he, chandler and radical republican congressman george julie of indiana, daniel gooch of massachusetts, were also very effective in driving the committee. it was controversial from the state. and assessment of generally fallen along idealogical lines. in 1863 the republican new york times praised it for its unsparing investigations of military shortcomings. in later years, however, the committee's reputation plummeted in tandem with that of the radical republicans generally. during the jim crow era, for revisionist and jim crow historians it became political meddling and alleged personal vindictiveness. writing in 1939, t. harry williams condemned the committee for pressuring lincoln to embrace emancipation, terrible. for promoting mass hatred of the confederacy. there was a war on. and for deliberately fostering a war psychosis in the north. this assessment became more or less the template by which the committee was judged. when harry truman formed his own special committee to investigate the national defense program on the eve of world war a -- ii, he was determined to avoid the nega