CONTENTS Abraham Ribicoff, U.S. Senator from Connecticut.. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., U.S. Senator from Connecticut- Louis Patrick Gray III, nominee to be Director, Federal Bureau of In- David D. Kinley, executive assistant to the Acting Director of the Federal Edward I. Koch, a Representative in Congress from New York.... Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Americans for Democratic Action, accompanied by Norman Dorsen, chairman, Committee for Public Justice, accompanied by Leon Friedman, executive director, Committee for Public Justice, and Leslie H. Whitten, Jr., assistant to Jack Anderson. Hank Adams, national director, Survival of American Indians Association_ The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:45 a.m., in room 1202, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator James O. Eastland (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Eastland, McClellan, Ervin, Hart, Kennedy, Bayh, Byrd of West Virginia, Tunney, Hruska, Fong, Scott, Thurmond, Cook and Gurney. Also present: John H. Holloman, chief counsel, and Francis C. Rosenberger, Peter Stockett, and Thomas D. Hart, professional staff members. The CHAIRMAN. These hearings are on the nomination of L. Patrick Gray III, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Senator Ribicoff. STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, A U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT Senator RIBICOFF. Mr. Chairman, we, in Connecticut, are proud of Pat Gray, and so am I. We, in Connecticut, respect Pat Gray, and so do I. Mr. Chairman, I have known Pat Gray for many years. I have always found him to be a man of outstanding ability, character, and integrity. Every job that Pat Gray has performed he has performed with excellence. There is no question in my mind that Pat Gray is a dedicated public servent who will perform any task assigned to him in a nonpartisan manner. I respect the FBI, and the entire Nation respects the FBI. The FBI is one of the great law enforcement institutions in America. All of us know that when youngsters come to visit Washington, one of the first places they want to see is the FBI. There is no question in my mind that as Director of the FBI, Mr Gray will perform his tasks on a completely nonpartisan basis. In all the years I have known Pat Gray he has never questioned the civil rights of individuals and the protection of constitutional guarantees. My feeling is that only the criminal has much to fear from Patrick Gray, and that the law-abiding citizen has nothing to fear from Pat Gray. He will be a defender of our rights, a defender of the Constitution, and law enforcement in this Nation will be stronger with Pat Gray as Director of the FBI. He has my unqualified support. (1) I am proud that Pat Gray is a citizen of Connecticut, and I am most pleased that the President of the United States has seen fit to appoint Pat Gray Director of the FBI. The CHAIRMAN. Any questions? Senator Weicker. STATEMENT OF HON. LOWELL P. WEICKER, JR., A U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT Senator WEICKER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I certainly associate myself with all that Senator Ribicoff has said. In addition I have a few other comments. Pat Gray comes to your committee as a man of very broad experience, fortunately not just in the law but as a man who has served in the service as a Navy man, and as a man who went to law school, as a man who served as a lawyer, as a man who served in HEW, as man who served in the Attorney General's office. In other words, one whose life has touched upon many aspects of the American experience, and I think that is a good thing for one who is going to lead the FBI. He has not been in one narrow area of activity. Now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to comment upon an innuendo that has been made about this man of which I have firsthand knowledge. There appeared in Time magazine a column devoted to Pat Gray and in that column the following paragraph appears: Much of the Senate opposition to Gray is rooted in his lack of law enforcement experience. Gray, who became a lawyer while on active duty with the Navy in 1949, retired after 20 years military service in 1960. He was nominated for a federal judgeship but because of his meager qualifications the nomination was withdrawn before the American Bar Association could officially act upon it. And in the same paragraph, I don't really know what this has to do with the lead sentence: He and Nixon had met at a Washington cocktail party in 1947 and the two have been on friendly terms ever since. I would like to direct my comments to the innuendo that is contained in that paragraph of lack of legal qualifications. On November 23, 1971, I wrote to the then Attorney General, John Mitchell, recommending Pat Gray to a vacancy on the second circuit court of appeals, and I will make that letter available to your committee. In January 1972, the Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Kleindienst, wrote a letter to the standing committee on the federal judiciary of the American Bar Association requesting that an informal report on Pat Gray be compiled. Now, prior to that report being compiled Pat's name was withdrawn as, in fact, he was being nominated for the Office of Deputy Attorney General. Now, No. 1: Your committee knows full well that Pat Gray was never nominated for anything. Now let's get to the business of the American Bar Association. Mr. Albert Connolly of Cravath, Swaine, & Moore, New York, was designated by the ABA to investigate Mr. Gray's qualifications. He stated, in reading over the personal data questionnaire between February 1 and February 9, that he decided Mr. Gray had more background in Washington and should be evaluated there. |