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2/15/44
E. K. JETT SWORN IN AS FCC COMISSIONER; KNOWS JOB
As congratulations continued to pour in, E. K. Jett, former Chief Engineer of the Federal Communications Commission, who was confirmed by the Senate last Friday to succeed George Henry Payne as Commissioner, was himself sworn in this (Tuesday) morning as a member of the Commission.
Asked If he had any statement to make prior to taking over the comraissionership, Mr. Jett replied?
"I don’t think so. I have been hanging around the FCC and the old Radio Commission now for about twenty years, I have seen a lot of Commissioners come and go. As far as I am concerned, it is Just a question of getting into the groove.”
Thus the FCC now has two Commissioners technically qual¬ ified for the position the other being Commissioner T. A, M, Craven. Both are former Naval officers and both made the grade via the Chief Engine ership, Mr. Jett being the successor there of Commander Craven. Mr. Jett was in the Navy 18 years. Commander Craven 21 years. Mr. Jett will be 51 years old March 20th; Mr. Craven was 51 years old January 51st,
Most of the Commissioners have been political appointees with no technical qualifications or knowledge of radio or communi¬ cations, The appointment of Mr. Jett ~ a zero politically Just ahead of a national election was a surprise. It was even a great¬ er surprise that Mr. Jett, who stubbornly refused to swear allegi¬ ance to either party, though friends pleaded with him to do so, was confirmed by the Senate. All he had in his favor were personal integrity and competency which unfortunately are not as valuable an asset to the politically minded gentlemen on the Hill as one might think.
However, there w^as a member of the upper body who apprais¬ ed these qualifications at their true value, Senator Wallace White, of Maine. Furthermore, there was a lucky break for the nominee that Mr. White was at the time Acting Minority Leader of the Senate and thus in a position to be exceedingly helpful as most of the objec¬ tion to Fee’s neutral politics came from the Republican side, Mr. Payne, Mr. Jett's predecessor was a Republican but the latter stuck it out as an independent. Because of the fact that he was in the Navy so many years and lived in Washington so long, he has never voted.
Mr. Jett's appointment is for a terra of seven years from June of last year e.nd the salary is $10,000 a year.
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