Sen Kenneth B. Keating, New York Republican, today told the Senate Judiciary Committee that a factor behind the bombing of synagogues and schools may be the fact "that too many of those responsible for the bombings have gone unpunished."
Calling for enactment of a federal anti-bombing bill, Sen. Keating told the committee that "a better record of successful law-enforcement would be a strong deterrent to the bombers." According to the senator, widespread southern defiance of the Supreme Court’s desegregation decision "is a substantial contributing cause of these acts of violence." He cited a "tremendous increase in hate mail" as another contributing cause of violence. In his view, legislation should be adopted that would curb such hate mailings without interfering with freedom of speech.
Individuals who bomb synagogues deserve severe treatment, said Sen. Keating, since their deeds "have disgraced the whole nation." On the basis of findings of Sen. Keating and Sen. Jacob K. Javits–a fellow Republican of New York–Sen. Keating said he thought an effective federal anti-bombing bill would be welcomed in southern communities where bombings have occurred.
"The plain truth is that only the FBI has the necessary jurisdiction, skills and manpower to do a thorough job on any interstate conspiracy," he said. He pointed out that this nation has federal laws controlling lotteries, mail fraud, and transportation of women for immoral purposes but has no legislation dealing with use of interstate facilities for bombing synagogues and schools."
Sen. Keating charged that "it is because of the absence of such a federal law that the Department of Justice has generally refused to intervene in these cases, and even in the case of Atlanta had to turn the defendants over to the state authorities for prosecution."
In Birmingham, Sen. Keating reported, bombing attempts against Jews and Negroes were found by local police to have the appearance of "an interstate conspiracy" but the FBI turned down a Birmingham police invitation to enter the case, according to Sen. Keating. He said the FBI claimed that federal law on the subject was absent. As a consequence none of the culprits in the Birmingham terror were caught.
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