◆ SpookStack

~ —_ ss we py of rn ee ~ * | . . ‘A fow\..ys after this oxtenccd debate, O1iv4r Lyttelton, Minister ‘} 9 cf War Preduction in the British Cabinet, said in a speech that . * . " Amorica had prevcked the Japanese attack cn Pesrl Harbor, This statemont was challenged by Secretary of State Ccrdell Hull, and Mr. 7 YN Lytteltcn tempered his statement without denying its sense. ‘ i we QE re TH ee In February, 1944, Mrs. Kent had taken a chance and sent her sen “7O)% reprint cf the Henning article in the Washingtcn, D.C., TIMES - . 77“ HERALD cf November 22, 1941, asking the prison authcrities te give (“it tc him, They did and he acknewledged its receipt. Mrs. Kent at once . wrete back asking him to comment eon its ecentents, paying especial atton- + tien te paragraph 5 which related, in effect, thit KReosevelt and Chur- chill had planned Lend Lease by cablegram a yoar before the American porple aver heard cf it, : ; . ‘On May 15, 1944, Mrs, Kent received a cable signod by her scn, Tyler Kont, frem prison, reading: "Newspaper atery essentially true." A few days later she received a lengthy letter from her scn confirming the criginal stcry-abcut the Churchill-Recsevelt cablegrams published in Nevember, 1941. Beginning June 17, 1944,:the leng stcry reached the American press, cn the disclesures mide in the British Heuso ef Commons. ; The most complete atcry came through the CHICAGO TRIBUNE Foreign Service, ’ ‘signed by Larry Ruc. All cf those items passed through British censcr- ship, which 1s ccntrelloc by the Churchill gevernment, indicating that the Government ne lenger feels cbligatod te ecneeal the circumstances cf the interchange betwoon Churchill and Recsevelt which arranged for tha abandcnment cf its neutrality by the United States, — . Obvicusly the disclcsures of the Kent Case enables can only label Mr. Churchill es elever, even theugh irregular and capticus teward a . Superior, But thoy stigmtize the President ef the United States as having proceeded in entire Gisregara cf the Constitutional precedure te which he is swern by cath cf cffice: 1. . t The Gisclosures frerm England cn the Kent Case were. breught cut cn i ° 2} the ficers cf the United States Senate and House ef Representatives a “™* on the afterncen of June 19, 1944, snd cn several successive days. t A tebate between Senatcr Henrik Shipstead, Senater Tom Cennally, Senater | Burten K. Wheeler, and a numbor cf others over the Kent Case cccupies ' Several pages in the Ccngressicnal Reccrd cf June 19. Senatcr Wheeler related that leng age he had asked Secretary Hull in writing hew an Amer- ‘ . ican Enbassy member eculd be tried in ao secret British Ceurt fer stealing papers that wont threugh the American Embassy, The State Department sent . a special representative tc mcllify Sonatcr Whesler. The State Depart- mont's wish was tc hush up the matter. Senater Cennally, Chairman’ cf the Foreign Relations Ccemnittce and Administraticn Flocr Leader, had tec rush te & telephene to call up the State Department te find cut how te answer the charges cf Senator Shipsteiad. Thereupen, Cennally claimed that the Unitod States Government had waived Tyler Kent's diplemtic immunity and that he was thon prosecuted under British Law. But Senator Connally cid net make clear the charge. The Counally statement dees net ‘held woter, for Tyler Kent was sentenced cn the charges cf stealing dccu- ments, which, if stolen at all, were stclen from the AMERICAN EMBASSY in AMERICAN EMBASSY CODE -- certainly nc affair of the British Gevernnent at the time. That Gevernment weuld indeed have. arrested Churchill fer socretly sending cables without passing them threugh censcrship in vwar- tins, cables which went behind the back ef the then British Gevernment, and in essence ccnspired fcr the dewnfoll cf that Gevernment. There- . fore, tho British part in the case is entirely illegal cr ultra-official . ~~ and the crime, if any, was against the American Government only. ‘ ee es - . FG en eta eg re IT 2 mt eminent oT a ee. mer coe 0) Justice and a thercughly illegal acticn. Consul General Jchn ; ~“—~¢ rharct, new Chief cf Fereten Service Persennel in the State De- purtment Washingtcen, was the cnly American cbserver allewed to bo prosent in the Kont trial. He was placed under oath not to disclose any details of the hearing. He has known Kent since ths latterta beyhocd. Ho tcla Mrs. Kent, after his return te this ecuntry, that "Tyler did nething reprehensible, but merely was unwise in the vay he went abcut doing it." Mrs. Kent saw Ambassador Kennedy after his resignatien frem his Londen pest, She asked him if her sen bid been rightly accused cf being a me trial by a British Court therefore remains a complete travos- a 9p @ Poplied that there was nc basis whatever fer that suspicicn. ' ; . , Walte rchan, CHICAGO TRIBUNE correspondent, states that Kennecy told t ’ hints an very much ashamed cf the part I played in tho Kent Case -- | a \ _ , I lest hy head," ; ¢ . . _ if . . A oe ee Sad ee Ce OP ne ae we ~ | ) wt . me , ' om te