after the turn of the year urging Taft-Hartley Act modifications .
My information is that this was only a working text which ha d
been developed for purposes of comment by members of Congress ,
the Department of Labor, the White House staff and others an d
does not necessarily represent the views which the Presiden t
may express on this subject . I mention that fact because thi s
memorandum has been reprinted rather widely and has been th e
basis of many letters which have come to our office .
I believe the views expressed by the late Senator Taft wit h
respect to the Taft-Hartley Act are sound, namely, that i f
experience dictates modifications in the Act and a convincin g
case is made that under such circumstances Congress should ver y
properly consider such modifications and develop abundant testi mony with respect thereto . That is about the whole story fo r
the moment and I am very happy to have your observations .
Sincerely ,
Everett McKinley Dirksen