A Question of Ethics

Harold Talbott, Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, wiped his lips on a fresh white handkerchief, picked up a typewritten statement, and began to read. Arkansas' Democratic Senator John McClellan, chairman of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, leaned forward in his chair, draping himself over his desk. Newsmen tensed, ready to spring for the nearest telephones. By that moment last week it was clear that Talbott had misused his position as Secretary of the Air Force to solicit business for Paul B. Mulligan & Co., the Manhattan clerical-efficiency firm in which he was a partner. Almost everyone in the subcommittee's hearing room thought that he was about to resign from the Air Force. Talbott resigned, all right--from Mulligan & Co.

"That," said Harold Talbott. looking up from his statement as he read, "is my final action. I wanted to tell you that, and that is all, gentlemen." He made a gesture with his hand, as though closing the book on the entire affair. But the book was still wide open; at least one more chapter remained to be written.

"My Goodness, Forget It." Harold Talbott had admitted using official Air Force stationery to drum up business for Mulligan & Co. (TIME, August 1), but he could see no wrong in this, even though some of the companies to which he wrote had defense contracts. He did not even see any wrong in his dealings with the Radio Corporation of America. Repeatedly and emphatically, he denied that he kept on trying to talk R.C.A. (which does vast amounts of work for the Air Force) into signing up with Mulligan, that he continued even after R.C.A. raised questions as to the legality and propriety of such a contract. The very moment he heard of R.C.A.'s doubts, Talbott testified, he said: "My goodness, if there is any such suspicion, forget it. We won't do the contract or have anything to do with it." But other witnesses told a different story.

Among the witnesses was stocky, crisp-talking Samuel E. Ewing, general attorney for R.C.A.'s manufacturing and services divisions. He told of a meeting early last December with Talbott's partner, Efficiency Expert Paul B. Mulligan, to discuss the possibility of an R.C.A.-Mulligan contract. Said Ewing: "I endeavored to explain to Mr. Mulligan the problems that we saw in the situation ... He said that he was no lawyer and he did not want to get into that with me. He asked if I objected if he called Secretary Talbott. I said I did not object."

After talking to Talbott, Mulligan told Ewing that the Air Force Secretary was upset and disturbed regarding the position taken by R.C.A. Then, Ewing testified, in early January, "I received a telephone call from Washington from a man who identified himself as the general counsel of the Air Force, Mr. John A. Johnson . . . He said that he had understood that R.C.A. was troubled about this proposed contract with Mulligan & Co. and that he was pre pared to write a letter opinion and give it to R.C.A. stating that he saw no legal reason why the contract could not be entered into . . ." "

He Wanted Action." At that point, said Ewing, "a new voice came on the wire, and the individual speaking identi fied himself as Secretary Talbott. He was talking quite rapidly and, among other things, he told me or listed over the phone the names of a number of other companies that he said were doing work for the Air Force that had contracts with the Mulligan Co. ... He said that 'if all of these other companies could take contracts with Mulligan & Co., why was R.C.A. acting so high and mighty . . .' His tone of voice was forceful, and it seemed that he wanted some action."

In his efforts to get action, the testimony showed, overbearing Harold Talbott even instructed Counsel Johnson to get a ruling on the propriety of a Mulligan-R.C.A. contract from Attorney General Brownell. But Brownell declined, informing Talbott personally that it was not within the Attorney General's province to take such action. Only then did Secretary Talbott cease in his efforts to round up R.C.A. for Mulligan & Co. Even his close friends granted that all this did not amount to saying, "My goodness, forget it."

The airing of Talbott's techniques with R.C.A. sent Capitol Hill Republicans into a swivet. Ohio's Republican Senator George Bender said expansively that Talbott is known "as the most cussingest man in Ohio--but aside from that I do not know of any other impropriety." There were other Republicans who thought that Talbott should be summarily fired; a Senate party caucus broke up in total disagreement about what should be done. Capitol Hill Democrats, meanwhile, were gloating quietly, smiling at Harold Talbott, while skillfully leading him--with substantial help from Talbott--to the chopping block.

"The Final Decision." The final decision on what should be done about Harold Talbott was not to be made by the men on Capitol Hill. At the White House news conference, President Eisenhower said that "those parts of Secretary Talbott's official duties with which I have come in contact have been almost brilliantly performed." He pointed out that Talbott had not been charged with an illegal act. But he also said: "I do not believe that any man can hold, properly hold, public office merely because he is not guilty of any illegal act ... So what is now involved is, was a proper standard of ethics violated?"

Then the President made it clear that he intended to write the next chapter in the case of Harold Talbott. "I am going to read the complete record of everything that I can find on this myself," he said, "and I will have to make the final decision on the basis of the ethics involved." When he went to his Gettysburg farm for the weekend, he had with him the 471-page record of the Talbott hearings.

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