The Lacuna
Page 126
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“As the people of the world see mass murder, the destruction of defenseless and innocent people and all of the crime and lack of morals which go with war, they become numb and apathetic. It has always been thus after war.”
At another time, he declared: “Today, we are engaged in a final all-out battle between Communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of Communism have selected this as the time and, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down they are truly down.”
In an informal quiz with his audience, the Senator answered a number of questions dealing mostly with the plan of Secretary of Agriculture Brannan to destroy millions of tons of potatoes, eggs, butter, and fruits; he gave forthright views on the old age and social security problems and a number of other topics….
Mrs. A. E. Eberhard, president of the Women’s Group, presided. State Senator William Hannig led the group singing. The invocation was delivered by the Rev. Philip Goertz, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church, and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. W. Carroll Thorn, of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
(undated page, HWS journal)
Universal declaration of rights of the howlers:
Article 1. All human beings are endowed with the god-given right to make firewood from the fallen tree. Article 2. Any tree will do. If it is tall, it should be cut down. The quality of wood is no matter, the tree asked for it by growing tall. A decent public will cheer to see it toppled. Article 3. Rules of normal kindness do not extend to the celebrated person. Article 4. All persons may hope to become celebrated. Article 5. It is more important to speak than to think. The only danger is silence. Article 6. A howler must choose one course or the other: lie routinely, or do so only on important occasions, to be more convincing. (The Trotsky tenet.)
HEARINGS REGARDING COMMUNIST INFILTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE
ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
PUBLIC HEARING, TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1950
TRANSCRIPT: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES,
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: JOHN S. WOOD, Georgia, Chairman;
FRANCIS E. WALTER, Pennsylvania; RICHARD M. NIXON, California;
BURR P. HARRISON, Virginia; FRANCIS CASE, South Dakota;
JOHN MCSWEENEY, Ohio; HAROLD H. VELDE, Illinois; MORGAN M.
MOULDER, Missouri; BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York FRANK L. RAVENNER, COUNSEL
MELVIN C. MYERS, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met in a public session, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m. in room 226, Old House Office Building, Hon. John S. Wood (chairman) presiding. Committee members present: Representatives John S. Wood (chairman), Francis E. Walter, John McSweeney, Richard M. Nixon (arriving as indicated) and Harold H. Velde. Staff members present: Frank L. Ravenner, counsel; Melvin C. Myers, chief investigator.
MR. WOOD: The record will show this is the Committee on Un-American Activities sitting now in the city of Washington, District of Columbia. Those present in addition to Committee and Staff members are the recording secretary and visitors from the press corps in the back gallery of the room. Mr. Harrison Shepherd sits here before us accompanied by two persons. The committee will be in order.
Mr. Shepherd, will you hold up your right hand, please, and take the oath. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you shall give this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
MR. SHEPHERD: Yes.
MR. WOOD: Will you state your full name?
MR. SHEPHERD: Harrison William Shepherd.
MR. WOOD: When and where were you born?
MR. SHEPHERD: Lychgate, Virginia, July 6, 1916.
MR. WOOD: Have you any objection to the photographers making pictures?
MR. SHEPHERD: I would be happier if they didn’t.
MR. WOOD: Well, gentlemen, you’ve heard him. Follow your conscience as usual.
(Murmuring and laughter from the gallery and photographs flashed.)
MR. RAVENNER: Honorable Chairman, before we begin questioning, may I ask to have Mr. Shepherd’s friends or counsel identified?
MR. SHEPHERD: This is Mr. Arthur Gold, who is a lawyer, and Mrs. Violet Brown, who is my stenographer.
MR. WOOD: Mr. Shepherd, the committee retains a recording secretary to make a very thorough transcript of these proceedings. Mrs. Ward, would you please identify yourself.
(So identified.)
MR. SHEPHERD: Sir, Mrs. Brown and Mr. Gold are here in the capacity of friends.
MR. RAVENNER: Fine, then. Mr. Shepherd, the purpose of this meeting is for the Committee to determine the truth or falsity of certain statements you have made, regarding membership or association with the Communist Party. Do you understand?
MR. SHEPHERD: Yes.
MR. RAVENNER: All right. This will not take all day, gentlemen, we should be out of here in time for lunch. Mr. Shepherd, would you please tell us where you now reside, and your present occupation.
MR. SHEPHERD: I live in Asheville, North Carolina, and am an author of books.
MR. RAVENNER: How long have you lived there, and what employment have you held in that time?
MR. SHEPHERD: Since 1940. I haven’t had very much work in Asheville, other than the writing. During the war I taught some Spanish lessons at a Teachers College.
MR. RAVENNER: While teaching foreign languages at the College, did you ever succeed in recruiting students to a Communist way of thinking?
MR. SHEPHERD: Goodness, I doubt it. I couldn’t recruit them to put their bubble gum in the wastepaper basket before standing up to do conjugations. Sometimes it fell out of their mouths on the third-person plurals.
(Laughter in the gallery.)
MR. RAVENNER: Now will you answer the question? Did any of your students join up with the Communist Party?
MR. SHEPHERD: I honestly don’t know what they did after the class.
MR. RAVENNER: Were you also in the Armed Services during those years, as a young man obviously fit for service?
MR. SHEPHERD: Unfortunately I was not found fit for service. I was called up instead for special work with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
MR. RAVENNER: You were found unfit for service on what grounds, Mr. Shepherd?
MR. SHEPHERD: Psychological grounds.
MR. RAVENNER: You were determined unfit for reasons of mental and sexual deviance, is that correct?
MR. SHEPHERD: I was found only sane enough for the Civilian Services, sir. My mental capacities were deemed adequate for handling the country’s most important national treasures. That was the determination of the Selective Service board.
At another time, he declared: “Today, we are engaged in a final all-out battle between Communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of Communism have selected this as the time and, ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down they are truly down.”
In an informal quiz with his audience, the Senator answered a number of questions dealing mostly with the plan of Secretary of Agriculture Brannan to destroy millions of tons of potatoes, eggs, butter, and fruits; he gave forthright views on the old age and social security problems and a number of other topics….
Mrs. A. E. Eberhard, president of the Women’s Group, presided. State Senator William Hannig led the group singing. The invocation was delivered by the Rev. Philip Goertz, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church, and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. W. Carroll Thorn, of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
(undated page, HWS journal)
Universal declaration of rights of the howlers:
Article 1. All human beings are endowed with the god-given right to make firewood from the fallen tree. Article 2. Any tree will do. If it is tall, it should be cut down. The quality of wood is no matter, the tree asked for it by growing tall. A decent public will cheer to see it toppled. Article 3. Rules of normal kindness do not extend to the celebrated person. Article 4. All persons may hope to become celebrated. Article 5. It is more important to speak than to think. The only danger is silence. Article 6. A howler must choose one course or the other: lie routinely, or do so only on important occasions, to be more convincing. (The Trotsky tenet.)
HEARINGS REGARDING COMMUNIST INFILTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE
ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
PUBLIC HEARING, TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1950
TRANSCRIPT: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES,
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: JOHN S. WOOD, Georgia, Chairman;
FRANCIS E. WALTER, Pennsylvania; RICHARD M. NIXON, California;
BURR P. HARRISON, Virginia; FRANCIS CASE, South Dakota;
JOHN MCSWEENEY, Ohio; HAROLD H. VELDE, Illinois; MORGAN M.
MOULDER, Missouri; BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York FRANK L. RAVENNER, COUNSEL
MELVIN C. MYERS, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met in a public session, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m. in room 226, Old House Office Building, Hon. John S. Wood (chairman) presiding. Committee members present: Representatives John S. Wood (chairman), Francis E. Walter, John McSweeney, Richard M. Nixon (arriving as indicated) and Harold H. Velde. Staff members present: Frank L. Ravenner, counsel; Melvin C. Myers, chief investigator.
MR. WOOD: The record will show this is the Committee on Un-American Activities sitting now in the city of Washington, District of Columbia. Those present in addition to Committee and Staff members are the recording secretary and visitors from the press corps in the back gallery of the room. Mr. Harrison Shepherd sits here before us accompanied by two persons. The committee will be in order.
Mr. Shepherd, will you hold up your right hand, please, and take the oath. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you shall give this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
MR. SHEPHERD: Yes.
MR. WOOD: Will you state your full name?
MR. SHEPHERD: Harrison William Shepherd.
MR. WOOD: When and where were you born?
MR. SHEPHERD: Lychgate, Virginia, July 6, 1916.
MR. WOOD: Have you any objection to the photographers making pictures?
MR. SHEPHERD: I would be happier if they didn’t.
MR. WOOD: Well, gentlemen, you’ve heard him. Follow your conscience as usual.
(Murmuring and laughter from the gallery and photographs flashed.)
MR. RAVENNER: Honorable Chairman, before we begin questioning, may I ask to have Mr. Shepherd’s friends or counsel identified?
MR. SHEPHERD: This is Mr. Arthur Gold, who is a lawyer, and Mrs. Violet Brown, who is my stenographer.
MR. WOOD: Mr. Shepherd, the committee retains a recording secretary to make a very thorough transcript of these proceedings. Mrs. Ward, would you please identify yourself.
(So identified.)
MR. SHEPHERD: Sir, Mrs. Brown and Mr. Gold are here in the capacity of friends.
MR. RAVENNER: Fine, then. Mr. Shepherd, the purpose of this meeting is for the Committee to determine the truth or falsity of certain statements you have made, regarding membership or association with the Communist Party. Do you understand?
MR. SHEPHERD: Yes.
MR. RAVENNER: All right. This will not take all day, gentlemen, we should be out of here in time for lunch. Mr. Shepherd, would you please tell us where you now reside, and your present occupation.
MR. SHEPHERD: I live in Asheville, North Carolina, and am an author of books.
MR. RAVENNER: How long have you lived there, and what employment have you held in that time?
MR. SHEPHERD: Since 1940. I haven’t had very much work in Asheville, other than the writing. During the war I taught some Spanish lessons at a Teachers College.
MR. RAVENNER: While teaching foreign languages at the College, did you ever succeed in recruiting students to a Communist way of thinking?
MR. SHEPHERD: Goodness, I doubt it. I couldn’t recruit them to put their bubble gum in the wastepaper basket before standing up to do conjugations. Sometimes it fell out of their mouths on the third-person plurals.
(Laughter in the gallery.)
MR. RAVENNER: Now will you answer the question? Did any of your students join up with the Communist Party?
MR. SHEPHERD: I honestly don’t know what they did after the class.
MR. RAVENNER: Were you also in the Armed Services during those years, as a young man obviously fit for service?
MR. SHEPHERD: Unfortunately I was not found fit for service. I was called up instead for special work with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
MR. RAVENNER: You were found unfit for service on what grounds, Mr. Shepherd?
MR. SHEPHERD: Psychological grounds.
MR. RAVENNER: You were determined unfit for reasons of mental and sexual deviance, is that correct?
MR. SHEPHERD: I was found only sane enough for the Civilian Services, sir. My mental capacities were deemed adequate for handling the country’s most important national treasures. That was the determination of the Selective Service board.
