Herman Struve Hensel

Herman Struve Hensel (August 22, 1901 – May 27, 1991) was an American international lawyer who served in several senior positions in the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense from 1941 to 1946 and from 1952 to 1955. He was president of his class at Princeton University and graduated in 1922. He attended Columbia University Law School. After graduation, Hensel worked at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and later at Milbank, Tweed.

In 1940 Hensel moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as the first chief of the United States Department of the Navy's legal division for procurement. The next year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt named Hensel the first General Counsel of the Navy. Hensel served as the Navy's General Counsel from July 10, 1941, until January 30, 1945. In early 1945, Roosevelt nominated him as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Hensel held that office from January 30, 1945, to February 28, 1946.

In 1946, Hensel joined the Manhattan law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn. He returned to public service in 1952, when he became General Counsel of the Department of Defense. He was named Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in March 1954.

In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy said Hensel "masterminded" Hensel called these accusations "barefaced lies." McCarthy did not present testimony about Hensel before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and refused to withdraw his charges, claiming that President Eisenhower's orders on secrecy made it impossible to present his case.

In June, journalists reported that McCarthy had told other senators in May that he had assumed that Hensel was behind the Army's charges against him because his name appeared on the letter of transmittal when the Army sent its response to the committee, but by May 17 he was uncertain of Hensel's role.

Hensel swore an affidavit on June 16, 1954, denying McCarthy's charges, sent it to the subcommittee's chairman, Senator Karl Mundt, and made it public.

Hensel left the Defense Department on June 30, 1955, citing the financial hardship of government service.