Memorandum from Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug to President Harry S. Truman

OF THE UNITED STATES DEPA ERIOR 252-K DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY HARRY NATIONAL TRUMAN LIBRURY WASHINGTON 25, D. C. ARCHIVES AND Memorandum RECORDS SERVICE U.S. GOVERNMENT To: The President Filed by pen Fill win From: MR. DAWSON Secretary of the Interior x6 Subject: H.J. Res. 226 x419 4-25-49 x47 House Joint Resolution 226, passed April 14 by the House and still under con- sideration in the Senate, is recommended for veto if it comes to the President in its present form. This is a temporary appropriation measure in lieu of House-Senate agree- ment on the first deficiency appropriation act of 1949. If there is any reason for its coming to the President at all, it could come to him only in its present form promptly for otherwise presumably there would be an effort at House-Senate agreement on the deficiency act itself following the return from recess of the House, making the Joint Resolution unnecessary. Rechard A veto of H.J. Res. 226 is recommended because it embraces, for no clear reason, a verbatim re-enactment of the so-called Straus-Boke rider prohibiting use of funds already provided in the 1949 Interior appropriation bill for those two individuals. This rider constitutes a clear and punitive invasion of the constitutional and legal rights of the President to select, appoint, and remunerate employees for the Executive department in accordance with the basic law and qualifications heretofore laid down by the Congresses. Likewise, it transgresses the Civil Service law and makes a political travesty of career service in Government. Reclamation Regional Director Richard L. Boke is a civil service appointee, with years of experience, in charge of the Central Valley Project in California. United States Reclamation Commissioner Michael W. Straus, while likewise enjoying top civil service rating, is now in office as a result of a Presidential appointment in accordance with the law of May 26, 1926, establishing the office of Com- missioner of Reclamation. The rider in question is a direct result of both officials' support of the 160-acre law and the Administration public power policy, which made them the proclaimed target of Senator Sheridan Downey's displeasure. X6-E The so-called Straus-Boke rider, establishing new, arbitrary, and illogical prerequisites for office contradictory to basic law and stipulating five years' profes- sional engineering experience, was officially designed and described as a punishment to the two individuals named for supporting Reclamation Law and Administration policy. It first made its appearance as a legislative rider on the Interior Department Appropriation Act of 1949, coming to the President after Congress recessed, and evoking a statement from the President that "if it had been possible to veto this bill without bringing the vital work of the Department to a standstill, I would have done so because of a rider in the bill establishing arbitrary qualifications The President asked for the repeal of the rider in a special message to the summer session of the 80th Congress on August 7, 1948, and repeated his request to the 81st Congress on January 6, 1949, redescribing the rider as "arbitrary action diametrically opposed to the principles on which this Govern- ment is founded. The rider automatically expires with the current appropriation bill on July 1, and the two officials are serving without pay currently. The House heeded the President and passed the 1949 deficiency bill with a specific repealer of the Straus-Boke rider. It also passed the 1950 Interior Department appropriation bill omitting any rider. Thereby the House has quite sustained, in this matter, the President's program. The Senate eliminated the House repealer from the Loyalty # Program