INQUIRY INTO THE COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 



WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1961 



U.S. Senate, 

 Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee 



OF the Committee on Armed Services, 



Washington^ B.C. 



The subcommittee (composed of Senators Steimis (chairman), 

 Symington, Bartlett, Jackson, Bridges, Saltonstall, and Smith) met, 

 pursuant to recess, at 10 :10 a.m., in room 235, Old Senate Office Build- 

 ing, Senator John Stennis presiding. 



Present : Senators Stennis, Bartlett, and Saltonstall. 



Staff members, Preparedness Investigating subcommittee : James T. 

 Kendall, chief counsel ; Stuart P. French, professional staff member. 



Senator Stennis. All right, the subcommittee will come to order. 



We are very glad indeed to have all our guests, and we want always 

 to have open hearings when we can. But we do want the cooperation 

 of everyone with reference to having reasonable quiet so that everyone 

 can hear and attention can be given. 



The committee has a rule that all witnesses who testify before it 

 are sworn, so I am going to ask all those who are going to testify, so 

 far as is now known, to stand and be sworn. We want the reporter 

 to be able to report all your names. 



Do you, and each of you solemnly swear that your testimony in all 

 of these proceedings will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 

 but the truth, so help you God? 



Captain White. I do. 



Commander Foster. I do. 



Mr. Crockett. I do. 



Senator Stennis. Turn your names in, now, to the reporter, please, 

 and I shall read a brief opening statement. 



The Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee today resumes its 

 inquiry into the reasons why Texas Tower No. 4 collapsed. This 

 offshore platform, designed as an extension of our early warning 

 radar system, fell into the Atlantic in January of this year. Twenty- 

 eight lives were lost. 



We have heard the testimony of the Air Force, which had charge 

 of operating the tower; the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks, 

 which constructed it ; and the architectural firms which have partici- 

 pated in the Texas tower programs. 



All, more or less, have added credence to the facts uncovered by 



the subcommittee which tend to show that the tower's nickname "Old 



Shaky," should have given rise to its abandonment long before it fell 



iinto the ocean. 



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