Attorney General William P. Rogers asked a House Judiciary Subcommittee to approve a bill that would empower the FBI to apprehend fugitives fleeing after bombing synagogues or schools.
Mr. Rogers told the subcommittee yesterday that the Justice Department was seeking the proposed legislation to provide a federal deterrent to the bombings of religious and educational structures. He termed such bombings “a type of outrage that has shocked all decent, self-respecting people. ” He said the hate bombings were “manifestations of racial and religious intolerance that are of extremely serious national and international concern. “
The bill urged by the Attorney General would implement an earlier request by President Eisenhower. It would make it a felony to flee across a state line to avoid local prosecution or custody for bombing or burning any religious or educational facility. Mr. Rogers revealed that the FBI, to coordinate efforts to cope with hate bombings, has held 176 field conferences with top local police officials, attended by over 8, 000 officers representing 3, 687 local law enforcement agencies.
He reported that the bombings confront local police with difficult investigation and detection problems. “A bombing is one of the most difficult types of crime to solve, ” he said, “Evidence and clues which might otherwise be available are ordinarily destroyed by the blast. Nor does the perpetrator obtain tangible ‘fruits, ‘ the sale or disposal of which can be traced. Moreover, since the offense is usually committed at night, there are usually no eyewitnesses. To collect, sift and analyze whatever physical evidence remains requires not only a great amount of effort and patience, but also expert training, equipment, and experience.
“Although local officials have been diligent in their efforts to apprehend the offenders, it is clear that the interstate aspects of the offenses require utilization of the resources and powers of the Federal Government, ” the Attorney General pointed out. He said there should be a clear jurisdictional basis on which the FBI can proceed in bombing cases. He emphasized that the present Justice Department proposal would meet the situation “in a moderate and practical manner. He noted that provision of federal authority would be a “supplement to, but not a substitute for, state and local action, “
Herman Edelsberg, Washington representative of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee, drew a distinction between H. R. 4457, the anti-bombing measure supported by the Attorney General, and H. R. 1240, another bill that would make it a federal crime to ship explosives across state borders for the purpose of bombing any building.
“Both bills have the same objective–that of preserving primary state and local law enforcement responsibility for the investigation of unlawful dynamiting and at the same time providing for FBI investigation when dynamitings do occur. H. R. 1420 would, however, ensure immediate FBI investigation in the event of a dynamiting by creating a rebuttable presumption that if a dynamiting occurs, the explosives were shipped in interstate commerce, ” the ADL argued.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
