Mr. TAVENNER. From what date until Pearl Harbor?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, as soon as I got to Los Angeles, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. That date was what?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was sometime in
January of 1941.
Mr. TAVENNER. That is sufficient.
Will you proceed, please. You continued in that business until Pearl
Harbor. How were you employed after Pearl Harbor?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the war
was on. And, for one thing, I wanted to participate in the war. So
I took a drafting course and then got a job with Shell Chemical in
Dominguez, I think it was until the end of--I was there for 3 or 4
months, I think it was. I don’t remember the exact date now.
Mr. VELDE. What was the name of the company?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Shell Chemical.
Mr. VELDE. Is that also known as Shell Development Co.?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t know. It may be a subsidiary. It was connected
with the Shell Oil Co.
Then I got a job with Fruehauf Trailer Co., which was nearer home. And
I was there until, I think, about June of 1943.
Mr. TAVENNER. Will you proceed a little more rapidly? What was your
next employment?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Then I went to Bendix Aviation in North Hollywood.
The reason for the change was, or one of the reasons for the change
was, it was much nearer home, and gasoline was a problem. Time and
transportation time were problems. And I was at Bendix until about
March 1945, when I had a hernia operation and was told to get out of
that sort of work.
At about that time there were notices in the papers asking for people
with some background in the Far East to assist in finishing off the
war against Japan. So I applied for a number of jobs. One was with the
Office of War Information, and another was with the Office of Strategic
Services. I also applied for work with 2 or 3 American companies who
were planning or had had affiliations in the Far East.
And then I got an appointment with the United States Department of
Commerce as an economic analyst in the China Section of the Far Eastern
Division.
Mr. TAVENNER. Is that the first position you held under the United
States Government?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. And when did you enter the employ of the United States
Government?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I think it was June 1945.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did your duties require you to go to Washington?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. How long did you remain in Washington?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I remained with the Government until November
1947, and----
Mr. TAVENNER. Is that with the Commerce Department until 1947?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes.
Mr. VELDE. Were you an economic analyst in the Far Eastern Division
during your entire employment by the Government?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No. About a year after I was there I was promoted to
Chief of the China Section and, some time in there, as Acting Assistant
Chief of the Division. And a little later, just before I left the
Department, I was temporary Acting Chief of the Division while the
Division Chief was away.
In 1947, November 1947, my employment there terminated, and again I was
looking for a suitable occupation. And I applied many, many places. I
applied with many American firms who were in business in the Far East
or had business connections in the Far East. And I also applied for an
appointment that I heard about with the United Nations.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you receive the appointment with the United Nations?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes.
Mr. TAVENNER. When?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I think it was about June of 1948. There was a period
when I was living in Washington that I was not employed.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was the nature of your employment by the United
Nations?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I had a 3-month special appointment to go out to
Shanghai to work on the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East,
which was a separate section of the United Nations. And the work was
related to the rehabilitation of trade, with special reference to
the development of interregional trade in the light of the changed
situation after the war.
I wrote a report which was included in a document published by the
United Nations.
At the end of the 3-month period I was appointed administrative
assistant to the--I don’t know what his actual title was, but it was
something like director of food and agriculture mission in China; a
3-month appointment again, and I worked in that capacity for about 3
months; I think until the end of September, when I was found to have
some possibilities of tuberculosis. So I wanted to go back to the
United States and get a thorough investigation of that, and I got
a letter from the director of the mission there to the home office
suggesting that I be given a permanent contract--not a permanent
contract but a more long-range contract to go out under circumstances
that would allow me to take my family out. However, on the way back
from China I stopped here in Seattle and met some businessmen for whom
I had done some work in my official capacity in the Department. They
were pleased with the work I had done and they suggested that I join
their firm in Seattle.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was the approximate date of your return to the
United States when you first became a resident of this community?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, my return to the United States was about September
or October of 1948. I went back to Washington----
Mr. TAVENNER. I understand that. But you told us about your return to
the United States and stopping here in Seattle.
Mr. STENHOUSE. You asked me when I first came here, and became a
resident. There was a gap of a couple of months because I went back to
Washington to pick up my family, and we actually came here to Seattle
as residents in January of 1949.
Mr. TAVENNER. Have you resided in Seattle since that date?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. What is your present occupation?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I am an insurance agent.
Mr. TAVENNER. Have you read any of the testimony before this committee
of General Willoughby who was G-2 on General MacArthur’s staff, which
related to the development of communism in China?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No.
Mr. TAVENNER. General Willoughby documented considerable evidence
before this committee regarding the activities of certain American
citizens in China. My desire now is merely to ask you whether or not
you observed any Communist Party activities on the part of American
nationals in China?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No.
Mr. TAVENNER. And I refer particularly to the period 1928 and 1929 when
you were in Shanghai.
Mr. STENHOUSE. I didn’t know anything about it. I was a businessman.
Mr. TAVENNER. Have you at any time been affiliated with the Communist
Party, and, if so, in what country or countries?
Mr. STENHOUSE. During the war some 10 years ago I was a member of the
Communist Party in this country.
Mr. TAVENNER. In this country?
Mr. STENHOUSE. And that is the only affiliation that I have had.
Mr. TAVENNER. I am not asking you now about your own affiliation, or
indicating that I believe you were affiliated with the Communist Party
in China, but we are anxious to have any information you have regarding
Communist Party activities in China.
Mr. STENHOUSE. I haven’t any information, Mr. Tavenner. When I left
China in 1940 I only had a very vague idea about what was going on
there.
Mr. TAVENNER. Let me put the question to you this way because it is a
very broad subject.
General Willoughby testified before this committee that the form of
organization of mass organizations in China from 1929 on was virtually
identical with what we have found in this country since the early and
middle thirties, that is, in working through mass organizations or
front organizations, as we frequently call them in this country.
Did you observe any activity of that kind?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No, and I wouldn’t have done it because I was living
in the international concessions in watertight compartments where we
associated, except in business, with Europeans and Americans. I am
somewhat--what was going on in the interior of China and in Chinese
politics I was somewhat abysmally ignorant of in those days.
Mr. TAVENNER. It has been demonstrated that Americans, people from this
country took an active part in some of that organizational work in
China.
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I never did.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did the fact that you were in an international section
mean that you could not have had any knowledge of it?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I didn’t have any knowledge of it. I was involved
in business until the Japanese threatened my business. I wasn’t
concerned with politics.
Mr. TAVENNER. I am not indicating I have any information that you were
involved in it. I am merely asking what knowledge you had of it?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I really have no knowledge.
Mr. VELDE. I think we ought to make this clear: Are you referring to
the period of time you were in China prior to 1940, and not about your
trip the second time?
Mr. STENHOUSE. That is correct.
Mr. VELDE. Have you been back more than once since 1940 to China?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No. Only once.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you say you became a member of the Communist Party
while you were in Los Angeles?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was the approximate date of your becoming a member?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, to the best of my recollection, it was in the
latter part of 1943.
Mr. TAVENNER. Where were you living at that time?
Mr. STENHOUSE. In Horseshoe Canyon.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you assigned to any particular group of the
Communist Party when you first became a member?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t think it was a matter of assignment, to my
knowledge. I was asked if I would like to attend some discussion group
meetings and, to the best of my recollection, there were not more than
4 or 5 of them in Los Angeles.
Mr. TAVENNER. Four or 5 what?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Of these discussion group meetings.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you mean that you attended 4 or 5 of these discussion
group meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall whether or not you were transferred from
one such group to another?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I am pretty certain I wasn’t. I am not aware of it.
Somebody may have transferred me. But, as far as I know, I attended a
group of discussion meetings somewhere, not too far from where we lived
in North Hollywood. I don’t remember now whether it was in more than
one home. It may have been in 1 or 2.
Mr. TAVENNER. How many persons attended those meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. About 4 or 5.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were they always the same persons or did the group vary
as to its composition?
Mr. STENHOUSE. It may have varied. I don’t remember for sure.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was the nature of the business conducted at those
meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, we discussed Communist and other literature and
articles. We discussed the affairs that were concerning all of us at
that time, of the war and the winning of the war--and it was just talk.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall whether or not Communist Party literature
was made available for your purchase at the meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes, it was.
Mr. TAVENNER. And for your use?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes, it was.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you take part in the study group, in the study of the
Communist Party literature yourself?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Oh, I suppose I read what we were asked to read or was
suggested we read, and made some attempt to discuss it at the next
meeting.
I might add that the literature that was at those meetings was also on
sale in some of the bookstores in Los Angeles. There was a Lincoln Book
Store there which had Communist and other material for sale. I was in
the bookstore 2 or 3 times. There was also at these meetings material
that was not Communist, at least not published by the party.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was the Lincoln Book Store known as a Communist book shop?
Mr. STENHOUSE. It wasn’t known to me as such.
Mr. TAVENNER. There has been evidence of that character presented to
the committee.
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I wouldn’t doubt it actually. But they sold things
other than Communist Party literature. And it wasn’t under the table.
It was right out in the open. Anybody from the street could walk in and
pick it up and read it.
Mr. TAVENNER. Who invited you to become a member of that group?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t know, sir. At that time I was very active in the
United Auto Workers. I felt that the United Auto Workers was doing a
fine job in increasing production for the war. Their no-strike pledge
was very loyally kept, and there were people there who always attended
meetings, who were always ready to try and get other people to come to
the union meetings, who were ready to do jobs for the union in the way
of promoting blood-bank drives, and so on, getting people to register
to vote, and the sort of things that I was interested in. Some one of
these people who I had some knowledge of their actions asked me if I
would go to such a meeting, and I said I would.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were the other members of this group of Communist Party
persons employed in the same business in which you were employed?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, as far as I remember, there were possibly 2 or 3
of the group who were at the Bendix plant. I am not sure now. It is
hard to differentiate.
Mr. MOULDER. You say you were interested in the same things that they
were interested in, that is, getting people interested in elections and
going to the polls to vote.
Mr. STENHOUSE. Sure.
Mr. MOULDER. Do you recall whether or not at that time the Communist
Party had candidates for whom you could cast a ballot?
Mr. STENHOUSE. We weren’t interested in it. We were voting Democratic.
I was a Democrat.
Mr. MOULDER. The point I was trying to make, if you were interested in
that party why did you join the Democratic Party? I don’t understand
why you affiliated yourself with a party that had no candidates for
whom you could vote.
Mr. STENHOUSE. I didn’t deliberately go out to affiliate myself with
it. Somebody who was interested in it also, as a Democrat--and these
things that were part of the war effort--suggested that I go to one
of these meetings. And he had become a person I had some respect for
because of his apparent adherence to the things that the majority of
the American people were doing at that time. I accepted the idea and
went to the meetings.
Mr. MOULDER. Were they Communist Party organization meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t understand you.
Mr. MOULDER. Are you talking about Communist Party meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No. I am talking about union meetings and how it came
about that somebody invited me to go.
Mr. MOULDER. I am referring to the Communist Party meetings.
Mr. STENHOUSE. There were many meetings at that time, Mr.
Chairman--union meetings; many union meetings I attended. I was very
much impressed with the union.
Mr. MOULDER. Were the union meetings you attended Communist Party
meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I think we have got at cross purposes someway here.
I was trying to explain how it came about that somebody invited me
to go to one of these discussion group meetings, and it was through
the association with somebody whom I had some regard for in his union
activity that I accepted an invitation.
Mr. MOULDER. Was the discussion group meeting a Communist Party meeting
or merely affiliated with the Communist Party?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I am as confused as you are about that.
Mr. MOULDER. Do you know whether you were a Communist at that time?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, to be frank about it, I believe I signed a
Communist Party card at some time.
I have a vague recollection of a card which had an American flag on
it and some very patriotic phraseology about the war effort and the
alliance between our country and the Soviet Union. It may have even
had some words about the Communist Party on it. But it seemed to me
entirely innocuous. In fact, again it appeared to be directed to the
things I was interested in, in the war effort.
Mr. MOULDER. Did you pay dues to the Communist Party after signing the
Communist Party card?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I believe there was some sort of dues structure, but I
don’t remember now how it worked. There were these materials for sale
at the meetings, and money changed hands. I don’t remember now how much
of it was for books, how much of it was for dues.
Mr. MOULDER. Over what period of time did you continue to participate
in such meetings and in what you then considered to be Communist Party
activity?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I find it hard to set the actual dates, but it
was, I think, some time during the latter part of 1943 and 1944.
Mr. MOULDER. And thereafter you have never in any way whatsoever
participated in any Communist Party activity?
Mr. STENHOUSE. That isn’t the truth, sir.
Mr. MOULDER. What would you say?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I also attended some similar meetings when I was in
Washington, D. C.
Mr. MOULDER. The committee will stand in recess until 2 o’clock.
(Whereupon, at 12:03 p. m., a recess was taken until 2 p. m. this same
day.)