prepared by a Federal intelligence agency. It was presented to then President Truman and several of his Cabinet members in the winter of 1945-46. The memorandum contained information on the activities of Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White, Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, William Remington, and others whose names have become bywords of infamy in American history. None of these individuals was punished in any way until the story of their conspiracy was forced into the open by committees of Congress. Here is what the chairman read about Luke Wilson from the Nixon memorandum and here are Wilson's own comments.

Chairman JENNER (reading):

"Luke Woodward Wilson was last known to be serving overseas as a morale officer in the United States Army. Confidential reliable sources have indicated

that Wilson is a close friend of Louise Bransten-”

Do you know Louise Bransten?

Mr. WILSON. I decline to answer on the grounds I have previously stated. Chairman JENNER (reading):

"and that his wife, Ruth Wilson, is a Communist Party functionary in the Stockton, Calif., area. Wilson for a number of years was employed by the La Follette Civil Liberties Committee of the United States Senate investigating labor matters. A highly confidential source has advised that in May 1941 Wilson was attempting to determine how information contained in the files of the FBI might best be obtained in order to assist in the defense of Harry Bridges." Is that a fact, Mr. Wilson?

Mr. WILSON. I decline to answer on the grounds I have previously stated.
Chairman JENNER (reading):

"It is further reliably reported that Wilson desired Charles S. Flato, then of the Farm Security Administration, to approach John Abt, formerly connected with the Department of Justice, and at that time counsel for Sidney Hillman, on how best to obtain such data."

It that true, Mr. Wilson?

Mr. WILSON. I decline to answer * * * (H., p. 1495).

This was one of the "4 or 5" men whom Dr. Julius Schreiber selected out of all the millions in the United States Army, to assist him in caring for the "morale" of the troops.

STEPHEN M. FISCHER

The subcommittee noted that Wilson invoked the fifth amendment against self-incrimination, when asked whether he knew Stephen Fischer. This was particularly interesting in view of a memorandum dated April 7, 1943, which was among the documents provided for us by the Department of the Army. The memorandum was addressed to Colonel Farlow, from Major Schreiber. Here is what it said:

I have been advised by Sergeant Wilson that 1st Lt. S. M. Fischer, Army Air Forces Flexible Gunnery School, Tyndell Field, Fla., is an outstanding young officer.

Lieutenant Fischer spent a long time in the South or Southwest Pacific and after completing his 25 (?) bombing missions came back to the mainland. According to Wilson "this guy's terrific-he already knows as much if not more than the instructors at the school."

In civilian life he was a newspaperman on the San Francisco Chronicle. Prior to that Wilson believes he completed a course in journalism at Columbia (?) University.

Recommend that steps be taken to have this officer brought in for 2 weeks temporary duty with a view to determining his usefulness either in materials or Field Operations Section (H., p. 1494).

Among other things, this sheds an interesting light on I. and E.'s theory of the chain of command. A sergeant told a major to tell a colonel to employ a lieutenant; and it was done!

After this memo went to Colonel Farlow, Major Schreiber telephoned Lieutenant Fischer in Florida and summoned him to I. and E. headquarters in Washington. Fischer was immediately put to work "helping in the preparation of 'Army Talks' " (H., p. 1500).

Fischer acknowledged to the subcommittee that he had joined the Communist Party when he attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in 1940. "For approximately 1 year," he said, "up until some time in the early fall, as I recall, of 1941, I considered myself and was a member of the Communist Party, with a group of newspapermen in San Francisco. And I just left in the fall of 1941" (H., p. 1501).

He had no recollection of having met Schreiber prior to his induction into the service, although the latter professed to have known him. He said he never heard of the memorandum in which he, Fischer, was described as "terrific" by the Communist agent, Wilson. Among others who admired Fischer, according to a document found in his files, was an attorney named John T. McTernan. McTernan recommended Fischer's appointment as a flying cadet in the United States Army. One of the reasons for his recommendation, according to the document, was that Fischer was a "devout believer in the principles of our Constitution."

McTernan himself made use of the Constitution's fifth amendment against self-incrimination when the California Committee on UnAmerican Activities asked him about his own Communist affiliations (H., pp. 1504, 1505).

Fischer's I. and E. duties were as follows:

This officer's primary duties are editorial research and writing. He recommends and initiates subject matter, directs and conducts research work, and does actual writing of weekly Army Talk fact sheets and orientation discussion guides for distribution to all Army units in continental United States and to all overseas theaters. In addition, this officer is in charge of conducting pre-tests of discussion material by directing discussions in field units. The assignment calls for a high order of judgment, wide knowledge of world affairs and Army policy, and sympathetic understanding of troops in the field. This officer's duties carry great responsibility because of the global use to which the materials are put (H., p. 1505).

Fischer refused to tell the subcommittee who were the other Communists, besides himself, in the "group of newspapermen in San Francisco" (H., p. 1506).

CARL FENICHEL

Carl Fenichel was another of the individuals Luke Wilson refused to discuss, on the ground that to do so might involve him in criminal prosecution. Fenichel was called as a witness.

He testified that he attended the I. and E. school at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.

Then I went to Washington and I was told I was assigned to this Division involving the writing of Army Talks and training discussion leaders. That is the work I did from about August, I think, 1944, * * * up until the time I was discharged in 1945.

Mr. CARPENTER. Mr. Fenichel, were you a member of the Communist Party when you were in the Armed Forces?

Mr. FENICHEL. No sir; I wasn't. (H., p. 1588.)

Mr. CARPENTER. Were you a member of the Communist Party a week before you entered the armed services?

Mr. FENICHEL, I refuse to answer for the same reason.

Chairman JENNER. The day before?

Mr. FENICHEL. The same.

Chairman JENNER. Two minutes before?

Mr. FENICHEL. The same.

Chairman JENNER. Before you held up your hand to take your oath, were you a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. FENICHEL. I refuse to answer for the same reason. (H., p. 1588.)

He testified that he was a former member of the executive board of the Communist-dominated New York Teachers' Union. He refused to say whether he had attended Communist Party meetings with other members of the Board (H., p. 1590).

Mr. CARPENTER. Did you at any time make your Communist record known to the Army authorities?

Mr. FENICHEL. I refuse to answer ***. (H., p. 1592.)

The subcommittee's record shows that the teachers' union had been fully exposed as a Communist instrument long before Carl Fenichel of its executive board was summoned to I. and E. headquarters. In view of this fact, there is the clearest implication that Carl Fenichel was brought to join Luke Wilson, Stephen Fischer, and Julius Schreiber at I. and E. headquarters for the specific purpose of aiding the Communist cause.

HOW THEY LOOKED TO A QUALIFIED OBSERVER

Daniel James, a writer, was a second lieutenant, working under Schreiber at Washington. He also served in I. and E.'s New York office. James testified that he had "always opposed communism and any other form of totalitarianism."

He told of a lecture that Major Schreiber delivered to officers at the Pentagon as part of his duty, during the course of which he used a chart setting forth the structure of the Soviet Government.

Mr. JAMES. The intent and purport of that lecture, in my opinion, at that time,
was to attempt to portray the Soviet Government, the Soviet State, as democratic.
The chart consisted of a breakdown of the various organs of the Soviet State.
Mr. CARPENTER. This was to a group of officers, did you say?

Mr. JAMES. This was to a group of officers in the War Department.
Mr. CARPENTER. What were their ranks?

Mr. JAMES. *** I would say there was a good sprinkling of colonels, majors, captains, and lieutenants. I don't recall having seen any generals there, but there may have been (H., pp. 1623–1624).

Mr. JAMES. The nature of my work in the New York office was to participate in the writing and publication of the Army weekly discussion guide called Army Talk.

*

Mr. CARPENTER. *** How were you accepted among those who were working both in the Washington office and the New York office?

Mr. JAMES. I would say that when I got to New York I very early discovered that I was not a member of the group that seemed to be running the show. That is to say it became clear to me that there were a number of individuals in the branch who operated as a sort of clique working together.

Mr. CARPENTER. In other words, in that clique they had enlisted men, did they not?

Mr. JAMES. Yes, they did.

Mr. CARPENTER. And those enlisted men rated more favor than you as an officer, and their counsel was accepted more readily than your recommendations?

Mr. JAMES. Well, there were any number of what you might call closed discussions that went on between members of this group, among the members of this group, from which just about everyone of us in the office outside the group was excluded. There were other officers there, too, and other enlisted personnel. They also were excluded.

I want it clearly understood, Mr. Counsel, that this was distinctly an impression I got. It is a very intangible thing, something that is difficult to put your fingers on.

Mr. CARPENTER. Can you give the names of those people who seemed to be in the clique?

8

Mr. JAMES. I know that frequently Major Schreiber would come up to New York and go into a huddle with Forstenzer, Hyman Forstenzer, and Carl Fenichel, particularly. I think possibly on one or more occasions Stephen Fischer was usually consulted. I better strike out "usually," since perhaps it was just a few occasions.

That would be about it. They would have these discussions. They would go into one of the smaller offices in our establishment. Of course, I had no idea what they were talking about, but it was quite obvious that the rest of the office was excluded from these discussions (H., pp. 1624, 1625).

Mr. CARPENTER. From this installation in New York there were certain individuals selected from the New York office to travel throughout the United States to the various camps and stations in order to carry out the work of the I. and E.?

Mr. JAMES. That is correct.

Mr. CARPENTER. Were you ever included on any of those trips?

Mr. JAMES. I was included on only 1 inspection trip to Atlantic City and Fort Monmouth, which covered a period of perhaps 2 or 3 days. I was once scheduled to go on a trip to Texas, but for some unaccountable reason that was canceled. However, Forstenzer and Fenichel and other individuals in the office were frequently en route to some post or camp to give indoctrination courses and run orientation schools and so on.

Mr. CARPENTER. They were the ones who belonged to this particular clique? Mr. JAMES. That is right.

I might add, Mr. Counsel, if I may, that I was not the only one so excluded to the best of my knowledge.

Mr. CARPENTER. Did you ever have a discussion with Forstenzer?

Mr. JAMES. Well, on one particular occasion I was about to relate, we went to lunch together and had a rather lengthy discussion of the nature of communism and the structure of the international Communist movement. I exhibited a good deal of curiosity as to why the Communist Parties of the various countries of the world always seemed to act together, in concert, and I put the question to Forstenzer of whether or not there wasn't some central direction that would explain why all of these parties usually thought and acted alike. It was his opinion that they did so because they came to the same conclusions independently. That, I may add, is a favorite phrase that is used in Communist circles (H., pp. 1625-1626).

Mr. James' recollections speak for themselves in the light of the documents already cited, plus the testimony-or nontestimony-of those who hid in the silence afforded by the fifth amendment.

GERSON, FAXON, SVENCHANSKY, AND GANDALL

The quality of the pro-Communist material produced for worldwide distribution, and the character of those at the top who produced it, made unnecessary a widespread survey of I. and E. at the lower levels. However, as in the cases of Camp Crowder and Camp Pickett,

Forstenzer appeared in executive session and denied that he was a member of the Communist Party.

the subcommittee took samplings. The results of these samplings were what might have been expected. They may best be illustrated by the fact that one Simon W. Gerson was assigned in 1945 to I. and E. work at the important convalescent center at Camp Upton, N. Y.

As the record shows, Gerson had been an open and notorious Communist careerist for at least 17 years before his assignment. At one time, he was city editor for the Daily Worker, official mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

On November 21, 1929, according to an article in the Daily Worker, he openly proclaimed "the correctness of the new line of our party as laid down by the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International." About a year before this he was arrested in a Communist demonstration outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard (H., pp. 1602-1604). He is presently legislative chairman of the New York Communist Party.

Walter L. Kirschenbaum, who was at Camp Upton simultaneously with Gerson, submitted a sworn statement describing Gerson's conduct.

I recall only twice-although there might have been other times-when the Communist line was injected into our work. One time when we were instructed by Gerson, who apparently was guided by Army Talks, that we tell the GI's who came to our classes to be re-created into enlightened civilians that the Chinese in the north who were stirring at that moment were "agrarian reformers, like Jefferson." I had known Mao Tse-tung's record from reading Comintern material and I recall raising the issue privately with Gerson *** (H., p. 1600).

*** It was then that he asked "What is your background anyway?" I do not recall my precise answer, but it stirred suspicion in Gerson's mind. On another occasion, during an Information Please type program, GI's were asked this question: "Who is the labor leader who is urging that all GI's be brought home from the Pacific?" There was a pause of silence. "Come, come," Gerson exhorted, "let's not burn our Bridges until we come to them. Let's not burn our Bridges." Obviously the winner had the name of Harry Bridges on his lips (H., p. 1601).

Harry Bridges, of course, is the notorious west coast labor leader who has been identified many times as a Communist.

Besides Gerson, other I. and E. personnel included George A. Faxon, Alexander Svenchansky, and William Gandall.

Faxon worked for I. and E. at the Pentagon in Washington as well as at many other installations both in the United States and Europe. He was a Boston school teacher who invoked the fifth amendment regarding his Communist activities when testifying before the subcommittee during our education hearings (Ed. H., pp. 681-684).

Svenchansky, another fifth amendment case, was an I. and E. officer in Alaska and Montana, at stopping points for airplanes on their way to and from the U. S. S. R. Before he entered the Army, Svenchansky was employed by the Amtorg Trading Corp. which is an official agency of the Soviet Government (U. N. H., pp. 666-679).

Gandall, another who invoked the fifth amendment, was with I. and E. at Marbury Hall in England. Like Gerson, Gandall was also a well-known Communist agitator. He characterized himself in the following exchange:

Mr. CARPENTER. Did you ever get any instructions in dynamiting, espionage, by representatives of the Soviet military forces?

9 Gandall was also a veteran of the International Brigade which served in the Spanish civil war. As pointed out above, Mr. Khokhlov testified that it was the practice of the Soviet MGB to use veterans of the Spanish civil war in terroristic activity.