- the reminder the war ended in November 1918, so the shutdown order in February should really not have been a surprise.
- funding for CPI came from the national defense appropriations (i.e., wartime appropriations), which ended, naturally, after the war. Again, Congress did not specifically authorize CPI nor did it specifically fund CPI. Congress, therefore, did nothing to specifically single out CPI to not receive funds in the new fiscal year that began July 1, 1919.
And, I should have emphasized that a) Creel was to blame by his lack of management for the status of CPI's files (unanswered is why the heck things were still operational on June 15), b) Creel chose not to blame his boss and benefactor Wilson, who bore second responsibility distantly behind Creel, and instead blamed Congress, which actually bore zero responsibility for the situation.
Sometimes the commonly accepted fact is not a fact
I should have included above the following:
- the reminder the war ended in November 1918, so the shutdown order in February should really not have been a surprise.
- funding for CPI came from the national defense appropriations (i.e., wartime appropriations), which ended, naturally, after the war. Again, Congress did not specifically authorize CPI nor did it specifically fund CPI. Congress, therefore, did nothing to specifically single out CPI to not receive funds in the new fiscal year that began July 1, 1919.
And, I should have emphasized that a) Creel was to blame by his lack of management for the status of CPI's files (unanswered is why the heck things were still operational on June 15), b) Creel chose not to blame his boss and benefactor Wilson, who bore second responsibility distantly behind Creel, and instead blamed Congress, which actually bore zero responsibility for the situation.