Secretary of Army Frank Pace has written Sen. Herbert H. Lehman that recent statements of Maj. Gen, G. L. Nold concerning the desirability of eliminating Jews from among candidates for employment on overseas projects “were broader than the facts justified.”
Sen. Lehman made known today that he received from Secretary Pace a letter stating that the Army “intends to comply” with the President’s executive order on non-discrimination and pledging that no discrimination would be permitted in hiring workers for employment in building U.S. bases in Arab countries or elsewhere.
The Secretary of Army wrote that contractors have not discriminated against Jews who seek work on Saudi Arabia projects, but that such Jews are automatically eliminated because the Saudi Arabian Government will not grant them the required visas. He added that it was possible that Gen. Nold, at the time of his testimony, was of the opinion that the same or similar difficulties applied to all Arab countries. “Our investigation, however, discloses that is not the case,” Pace emphasized.
Secretary Pace also made known that the Army is still investigating reports of anti-Jewish discrimination on U.S. construction projects in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland.
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