Chapter V: Part 5

Mr. O’CONNELL. These things happened some 5 and 6 and 7 years ago and it is not easy and all of these people are actually strangers to me and all that. I came down here as a former Congressman, as a political figure in the Democratic Party in my own right and so on, I came here with a true and honest and firm belief in my opposition to the Mundt bill at that time. I think that it was wrong and I think it is wrong now.

Mr. SCHERER. I do not want anything I have said to appear as a criticism of you. As I said, I think you have been very polite and very respectful, but I think when certain statements are made it is incumbent upon members of the committee to comment upon those statements and clear the record.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I have been a Member of the House, sir, and I have full respect for the committee and I realize, I have sat up there and I have made my comments too as witnesses have testified.

Mr. SCHERER. Have you been given every opportunity to make explanations to answers you gave?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes.

Mr. SCHERER. I think that the members of the committee, then, have a right of course to comment upon statements you have made, the same as you have that privilege.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I have no complaint. I have been treated very fairly and respectfully and everything, I have made no complaint and I am doing my very level honest best to do a good job to answer the questions as they are given to me.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall having spoken to the legislative conference of the Freedom Crusade Congress of the Civil Right Congress on the question of the indictment of the 12 Communist leaders?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know what that Freedom Crusade is. Where was that supposed to be?

Mr. TAVENNER. In Washington.

Mr. O’CONNELL. State of Washington?

Mr. TAVENNER. No. It was in Washington, D. C. According to the Daily Worker of January 13, 1949, we find an article entitled “Congressman To Address Crusade,” this paragraph:

The final panel on persecuted political minorities based on the
indictments of the 12 Communist leaders will be discussed by
Marcantonio, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, and former Montana Congressman
Jerry O’Connell.

Do you recall whether you did speak?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I did not. I have never met DuBois, never met him in my life. I have never been involved with him. Marc I know real well.

Mr. SCHERER. Do I understand you to say you don’t recall whether you made the speech?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I never spoke at any such panel. Because I----

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall having agreed to appear on that program?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I surely don’t.

Mr. SCHERER. Is that the Daily Worker?

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHERER. Do you mean the Daily Worker can be wrong?

Mr. O’CONNELL. The reason I feel positive about that is I do not know Dr. DuBois, I have never met him, and I don’t know him at all, and I know I was not on any panel where he talked. I know I didn’t do that. Marc of course I knew real well, but I certainly don’t remember speaking any place with Marc. I knew him.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you speak, regardless of who accompanied you, on a program sponsored by the Freedom Crusade Congress?

Mr. O’CONNELL. What date was that?

Mr. TAVENNER. In January 1949.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I did not.

The other reason I feel sure about that is I left the State of Washington in October 1949, and I went back to Montana, and I know during that particular period I was in the State of Montana and my wife and I were living with her folks in Great Falls. I know my financial circumstances at that time were very slim and that I am sure, I am just positive that I never spoke at any such panel at that time.

Mr. TAVENNER. A report is made by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities that the Daily Worker issue of June 23, 1937, page 1, carried a letter addressed by you to David Leeds, business manager of the Daily Worker, official organ of the Communist Party, in which you state:

I feel that the Daily Worker is America’s outstanding daily labor
paper and has done much during these past crucial labor years to
bring true and accurate accounts of labor conditions throughout the
entire country to the attention of the people.

Did you write such a letter?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, I wrote such a letter.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you a subscriber to the Daily Worker?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I don’t think--I was a Member of Congress at that time and the Daily Worker was delivered like a lot of other newspapers are to my office. My particular recollection of that--that is 1937--was that a man by the name of Paddy King was an avowed Communist in the State of Montana and is quite a familiar character around there came to my office and asked me if I would do this and I think I told him I would confine it strictly to the labor coverage of what the Daily Worker was doing, coverage on labor, on strikes, on labor’s rights, and so on. I wrote the letter at that time.

Mr. SCHERER. Was what you said in 1937 true about the Daily Worker?

Mr. O’CONNELL. That was written in 1937.

Mr. SCHERER. 1937. It surely has changed since I became acquainted with it. I have just been reading the account of some of the hearings we had in Newark a couple of weeks ago.

Mr. O’CONNELL. A lot of things have changed since 1937.

Mr. SCHERER. I said if what you stated in 1937 was true about it, the paper surely has changed since my acquaintance with it.

Mr. O’CONNELL. You will remember that was the period in which the CIO was beginning to organize and there was considerable, we had the little steel strike, we had Memorial Day massacre at Republic Steel near Chicago; there were many things happening in the labor situation at that time, and in my opinion the Daily Worker covered them better and did a better job than any other paper I knew of.

Mr. TAVENNER. You knew of course that the Daily Worker was the official organ of the Communist Party, and that it was required to be read by all Communist Party members in order to ascertain the directives that were being issued by the Communist Party.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I knew that it was the organ of the Communist Party but whether or not the members were required to do it, I was not a Communist, I didn’t know.

Mr. TAVENNER. Why did you desire to give aid to the Communist Party by writing such a highly commendatory article to be printed in the Daily Worker?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I was dealing with the paper as such and particularly with its labor coverage as such. I think I confined my letter to that particular phase of the coverage that the Daily Worker did. There was no intent on my part to give aid or support to the Communist Party or anything----

Mr. TAVENNER. Was it your purpose to get aid or support for yourself from the Communist Party?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No, not aid and support from the Communist Party. I lived in western Montana and I was a Congressman from western Montana where we had a very, very militant tradition out there as far as labor was concerned. In that particular period and of course during the depression and at other times, labor leaders had been hanged out there, one labor leader was hanged to a railroad trestle----

Mr. TAVENNER. What has that to do with the question I asked?

Mr. O’CONNELL. What I am trying to point out is that I lived in a district, that I represented a district where there were a lot of militant labor leaders who read the Daily Worker, who actually, many of them I know, were not Communists, there wasn’t any particular fear--there might have been 30 or 37 Communists in the whole State, nobody was ever bothered about them, nobody was afraid of them. As a politician they came to see me and talk with me, they came to other politicians there.

Mr. TAVENNER. Communists?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes. I can remember--in the 33d--in the 33d Legislature of Montana the Communist Party came and talked to the legislative assembly while the legislature was assembled and all that on the conditions that existed in the State at the time. There wasn’t any, I am trying to put you in the pattern and in the spirit and in the situation that existed in that day. We weren’t worried about them, we weren’t afraid of them at all. We let them speak their piece, we let them say the things they wanted to say, if they had any contribution to make, to make it, and so on.

That is the attitude and that was not only true of them. We had heavy Socialist following, the Socialist Party out there, Norman Thomas had decidedly strong feeling, in fact strong support out there and carried some of the counties in the State of Montana particularly in my district in the 1932 election.

What I am trying to do is put you in the mind and in the spirit that existed as far as I was concerned at that particular time. For instance, today I wouldn’t write that kind of a letter to the Daily Worker.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did the same condition exist in Seattle, Wash., which you have described?

Mr. O’CONNELL. In the State of Washington you had about the same situation, in the history of the State there was----

Mr. TAVENNER. Let me ask you this question: Did members of the Communist Party in Seattle come to you as secretary of the Progressive Party to discuss Communist Party problems with you?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; not to discuss Communist Party problems as such, both while I was executive secretary of the Democratic Party and executive secretary of the Progressive Party I can remember Mr. Henry P. Huff and Mr. Van Lydegraf, I think there was a Mr. Remes, and others who came to the Democratic Party office and to the Progressive Party Office and made certain representations about support of the legislation they were interested in, matters that they were taking a position in, and so on. I talked with them.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did that also include Tom Rabbitt and William Pennock?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, in my time out there Rabbitt and Pennock had never been identified or identified themselves as members of the Communist Party. As I told you, Rabbitt was Democratic State senator, Pennock was Democratic State representative and their dealings with me, they were delegates to the Democratic Central Committee in King County and their dealings with me were, as far as I knew, and ostensibly they dealt with me as members of the Democratic party.

Mr. TAVENNER. We have spoken of the Daily Worker. You say you were not a subscriber. Were you a subscriber to the Daily People’s World?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t think I ever subscribed to the People’s World. I got the New World. I was a subscriber to the New World and to the Washington New Dealer.

Mr. TAVENNER. You were acquainted, were you not, with a paper published in Chicago by the name of Midwest Daily Record?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I can’t remember the Midwest Daily Record. When was that published?

Mr. TAVENNER. In the thirties. Do you recall having written a letter to the Daily Worker or made a public pronouncement recommending the publication of that paper?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I don’t. Was it a Communist newspaper?

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, it was.

Mr. O’CONNELL. Did it exist any time? Did it last any time?

Mr. TAVENNER. Not for a long period. I don’t know the period it existed. As I understand, you do not recall anything about that paper?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I honestly can’t remember anything about it. I didn’t even know it existed as far as I can remember. When I was down here in Congress there were a lot of newspapers and I am trying to think of some of them. A lot of them came in.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, were you acquainted with John T. Bernard, former Member of Congress?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir; I was a Member of the House in the 75th Congress with Mr. Bernard and I have seen him on several occasions since that time and I am acquainted with Mr. Bernard.

Mr. TAVENNER. I have before me the January 8, 1938, issue of the Daily Worker carrying an article entitled “‘I Am for the Loyalists and China,’ Police Captain Declares at Lincoln Vets Trial.” The last paragraph of this article states as follows:

A dinner in honor of Robert Raven was given by the friends of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade last night at the Aldine Club, 200 Fifth
Avenue. Congressman John T. Bernard, Farmer-Laborite of Minnesota,
paid tribute to the heroic death of Raven, and gave some account
of his experiences while visiting Spanish battle-grounds with
Jerry O’Connell, Congressman of Montana. Other speakers were Steve
Nelson. * * *

Did you accompany John T. Bernard to the Spanish battlefields?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. When were you in Spain and for what period of time?

Mr. O’CONNELL. You are really getting into ancient history. My best recollection was that we were in Spain, I would say sometime in the month of October 1938 or maybe the latter part of October or early November 1938, somewhere in that period.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long were you there?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I would say about 3 weeks.

Mr. TAVENNER. As part of your experience there, did you and Mr. Bernard take part in the review of the American Brigade, Anglo-American Brigade, on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of the Russian Revolution? Do you recall reviewing the troops?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I remember reviewing the troops but not in connection with any celebration of the Russian Revolution. As I remember, the only troops we reviewed were troops that came up when there was a change of command. The command of the brigade was to be taken over by somebody, I can’t remember who they were now, but certainly not in connection with any celebration of the Soviet Revolution. At least I certainly was not informed that that was the case. I had been active, while I was a Member of Congress, before I went to Spain I was very decidedly and very specifically on the side of the Spanish Republic, I did everything I could to promote American policy to help and to aid the Spanish Loyalists. They were the legally elected government of Spain, they were being attacked by Hitler and Mussolini as I saw it, and in my opinion it was the beginning, in fact the first battlefield of World War II.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, who invited you and the circumstances under which you made the trip?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, earlier in that year a group of Congressmen in the 75th Congress, we had a group of Congressmen known as the liberal bloc of Congress headed by Maury Maverick of Texas. The newspapers described us as all fairly young. I was only 27 at the time. We were described as Young Turks and out of that liberal bloc a group of us, 5 or 6 or maybe 4 or 5, went to see Secretary of State Cordell Hull in connection with the Spanish situation and also legislation which was pending with reference to invoking the Neutrality Act as it existed at that time against Germany and Italy for their intervention in Spain, and Mr. Hull told us as far as this Government was concerned there was actually no evidence of Spanish and German intervention or I should say German and Italian intervention.

I think I later, along with Congressman Coffee and Congressman Bernard and others, talked with David Niles, who was then executive assistant to President Roosevelt in connection with the situation. It was then suggested, I think just about the time Congress was adjourning, Mrs. O’Connell and I had been married on the 2d of January 1937, and we had had no honeymoon and were going to Europe.

My mother and father were both born in Ireland and I had always wanted to go there and we did go to Ireland, to England, France, and so on, had a reception at the Spanish Embassy, I would say probably about a month before adjournment or shortly before adjournment, Ambassador de Los Rios invited not only myself but Congressman Bernard and several other Congressmen to go to Spain and investigate what the situation was there.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was he the person who extended the invitation to go to Spain?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes. He was the one. We of course took care of our own arrangements here, got our passport from the State Department--I think we were issued special passports by the State Department. Our visas were procured.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was any contribution made to you for the expenses of this trip for you and your wife, either for transportation or otherwise?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No. We paid our own passage. I think we went over on the _Queen Mary_ and came back on the _Normandy_. We paid all of our hotel expenses and we traveled by plane from Le Bourget to Croydon and paid for those. I spent about a month in Ireland where my folks were born and all those expenses were paid by me and in Spain we were the guests of the Spanish Republic and there were no expenses for hotel and transportation in Spain itself.

Our entry into Spain was expedited by the American Embassy in Paris. I think Robert Murphy was then Minister Plenipotentiary at the time and Acting Ambassador and he had Col. Steven Fuquay, who was military attaché of the American Embassy in Spain to meet us at the airport at Valencia.

Mr. TAVENNER. After your return to this country, did you then become affiliated with organizations which have since been designated as front organizations relating to the Spanish problem?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I don’t know whether you could define it as affiliated--I made speeches before many groups that were involved in the fighting in behalf of the Spanish Republic.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you become one of the sponsors of the Medical Bureau and North American Committee To Aid Spanish Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Right now I don’t remember whether I did, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. I am sure I did everything I could----

Mr. TAVENNER. I find your name on the letterhead of that organization on July 6, 1938. Does that refresh your recollection?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I haven’t seen it but if I am on there--I want to say I did everything I could to save the Spanish Republic. I felt very intensely about it. I am proud of what I did. I feel the same way about it today as I did then.

I think the position that I took as far as history was concerned was later in the establishment of the United Nations and disbarment of Franco Spain from the United Nations at least vindication of the position that I had taken. But in July of 1938 certainly that committee or that organization whose letterhead you say I am a sponsor on was not listed as a subversive organization or so described by anyone.

Mr. TAVENNER. An examination of the letterhead of American Relief Ship for Spain bearing date of September 3, 1938, reflects you as one of the sponsors of this organization. Do you recall that?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t recall it but I am sure it is true. As I said, I worked every way I knew how for defeat of Franco and for the saving of the Spanish Republic.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you appear on a program of the Fourth National Congress of the American League for Peace and Democracy in Pittsburgh in November 1937?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. November 26 to 28, 1937.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I remember I missed the Army-Navy game. It rained and I was anxious to get to it. I remember I spoke at that meeting.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was that in behalf of the Loyalist cause?

Mr. O’CONNELL. It was in connection with Loyalist Spain. I think there was a resolution pending in the Congress to invoke the Neutrality Act against Germany and Italy for intervention and I think also removal of the embargo which had been placed against Spain.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you from time to time appear before various meetings of the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade, and speak on the subject of the Spanish cause?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t remember how many times. My present recollection of that, which, of course, is some 17 or 18 years ago, is that I made 1 or 2 speeches at meetings of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Mr. TAVENNER. In the course of the making of those speeches did you become acquainted with Steve Nelson?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No, sir; I never ever met Steve Nelson; have never met Steve Nelson to this day.

Mr. TAVENNER. I notice in the Daily Worker issue of July 8, 1937, that you were listed to speak along with Earl Browder and others on July 19. This was prior to your trip to Spain?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall that?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes. As I remember from the date that was the first anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish War and it was a meeting, as I remember, in Madison Square Garden and the speakers included--I know Fiorello LaGuardia spoke there. I know Norman Thomas, the candidate for the Socialist Party spoke there; a Republican Representative in Congress also spoke there. I spoke as a Democrat.

Mr. SCHERER. Who was the Representative?

Mr. O’CONNELL. If I remember, he was from one of the New York districts, I am not too sure which.

Mr. SCHERER. Do you remember his name?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I really don’t. The purpose of the meeting as it was outlined was to have a representative of all of the political parties speak at the meeting. Did Marcantonio speak there?

Mr. TAVENNER. He is listed as one of those.

Mr. O’CONNELL. At that time I am pretty sure Marc was a Republican Representative or had been a Republican Representative.

Mr. SCHERER. Marcantonio was a Republican Representative?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; he was. He came to Congress as a Republican Representative.

Mr. SCHERER. I understand how that happened. Was he the one you are referring to or was it somebody else?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I am not sure. I know there was a representative of every political party that spoke there on the Spanish situation and in favor of the Spanish Republic.

Mr. SCHERER. I understand that, but might it have been Marcantonio you were referring to?

Mr. O’CONNELL. My remembrance is it was somebody else, but I don’t want to--I am trying to think. As a matter of fact, he was from one of the silk-stocking districts of New York, as I remember.

Mr. WILLIS. We will adjourn until 2 o’clock.

(Whereupon, at 12:30 p. m. the committee was recessed, to reconvene at 2 p. m. the same day.)

AFTERNOON SESSION, JUNE 2, 1955

The subcommittee reconvened at 2 p. m.

Mr. WILLIS. The subcommittee will come to order.

Because of the pressure of legislative work, as we have gone along in these hearings it has been necessary to constitute and reconstitute the subcommittee.

Mr. Scherer could not be here this afternoon and the chairman has now appointed a subcommittee of my colleagues, Mr. Velde, and Mr. Doyle, and myself as chairman.

In view of the reconstitution of the subcommittee we will reswear the witness.

Do you solemnly swear that you will testify according to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, before this subcommittee?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I do.

Mr. WILLIS. Proceed, Mr. Tavenner.

TESTIMONY OF JEREMIAH JOSEPH O’CONNELL--Resumed

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, were you a member of the national committee of the International Labor Defense in 1940?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know----

Mr. TAVENNER. The Daily Worker of May 3, 1938, reports that Jeremiah O’Connell was a speaker at a function of the International Labor Defense.

According to Equal Justice, page 4, of the November 1938 issue, Jeremiah O’Connell was one of the sponsors of the Christmas drive of that organization.

According to the May 1939 issue of Equal Justice, Jeremiah O’Connell was one of those who sent congratulations to the southern California district year book 1938 of the International Labor Defense.

According to a leaflet the summer milk fund drive, Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City, of June 13, 1940, you were listed as a member of that committee of the International Labor Defense.

Now, does that information refresh your recollection?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No. I mean I can’t--I don’t remember ever being elected to the international committee of the International Labor Defense, or selected for it.

I probably, as a Congressman, like on the milk fund, summer milk fund and Christmas fund, and so on, at that time the International Labor Defense used to send, I think Christmas presents to labor prisoners.

During my term in Congress I was particularly active in fighting for the freedom of Tom Mooney. My Dad had been in the miner’s union, a member and executive for that particular period; he has always been interested. When I came here I introduced a resolution in the Congress asking for the freedom of Tom Mooney and for a pardon for him.

I think my best recollection is as far as the International Labor Defense is concerned that the matters I sponsored were around prisoners like Tom Mooney.

Mr. TAVENNER. Are you familiar with the fact that it has been cited as a Communist front organization?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I shouldn’t say that I actually know that it has been cited, or when it was cited.

Mr. TAVENNER. Attorney General Tom Clark cited it as a subversive and Communist organization on June 1, 1948, and again on September 22, 1948.

Mr. O’CONNELL. It wasn’t even in existence then.

Mr. TAVENNER. Probably not. Attorney General Francis Biddle, on September 24, 1942, cited it as a legal arm of the Communist Party.

This committee on January 3, 1939, again on January 3, 1940; on June 25, 1942; and on March 29, 1944, cited it. In this committee’s citation it was referred to as the American section of the MOPR Red International of Labor Defense, often referred to as the Red International Aid.

It was subsequently combined with the National Federation of Constitutional Liberties to form the Civil Rights Congress.

Mr. VELDE. Mr. O’Connell, as a former Member of Congress, naturally you were interested in the citations of the Un-American Activities Committee and the citation of the Attorneys General. Surely you must have some recollection that these organizations were subversive and cited as subversive by duly constituted bodies?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Actually, I mean as far as the International Labor Defense is concerned, I think the latest, according to that record, that I was involved is sometime in 1940. I think its earliest citation was by this committee in 1939.

Then the Attorney General’s citations were many years after that when it was actually in existence.

Mr. TAVENNER. 1942?

Mr. O’CONNELL. 1942.

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir; you said many years later; 1942 is the date that the Attorney General first cited.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I thought you said 1948.

Mr. TAVENNER. There was one in 1948.

Mr. VELDE. Mr. O’Connell, I understood you to say that you didn’t know that the International Labor Defense was a subversive organization or cited as a subversive organization.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I actually didn’t know at the time I was involved there. I, for instance, know now that the International Labor Defense has been, and I have known it for some time in the past few years since it was cited.

Mr. VELDE. How long have you known it has been cited?

Mr. O’CONNELL. My best recollection would be that I have probably known since 1945, somewhere in there; maybe a little earlier, but certainly at this time I didn’t know it.

For instance, I am out in the State of Montana. A lot of this material is not covered by the press in Montana, and it does not have any particular interest, and, of course, I was not involved; I was no longer a Member of Congress at that time.

I had a sincere desire, I actually believed, and felt that Tom Mooney had been framed, and I felt that he ought to be released from prison. I worked for his freedom.

I think, in one instance, as far as the International Labor Defense is concerned, I was going into Jersey City to speak against Mayor Frank Hague. The meeting that I was speaking at apparently was sponsored by Norman Thomas’ Socialist Party, or they were the ones that had arranged it, and members of the International Labor Defense requested me not to speak, but I went there and spoke.

At that time, to my best recollection, Mike Quill was the New York labor leader and still is. He was prevailing upon me not to go in there and speak, but I did go into Jersey City and tried to speak there. I felt that Frank Hague was denying civil liberties and particularly freedom of speech.

Mr. VELDE. But at that time did you not realize that the International Labor Defense had been cited by your Government as being subversive?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Congressman, at that time I was 27, 28 years old. My political experience, particularly as far as Socialists were concerned, as far as Communists were concerned, and all of that, I had no training or study in Marxism-Leninism.

As a matter of fact, I had very little knowledge of what the differences were, what their division of opinion was, or anything of the kind.

My feeling was that both of them were for socialism and I didn’t know what their particular division was.

Mr. VELDE. What I am getting at is this: As a Member of Congress, following your defeat as a Member of Congress, you certainly were interested in the committees of Congress, you certainly were interested in what the Attorney General of the United States was doing. It seems to me that you should have been cognizant of the fact that the International Labor Defense was cited as a subversive organization.

Mr. O’CONNELL. This is the first time today--no, for instance, this committee had cited the International Labor Defense at that particular date. Now, I learned later----

Mr. VELDE. Now, Mr. O’Connell, there have been a lot of witnesses appear before this committee with a lot less intelligence than you, with a lot less knowledge of political activities of our Government, and, of course, we realize that there were a lot of those people who became involved in the Communist Party and the Communist Party manipulations.

But I just cannot understand how you, as a Member of Congress, would not be cognizant of the fact that the International Labor Defense was cited as a subversive organization.

I don’t question whether you believed it was, or was not; or whether you believed that the Attorney General or this committee was right.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I said that I later knew, but at the particular time involved here, Congressman, it had not been, in my first connection with it, had not been cited by the committee as such.

I can’t remember this milk fund in 1940, or whatever it was, but I presume it was to raise funds to provide milk for prisoners, labor prisoners, children of labor prisoners, and so on. I don’t remember specifically about----

Now, as far as my particular situation was concerned, the way I felt about these things, I mean for instance whether it was Mooney or whoever it might have been, I made up my mind so far as my judgment was concerned, what I thought was right and what I thought was wrong.

Mr. VELDE. Certainly you have that privilege, as we all do.

Mr. O’CONNELL. And I worked to accomplish what I thought was right.

Mr. VELDE. I am not questioning your privilege, your right, to make up your own mind. I am questioning the facts, your statement that you did not know.

Mr. O’CONNELL. About the best way to explain it to you, I came out of a district, I was born and raised in Butte. Butte is a mining town----

Mr. VELDE. But you had been to Washington, D. C. Even before you ran for Congress you had been here.

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, I had gone to school here, yes.

In that particular day when I went to school here, as I remember, there wasn’t any great discussion about Communists or Socialists or anything of that kind. When I went to school here in that day, I was in the----

Mr. VELDE. Mr. Chairman, I do not see that this argument is getting us anywhere.

Mr. O’CONNELL. The biggest thing of interest at that time was Al Smith and Governor Ritchie and other people’s nominations for the Presidency.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, were you a member of the national committee of the American League for Peace and Democracy in 1939?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know whether I was in 1939, but maybe in 1938 or 1937, and possibly 1939 I was a member of the American League for Peace and Democracy.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long were you a member that organization?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I really wouldn’t know. Actually after I went back to Montana, outside of some communication and sponsorship, something of that kind, I had very little connection. As I remember, the League didn’t last; I mean it didn’t last very long.

Mr. TAVENNER. While you were a member of its national committee, did you take part as a speaker in various functions of the American League for Peace and Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I think I can remember about two speeches. I made a speech in Pittsburgh that you asked me about, and I made a speech in New York, at a banquet in New York.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you remain a member of the national committee of the American League for Peace and Democracy until its dissolution?

Mr. O’CONNELL. When did it dissolve?

Mr. TAVENNER. In 1941.

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I couldn’t say whether I remained a member all of that time. I don’t know.

Mr. TAVENNER. During the course of the hearing before this committee the chairman read into the record minutes of an executive committee meeting of the American League for Peace and Democracy, held on January 23, 1939. I quote from what the chairman read into the record:

In connection with the legislative program it says: “Get lists of
friendly Congressmen and have teas and luncheons for them.”

A further idea of how they proceed is shown in the minutes of
January 13, 1939, of the meeting held at the home of Mrs. Fowler,
as follows:

“It was suggested that we make an attempt to get Congressmen to
join the league. Mr. Smith will arrange for a luncheon meeting
with Marcantonio and Jerry O’Connell to get their views on how to
proceed. The idea is to make Congressmen part of an impressive list
of sponsors.”

and from the same minutes----

“Mr. Berrall announced a legislative office will be established
in Washington over the weekend with Jerry O’Connell doing the
congressional work and two assistants at the office.”

Will you explain what your activity was among Congressmen to solicit membership in the American League for Peace and Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. When was this supposed to be?

Mr. TAVENNER. The minutes of the executive meeting were January 13, 1939.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I was no longer a Member of Congress in 1939.

Mr. TAVENNER. I didn’t say that you were.

Mr. O’CONNELL. Then I was supposed to head some kind of office here?

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Berrall announced that a legislative office will be established in Washington----

Mr. O’CONNELL. What is this Mr. Berrall? Who is he?

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you know him?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I don’t know him.

Mr. TAVENNER (reading):

Mr. Berrall announced that a legislative office will be established
in Washington over the weekend with Jerry O’Connell doing the
congressional work and two assistants at the office.

Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as I am concerned he is talking out of thin air. I had nothing to do with any office. I wasn’t in a legislative office down here for the American League for Peace and Democracy.

Mr. TAVENNER. Where were you in January 1939?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, my best recollection would be that in January 1939 I was back in the State of Montana. After I was defeated for Congress I started a weekly newspaper called Jerry O’Connell’s Montana Liberal.

I am pretty sure I was back there getting that paper underway and getting it published and so on, trying to get subscriptions. I just think he is talking out of complete thin air because I certainly never came down here and did any kind of work like that, or talked to any Congressmen or had teas for them or anything.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall when you left Washington at the end of the Congress in which you served?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t think after my defeat that I came back here at all. I was defeated, of course, in November 1938. I think my secretary came back and cleaned up what we had in the office and brought it back.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I would like the record to show that the American League for Peace and Democracy was cited as subversive and Communist by Attorney General Francis Biddle on September 24, 1942, in the following language:

Established in the United States in 1937 as successor to the
American League against War and Fascism in an effort to create
public sentiment on behalf of the foreign policy adapted to the
interest of the Soviet Union. The American League for Peace and
Democracy was designed to conceal Communist control in accordance
with the new tactics of the Communist International.

Mr. VELDE. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire a little further on that?

Mr. WILLIS. Certainly.

Mr. VELDE. Were you acquainted with any of the leaders of the movement of the American League for Peace and Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, about the only one I can remember, that stands out in my mind, was Dr. Harry F. Ward.

Mr. VELDE. Do you know Dr. Harry F. Ward?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I knew him at that time.

Mr. VELDE. You still know him, do you not?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I think if he walked in the room I don’t know whether I would recognize him. I would say it has probably been 10 or almost 15 years.

Mr. VELDE. At that time he was head of the Methodist Federation of Social Action. I presume you know that, do you not?

Mr. O’CONNELL. My impression was that he was head of this organization.

Mr. VELDE. Will you answer my question? Did you know that he was head of the Methodist Federation for Social Action at that time?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I really didn’t know whether he was or not. My impression was that it was somebody by the name of Jack McMichael that was head of that.

Mr. VELDE. If my memory serves me correctly, it was not until after that time. It was 1942. Am I right, that Jack McMichael became head of the Methodist Federation for Social Action?

Mr. O’CONNELL. This was quite a while ago.

Mr. VELDE. What contact did you have with Harry Ward as far as the American League for Peace and Democracy was concerned?

Mr. O’CONNELL. About the only contact I had with him, I don’t know whether he personally, but somebody before him, asked me to speak at a convention or meeting they had out in Pittsburgh in November 1937.

Then there was a banquet as I recall; I think after that time, something in the early part of 1938, in New York, where he asked me to speak and, of course, he presided at the banquet in New York. I don’t know whether it was at Pittsburgh, or whether he resided there, or not, but I remember his presiding.

Mr. VELDE. Do you have any idea why he asked you to speak before the meeting?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I think because of my position on foreign policy and particularly on Spain at that time.

Mr. VELDE. Did you know any other leaders in the movement for the American League for Peace and Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. The only one I recall now is Dr. Ward.

Mr. TAVENNER. Possibly I can refresh his recollection on that. Wasn’t Earl Browder one of the leaders?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know. I really don’t know. If he were, any connection I had with the league--I mean I had certainly nothing to do with him. I mean, he wasn’t involved at the meeting that I spoke to in New York or the meeting I spoke to in Pittsburgh. I never saw Browder or knew he was involved in it.

Mr. TAVENNER. In the extract from the minutes of the executive meeting which I read a few moments ago----

Mr. O’CONNELL. Where was this executive meeting?

Mr. TAVENNER. It was held in the home of Mrs. Fowler, on January 13, 1939. Now, it was suggested at that meeting, according to what I read, that a person by the name of Mr. Smith would get in touch with Marcantonio and Jerry O’Connell to get their advice on how to proceed.

Did anyone confer with you as to how to proceed to get Congressmen to lend their names as sponsors so as to form an impressive list for the American League for Peace and Democracy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; certainly nobody got in touch with me. I don’t know of any Smith who got in touch with me. I know I never had anything to do; I never came down here and tried to give Congressmen teas. I don’t know who this Mrs. Fowler is; I don’t know who Berrall is.

I think they were talking through their hat so far as I was concerned. I mean, I can’t speak for Marc.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall having been a speaker at the function of American Friends of the Chinese People in June of 1938?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; that was in New York, was it not? A banquet in New York.

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes.

Mr. O’CONNELL. Or was that a meeting here in Washington? I think that was just after the Japanese aggression in China.

Mr. TAVENNER. Are you now aware that the American Friends of the Chinese People has been cited by this committee as a Communist-front organization?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I am not aware of that even now.

Mr. TAVENNER. It was so cited on March 29, 1944.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I never got copies of the hearings or deliberations or decisions of the committee. Out there our press, unless it is specifically related to something out there, rarely carries any of this material.

Mr. TAVENNER. The November 1948 issue of the Far East Spotlight reflects that you sent greetings to the Communist, Madame Sun Yat-Sen under auspices of the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy. Do you recall having done that?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I really don’t recall having done it, but I don’t deny that I did. I have tremendous respect for Madame Sun Yat-Sen. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee whether or not you were affiliated with the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Affiliated with it?

Mr. TAVENNER. In any way; yes.

Mr. WILLIS. What is the name of that committee?

Mr. TAVENNER. A Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t remember----

Mr. TAVENNER. When you say you probably did join in such a greeting, can you recall the circumstances under which the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy obtained your assistance?

Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I really don’t recall how it was done or who contacted me, or who asked me or anything. I am sure that if somebody asked me to send a greeting to Madame Sun Yat-Sen I might have done it.

Mr. TAVENNER. The record should show at this point that the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy was cited as a Communist organization by Attorney General Tom Clark on April 27, 1949.

Were you acquainted with Mother Bloor?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; I knew Mother Bloor.

Mr. TAVENNER. What were the circumstances under which you knew her?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I am pretty sure that she came here to Washington and I was introduced to her here in Washington when I was in Congress, or if not, I probably----

Mr. VELDE. Did you know her to be a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes.

Mr. VELDE. How did you know she was a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I think she said she was and was an avowed Communist. I don’t think she hid it or anything of that kind.

Mr. WILLIS. What is the name of that person?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Mother Bloor.

Mr. TAVENNER. B-l-o-o-r.

Mr. O’CONNELL. As I recall, she came to see me in connection with my resolution in behalf of freedom for Tom Mooney. I am pretty sure that is how I met her.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you send her this greeting on her 75th birthday:

It affords me great pleasure to add my word of commendation and
praise to Mother Bloor and to wish her well on the occasion of the
celebration in her honor. When the final history of the movement of
labor throughout the world is written, I know that proper tribute
will be paid to her for her militant and unceasing fight for the
betterment of the classes that toil and I am happy and proud to be
one of those who join in paying honor and tribute to her on this
day of memorable celebration. With the sender’s personal regards
and every good wish, I greet her.

Did you send such a greeting?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know. When was this supposed to be sent?

Mr. TAVENNER. On her 75th birthday.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I mean, when was that?

Mr. TAVENNER. I am not certain as to the date.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I mean she was a real character. I am trying to recall. My dad was killed in a strike out in Butte and another organizer of the miners union was taken and hung at the Milwaukee trestle there. Whether Mother Bloor came out during that period or not, I really don’t know.

But she, at least when I was--she was a very old lady.

Mr. TAVENNER. I can give you the date. It is July 18, 1937.

Mr. O’CONNELL. It was her 75th birthday?

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I can’t recall the wire. I don’t remember sending it, but I wouldn’t deny that I had greeted her on her 75th birthday.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was that part of a plan of a group of people to add to her celebration?

Mr. CONNELL. I mean, I can’t recall any of the facts.

I don’t know who held the celebration, or under what auspices.

Mr. TAVENNER. Let me see if I can refresh your recollection:

It is a fact that there was a celebration committee established to celebrate the 75th birthday of Mother Bloor, an open Communist in this country, throughout the width and breadth of the land, and that you were a member of that celebrating committee? Or, I should correct that and say that you were a sponsor of that celebration committee?

I have before me a letterhead showing that Congressman Jerry J. O’Connell was one of a list of sponsors for that celebration.

Mr. CONNELL. I can’t recall the circumstances now, but as far as Mother Bloor was concerned, I am sure that I would have sent her some greetings on her 75th birthday, and if I am listed there as a sponsor--I don’t recall it now, but I don’t deny that I was.

Mr. TAVENNER. I desire to introduce the document in evidence, and ask that it be marked “O’Connell Exhibit No. 6” for identification only, and to be made a part of the committee files.

Mr. WILLIS. It is so ordered.

Mr. TAVENNER. The National Federation for Constitutional Liberties in January 1943 addressed a message to the House of Representatives critical of the Dies committee and calling for its abolishment. A number of signatories appear to that letter and among them appears your name. It appears in this way:

I hereby join in signing the January 1943 message to the House of
Representatives opposing renewal of the Dies committee.

There were a number of signatories, including Jerry O’Connell. Do you recall that?

Mr. CONNELL. I don’t recall, but I voted against the creation of the Dies committee in 1938 and I have constantly opposed it all the time it was in existence.

Mr. TAVENNER. Now, in asking the question I am not critical in any sense and don’t mean it in any sense, because of your decision to oppose a congressional committee. That is a right that anyone has.

Mr. CONNELL. Well, I was a Member of Congress and I had a right to vote against it.

Mr. TAVENNER. Not only as a Member of Congress, but as a citizen you had that right. I don’t intend it in any way as critical, but my purpose in asking it is to find out what connection you had with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties which put out this message.

Mr. CONNELL. So far as I can remember they probably sent me a copy of that message and asked me if I would join in it. And then I think I was the sponsor of a call to organize or set up the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties.

Mr. TAVENNER. I think I have already read into the record the citations by the Attorneys General Clark and Biddle of that organization. So I will not repeat it.

I asked you this morning about the activity of John Daschbach in connection with the Civil Rights Congress in the State of Washington. According to the committee’s information, he was chairman of the steering committee of that organization. Is that true?

Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know whether he was chairman of the steering committee. I remember he was the director in charge of the Civil Rights Congress office in Seattle.

Mr. TAVENNER. Didn’t he name you as one of the members of the steering committee?

Mr. O’CONNELL. If he did, I had no knowledge of it. When did he name me? When was this done?

Mr. TAVENNER. In October of 1948.

Mr. O’CONNELL. He may have put me on there, but I never served as a member of the steering committee in the Civil Rights Congress.

Mr. TAVENNER. Why didn’t you?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I just remember I didn’t. In October of 1948 particularly we were in the midst of the 1948 campaign and I was the executive secretary of the Progressive Party.

Mr. TAVENNER. The campaign would have been over in November; would it not?

Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir; it would have been, but I mean from October--October is always involved in politics, October is the month when the general election campaign is carried on.

He, of his own volition, may have made me a member of the steering committee, but I certainly don’t remember getting any notification and I certainly know I didn’t serve on the steering committee.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, you have repeated a number of times during the course of the testimony your denial of any knowledge of Communist Party membership on the part of Tom Rabbitt and William Pennock while you were in the State of Washington.

Now, I have examined the testimony taken at the Canwell hearings--which occurred in 1948; did they not?

Mr. O’CONNELL. As I remember, there were two hearings out there. There was one in 1947--I think there was a hearing in 1947, and one in 1948.

Mr. TAVENNER. The first hearings were conducted from January 27, to February 5 of 1947, and subsequent hearings were, or at least the report was made in 1948. I am not sure whether the bulk of the hearings were in 1947 or in 1948.

Mr. O’CONNELL. I think, as I remember, the longer hearings were in 1947 and then there were some shorter hearings held in 1948.

Mr. TAVENNER. Now, I have examined this testimony and I find that Louis Budenz identified Tom Rabbitt, as a member of the Communist Party during the course of that hearing. He was the first witness.

Mr. O’CONNELL. If the committee please, I think Mr. Budenz at that hearing was asked questions about whether or not I was a member of the Communist Party and I think the records will show there that he didn’t definitely say that I was. He said that there was some discussion about me in Communist Party headquarters, and that I had a good record in Congress and the Communists thought I was----