Dear my youthful indiscredtions,

a la martin Dies 2/1)/78

Because this is one of the glaring omissions in the FBI materials, and their involvement is recorded on the page following the one to which you referred me in that chapter, let me give comment to you in writing about this bob-tailea version.

It is dishonest, inaccurate and angled viciously.

It is so inaccurate Dics hae neither hayne's name nor mine right. And rather than the pretense of their not knowing Mayne, they had his on the payroll in the guise of a witnesses. Dave has what records the 'Iel'Lyvood 10 did not take.

Odd how Dies managed not to mention teis, or that Payne copped a plea, enabled to by Dies written intercession, a letter that should surface in PA response.

Nothing like this ever happened. I e:.ent three weeks in files? I was never in his office. He brought me some papas, mostly pamphlets, in a whiskey carton from which if I'm not mistaken, Bate removed them to ship to UWSP.

Jackson never saw Mayne. Drew Pearson sent a leg man, on Renshaw, to tell Jackson of this eaybe-Silvershirt matter. Jackson turned lee's= Henseaw over to me. Over a period of time Mayne panhandled me for $105. But before I gave anytne the records I obtained from him I obtained a court reporter, took a statement from him -and he authenticated the records under oath - and had the affidavit.

There was no promise of a job. I didn't have one myself. Rather than finding nothing I found what caused the retirement of the Army chief of staff, the FOX request of the FBI of which you know. (They kept that record. I anticipated they would and that no paper would publish it so I let Jack Spivack do that. '2e. did.)

"cite he does not cite the testimony before hie committee. He held secret hearings and then did not dare publish them.

Dies Odd, too, give his anti-union bias that 7teeeeee omits that ackson had beeteon the

Sacco-Vansetti committee and was then lobbyist for Labor's eon-Pilrtisen League, john Lewis' operation. Jackson had been in Agriculture briefly but I am unaware of any later government employment. Could be during World War II. Jackson is perhaps the most passionate anti-communist I ever met.

eoetnote: this was the beginning of the Dies need to pretend to be a little anti-Fascist. o never was. The next year I really did it to him. I discovered that he had stoen an entire report of his comeittee to the House. He had stolen it so completely that every grammatical error, every spelling and punctuation error was repeated faithfully. 1 remember little about the plagiarism save that nothing really made a difference to the Congres' and how it was used. (Joe McCarthy did not invent that !I hold in cry hand." It Drought the House down, but not the comnittee or Dies. et was an anti-Japaneee (imperial) west-coast newsletter. The one think I remember from it is eafu Shimpo, which I think is the name of a publication.

I the end I was on a first-name basis with Dies, his next-in-line Starnes, I had been with ilixon's meat, Jerry Noorhis, an agonizing phoney liberal, and probably others.

The night the grand jury handed down the %erne indictment they all threw a party for me. If not all 10 of those Congressmen, moat of them. Lil was there. Frank hook, a fine human being but no towering intellect, sang two songs, Strauss Fell on Alabama" and "The Dies of Texan Are Unpon You." Lou young fogies probably never heard the song punned. It was at the old Madrillon and continued after the palce closed down. A real party!

But as I have said, the more one has to look back upon, the more clearly he can see ahead.

Those guys paled tough. But you know what John Mithcell said about tough going. So they found out. 'ma' a "youth" indeed! Best,

MA

RT

IN D

IES

'

ST

OR

Y

Martin D

ies

BO

OK

MA

ILE

R

New

York

Copyrig

ht 1

963 b

y M

artin D

ics

Lib

rary o

f Congress C

atalog C

ard N

um

ber: 6

3-1

4765

All rig

hts

reserv

ed, in

clu

din

g th

e rig

ht to

repro

duce th

is

book o

r portio

ns th

ere

of in

any fo

rm.

Dedica

tion

This b

ook is affectio

nately

ded

icated to

my w

ife, Myrtle

Published by

TH

E

BO

OK

MA

ILE

R

New

York

16, N

. Y.

Dis

tribute

d b

y

TH

E B

OO

KM

AIL

ER

, INC

,

Box 101, M

UR

RA

Y H

ILL

ST

AT

ION

NE

W Y

OR

K 16, N

. Y.

"The C

omplete B

ookstore-by-Mail S

ervice"

Representing A

ll U.S

Publishers

MA

NU

FA

CT

UR

ED

IN T

HE

UN

ITE

D S

TA

TE

S O

P A

ME

RIC

A

5

"1-1"4:1121" 4 -1'""

'4:;1,Tok ,;11111i1

CO

NT

EN

TS

Forew

ord

1. W

e are Losing

2. W

hat Com

munism

is, and does

3. T

he Washington C

limate

4. S

it-down S

trikes and the Unions

5. T

he "Dies C

omm

ittee" is Born

6. W

hy not the FB

I?

7. P

olitics and Politicians

8. M

inorities into Majorities

9. B

ookburning—L

iberal Style

9 11 19 29 41 57 69 77 93

105

,

"117 t Q L!

10. A

ll in a Day's W

ork

115

11. T

he Isms

129

12. T

he Fourth E

state

133

13. F

.D.R

137

14. M

rs. Franklin D

. Roosevelt

149

15. W

hat the Dies C

omm

ittee Did

157

16. "M

e Too"

173

17. Y

outh

181

18. T

hey arc Still H

ere

193

Notes

209

Appendix

218

Exhibits

269

Index

276

7

CH

AP

TE

R X

AL

L IN

A D

AY

'S W

OR

K

"When

I'm n

ot th

ank'd

at all, I'm th

ank'd

enough,

I've d

on

e my

du

ty, an

d I'v

e do

ne n

o m

ore."

—H

enry Fielding

One w

intry day in 1939, a very beautiful wom

an called at the office. S

he was dressed in the best of taste,

was w

ell educated

and in

telligen

t. She said

that sh

e tau

ght sch

ool in

Baltim

ore, w

as keen

ly in

terested in

C

omm

unism, and had been gathering inform

ation on th

e subject. S

he claim

ed to

know

the n

ames an

d ad

-d

resses of so

me o

f the m

ost activ

e Co

mm

un

ists in

Philadelphia and prom

ised to furnish them w

hen she com

pleted her investigation. I thanked her, and told her that this w

ould be a real help to the Com

mittee.

Every S

aturday morning she cam

e back to report, but d

id n

ot b

ring th

e info

rmatio

n I so

ught. S

he k

ept

puttin

g m

e off w

ith o

ne ex

cuse after an

oth

er. One

snowy day, she telephoned, saying that she w

as taking a cold, and had decided to spend the night in the M

ay- 115

flow

er Ho

tel. Sh

e said sh

e finally

had

ob

tained

the

information w

anted, and asked if I would stop by her

room for it on m

y way hom

e. "You w

ill be on your way

home anyw

ay, and it will only take a m

oment for you

to run by my room

and pick up the file." I said I w

ould come, but explained that I could not

leave b

efore th

e House ad

journ

ed at 5

o'clo

ck. A

s I h

un

g u

p, q

uestio

ns p

op

ped

into

my

min

d. H

ow

did

M

iss R—

know w

here I lived, and why had she gone

to th

e trou

ble o

f find

ing

ou

t my

residen

ce? I decid

ed

to sk

ip th

e hotel an

d g

o d

irectly h

om

e. The d

ecision

was fo

rtunate.

Our investigator checked at the hotel. In the room

ad

join

ing

hers, th

ere was a p

ho

tog

raph

er. It was th

e o

ld b

adg

er gam

e. Had

I go

ne to

her ro

om

, she w

ou

ld

hav

e asked

me to

be seated

, slipped

into

my lap

, and

embraced

me, an

d at th

at precise m

om

ent th

e door

would have opened from

the 'room w

here the photog-rapher w

as stationed. They w

ould have had my picture

in a co

mpro

misin

g p

ositio

n, an

d D

ies and th

e Com

-m

ittee wo

uld

hav

e been

tho

rou

gh

ly an

d co

mp

letely

discredited. C

lose on the heels of this incident was another, m

ore serious since it involved m

y young son Bobby. W

e had receiv

ed th

reats of k

idnap

pin

g, an

d w

e had

warn

ed

Bobby n

ever to

get in

a car with

a stranger. O

ne d

ay

he cam

e run

nin

g h

om

e as fast as his little leg

s cou

ld

carry him. O

ut of breath, he explained between gasps

that tw

o m

en in

a car had

asked

him

to g

et in, an

d

had told him they w

ould drive him hom

e. Bobby, heed-

ing o

ur w

arnin

g, to

ok o

f like a scared

rabbit, an

d g

ot

home in nothing fiat. T

hen

, wh

en m

y w

ife arrived

ho

me fro

m v

isiting

m

e in th

e hosp

ital follo

win

g m

y o

peratio

n in

1940,

there w

as a steady

stream o

f teleph

on

e calls all nig

ht

lon

g, w

ith co

mfo

rting

remark

s like th

ese: "W

ell, is your husband dead yet?" 116

"I'm d

oin

a lot o

f pray

ing, b

ut n

ot fo

r what y

ou

think. I am praying that D

ies dies." We finally had to

have an unlisted telephone installed. T

his is o

ne o

f the m

ost p

ow

erful w

eapo

ns u

sed

again

st an an

ti-Com

munist: h

arassmen

t of h

is loved

ones. T

hese are ty

pical o

f our co

nstan

t torm

ent fo

r sev

en y

ears. But m

ore im

portan

t, as well as m

ore

tragic, w

ere the ex

perien

ces of so

me fo

rmer S

oviet

officials. G

eneral Walter G

. Krivitsky, w

ho had served un-d

er Stalin

for a lo

ng

time, fled

to th

e Un

ited S

tates w

hen he became disgusted w

ith the brutality of Com

-m

unism in practice, as distinguished from

Com

munism

in theory. H

e told an astounding story of the plans and purp

oses o

f the K

remlin

; how

they

had

built secret

armies in

every

country

, and h

ad sp

ent m

illions o

f dollars for propaganda purposes. H

e declared that the ultim

ate goal o

f Stalin

was th

e conquest o

f Euro

pe,

Asia, and the A

mericas. I w

anted him to testify before

the Com

mittee because it w

as vital that the Am

erican people should have the benefit of his inform

ation, but he w

as afraid th

at the O

GP

U, th

e Krem

lin S

ecret P

olice, would assassinate him

. F

rom

notes I m

ade at th

e time, th

is is the su

b-

stance of our conversation. I asked "S

urely they are not that powerful in the

United

States?"

He replied: "I w

as chief of the Western D

ivision of the S

oviet Intelligence, and I know that there isn't

a country

, there isn

't an in

dustry

of im

portan

ce, and

there isn

't a tow

n o

f ind

ustrial im

po

rtance w

here

OG

PU

mem

bers are n

ot g

atherin

g in

form

ation

, and

tran

smittin

g it to

the S

oviet U

nio

n. T

hey

hav

e their

agen

ts in th

e So

viet E

mb

assies, and

no

t even

the

Soviet A

mbassadors know

the identity of the OG

PU

operatives."

117

General K

rivitsky was prevailed upon to testify

on the assurance that we w

ould protect him and con-

ceal his identity. I tried to get a comm

itment from

our G

overnment that it w

ould help to protect him, but ap-

parently no one in our Governm

ent wanted him

to testify. S

hortly after his startling revelations, which

told so accurately the plans of the Krem

lin, he was

found in his hotel room in W

ashington, D. C

., shot to death. T

he death was pronounced suicide, but there

are too many sim

ilar instances to accept that verdict w

ithout reservations. A

nother former agent of the S

oviet Union w

ho had given us valuable inform

ation was found shortly

afterward dead from

a reported heart attack. Exam

i-nation disclosed that he had been shot through the eye w

ith a fine steel bullet. Still another informant w

as the victim

of a hit and run driver. In another case, C

omm

unist Party leaders created a justifiable suspicion that they knew

more about w

hat happened to one Juliet S

tuart Poyntz than they w

ere w

illing to tell. From our established know

ledge of what

the Soviets do to spies when they are through w

ith them

we m

ay safely assume that the lips of this A

merican

wom

an had been sealed forever. Witnesses have testi-

fied that she know too m

uch and was on the point of

breaking with her S

oviet masters.

This is no com

plete roster of anti-Com

munists

who have m

et untimely ends under suspicious circum

-stances, even in the U

nited States. M

ore recently, on T

hanksgiving morning 1959, the lifeless body of Povl

Bang-Jensen, D

anish representative to the UN

, who

had refused to betray the Hungarian F

reedom F

ight-ers, w

as discovered on a well-traveled path in a N

ew

York C

ity park. The circum

stances were such as to

lead many know

ledgable people to believe that this was

a case of murder by the C

omm

unist&

In Septem

ber 1938, when I tentatively suggested

118

the formation of a patriotic organization to com

bat N

aziism, Fascism

, and Com

munism

I received a letter from

Herbert B

ayard Sw

ope saying that he was inter-

ested. I was beginning to have doubts about the advis-

ability of the plan, and so advised him. Follow

ing my

address in October at the H

erald-Tribune F

orum in

New

York C

ity, Swope's representative insisted that I

call at his office. Swope told how

he had been respon-sible for R

oosevelt's early success, and was very flatter-

ing to me personally. H

e implied that he, or som

eone acting for him

, was in a position to change the P

resi-dent's opposition to m

e to an attitude of friendliness. H

e offered to make a contribution to set up a pow

erful anti-N

azi organization which I w

ould head. I told Mr.

Swope I had never accepted a contribution from

anyone, did not intend to, and w

as going to keep the investi-gation on a high plane. T

hat night, I learned that the President had issued his bitterest personal attack on m

e. O

n my return to W

ashington, I wrote S

wope,

summ

arizing our conversation and my refusal. M

y let-ter w

as fortunate, because shortly afterward the new

s correspondent M

arquis Childs, one of the ardent chron-

iclers and trumpeters of the N

ew D

eal, came to m

e and said that he had "heard that I had gone to see H

erbert Bayard S

wope for m

oney, and that there was

going to be a big exposé of it. I told him to go ahead,

and expose but to remem

ber that when he did I w

ould release the real story, including m

y fortituous letter to Sw

ope. Childs never w

rote the story, nor did Harlan

Miller, w

ho spoke to me about it later.

What w

as perhaps the most incredible and am

-bitious attem

pt to destroy the Dies C

omm

ittee was

made early in 1940, follow

ing our second Com

mittee

report. As I look back, it takes on a certain antique

Venetian flavor; it w

as the kind of device some old

courtier of the Middle A

ges might w

ell have used to rid his m

aster of a troublesome enem

y. 119

It beg

an o

n Jan

uary

22, 1

940, w

hen

Fran

k E

. H

ook (D

.-Mich

.) rose in

the H

ouse o

f Rep

resenta-

tives, an

d d

eclared in

tragic to

nes th

at it was h

is duty, "as a red-blooded A

merican," to present certain

facts. Hook p

roceed

ed to

unfu

rl his "facts." C

ongress-

man M

artin Dies had attended a banquet at w

hich Fritz

Kuhn, th

e Nazi B

und lead

er, was p

resent. D

ies had

corresponded, or lunched w

ith, or consorted in several diverse w

ays, with m

en who had know

n men w

ho had once spoken to m

en who w

ere mixed up w

ith Nazi and

Fascist elem

ents in Congressm

an Hook's beloved A

mer-

ica. Th

en cam

e Ho

ok

's piece d

e resistance, th

e final

thrust intended to end this Dies person and his devilish

investigation. A

ll that w

as uttered

up to

now

was a m

ere pro

-logue to this finale, this fatal m

orsel which H

ook pro-ceeded to fling dow

n before the horrified House of R

ep-sentatives. "T

he House," said M

r. Hook, "knew

well that

William

Dudley P

elley was a F

ascist. The D

ies Com

-m

ittee had

, after investig

ating h

im fo

r nin

ety d

ays,

bro

ught fo

rth n

oth

ing—

abso

lutely

noth

ing—

that

would

incrim

inate h

im." "W

hy?" d

eman

ded

Hook.

"Why w

as this man D

ies shielding Pelley?" T

he answer

to this question, Hook said, he held in his hand. H

e held in his patriot's hands photostatic copies of certain let-ters, w

hich

he to

ld th

e House, h

ad b

een w

ritten b

y

William

Dudley P

elley. C

ould

one d

oubt it? T

hey

were o

n P

y's o

wn

letterhead

s. Th

ey w

ere written

to D

avid

B M

ayn

e, P

elley's "resid

ent" in

Wash

ing

ton

, and

a mem

ber o

f the S

ilver Shirt L

egion, and they were signed "P

elley." T

hey

referred to

vario

us frien

dly

relation

ship

s that

existed between P

olley and Dies.

Pelley

was n

ot w

orry

ing

abo

ut a D

ies inv

estiga-

tion, these letters revealed,—not unless D

ies changed h

is min

d. "A

s I travel th

rou

gh

the co

un

try," ran

on

e of th

e dam

nin

g ep

istles Hook w

aved

at the H

ouse,

120

"frequently discussing 1940 political issues, I am m

ore th

an ev

er con

vin

ced th

at the g

reatest issue to

be d

e-cided w

ill be the continuance of the Dies C

omm

ittee. T

he issue rests between D

ies' supporters and the White

House. If F

.D.R

. wins, D

ies is done ; and if Dies w

ins, there w

ill be no third term for R

oosevelt, neither will

there b

e a dictato

rship

. Fu

rtherm

ore, w

ho

ever w

ins

Mr. D

ies' end

orsem

ent fo

r the P

residen

cy w

ill be

elected." T

hus sp

ake P

elley's letters. T

here it w

as—th

e case again

st Dies—

in all its h

ideo

us lin

eamen

ts. D

ies, a political hero of Pelley, the F

ascist villian I T

his was expected to solve the D

ies problem.

Ho

wev

er, the real sto

ry w

as differen

t. It was

Gard

ner Jack

son, fo

rmerly

and su

bseq

uen

tly o

n th

e G

overnment payroll, w

ho had conceived the brilliant idea of disposing of D

ies by linking him w

ith Pelley.

Jackson had been connected with som

e of the organi-zatio

ns in

vestig

ated b

y th

e Com

mittee. Jack

son em

-ployed a youth nam

ed Harold W

eiskjrg, who had been

with the L

aFollette C

ivil Liberties C

omm

ittee, to get evidence that D

ies was trafficking w

ith Pelley. W

eis-bur got in touch w

ith Mayne, and prom

ised him a G

ov-ernm

ent job if he could link Dies w

ith Pelley. W

eisburg sp

ent th

ree week

s rakin

g th

rou

gh

files furn

ished

by

M

ayne, and found nothing. Mayne, pressed for results,

and tem

pted

by th

e pro

spect o

f a Govern

men

t job,

finally

pro

du

ced a letter, w

hich

he so

ld to

Jackso

n

for $105. Jackson invited a group of ten C

ongressmen, in-

clud

ing

Ho

ok

, and

two

New

Deal m

emb

ers of o

ur

Com

mittee to his hom

e for dinner, for a strategy meet-

ing on how to destroy the D

ies Com

mittee. T

he company

being properly softened with drinks and a good dinner,

Jackson passed around photographs of the letters sup-plied

by M

ayne, an

d ask

ed h

is guests to

join

in an

attack

on th

e Com

mittee an

d m

yself, in

an effo

rt to

defeat th

e resolu

tion to

exten

d th

e Com

mittee's life.

121

John M

. Coffee, (D

.-Wash

.), an ard

ent N

ew

Dealer, observed the letters did not look genuine to him

, and he w

anted no part of it. Hook, how

ever, declared h

imself p

erfectly satisfied

, and

prep

ared to

mak

e the

attack. On the day before the R

ules Com

mittee w

as to decide about continuation of the C

omm

ittee, Hook took

the floor, and delivered the speech. N

aturally

, the sto

ry w

as wid

ely p

ub

lished

in th

e new

spap

ers. I was in

Tex

as, but S

ecretary S

triplin

g

went to Jerry V

oorhis, a mem

ber of the Com

mittee, and

asked

to ex

amin

e the letters. W

hen

Voorh

is called

Hook, to

ask h

im to

gran

t the req

uest, H

ook refu

sed!

Strip

ling lo

cated M

ayne at h

is hom

e, and ask

ed

him to com

e to the Com

mittee office. U

nder question-in

g, M

ayne read

ily ad

mitted

that th

e letters were

forged, and had been purchased by Jackson. Stripling

demanded to know

the whereabouts of P

elley, and when

May

ne seem

ed frig

hten

ed at th

is, hin

ted th

at a Co

m-

mittee su

bpoen

a mig

ht sav

e Pelley

from

the N

orth

C

arolina authorities who w

ere looking for him to serve

a susp

ended

senten

ce involv

ing b

lue sk

y law

s. Nex

t m

orning Pelley w

alked into the Com

mittee office. T

he C

om

mittee w

as called, an

d P

elley d

enied

that h

e had

ev

er met o

r written

to D

ies. Pelley

later repeated

his

denials before the Rules C

omm

ittee. T

he ty

pew

riter on w

hich

the fo

rged

letters were

written w

as located, and while H

ook was on the floor

comm

encing his second tirade against the Com

mittee,

Rep

. Fra

nk

Keefe

walk

ed

in w

ith th

e e

vid

en

ce,

den

ou

nced

the attack

, and

dem

and

ed th

at Ho

ok

's re-m

arks b

e exp

un

ged

from

the reco

rd. H

oo

k w

as dis-

credited, and took a severe beating at the hands of the R

ules Com

mittee.

Bu

t this w

as no

t qu

ite all. Th

rou

gh

the A

ttorn

ey

Gen

eral, two F

BI m

en w

ere imm

ediately

assigned

, ostensibly to investigate the authenticity of the letters, but actually to investigate S

tripling and myself, w

hile

122

Hook repeated his charges. T

he Adm

inistration got into the act. A

stooge working for the F

ederal Com

munica-

tions Com

mission volunteered to the press the inform

a-tio

n th

at "Rep

resentativ

e Dies h

as received

as man

y

favorable references in Axis propaganda in this coun-

try as an

y liv

ing A

merican

public fig

ure." W

hen

I im

mediately announced that F

.C.C

. employees assigned

to monitoring A

xis propaganda would be subpoenaed

the Com

mission quickly repudiated its falsehood.

One of m

y lesser crimes, trum

peted by Hook in his

orig

inal tirad

e, was m

y d

elivery

of a sp

eech to

the

Eco

nom

ic Council o

f New

York

. It was a d

inner

meeting for w

hich anyone could buy a ticket. As I sat

do

wn

, I spo

tted F

ritz Ku

hn

, fueh

rer of th

e Germ

an-

Am

erican B

un

d, an

d fo

ur o

r five o

f his lieu

tenan

ts, seated at a table. I knew

that the Liberals m

ight seize upon th

e mere p

resence o

f these N

azis to ch

arge th

at I w

as addressin

g a N

azi gro

up. T

herefo

re, when

I arose to speak I addressed m

y initial remarks directly

to Herr K

uhn and his cohorts. I denounced the Germ

an-A

merican B

und as a tool of Hitler, called for its prose-

cutio

n, an

d m

ade a p

lea for th

e religio

us an

d racial

toleran

ce which

is the b

asis of tru

e Am

ericanism

. N

otw

ithstan

din

g m

y stu

died

efforts th

e Lib

eral press th

roughout th

e country

carried p

ictures o

f the

Bu

nd

leaders, h

eadlin

ing

the fact th

at I was th

e prin

-cip

al speak

er at this d

inner m

eeting w

hich

they

had

attended! L

iberal radio comm

entators and columnists,

and New

Deal office holders, continued for years to rake

up and repeat the lies of the forged Pelley letters, and

my speech to the E

conomic C

ouncil dinner. N

ew D

ealers, in an

d o

ut o

f the G

ov

ernm

ent,

blamed the D

ies Com

mittee for F

rank Murphy's defeat

in his bid for reelection as Governor of M

ichigan. The

President consoled M

urphy by making him

U. S

. At-

torney General, and later appointed him

Associate Jus-

tice of the Suprem

e Court.

123

The late M

rs. Evelyn W

alsh McL

ean was at that

time an

ou

tstand

ing

ho

stess in W

ashin

gto

n, an

d a

warm

and devoted friend of Mrs. D

ies and myself:-M

rs. M

cLean

was a rem

arkab

le wom

an, w

ith a b

rilliant

mind and deep loyalties. S

he believed deeply in the w

ork of the Com

mittee, and her varied contacts often

enabled her to furnish us invaluable information. W

hen she telephoned m

e to say that Justice Murphy had asked

her to

arrang

e a priv

ate con

ference w

ith m

e in h

er hom

e, I was reluctant, but accepted.

Wheh

Mrs. D

ies and I arriv

ed to

meet Ju

stice M

urphy, I could see that he was visibly agitated and

troubled. He shook hands and said, "M

r. Dies, I know

you have no reason to like or respect m

e. I am asham

ed of m

y ro

le in th

e sit-dow

n strik

es, but I w

as under

terrific pressure from the P

resident and many of m

y political friends, and I let them

pressure me against m

y better instincts. B

ut be that as it may, it is all now

past and beyond recall. M

y purpose in asking you to meet

me here is to tell you that I am

deeply concerned about the future of our country. I know

that the Com

munists

hav

e infiltrated

our G

overn

men

t, and th

at they

are sending valuable inform

ation to Moscow

, and are in-fluencing our foreign policy. Y

ou, Mr. D

ies are the only m

an in Am

erican who can say this, and regard-

less of the beating you are taking, I urge you to con-tinue your w

ork." T

here was m

uch more along the sam

e line, but this w

as the substance of his confession. I assured Justice M

urphy that I would persevere as long as m

y health perm

itted and as long as I could be reelected. M

urphy's story was not new

s to me, but his frank and

sincere confession confirmed m

y convictions. His heavy

obligations to the President, and his S

upreme C

ourt position, precluded a public adm

ission of his deep re-gret for his m

istake. His confession changed m

y feeling tow

ard him. I felt pity and sym

pathy for a good man

124

who w

as not strong enough to stand up in the face of the pow

er and prestige of the Presidency.

One m

ore revealing case history deserves mention

here bcause of its underlying significance. The story,

has been told by the Dies C

omm

ittee Secretary Stripling (w

ith all the deep-seated sense of humor and philosoph-

ical resignation necessary for all anti-Com

munists) in

his book, published in 1949, and now unfortunately

long out of print. His chapter heading is "O

ne Way to

Join the Arm

y."' It happened that tw

o of the final items on the D

ies C

omm

ittee agenda had to do with the issuance of a

visa for Mrs. E

arl Brow

der, and with the C

IO's P

olit-ical A

ction Com

mittee (P

AC

). In O

ctober 1944, Secretary of S

tate Cordell H

ull had inform

ed his staff that a visa must be issued to

Mrs. B

rowder "for the good of the country," since the

President w

as planning to meet again w

ith Stalin.

Because of the num

ber of its founders and sup-porters listed in our files the D

ies Com

mittee had been

interested

in th

e form

ation o

f the P

AC

by th

e late S

idney Hillm

an. We subpoenaed from

the New

York

Telephone C

ompany its record of incom

ing and outgoing long distance calls at P

AC

headquarters. These show

ed an astonishing num

ber of calls to the White H

ouse, m

ade by Hillm

an and others. Calls from

the White

House to P

AC

were largely m

ade by David N

iles, vari-ous P

residential secretaries, and Mrs. R

oosevelt. S

tripling at the time w

as in his thirties, married,

a pre-P

earl Harb

or fath

er, and h

ad b

een p

laced o

n

the deferred list by the Legislative D

eferment C

om-

mittee, headed by S

enator Burnet R

. Maybank. (D

-S

.C.) N

everth

eless, after the P

AC

story

was o

ut,

Stripling w

as called up by his draft board, and was

advised that there was a lot of pressure to put him

in the A

rmy on "direct orders from

the State D

irector of S

elective Service." S

hortly thereafter, Stripling w

as 125

asked

to call in

cognito

at the S

elective S

ervice H

ead-

quarters, where tw

o elderly Colonels suggested that he

get a job with G

lenn Martin C

ompany, w

hich they be-lieved w

ould make him

eligible for deferment. H

e de-clin

ed th

e sug

gestio

n.

As h

e was w

indin

g u

p h

is duties as S

ecretary o

f the C

omm

ittee, to enter military service, S

tripling was

adv

ised th

at Sen

ator M

ayb

ank

had

arrang

ed fo

r a thirty-day deferm

ent. Within five days he w

as ordered to

repo

rt. Pressu

res on

the d

raft bo

ard, in

clud

ing

the

needling by columnist D

rew P

earson and others, proved m

ore powerful than the norm

al and orderly procedures of a C

ongressional Com

mittee. O

ne week after induc-

tion soldier Stripling w

as visited by an Arm

y Captain

from W

ashington, D.C

., who offered him

a comm

ission, and a

perm

anent a

ssignm

ent, a

nd sta

ted th

at h

e

would

send

for h

im in

a cou

ple o

f day

s. Alth

ough h

e could not reveal this at the tim

e, what the C

aptain had in

min

d w

as security

work

on th

e A-b

om

b p

roject.

Nothing cam

e of this, nor of at least two m

ore re-quests for assignm

ent in intelligence work. P

acking to go overseas w

ith his outfit, Stripling w

as told that the S

ecretary o

f War h

ad o

rdered

him

kep

t in th

e States.

Visiting W

ashington in October 1945, C

hairman

Joh

n S

. Wo

od

, (D-G

a.) of H

CU

A to

ld S

triplin

g th

at they needed him

, and that he was going to get him

out of serv

ice imm

ediately

. Upon h

is return

to cam

p,

Strip

ling

was to

ld th

at ord

ers had

been

received

to

send h

im to

Tokyo. H

e used

the cu

stom

ary o

verseas

ord

ers furlo

ugh to

visit h

is family

. When

he retu

rned

to cam

p to pack for his Tokyo assignm

ent, he was told

that o

rder fro

m the S

ecretary o

f State h

ad tak

en h

im

off o

rders. H

is book th

us relates th

e win

d-u

p o

f his

fantastic Arm

y career : "F

or the next few m

onths, I functioned as a casual around the cam

p, working now

and then at latrine duty and at o

ther tim

es as sweep

er at the O

fficers' Club.

126

Tow

ard th

e end o

f the p

eriod

I becam

e messenger

bo

y, b

ut in

Janu

ary, 1

94

6. I g

ot m

y first d

efinite

assignment." T

his was as a m

ember of the faculty of the

Co

un

ter-Intellig

ence co

urse, w

ith h

is sub

ject "Su

b-

versiv

e Activ

ities in th

e United

States." H

is story

concludes :

"It was in

this ro

le that I com

pleted my A

rmy

career. I got a kick out of it, of course, and was a little

proud to rise dizzily to the estate of Master S

ergeant after h

avin

g b

een a y

ardbird

for so

long. T

he ex

tra m

oney, I might add, cam

e in very handy. We had had

a difficu

lt time in

that d

epartm

ent."

While S

tripling, with seven years experience in-

vestig

ating C

om

munism

, pick

ed u

p scrap

pap

er and cigarette butts from

the Arm

y parade grounds, Alger

Hiss sat at th

e elbow

of th

e Chief E

xecu

tive an

d

Com

mander-in-C

hief at Yalta.

127