COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

foreign American Activities Committee was doing a good job with so much trouble in the World Congress should know about any subversion here at home have you been a member of the Communist party at any time in the course of the last year I have not have you been a member of the Communist party at any time in the course of the last two years no have you been a member of the comedy course over the last three years it's about 25 years ago back in 1938 I'm out of work and so are millions of others people are looking for an answer to the depression foreign parties on the ballot in several States and has about 70 000 members they can't get their candidates elected but they certainly draw a lot of attention [Applause] [Music] the Ku Klux Klan parades at night their plan to save the country calls for getting rid of everyone whose race or religion they don't like attention I pledge on the virus allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all I know it's hard to believe today but right here in America thousands wore the swastika and shouted they were patriots and wanted us to do in the USA what Hitler was doing in Germany well we're living in a free country as long as they didn't do anything illegal they they could say whatever they wanted to but I guess some people were afraid afraid that the millions of unemployed might be convinced Congress sets up a special committee to investigate the extent character and objects about American propaganda activities in the United States Martin Dies of Texas is the first chairman if columnists are working in our National Defense Industries for the purpose of sabotaging our preparedness program through strikes slowdowns explosions under the destructive acts the only way that we can defeat their aims and purposes is to expose them before they strike and to get them out of these industries was the source of your procurement of this information and intelligent source of unimpeachable reliability and integrity I consider this such so yes sir is it a source concerning which we cannot make a revelation on a public record because of security reasons yes sir The Source should not be identified in public session a lot of information comes from these sources probably secret FBI agents inside the Communist party but the big news comes from what the committee calls its friendly Witnesses were you arrested as a hardcore member of a one-time hardcore member of the Communist Party under the Smith Act yes were you actually sentenced under the Smith Act as a hardcore conspirator all the party itself yes you have have you not broken irrevocably finally from this respiratorial force that I certainly have you have found your way back to God into patriotism John P Frye official of the AF of L charge its scores of CIO unions communist dominated cry names 283 Union men as Reds testimony given more than six million Americans are subversive suspicion cast on certain Catholic organizations the Boy Scouts and the campfire girls J Parnell Thomas of the Un-American Activities says that the New Deal is working along hand in club with a Communist party all those Progressive things taxing us just to feed those too lazy to work using our money to build things in other parts of the country letting the unions take over now we know it's all part of a red plot President Roosevelt has denounced the dies committee as being sorted flagrantly unfair and Un-American leading new dealers charge that instead of investigating for law making purposes the committee and its right-wing supporters are exploiting the Public's concern over communism to slander loyal organizations and individuals but committee chairman Martin Dies defend his exposes the committee is the only agency of government that has a power of exposure therefore this investigation must learn without fear or favor and our slogan must be no quarter to the enemies of our country [Music] Motion Picture Association president welcome Congressional investigation of Hollywood the motion picture industry has been accused of putting subversive and Un-American propaganda on the screen we deny that without any reservation the pictures themselves are complete proof of its falsity we're accused of having Communists and communist sympathizers in our employee undoubtedly there are such persons in Hollywood as you will find elsewhere in America but we neither Shield nor defend them we want them exposed a packed house caucus room here's Jay Parnell Thomas chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee opened the hearings this committee under its mandate from the House of Representatives has the responsibility of exposing and spotlighting subversive elements wherever they may exist it is only to be expected that such helmets would strive desperately to gain entry to the motion picture industry in reply to committee questioning on the employment of Communists in the film industry Mr Warner States I'm absolutely against them I would not engage them personally and I've said that and I will always say that no place for them in the American way of life I don't care if it's an emotion pictures or in Grand Rapids where they make furniture in Detroit with Motorcars or any other industry I'm very very emphatic about that in Hollywood in Grand Rapids in Detroit all over the country business and industry leaders agree with Jack Warner and are firing people the friendly Witnesses provide the names the committee gives them to the press and the newspaper headlines tell the public when a committee of Congress says someone belongs to an organization intent on overthrowing our constitution you can't afford to have him working in your place in fact you're better off not being seen too near him or his family people might think you agree with his ideas Mammoth parade including units from Duquesne University the American slovene home veterans girl and boy scouts and the Veterans of Foreign Wars marches through Pittsburgh's famed Golden Triangle to the Stanley Theater for the world premiere of Iowa's a communist for the FBI Warner's Motion Picture tribute to a Native Son of Pittsburgh Matt spedick National Commander Lewis Feldman presents FedEx with a citation from the VFW and spedick is congratulated by radio's Tommy Bartlett sometimes one of the friendly Witnesses like Harvey matuso changes his story and says he's been lying about communist subversion but most of them stick to their testimony without the help of these people the committee would have a really hard time of it americanism is under attack back communism at home and abroad we are defending it against that attack but americanism is also under another kind of an attack the growing practice of character assassination is already curbing free speech and it is threatening all our other freedoms for I know you have no way of telling when some unfounded accusation may be hurled at you perhaps straight from the halls of Congress well politicians are politicians it's almost like back when FDR and the dies committee were battling anyway didn't Truman start all that loyalty oath and security clearance business himself that's not fair play that's not americanism it's not the American way to slur the loyalty and besmirch the character of the innocent and the guilty of life I direct you to answer that question my name was smear in the headlines of all the local newspapers I have been harassed for us he is going to give another Communist Party speech these are my constitutional grounds Mr chairman and I wish to stay within my own words right State your constitutional grounds my name is urban Whitaker I'm associate professor of international relations at San Francisco State College even before the United States Constitution was adopted there was agitation for a Bill of Rights to be added to it to protect Americans and particularly their right to dissent this agitation had its roots in Europe where for many centuries Kings had silenced those who wanted to dissent against them but democracy and freedom were going to develop not long after the U.S Constitution was established it was put to a severe test there were Revolutions in Europe and Americans were afraid a wave of fear and hysteria swept the country the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 made it a crime for Americans to criticize their government Thomas Jefferson led the successful fight to have the Alien and Sedition Acts repealed I know about all that I learned as a child that it's my duty as an American to think and speak freely and to stand up for other people's right to do the same the First Amendment to the Constitution affirms my freedom Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances John Howard Lawson refused to answer the question are you a member of the Communist Party or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party and other questions he is attempting to thwart the hearings and investigations of this committee the Supreme Court agreed with the committee by deciding that the rights of the individual had to be balanced against the national interest that the Constitution's guarantees weren't absolute therefore it is the unanimous opinion of this subcommittee that John Howard Lawson is in contempt of congress nobody wants to go to jail so now most of the unfriendly Witnesses also claim the protection of the Fifth Amendment to rest my case solely on the First Amendment would condemn me to years of Court action at enormous cost that had cost me my home and impoverished my family for a very long time to come which of course is what this committee desires therefore I also refused to testify under my right not to be a witness against myself a right originated to protect the Innocents a person who is accused of a crime and chooses to remain silent can't be tortured or forced to confess like in some countries you read in the papers every day about someone claiming this right nobody goes to jail for doing it because according to the law you're innocent until proven guilty but unconstitutional right or not the committee tells us that anyone who won't answer its questions must be a subversive in a lot of communities you can't hold a civil service or teaching job and in some states those who claim the Fifth Amendment can't even get a permit to be a cab driver it's natural for a Communist Party member not to answer you needn't have ever actually joined in a plot just belonging to the party and understanding communist theories is considered a crime but why would anyone who wasn't in the party want to keep quiet your name is already in the papers and the committee protects those who cooperate even if you were once in the party wouldn't it be more sensible to tell the committee especially if you don't believe in it anymore I do not like subversion or disloyalty in any form and if I had ever seen any I would have considered it my duty to have reported it to the proper authorities but to hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago to save myself is to me inhuman and indecent and dishonorable I am prepared to weigh the privilege against self-incrimination and to tell you anything you wish to know about my views or actions if your committee will agree to refrain from asking me to name other people the courts have ruled that once you answer questions about yourself you have to answer questions about other people as well I have ordered you to answer the question you haven't answered it now Council proceed with the next question well since you refuse me the privilege of answering only questions pertaining to myself and I will in no circumstances be an Informer the United forced me to stand on my constitutional right of not being compelled to testify as a witness against myself but but isn't the national security at stake and isn't it important that they get the names of as many people as they can they must have good reason for for demanding this if I had to do it I well I I have never had anything to do with this left-wing stuff my name is Phil Burton and I'm a member of the California State Assembly if I understand the process and the basic on the political attitudes of their servants their elected officials and not the right of elected officials to sit in judgment on the political opinions of the people [Music] J.B Matthews an ex-marxist and former Methodist missionary says that 7 000 Protestant clergyman are Reds how could they get so many men of God to join them aren't the Communists atheists how could they do it testimony by several expert ex-communists before the committee reveals how red clergymen hide behind what they call the Social Gospel my Reverend is always preaching about things like that our duty to our fellow men helping the poor Racial equality social injustice but I've known him for years he couldn't be one of them those those seven thousand of course no clergyman admits he's a communist when he is one he's required to keep his membership secret but he still does communist work Dr Henry J Cadbury a Harvard professor of divinity and a Quaker pacifist belonged to a group called The Fellowship of reconciliation friendly Witnesses told the committee that several other members of the fellowship were Reds the fellowship called for peace with all nations the Russians called for peaceful coexistence the committee said that all this added up to the fellowship being a pro-red front according to them Dr Cadbury was a member of a subversive organization Dr Cadbury was one of the 95 closuremen who worked on the revised Standard Version of the Bible for the National Council of churches the committee said it had information linking 30 of these 95 clergymen like Dr Cadbury to various Red Front groups committee chairman Francis Walter of Pennsylvania declared the leadership of the National Council of churches which fraudulently claims to speak for 38 million American Protestants has in the aggregate a record of hundreds of affiliations with communist fronts and causes but National organizations of the Catholic methodists and other churches State guilt by association as used by the committee can connect practically every person in the country to the Communists and proves nothing individual clergyman come out for themselves and criticize the committee like Reverend Edward L Pete of Sacramento California I have seen this committee publish and circulate false and defamatory material about church institutions and church leaders I have seen this committee interfere in a church dispute in a matter of contrary to the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state I've seen them fill their files with derogatory material against people whose views they opposed and then circulate that material with a maximum injury I've seen them employ ex-communists as informers to accuse and bring it disrepute honored Ministers of the Gospel I've seen them create in America a climate of Suspicion of fear and of conformity I have seen them walk hand in hand with extremists on the right who persist in applying the Communist label to the National and world councils of churches the committee is about to open its June 1957 hearings in the San Francisco area among those subpoenaed is William K Sherwood said by the committee to have belonged to a Marxist study group while a college student in 1938. Sherwood a Stanford University Research scientist was exploring the biochemical nature of cancer and mental illness he left some farewell letters my life and livelihood are now threatened by the house committee I will in two days be assassinated by publicity I would love to spend the next few years in Laboratories and I would hate to spend them in jail I have a fierce resentment of being televised my name is Burton Wolfe I'm editor of the Californian magazine I was one of those who did not want to abolish the committee entirely but only to curb some of its abuses it was because of and only because of the demonstration and its aftermath that people like me became completely opposed to the committee people must ask themselves why such a thing took place opposition out here gelled first in 1959 when the committee announced that it would call a group of school teachers Mr Bernard selba of the California Democratic Council we condemn the hit and run tactics of a house on American Activities Committee which served over 100 subpoenas to California school teachers and published many of their names in the papers we don't think the committee has the right to publicly imply that one is Un-American without first proving its case the damage is obvious the committee cancels the plan spring 1959 hearings in April 1960 the committee again announces hearings to be held in San Francisco and once again public criticism is heard Thursday May 12th hundreds arrive early at the city hall for the hearings announced as open to the public the committee issues special white card passes to a hundred of its supporters each pass good for several persons committee investigator wheeler says he issued the White cards to keep the Communists from stacking the hearing room the students protest they'd been lied to when they were told that the hearings would be open to the public a noon rally is held in Union Square at which one thousand people hear Episcopal Cannon Richard Byfield and California state assemblyman Burton and O'Connell criticize the committee the students who organized the rally set up a silent picket line outside City Hall there are communists inside the hearing room a small number of the witnesses being self-admitted members of the party open the door open the door open a door they loudly complain that the committee has refused to consider their petition to open the doors to Spectators on a first come first serve basis [Music] this is americanism what this American is in an accident Washington [Applause] these Communists or communist pinkos have to give their name and address and that stamps them in the community and it might be an interesting thing to note that if War ever comes out ever comes forward which we hope will never come that different War veteran organizations knowing these names can strike the first blow at these people and finish them off before they can do any harm Friday May 13th the second day this morning the guards again let in the white card holding guests of the committee and once more most of the people waiting in line are refused admission during the noon recess Sheriff Carberry tells them that their protest singing is disturbing the courts gonna be letting first my dear young lady I explained yesterday and today as far as White cards I knew nothing about it did not know anything about as far as I'm concerned so people who I hear will be admitted by the committee we should cooperate with you until two o'clock and if you keep your promise and let everybody go into that Hall this time if the law enforcement agencies do not cooperate with us we do use our reassembly our right to petition we do it orderly but we do it Lively youngsters are brainwashed they're absolutely brainwashed I feel sorry for them and their some of them are nice looking youngsters the students stop singing and line up outside the hearing room the sheriff gets the committee to agree to admit people on a first-come first-serve basis but the guards opened the doors for the afternoon session and once again admit the white card holders first and some parental discipline they might become good citizens [Applause] complaining that they have been deceived they demonstrate loudly again [Applause] the hosing came across the barricade with their clubs out to help with struck in the faith [Applause] these are holding out a bearded student a woman a woman is make testing and they are dragging her out too the police have grabbed the negrobe and are dragging him down the stairs on his on his back [Music] blood mixed with the water on the floor of the city hall [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he was arrested yeah the television men want some music put those lights on you understand you want the lights I want the lights on precisely I want the fullest layer of publicity in this committee's activity are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party sir I am 42 years of age and I've never had to face a jury as defendant or grand jury as witness in my life I have committed no crime under any of the laws of this country and am not engaging subversion I certainly shall not answer questions representing allegations against me made by persons not present and not identified whom I cannot confront and whom my lawyer cannot cross-examine after that truthfulness do you honestly apprehend sir that if you told this committee truthfully while you're under oath whether or not you are now this instant or ever have been a member of the Communist Party you would be supplying information which might be used against you in a criminal proceeding honorable beaters of children and sadists uniformed and in plain clothes distinguished dixiecrat wearing the clothing of a gentleman eminent Republican who opposes an accommodation with a one country with which we must live at peace in order for us all and our children to survive my boy of 15 left this room a few minutes ago in Sound Health and not jailed solely because I asked him to be in here to learn something about the procedures of the United States government and one of its committees had he been outside where it's sort of a friend of mine had his head split by these goons operating under your orders my boy today might have paid the penalty of permanent injury or a police record for the pitiford Desiring to come here and hear how this committee operates if you think that I am going to cooperate with this collection of judas's of men who sit there in violation of the United States Constitution if you think I will cooperate with you in any way you are insane Saturday the third and last day of hearings five thousand pick and onlookers surround City Hall and Shout charges of police brutality the police claim they had to turn on the fire hoses when a student attacked one of them with his own club the interior of the city hall is closed to the public the hearings end without further incident two days later the committee subpoenis the newsreels taken by San Francisco television stations these films are turned over to Washington video productions a privately owned studio and edited down to a 45-minute picture under the supervision of committee staff member Fulton Lewis III and I thought you and the wife would like to come over the hall tonight and see this film put out by the Un-American Activities Committee it shows how the Reds have taken over the colleges operation abolition ladies and gentlemen Congressman Francis e Walter Democrat from Pennsylvania and chairman of the house committee on Un-American Activities operation abolition this is what the Communists call their current drive to destroy the house committee on Un-American Activities to weaken the Federal Bureau of Investigation to discredit its great director J Edgar Hoover and to render sterile the security laws of our government among the Communist leaders who had an active part in the San Francisco abolition campaign and the protest demonstrations were Harry Bridges whom you see here being escorted out of City Hall by police officials moments before the rioting broke out one student provides the spark that touches off the violence when he leaps over a barricade grabs a police officer's night stick and begins beating the officer over the head as the mob surges forward to storm the doors a Police Inspector orders at the fire hoses be turned on communist and pro-communist press of course charge police brutality their press accounts of the rioting describe repeated incidents of policemen cruelly beating innocent students these films taken by newsmen on the scene edited only to the point of removing repetition show a clear example of a lack of respect for truth which is common practice within the Communist propaganda press Congressman Joe Hansen these students whose activities you have just witnessed whether they realize it or not are as I pointed out to them in San Francisco toying with treason not for the purpose ful techniques of congressional committees and not for the purpose of Defending civil liberties as they would have you believe but for the about objective of destroying the committee on Un-American Activities and our nation's entire security program J Edgar Hoover the director of the FBI wrote a report on the rise for the committee in it he repeats their charge that a student leaped over the barricade and clubbed the policeman and he also says that the Communist party was behind the whole thing I read in the papers that almost 2 000 copies of this film have been sold our club bought one to show at the schools here they're a hundred dollars a piece but some people are asking by what law the committee took over the newsreels belonging to television stations and then gave these films to a private company two thousand copies at a hundred dollars a piece is a lot of money who gets it and why is it that newspapers like the New York Times And The Washington Post say the film isn't telling the truth why has the defense department ordered the Armed Forces to stop showing it ladies and gentlemen the film which you have just seen operation abolition as many of you may not know is an official document of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States it would seem to be therefore that it must of necessity be entirely correct because it is an official document and I think I can show you very quickly that not only does it have many in correct statements in it but that on top of that these misstatements have not been corrected which to me is a very sorry thing to have happened to an official government document there's only one scene which shows an agitator in the entire film those of us who know this young man know his name is Burton white and that he is a PhD candidate at the University of California that he's not a communist and that he teaches in the English Department and I've sat in audiences and listened to people's reaction to this film and heard them say see that the film shows that this is a communist leading the students and they have no way of understanding that these are not the facts and that they are being shown something which is not true the demonstration was organized by students entirely and carried out by students this I know after a year and a half of research Harry Bridges is made to appear as if he had a part in all of this disturbance when in actuality in this one instance a an employee of the committee has actually admitted that at the time of the disturbance he was nowhere around that's what J Edgar Hoover says too order had been restored when Harry Bridges president of the international longshoremans and warehouseman's Union suddenly appeared on the scene if what J Edgar Hoover says is true then the scenes of Harry Bridges at City Hall must have been taken out of their proper sequence and spliced in before the scenes of the housings there have been widespread charges that the film is full of such distortions that it lies about almost everything that happened in San Francisco but the committee says that criticism of its film is communist inspired the committee uh definitely says in the film that the whole thing was touched off by a student a student who jumped over a barricade and hit a policeman on the head but my friends as a matter of fact this particular accusation was made against the student that was accused of doing this he was brought to trial in San Francisco my name is Robert meisenbach I am a student at the University of California I did not participate in the demonstrations but were standing off to the side when the students sat down suddenly without warning high pressure fire hoses were turned on by the police drenched to the skin I tried to leave the city hall I was immediately tackled from behind by a policeman beaten to the floor arrested and charged with inciting a riot disturbing the peace and resisting arrest and also assault with a deadly weapon one of the most important pieces of evidence in the trial was a Life magazine photo which it showed me standing at least 30 feet away at the time the police turned on the fire hoses sworn testimony by dozens of witnesses showed that neither I nor anyone else had resorted to violence against the police after 11 days of trial and one thousand pages of testimony the jury found me not guilty and all charges against me were dropped his case was completely dismissed after a jury trial he was fully acquitted and even the prosecution finally admitted in court that they were not presenting any such evidence because there was no such evidence and yet in the film it is stated as a fact and to make matters even worse my friends it is even stated as a fact by Mr J Edgar Hoover and I am hoping that he will also now retract it now that the facts are well known and have been tried in a court of justice in addition we are opposed to the committee out here in San Francisco because we have seen a number of people liable by what is said in the film and in the house committee's reports on what took place if I should call you a communist you could sue me for damages at the trial unless I could prove what I said about you was true and this would be open to the rules of evidence and cross-examination I might be found guilty of libel in order to pay you thousands or maybe even millions of dollars after all you might have lost your job had your whole life ruined because of what I said most people don't give you the benefit of the doubt where communism is concerned but when a congressman says something he's protected by law from being sued and when an ordinary citizen appears before a committee of Congress whatever he says is also protected by this privilege so if I were to appear as a friendly witness and tell the committee that you're a red or a fellow traveler of course this is just for the sake of discussion just to show you how it works I could do so without fear of your suing me I could say whatever I wanted to about you or your next door neighbor or your priest or even the president neither you nor your lawyer could cross-examine or challenge me it's against the committee's rules it's in pretty small print I'll admit but there it is at the bottom of page seven the committee has given frequent and diligent consideration to this subject and has determined that in order to carry out its responsibilities imposed by law The Rules of Evidence including cross-examination are not applicable remember that Army Major who called mayor yordi of Los Angeles read he was only quoting from the files of the committee the accusation was made back in 1938 by a convicted burglar and even though chairman Walter now says the charges are discredited they were kept in the files for 25 years and they were used against the mayor in 1962. even in cases like this where the committee finally admits that one of their friendly Witnesses was lying they never tried to get him indicted for perjury it might make them look bad for having accepted his testimony in the first place my name is Marshall windmiller I'm an assistant professor of international relations at San Francisco State College the house on American Activities Committee claims to be a major bulwark against the expansionism of Communism both here and abroad in my view this is a false claim indeed as I view this committee it is a definite impediment for dealing with this challenge to democracy there are a number of reasons for this first of all is the tendency of the committee to create the impression among the American people that all kinds of political reform movements abroad and domestically are linked with Communism this creates a climate in which the reform which is necessary to meet the challenge of Communism becomes very difficult it therefore causes contempt for the Congress and for our institutions both at home and abroad and by undermining the fabric of American democracy it weakens our capability to respond to the Communist challenge we do need the positive approach of a house American Activities Committee which will search the length and breadth of this land for ways to encourage people to speak their minds when the committee held hearings in Atlanta they subpoenaed Frank Wilkinson who's been leading a nationwide movement to abolish the committee they asked him and Carl Braden a white man active in the integration movement about Communist party activity in the south rather than claim the protection of the Fifth Amendment they both insisted that the first amendment gave them the right to refuse to answer both of them were cited for contempt Frank Wilkinson had to travel across the country to the federal penitentiary he was invited to speak at the University of California by a student group committee supporters demanded that Governor Brown prevent Wilkinson from speaking but both the governor and University president Clark Kerr insisted he had a right to be heard for every voice which asks for abolition of the Un-American Activities Committee and is silenced in jail a thousands of new voices will be raised and most significantly many of these will be the new generation of American students we will not save free speech if we are not prepared to go to jail in its defense I am prepared to pay that price are all these people just duped misled ignorant of the truth or are there complaints legitimate they charge that the committee after 25 years of hearings after spending over five million dollars of the taxpayers money has never uncovered any information that's brought one person to trial for Espionage sabotage or treason they charge that the committee is not concerned with Communism at all but with gaining political power through using the Communist label as a weapon against their opponents they've attacked the New Deal the Fair Deal the Eisenhower Republicans Reverend Wyatt T Walker of Atlanta says that we cannot possibly saw the desegregation process in the South without the help of many many white people of Good Feeling and the effect of hughac the house and American Activities Committee has been that of penalizing any white person who stands up and tries to help us in solving the integration struggle it means now that any person who is associated in any way with the integration struggle is a communist or left or labeled as pink many of you probably know Carl Braden is the prime example it is a paradox that he is serving a one-year federal prison term for contempt of this committee while George Lincoln Rockwell runs around loose with his hate bus willy-nilly uh if we follow the syllogism of natural logic one would think with some exaggeration that if you want to stay out of federal prison then join the American Nazi party I can't believe that a committee of Congress would approve of the Nazis but when they support the committee a lot of people could jump to conclusions chairman Walter says Congress hasn't authorized him to investigate the American Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan but aren't they an American why doesn't the committee at least reject their support I'll do anything anything to protect my family my country I did during the War I forgot about my rights took orders killed but only to save those I loved the country I believed in and I've I've gone along with them first it was the Reds fire them outlawed them jail them The Rules of Evidence cross-examination they said we couldn't let subversives hide behind legal procedures the Bill of Rights freedom of speech they said we couldn't let those who are out to destroy the Constitution enjoy his protection and who could tell if someone was a subversive if he was Un-American why the committee of course the committee could tell who they were even if they never did or said anything you or I thought was wrong first it was the Reds then the fellow Travelers and the Liberals the unions the churches the schools the newspapers and now whoever dares to criticize the committee I went along but only because they said it was to protect America I've let them convince me that to save Freedom you have to deny freedom to everyone who the committee says is un-American freedom for all everyone no matter how unpopular their ideas and opinions may be that's just a that's just an ideal isn't it can we afford to believe in ideals can we afford to ask questions criticize to disagree to think for ourselves