treatment to all who are similarly situated must be the rule if the Federal programs for veterans and their beneficiaries are to be operated successfully. Otherwise, inequity is added to inequity, as is fully revealed by statistics reported by the Veterans' Administration. More than 3,200 claims of designated beneficiaries for the proceeds of national service life insurance have been denied because they were not within the permitted classes of beneficiaries. There may be cases in which the circumstances are unique and justify waiver of the law. In my judgment, this is not such a case. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER. THE WHITE HOUSE, August 7, 1953. MARY THAILA WOMACK WEBB S. 953. I am withholding my approval from S. 953, an act for the relief of Mary Thaila Womack Webb. This measure, in providing a special exception from the general laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, would render this claimant potentially eligible to receive a pension for the nonservice-connected death of a veteran of World War I. It does this by resorting to a legislative directive that she shall "be deemed to be the widow" of the deceased veteran. Under existing law the establishment of legal widowhood is prerequisite to death benefits administered by the Veterans' Administration. The claimant cannot meet this prescription because a prior marriage of the veteran was never legally dissolved. Both the veteran and the beneficiary had a contrary belief, and they married in good faith. The Congress has accepted the good faith of the claimant in entering into the marriage and the belief that she was the legal wife of the veteran during the 18 years of their association. I understand fully the motivation of the action taken by the Congress in this case but I cannot agree that the principles and rules of administration prescribed in the general law should be set aside except in unique and most compelling circumstances of equity. The Federal programs for veterans and their beneficiaries, if they are to be successful, require unswerving uniformity of rule and equality of treatment to all who are similarly situated. If the law is to be changed, it should be changed for all. We must not, in this benefits field, heed the special plea or the emotional appeal of the hardship case. Legal requirements of fact should not be supplanted by fiat or legislative fiction applying to an individual. To do so would result only in the compounding of inequities, as is apparent from statistics reported by the Veterans' Administration. More than 2,700 claims for death benefits were disallowed by the Veterans' Administration during the last fiscal year for the reason that relationship to the deceased veteran could not be established. I am informed that at least a majority were cases similar to that of the present claimant. In the light of these facts I could take no other action than to withhold approval of this bill. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER. The following bills of the House were disapproved by the President of the United States subsequent to the sine die adjournment of the 1st session of the 83d Congress: On August 6, 1953: H. R. 157. An act to provide that the tax on admissions shall not apply to moving-picture admissions. On August 15, 1953: H. R. 1460. An act for the relief of Harold Joe Davis; H. R. 2158. An act for the relief of Col. Harry F. Cunningham; and H. R. 2750. An act for the relief of the city and county of Denver, Colo. MEMBERSHIP OF CERTAIN ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Under the authority of the order of the Senate of August 3, 1953, the Vice President, subsequent to the sine die adjournment of the Senate, appointed the following to the commissions and committees, as indicated: To the committee to make a study of proposals for a modification of existing international peace and security organizations, to serve with the members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, created by Senate Resolution 126, agreed to on July 28, 1953: Mr. COOPER and Mr. HOLLAND. To the Commission on Judicial and Congressional Salaries, created by the act of August 7, 1953: Mr. James B. Carey, Mr. Loyd Wright, and Mr. E. D. Crippa; and as advisory members of the said Commission, Mr. CARLSON, Mr. McCARRAN, and former Senator James P. Kem. To the United States Commission for the Bicentennial of Columbia University in the City of New York, created by the act of August 8, 1953: Mr. LANGER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. HILL, and Mr. DOUGLAS. Το the Jamestown-WilliamsburgYorktown Celebration Commission, created by the act of August 13, 1953: Mr. BYRD and Mr. ROBERTSON. To the committee to assist in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Congress of 1754, held at Albany, N. Y.: Mr. FLANDERS, Mr. IVES, Mr. PURTELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. GREEN, Mr. LEHMAN, and Mr. KENNEDY. APPENDIX SENATORS OF THE UNITED STATES WHOSE SEATS WILL BECOME VACANT IN 1955. Class 2 Mr. Anderson of New Mexico. Bridges of New Hampshire. Cooper of Kentucky.' Cordon of Oregon. Douglas of Illinois. Dworshak of Idaho. Eastland of Mississippi. Ellender of Louisiana. Frear of Delaware. Green of Rhode Island. Hunt of Wyoming. Johnson of Colorado. Johnson of Texas. Kefauver of Tennessee. Kerr of Oklahoma. Lennon of North Carolina.3 Robertson of Virginia. Saltonstall of Massachusetts. Schoeppel of Kansas. Mrs. Smith of Maine. Mr. Sparkman of Alabama. 1957. Class 3 Mr. Aiken of Vermont. Bennett of Utah. Capehart of Indiana. Case of South Dakota. Duff of Pennsylvania. Hoey of North Carolina. Vacancy in New Hampshire. 1 Elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Virgil Chapman. 2 Elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Kenneth S. Wherry. 1959. Class 1 Mr. Barrett of Wyoming. Beall of Maryland. Bricker of Ohio. ' Appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Willis Smith. * Elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Brien McMahon. Butler of Nebraska. Byrd of Virginia. Chavez of New Mexico. Daniel of Texas. Jackson of Washington. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kilgore of West Virginia. Langer of North Dakota. "Appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Richard Nixon. REMOVAL OF THE INJUNCTION OF SECRECY DOCUMENTS OF THE SENATE FROM WHICH THE INJUNCTION OF SECRECY WAS REMOVED DURING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE EIGHTY-THIRD CONGRESS JANUARY 9, 1953 Ordered, as in executive session, That the injunction of security be removed from the convention between the United States and Belgium, signed at Washington on September 9, 1952, modifying and supplementing the convention of October 28, 1948, for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. FEBRUARY 27, 1953 Ordered, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from the protocol on the status of International Military Headquarters set up pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Paris on August 28, 1952. APRIL 1, 1953 Ordered, as in executive session, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from the protocol, signed at Washington on December 4, 1952, modifying the treaty of friendship, commerce, and consular rights between the United States and Finland, signed at Washington on February 13, 1934. APRIL 10, 1953 Ordered, as in executive session, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following: An agreement on German external debts, signed at London on February 27, 1953, by the Federal Republic of Germany, and by the United States and 17 other creditor countries; An agreement between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany regarding the settlement of claims of the United States for postwar economic assistance (other than surplus property) to Germany, signed at London on February 27, 1953; An agreement between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany relating to the indebtedness of Germany for the awards made by the Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany, signed at London on February 27, 1953; and An agreement between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the validation of German dollar bonds, signed at Bonn, on April 1, 1953. JUNE 2, 1953 Ordered, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from the agreement revising and reviewing the International Wheat Agreement. JUNE 3, 1953 Ordered, as in executive session, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following conventions between the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia, signed at Washington on May 14, 1953; A convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income; A convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on the estates of deceased persons; and A convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on gifts. 26100-s J-83-1-39 609 |