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U.S. Press Criticizes Navy Dept’s Refusal to Commission Landy

August 9, 1955
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The Navy Department’s refusal to commission Eugene Landy, the 21-year-old Jewish youth who graduated Friday from the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Port Long Island with second highest honors, was ridiculed today by newspapers from all parts of the country regardless of political differences among them.

The Navy Department refused Mr. Landy the commission on the grounds that his mother had been a Communist and that he was “close to his mother “Most newspaper comments today praised Navy Secretary Charles S. Thomas from story the case and ordering an investigation of the circumstances of the Landy case.

Earlier. Sen. Herbert H. Lehman issued a blast at the Navy’s action and demanded an investigation. The Daughters of the American Revolution which had awarded Mr. Landy a plaque for academic achievement announced it would not withdraw the award. The youth, who has won a scholarship to study admiralty law at Yale Law School, sailed today on a Sun Oil Company tanker for a 30-day voyage to earn money to continue his studies at Yale.

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