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oS Min se rm le al ie thes gt lll wg en a a iat cee cL ie can Nene 5 le gn OR el nn Rte Te. cinta cme = atk, eal lar a ad Ce en i Oe Communists (Continued From First Page.) evel to do with this case at am time.” Vardaman Knew of Diary. Mr. Vardaman said he knew about the diary before he made his statement and that, owing to other activities in which he was engaged at the time, Mr. Forrestal could not have taken the matter up with him. Mr. Vardaman’s name was lbrought into the Senate inquiry this week when Brig. Gen, Julius Hoimes, Assistant Secretary of State at the time, testified he seemed to recollect that Mr. Var- daman had acted to obtain a de- lay. The committee also has received estimony from Assistant Attorney eneral James M. Mclherney, tief of the Justice Department's criminal division, that it was Forrestal who intervened in the case. References Found in Notes. The references to the Amerasia case, baffling and mysterious for five years, were found in diary notes among Mr. Forrestal’s pa- pers in New York. They showed that Mr. Forrestal acied in the case after being in- formed on Monday, May 28, 1945, by one of his special assistants, res Mathias F. Correa, that ar- rests were scheduled to be made iwo days later, tneluding a leu- tenant in naval intelligence. In a May 28 entry Mr. For- restal said: “Maj. Correa reported to me that the Department of Justice. had evidence to the effect that, Other Depariments Involved,._|___tpparently Delayed Arrests. “Other departments of the Gov- rnment involved are the Office of’ trategic Services, the State De- artment and the Foreign Eco- nomic’ Administration. ae i . Maj. Correa reported that it Was proposed that Lt. Roth should be taken into surveillance (Mr. Forrestal apparently meant to say ‘custody') Wednesday. He said the FBI thought that unless speedy action were taken important evi- dence would be dissipated, lost and destroyed. “FE pointed out that the tnevita- bie course of such action now would be to greatly embarrass the President now in his current con- versations with Stalin because of ihe anti-Russian playup the in- cident would receive out of ail Proportions to its importance. ... “T asked Capt. Vardaman to see to it that the President was in- formed in the matter and I then Hed Mr, Edgar Hoover and sug- sted that he advise Mr, ‘Tom lark and have him also see that e President is in full information: f all the facts in the matter as weli as their implication.” The discovery of the informa- tion in the Forrestal papers be- camé known as Senators Know- land of California and Brewster of Maine, both Republicans, were demanding that the Senate sub- committee subpoena the diary to see if it would shed any light on the mysterious and hotly-dis- puted case. a | The personal papers of Mr:! Forrestal have been kept secret since he died last year in a plunge from an upper floor of the Bethes- da Naval Hospital shortly alter retiring as the country’s first Secretary of Defense. The question of who intervened Lt. Andrew Roth had been fur-|., ine amerasia case, and why he nishing confidential and secret ocuments to # man named Jaffe, ead of a publication name merasia in New York City. Jaff as had intimate relationship) With the Russian Consul in Ney York. _ did, has had only an indirect Jm- portance in the Senate investiga- on because President Truman, Yen informed of the suggested elay, himself countermanded the greet and directed « full and vig- ous prosecution of thecare. Mr. Forrestal's action in t case, the diary showed, Was ma on May 28, two days before sched uled arrests, and apparently de- layed action until the matter arate +t =- ition of Mr, Tru- came iO the aiter man. The matter was brought directly to the President’s attention by Gen. Holmes, now American Min- ister in London, who was then handling the Amerasia matter for that department. On June 2, 1945, Gen. Holmes took the unusual step of going to the White House and personally laying the matter before the Presi- dent. The President ordered the Jus-. tice Department to proceed with: the case and the FBI made the arrests on June 6, 1945-—nine days after Mr, Forrestal had sought a delay. Six persons were arrested on charges of a conspiracy to obtain iilegal possession of Governmen; doguments. ‘ ‘hey were Roth, the naval He terlant; Phillp Jaffe, editor of +t obgcure magazine devoted to Fa Eastern affairs that has aince Washington Star Page Al and 2