Letters from A. Dorothy Burchisk to President Harry S. Truman

to 252-1 ple 5/13/17 517 Cathedral Street Baltimore 1, Maryland February 25, 1947 Hon. Harry S. Truman President of the United States The White House Washington, D.C. Dear President Truman: I would be interested in receiving any material you have for distribution to the public on employee loyalty, made perhaps by your recent temporary commission or the White House. I would also like to know who is going to do the work on investigations permanently, as I wish to write them. I read an article recently by a Federal Diary columnist in a Washington paper wherein it was stated that your committee on loyalty might recommend that Federal agencies be given the authority to fire, without hearings, persons strongly suspected of subversive activities. It is my hope that you do not vest such authority in Federal agencies for the reason that I feel there would be flagrant violations of such authority. I have worked for the Government since 1927 - in the Social Security Administration since 1936. Through prejudice, I was given two Unsatisfactory interim service ratings just as the Ramspeck Act was to become law and, because I exposed the unjust doings of my office to my Congressman, Senator, etc., they have discriminated against me to this day. I feel you would be doing many Federal workers a grave injustice if you vested Government agencies with authority to fire, without hearings as some departments may be waiting for just such an opportunity to rid their departments of persons they have been wanting to get rid of for years Some departments wouldn't think anything of making up all sorts of untrue damaging statements and placing them on record against workers, as that is what happened to me in connection with the service ratings I speak of. Couldn't one department handle all the investigations, like the Federal Bureau of Investigation for instance, upon the recommendation of the agencies, with opportunity being given the suspected persons to appeal to a higher body (Attorney General, perhaps) from the decision of the FBI. President's Temporary Commission Sincerely, on Employee Loyal ky A. Dorothy Burchick - the report is not available as of 4-2-47