Senate Committee Reports on "Titanic" Disaster

On May 28, 1912, a special Senate subcommittee issued a dramatic report on its investigation into the sinking of the Titanic. Six weeks earlier, on April 15, 1912, the maiden voyage of the world’s largest ship had ended in disaster, with the loss of fifteen hundred lives. Among the dead were many prominent Americans, including the brother of United States Senator Simon Guggenheim.

In the resulting wave of national anguish, Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan introduced a resolution authorizing a Senate investigation. His six-member subcommittee began its inquiry on April 18, as surviving passengers and crew sailed for New York City. When Chairman Smith learned that the Titanic’s owners intended to return the surviving crewmen to England to prevent them from giving potentially damaging testimony, he used the Senate’s subpoena power to compel the presence of key witnesses.

Subcommittee hearings opened in New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and then moved to the newly opened Caucus Room in what is now called the Russell Senate Office Building. On April 22, senators, House members, diplomats, reporters, and hundreds of other spectators crowded into that room. When police blocked further entrance, many rushed to nearby rooms and climbed out onto balconies to watch the proceedings through the room’s great French windows. Disconcerted by this raucous mob, the subcommittee held the remainder of its hearings in a much smaller room.

Although Senator Smith knew little about nautical matters, he proved to be a resourceful and tireless investigator. He contended that, in such calamities, "energy is often more desirable than learning." In this inquiry, Chairman Smith significantly broadened the precedents undergirding the Senate’s investigative powers. The work of his subcommittee ultimately produced significant reforms in international maritime safety.