Mr. TAVENNER. Do you know him?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I think I know who he is. Wasn’t he in the
Department of Agriculture?
Mr. TAVENNER. He was in the Department of Agriculture. He
spent many years in the Soviet Union, studying and working in the
field of agriculture. He was prominent in organizations interested in
agriculture in this country. He was before this committee and refused
to testify as to his prior or present Communist Party membership,
relying upon the fifth amendment. He was considered the head of the
agricultural division of the Communist Party in the United States.
Did he importune in behalf of the National Farmers Union in procuring
grants?
Mr. O’CONNELL. He particularly never talked to me or never
asked me to do it. I don’t know whether----
Mr. TAVENNER. You don’t need to put it on such a personal
basis. As a trustee you know whether he did or did not.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know. As a trustee, Gardner Jackson,
who I think was employed by the National Farmers Union, actually
talked more and actually guided the trust or the foundation as far as
agricultural matters were concerned, and I, of course, all I--I never
met Lem Harris.
Mr. TAVENNER. You wouldn’t have to meet Lem Harris to know
what influence he had to bear upon the making of grants by your
trustees.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I know of no influence he had, particularly as
far as I am concerned. He never importuned me at any time to vote for
anybody or grant any money to any organization.
Mr. TAVENNER. Gardner Jackson is alleged to have written a
letter on August 3, 1946, to James G. Patton, president of the National
Farmers Union. Mr. Lem Harris admitted that he had seen a copy of that
letter when he testified before this committee. In this letter to Mr.
Patton, Gardner Jackson makes this statement:
I don’t have to tell you that many of us understand your
appointment of the pathetic Communist or pro-Communist boy Phil
Reno to your headquarters staff in Denver as political and labor
relations official was at the behest of George Marshall and Lem
Harris, the Communist Party’s avowed agricultural policy fellow,
in order to insure a continuing flow of money from the Marshall
Foundation to the National Farmers Union.
Doesn’t that prove to you the influence that was exerted by the
Communist Party upon awards made to the National Farmers Union?
Mr. O’CONNELL. That, of course, is a statement made by Gardner
Jackson, I think after he had been removed from his position with the
Farmers Union, and in which he supplied information to Senator Bridges,
I think, and I can’t remember others, but what influence--for instance
I don’t even know who Phil Reno is, don’t know anything about him, and
what Jackson is attempting there I don’t know.
Mr. TAVENNER. You had a responsibility as one of the trustees
to know how the awards were being paid.
Mr. O’CONNELL. That is right and, as a matter of fact, the
foundation called Patton before it because we got in disagreement with
him about the way the funds were being expended and from then on grants
were made to the various State organizations of the Farmers Union
rather than to the national office directly.
Mr. TAVENNER. But they were continued?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, they were actually made to different
State farm union organizations but not to the National Farmers Union,
not to Patton. And certainly one of the basic reasons was because of
this gigantic proposal that he had about establishing these branch
centers. We just didn’t think it was a wise expenditure of the
foundation’s funds, and so on, and that was some of the disagreement
that we had.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you ever see a copy of the letter which I
referred to?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I never did.
Mr. TAVENNER. Had you heard of it?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I think the way I heard of it, I don’t know
whether this is the same letter, but Senator Bridges made a speech on
the floor of the Senate I think in 1950 in which I am pretty sure he
quoted or actually inserted the Gardner Jackson letter, if I remember,
and I think I read it within Senator Bridges remarks at that time that
were on the floor.
Now, I remember that there was quite a to-do about it. I was out in
the State of Montana at that time. I have been close. I have known
the Farm Union leadership and members out there and I know they were
exercised and committed and worried about this whole development.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall from that letter, and the
discussions which you have just mentioned, that Lem Harris, whom I
have identified from the committee files as a person prominent in the
agricultural section of the Communist Party, was himself attempting to
decide what awards or what grants the trustees of the foundation should
make to the National Farmers Union?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t recall as far as I am concerned any
influence on me. I voted as far as I was concerned on those grants the
way I wanted to.
Mr. TAVENNER. I understand that, but I am asking you about
your knowledge and what you learned in the course of the performance of
your duties as a trustee.
Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as Lem Harris was concerned, I never
heard anything about Lem Harris’ influence or anything.
Mr. TAVENNER. You have just told us there was a great
disturbance in 1950 when this information became public.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Over the Gardner Jackson letter; yes.
Mr. TAVENNER. So you did not know something about it in 1950?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; but I mean from 1950 on there had been no
meetings of the Robert Marshall Foundation.
Mr. TAVENNER. Let me quote further from this same letter, in
which Mr. Gardner Jackson is addressing Mr. Patton:
I do not have to recall to your mind--
meaning Mr. Patton’s mind--
Lem Harris’ visit to you in Denver a few years ago to tell you that
of the total amount of money remaining in the Marshall Foundation,
the National Farmers Union would be allowed so much and to ask you
as president of the National Farmers Union how you wanted that sum
spread over the ensuing few years.
Lem Harris is not a trustee of that fund.
Do you know anything about that? Does that refresh your recollection?
Mr. O’CONNELL. It doesn’t mean anything to me. I was not close
to Patton of course. I don’t know what he was doing as far as Lem
Harris was concerned, I mean I just don’t know anything about that. I
am telling you that very frankly.
Mr. TAVENNER. You have been very positive in your statements
that no awards or grants were made by this foundation which might be
construed as being grants to or for the benefit of the Communist Party.
That has been the inference of your testimony.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, that is what I am trying--of course the
questions all have been with reference to the economic system based on
production for use rather than for profit.
Mr. TAVENNER. That is right.
Mr. O’CONNELL. And all that.
Mr. TAVENNER. You trustees had very broad powers to determine
what organization you would aid in the purpose of this trust which was,
namely, to promote an economic system in the United States based upon
profit for use. I am trying to find out how you exercised those broad
powers.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Those powers were exercised by different
trustees.
Mr. TAVENNER. Of which you were one.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Of which I was one. All of us exercised I am
sure our independent judgment on it. If it were possible to bring them
all here, I don’t have them, but there were many instances where the
trustees divided, where these grants were made by majority vote rather
than by full vote and so on.
There are all kinds of situations that exist. But as far as I am
concerned, Lem Harris never influenced me to make a grant to the
Farmers Union or to any organization.
Mr. TAVENNER. Don’t misunderstand me again. My question is
broader than the influencing of you. My question is whether or not it
influenced the action of the trustees.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Of course I don’t know whether Lem Harris went
out and met with Jim Patton and Gardner Jackson, who was a trustee. I
don’t know whether that actually took place. I don’t know whether he
did these other things that are said. I don’t know whether he did them
or not, but if he did those things and Jackson was going along then he
had some influence and so on. But I think Jim Patton became leader of
the National Farmers Union after I left Congress. I never got to know
him real well, I think I have been introduced to him maybe once or
twice. I know that Jim Patton was displeased with some of my votes on
the foundation which were evidently reported to him by Jackson and went
to the leadership of the Farmers Union in Montana to try to exercise
influence as far as I was concerned in my votes on the foundation.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you have any other groups attempting to
influence your judgment or decision in the matter of making grants?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Any other groups?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes; or individuals.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, over the period of years from 1940 on
down there were all kinds of grants made and there have been various
individuals who have come to me in connection with them.
Mr. TAVENNER. And many of those people were leaders in
notorious Communist-front organizations; weren’t they?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, of course I don’t go along with your
description of notorious Communist-front organizations. Many of the
people came to me and asked me to vote for grants for causes and for
principles which I thought were right and which I thought ought to be
done, and if they were right in my opinion I thought they were right, I
voted for them and if they were not I voted against them.
Mr. TAVENNER. Well, for instance, was a grant made of $20,000
to be used in the payment of attorney’s fees for the defense of William
Robert Remington?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Not by the Marshall Foundation, by the trust
funds that I was a trustee of. We certainly made no grant.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was any money of the foundation----
Mr. O’CONNELL. I think, isn’t that in connection with the
civil-liberties trust? It is not in connection with the trade-union
trust. Isn’t that right?
Mr. TAVENNER. That was paid out from another fund in the same
trust, not from the one in which----
Mr. O’CONNELL. No. The will established, I think I can explain
it, the will established three trusts, one that was called the Robert
Marshall Foundation, we were denoted always as the trade-union trust.
The second trust was a civil-liberties trust and 5 trustees, not all
of the 5 trustees on the trade-union trust, were trustees on the
civil-liberties trust. There were 15.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you on both?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I was only on the trade union trust.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have any knowledge of the payment from
this other trust--that is, the civil-liberties trust--of the grant of
$20,000 for defense of Remington?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I know nothing about it except, was that
contained in Mr. Dies’ speech? Was that reported----
Mr. TAVENNER. No.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I really personally have no--I am not a member
of that civil-liberties trust and I don’t know. There is also a
wilderness area trust that is set up in the will and I am not a trustee
on that fund either.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was the only fund of which you were a trustee
the one which provided for the promotion of an economic system in the
United States based upon the theory of production for use?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Which the trustees abandoned and decided to
eliminate at the very first meeting of the trustees that was held.
Mr. TAVENNER. Let us see the nature of the grants and we can
determine more about whether they did actually abandon it or not. How
long did this trust continue to operate? How long was it active?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I think we actually made grants from, if I
remember correctly, 1940 until 1950. I am not sure whether we made any
grants in 1950 or not. We have not met in the last 5 years, I know
that. If I remember correctly, there is approximately $41,000 left in
the fund of which I am a trustee and there have been no meetings of the
trustees in at least the last 4 or 5 years.
Mr. TAVENNER. The committee has information that grants were
made in 1941 and 1942 by the Robert Marshall Foundation to the American
Youth Congress for the total of $10,250. Do you know who solicited
those grants?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No. An actual application would be made to Mr.
George Marshall as manager of the trust by the organization that was
involved--by the American Youth Congress. I can’t recall the reason for
the grant. My offhand guess would be that the American Youth Congress
was proposing to establish some kind of a labor secretary or labor
division of the Youth Congress or something, and they would tie it
in actually to the provision of the will as far as the trade union,
development of trade unions were concerned, organization of unemployed
youth, I imagine.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you, as a trustee, do anything to ascertain
how the money was being used after the grants were made?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I never did actually as a trustee. We had
the organization report to us from time to time how they were expending
the funds and what they were doing, but I couldn’t personally take any
one of those grants and tell you actually what the report was.
Mr. TAVENNER. The American Youth Congress has been cited as a
subversive and Communist organization by Attorney General Tom Clark on
December 4, 1947, and September 21, 1948, under a citation by Attorney
General Francis Biddle September 24, 1942, and also, May 28, 1942, it
was stated in the citation that--
It originated in 1934 and has been controlled by the Communists and
manipulated by them to influence the thought of American youth.
It was cited by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities June
29, 1942, January 3, 1939, January 3, 1941, and again on March 29,
1944, in which it was stated that it was one of the principal fronts
of the Communist Party and prominently identified with the White
House picket line under the immediate auspices of the American Peace
Mobilization.
Do you know whether Jack R. McMichael was the national chairman of the
American Youth Congress?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I couldn’t recall--the name doesn’t mean
anything to me.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did he play any part in the solicitation of
these grants?
Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as I was concerned, he didn’t at
least to me. If his name was on the stationery, I got a copy of the
application and all that, but----
Mr. TAVENNER. I am not certain that he was its president at
the time those grants were made, but he may have been.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know.
Mr. TAVENNER. During the same period, according to the
committee’s information, grants totaling $3,250 were made to the
Federated Press.
Mr. O’CONNELL. That is correct.
Mr. TAVENNER. And subsequently increased to a total of $29,200.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know whether those totals are correct,
but I know grants were made consistently to the Federated Press.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were the grants sufficiently large to make these
figures within reason?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I would say they are. They never got a large
grant each year. I think they got small grants like $3,500 or something
of that kind. It could have totaled $29,000 over the years.
Mr. TAVENNER. That organization was cited on March 29,
1944, by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities as a
Communist-controlled organization financed by the American Fund for
Public Service and the Robert Marshall Foundation, both principal
sources of funds for Communist enterprises.
Mr. O’CONNELL. There are a lot of conclusions drawn there that
need proof.
Mr. TAVENNER. I think we are proceeding to prove it right now.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Federated Press was a press service that
operated in the labor field. It supplied labor papers throughout the
country with labor news, news about labor, and about things labor was
doing and we thought certainly was entitled to a grant from the point
of view of development and organization of trade unions.
Mr. TAVENNER. It was a principal supplier of the Daily Worker
and the Daily People’s World.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I wouldn’t know, but I would presume that they
probably----
Mr. TAVENNER. You didn’t inquire?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Probably did. As far as I was concerned the
Federated Press was doing an excellent job in the labor field. As a
Congressman, of course, I had excellent opportunity to get all of the
labor newspapers and the labor newspapers particularly in my district,
and they were getting news from the Federated Press that covered a want
that was sorely needed as far as labor information was concerned.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you know that the American Youth Congress
had been cited as a Communist-front organization at the time you acted
upon----
Mr. O’CONNELL. By whom?
Mr. TAVENNER. By the Attorney General of the United States,
both Attorney General Clark and Attorney General Biddle and by this
committee.
Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as I was concerned, I am pretty sure I
had knowledge they were cited by Attorney General Clark and by Attorney
General Biddle or by any other attorney general, but that didn’t
determine in my mind----
Mr. TAVENNER. That did not serve to put you on inquiry?
Mr. O’CONNELL. That did not serve as far as I was concerned
to make it conclusive by any means, and if I in my personal opinion
thought they were doing a good job and doing a job within the
provisions of this will and so on, I voted for it.
Mr. TAVENNER. Would you have made a grant to the Communist
Party in the State of Washington which as shown by the testimony I read
to you was interested in enacting into law the same principle under
which this trust was being operated?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I told you that at the very beginning, at the
very first meeting that the trustees held, that we voted not to make
any grants that were asked for on the basis of being used for the
promotion of an economy based on production for use rather than for
profit.
Mr. TAVENNER. That would have been in violation of the
provisions of the will, wouldn’t it?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, sir; we made our grants within the first
provisions, within the provision that provided for the development and
the organization of workers and unemployed persons and so on. We made
it a strictly trade-union trust.
Mr. TAVENNER. In other words, you entirely disregarded this
provision?
Mr. O’CONNELL. And if the Communist Party or the Democratic
Party or Republican Party or any partisan organization came and asked
for funds they wouldn’t have gotten it.
Mr. TAVENNER. But if it was an organization which the
leadership of the Communist Party had captured and had under its
control, it would be perfectly all right to make an award?
Mr. O’CONNELL. The organization never, I mean the foundation
never went out and conducted any Red hunt or went out----
Mr. TAVENNER. Never took any precautionary measures?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Don’t put words in my mouth. We never went
out and conducted any kind of a Red hunt, we never investigated the
organization to see what they were doing.
Mr. TAVENNER. Didn’t you make any investigation?
Mr. O’CONNELL. When they said we want to do so and so in
the labor field. We wanted to do this or that, if it was within the
provisions of the will and in the minds of the majority of the
trustees something we felt ought to be done, the grant was made. If we
didn’t, it wasn’t.
Mr. TAVENNER. You said you didn’t make a Red hunt, witch hunt,
I am not sure which you stated. Red hunt. But actually you didn’t make
any investigation?
Mr. O’CONNELL. As to whether or not this organization had Reds
in it or Communists in it?
Mr. TAVENNER. As to whether it was a Communist-controlled
organization.
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, we didn’t make any such investigation.
Mr. TAVENNER. Why didn’t you?
Mr. O’CONNELL. It wasn’t our job to do anything of that kind.
As a matter of fact, I am sure, Mr. Tavenner, you have been around here
a long time, and I mean the development as far as these organizations
are concerned that you are talking about to me now, the proscription
of these organizations, certain individuals, are things that have gone
on. I went into this foundation selected solely as a friend of Bob
Marshall’s. I went in with an honest mind determined to do the best job
I knew how to see that the money was spent to do what I thought Bob
would like to have seen done.
Mr. TAVENNER. Bob unquestionably wanted to promote a new
economic system in the United States based on the theory of production.
That is what Bob wanted to do according to his last will and testament.
Did you make grants aggregating $6,000 to Frontier Films?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I am pretty sure we did. I can’t recall the
particular grant now or know what it was made for. I think there was a
particular picture. Wasn’t the picture of 1937 Little Steel strike out
in Chicago where many of the workers were murdered? You see it is very
difficult to go back 17 or 18 years and try to put it in the pattern
that you now work on today.
Mr. TAVENNER. We know that Frontier Films produced the
Communist film Native Land based on Richard Wright’s Native Son. The
picture featured the Negro actor, Paul Robeson. That is the only
information that I have.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I know as far as Frontier Films were concerned
whatever the picture was, as I recall, it was a labor picture and my
best recollection is it was the picture about the Little Steel strike
and particularly the Memorial Day massacre in 1937 at Republic Steel in
Chicago.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall who solicited the grant?
Frontier Films was cited by this committee as a Communist front on
March 29, 1944.
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, the first name of Paul comes to my mind.
I can’t remember any last name. The party came and talked to us about
it--was there a Paul--Paul comes to my mind. That is all I can recall.
Mr. TAVENNER. Grants totaling $900 were made to the
International Juridical Association. Do you recall the circumstances
under which that grant was made?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I really can’t recall the circumstances
now. It is apparently a very small grant. I don’t know what it was
used for. It must have been in connection with some particular labor
legal problem that may have been involved as far as the Wagner Act was
concerned or NLRB or something of that nature.
Mr. TAVENNER. Grants totaling $4,250 were made to the National
Federation for Constitutional Liberties. That is an organization you
did know about; isn’t it? In fact, the amount was increased after 1942
to a total of $56,000. You were acquainted with that organization;
weren’t you?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I knew of the National Federation for
Constitutional Liberties, yes, and I am sure that grants were made, I
would say on an annual basis to the National Federation, I don’t know
what amounts specifically, but whether that total amount is correct or
not I cannot say.
Mr. TAVENNER. Are you familiar with the citation of that
organization?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I am not.
Mr. TAVENNER. Let me read it to you. It was cited as
subversive and Communist by Attorney General Tom Clark on December 4,
1947; it was also cited by Attorney General Francis Biddle September
24, 1942, in the following language:
Part of what Lenin called the solar system of organizations,
ostensibly having no connection with the Communist Party, by
which Communists attempt to create sympathizers and supporters of
their program. It was established as a result of a conference on
constitutional liberties held in Washington, D. C., June 7-9, 1940.
The defense of Communist leaders such as Sam Darcy and Robert Wood,
party secretaries for Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, have been major
efforts of the federation.
What purpose did the trustees of your foundation have in making $56,000
of grants to that organization?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, of course, if I had the specific
application before me I could tell you, but I am sure that the
application set out that it would be used for the defense of various
labor leaders who were under attack of any kind, particularly from the
civil liberties point of view.
Mr. TAVENNER. Communist or not?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Communist or non-Communist.
Mr. TAVENNER. You were actually one of the sponsors for the
call to the conference, in June of 1940, which was alluded to in the
citation by Attorney General Biddle; were you not?