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:
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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 mi (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.
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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.[47] 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".[42] 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.[42] 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."[42]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Committeesong:
http://freechannel.org/BlowSmokeInYourEyes.mp3
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