Latest / Democracy in America / Preliminary Report on Neo-Fascist and Hate Groups - House Un-American Activities Committee
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Section one of Preliminary Report on Neo Fascist and Hate Groups.
- 0:06Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
- 0:10Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
- 0:14Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Preliminary Report on Neo Fascist and
- 0:19Speaker 1: Hate Groups prepared by the House on American Activities Committee
- 0:23Speaker 1: for the US Congress forward. Communism's present threat to the
- 0:30Speaker 1: very survival of the United States and the rest of
- 0:33Speaker 1: the free world has placed heavy burdens on the defenders
- 0:36Speaker 1: of human freedom and dignity. The Committee on Unamerican Activities
- 0:41Speaker 1: is concerned to observe that this burden is being aggravated
- 0:45Speaker 1: by certain individuals and organizations unscrupulously exploiting the menace of
- 0:50Speaker 1: communism to promote other activities equally subversive and equally Unamerican.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Such activities would destroy the very foundation work of the
- 1:00Speaker 1: American Republic if permitted to operate unnoticed or unchallenged. Committee
- 1:07Speaker 1: investigations disclose that this organized activity falls into two patterns,
- 1:12Speaker 1: one the neo fascist organization, which openly espouses a fascist
- 1:17Speaker 1: regime for the United States, and two the organized hate
- 1:22Speaker 1: group which masquerades as a defender of our republican form
- 1:26Speaker 1: of government, yet conducts hate campaigns against racial and religious
- 1:31Speaker 1: minorities in the infamous tradition of the fascist dictatorships. Under
- 1:37Speaker 1: Public Law six oh one from the seventy ninth Congress,
- 1:41Speaker 1: the Committee is instructed to investigate and report on the extent, character,
- 1:46Speaker 1: and objects of Unamerican propaganda activities in the United States,
- 1:51Speaker 1: and specifically the diffusion of subversive and Unamerican propaganda which
- 1:57Speaker 1: attacks the principle of the form of government as garasuaranteed
- 2:00Speaker 1: by our Constitution. Advocates of both fascism and communism are
- 2:05Speaker 1: therefore of grave concern to the Committee. Both totalitarian doctrines
- 2:10Speaker 1: are basically incompatible with the principle of our republic. Both
- 2:16Speaker 1: seek to destroy our constitutional government and supplant it with
- 2:20Speaker 1: a godless dictatorship in which the individual is deprived of
- 2:24Speaker 1: his rights and liberties to become an abject slave of
- 2:27Speaker 1: the state. Both derive strength by dividing their opposition, Communism
- 2:32Speaker 1: choosing to set class against class, while fascism incites racial
- 2:36Speaker 1: and religious discord. Despite the similarities between communism and fascism
- 2:42Speaker 1: so dramatically demonstrated to the world during the infamous Hitler
- 2:46Speaker 1: of Stalin Pact of nineteen thirty nine forty one, their
- 2:50Speaker 1: propaganda to the effect that each, as the foremost opponent
- 2:54Speaker 1: of the other, is undoubtedly a major contributor to whatever
- 2:58Speaker 1: support each has been able to us in our population.
- 3:02Speaker 1: The Special Committee on un American Activities warned in nineteen
- 3:06Speaker 1: forty that the danger to American democracy lay not so
- 3:10Speaker 1: much in a possible frontal attack by fascists and communists
- 3:15Speaker 1: in our mists, as in the much greater chance at
- 3:18Speaker 1: each extreme totalitarian group, seeking by deception to advance its
- 3:23Speaker 1: own cause impat its ranks, will secede in convincing a
- 3:27Speaker 1: really substantial number of people that their only defense against
- 3:31Speaker 1: violence from the opposite extremists to accept the violence of
- 3:35Speaker 1: the one they find least objectionable. This Committee has agreed
- 3:40Speaker 1: that subversion cannot be combated by subversion. Those who would
- 3:44Speaker 1: support the extreme right today do as great a violence
- 3:47Speaker 1: to our national institutions as do those on the extreme left. Furthermore,
- 3:53Speaker 1: the appearance of neo fascist organizations and methods in the
- 3:57Speaker 1: post war period serve only to impea the intelligent United
- 4:01Speaker 1: effort necessary and the current life and death struggle with communism.
- 4:06Speaker 1: The Committee does not claim to have made an exhaustive
- 4:09Speaker 1: investigation into all demagogic groups in the United States now
- 4:14Speaker 1: exploiting religious and racial hatred. The committee's preliminary studies show, however,
- 4:19Speaker 1: that such groups employ the Hitlerian technique of the big
- 4:23Speaker 1: lie in their platforms and literature. Their vicious falsehoods are
- 4:27Speaker 1: often clothed in seeming discussions of grave issues, such as
- 4:31Speaker 1: the Communist menace. The hate group appeals to the unwary
- 4:35Speaker 1: by a cynical use of concepts having a deep emotional
- 4:39Speaker 1: appeal to the majority of decent citizens, love of God, country, home,
- 4:45Speaker 1: or antipathy to communism amid protestations of patriotism and religious devotion.
- 4:52Speaker 1: These groups propagate hoaxes and smears aimed at setting creed
- 4:56Speaker 1: against creed and race against race. They use the divisive
- 5:00Speaker 1: tactics of the Communists, whom they allegedly deplore. Depending on
- 5:05Speaker 1: the type of audience to be reached. This propaganda is
- 5:09Speaker 1: couched in language ranging from violent vituperation to subtle annuendos.
- 5:15Speaker 1: The Committee believes that in its preliminary report, the Congress
- 5:20Speaker 1: and the American public might best be alerted to this
- 5:23Speaker 1: demagogic menace by the selection of two specific groups. One
- 5:28Speaker 1: is an avowed neo fascist organization and the other is
- 5:32Speaker 1: an allegedly patriotic organization which can best be characterized as
- 5:37Speaker 1: a hate group. They represent the major methods of approach
- 5:41Speaker 1: used today by the exploiters of racial and religious bigotry.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Note the Committee uses the word fascism to describe the
- 5:50Speaker 1: philosophy and movement as a whole, and not in the
- 5:54Speaker 1: narrower sense, which refers to the actual operation of fascist
- 5:58Speaker 1: regimes such as Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. The adjective
- 6:03Speaker 1: fascist can be applied to any organization or individual espousing
- 6:08Speaker 1: the fascist philosophy. However, the Committee will also use the
- 6:12Speaker 1: term neo fascist as a convenient method of designating organizations
- 6:17Speaker 1: and individuals whose espousal of fascism is recent in nature,
- 6:22Speaker 1: i e. Occurring after the military defeat of the Axis
- 6:26Speaker 1: aggressors in World War II. And of Section one Section
- 6:38Speaker 1: two of Preliminary Report on Neo Fascist and Hate Groups
- 6:42Speaker 1: prepared by the House on American Activities Committee for the
- 6:46Speaker 1: US Congress. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
- 6:52Speaker 1: The fascist problem in the past, the greatest activity by
- 6:57Speaker 1: Unamerican propagandists of the extreme right occurred in the United
- 7:01Speaker 1: States in the late nineteen thirties under the inspiration and
- 7:05Speaker 1: often with the direct aid, of fascist and Nazi regimes abroad.
- 7:10Speaker 1: The first investigation conducted by the Special Committee on Unamerican
- 7:14Speaker 1: Activities after its creation in nineteen thirty eight dealt with
- 7:18Speaker 1: the German American Boon. The Special Committee reported that the Boon,
- 7:24Speaker 1: which claimed twenty five thousand members in this country, including
- 7:28Speaker 1: five thousand storm troops, operated in fact as an agent
- 7:32Speaker 1: of a foreign power. Special Committee investigations also revealed the
- 7:37Speaker 1: existence of hundreds of other fascist organizations, ranging from groups
- 7:41Speaker 1: openly advocating to talitarianism of the Hitler, Mussolini or imperialist
- 7:47Speaker 1: Japanese variety, to groups posing as patriotic Americans but invariably
- 7:52Speaker 1: marked by anti racial and pro Nazi characteristics. All of
- 7:57Speaker 1: these organizations exploited racial and religious hatreds to enlist members
- 8:02Speaker 1: and gained financial support. They frequently cooperated with each other
- 8:06Speaker 1: in exchanging speakers in literature. Efforts at closer coordination failed, however,
- 8:13Speaker 1: due to rivalries between the group's petty curers in jealousy
- 8:17Speaker 1: over sources of income. Who was discovered that many of
- 8:20Speaker 1: the organizations were led by racketeers who operated primarily for
- 8:25Speaker 1: the purpose of reaping financial profit from racial and religious
- 8:29Speaker 1: hate propaganda. The Special Committee condemned such hate propaganda as
- 8:34Speaker 1: Unamerican per se and as being particularly vicious in a
- 8:38Speaker 1: period when it was a favorite weapon of the Axis Powers.
- 8:42Speaker 1: Unrelenting investigation and exposure, followed by legal prosecution prior to
- 8:48Speaker 1: and during World War II, defeated the effort to organize
- 8:52Speaker 1: fascism in the United States. The military defeat of the
- 8:56Speaker 1: Axes wiped out any remaining hopes of the fascists. Even
- 8:59Speaker 1: the eight peddling racketeers were largely silenced in the face
- 9:03Speaker 1: of an aroused public opinion. End of Section two, Section
- 9:15Speaker 1: three of Preliminary Report on Neo Fascist and Hate Groups
- 9:19Speaker 1: prepared by the House on American Activities Committee for the
- 9:23Speaker 1: US Congress. This LibriVox recording as in the public domain
- 9:29Speaker 1: Neo Fascism in the United States National Renaissance Party. The
- 9:36Speaker 1: reappearance of the avowedly fascist organization on the American scene
- 9:41Speaker 1: was marked by the formation in January nineteen forty nine
- 9:45Speaker 1: of the National Renaissance Party, headed by a young fanatic
- 9:49Speaker 1: James H. Medole of Beacon, New York, the party's official
- 9:53Speaker 1: organ The four page monthly National Renaissance Bulletin is frankly
- 9:58Speaker 1: billed as the only fascist PubL location in America. What
- 10:02Speaker 1: Hitler accomplished in Europe, the National Renaissance Party shall yet
- 10:06Speaker 1: accomplish in America. Is Medoll's fatuous post in the issue
- 10:11Speaker 1: of his bulletin date at May nineteen fifty three. National
- 10:15Speaker 1: Renaissance Party activities center on the dissemination of fascist propaganda
- 10:20Speaker 1: through the bulletin, other printed literature, and through street corner oratory.
- 10:25Speaker 1: The bulletin has been published in Beacon, New York, where
- 10:28Speaker 1: Meddoll's home at two twenty four East Main Street has
- 10:31Speaker 1: served as a national headquarters of the organization until the
- 10:35Speaker 1: spring of nineteen fifty four. At that time, Medull took
- 10:39Speaker 1: up residence at ten West ninetieth Street, New York City,
- 10:43Speaker 1: and announced the new national headquarters address as Box two
- 10:47Speaker 1: thirty eight two o eight East eighty sixth Street, New
- 10:50Speaker 1: York City. Street meetings have long been held at the
- 10:53Speaker 1: corner of eighty sixth Street and York Avenue in the
- 10:57Speaker 1: Yorkville section of Manhattan. There reasonable weather Modole may be
- 11:02Speaker 1: seen haranguing some two dozen followers with a mixture of
- 11:05Speaker 1: praises for Hitler and Mussolini and vituperation against minority groups.
- 11:11Speaker 1: Heckler's at times swell the audience to almost one hundred persons,
- 11:15Speaker 1: and the meeting occasionally ends in a stone throwing bout.
- 11:19Speaker 1: A serio comic yet repugnant feature of this neo fascist
- 11:23Speaker 1: organization is its attempt to maintain a uniform elite guard
- 11:27Speaker 1: in the Nazi style. Medole is at times accompanied by
- 11:31Speaker 1: a handful of young fanatics wearing dark caps and trousers
- 11:35Speaker 1: and brossards on which a lightning bolt replaces the swastika.
- 11:40Speaker 1: The elite Guard takes an oath of unconditional obedience to
- 11:43Speaker 1: the NRP leaders, whom it allegedly serves as honor guard
- 11:48Speaker 1: as well as protector. The Guard admittedly held secret meetings
- 11:52Speaker 1: in New York City on Thursday evenings during nineteen fifty
- 11:55Speaker 1: three under the joint command of Matt Cole Junior and
- 11:59Speaker 1: Hans Nature of Propaganda. The program and propaganda of the
- 12:05Speaker 1: National Renaissance Party is virtually borrowed wholesale from the Fascist
- 12:10Speaker 1: and Nazi dictators. Its nine point program advocates abolition of
- 12:15Speaker 1: parliamentary government in the United States in favor of government
- 12:19Speaker 1: by a trained elite, establishment of a fascist corporate economy,
- 12:24Speaker 1: encouragement of racial pride, preservation of the white Aryan race
- 12:28Speaker 1: by gradual deportation of the Puerto Ricans, Negroes, Jews and Asiatics,
- 12:34Speaker 1: and the denial to Jewish people of citizenship, professional and
- 12:38Speaker 1: political posts, and the right of intermarriage. NRP propaganda contains
- 12:44Speaker 1: extensive rehashes of Hitler's speeches typical or National Renaissance Bulletin
- 12:49Speaker 1: articles Adolf Hitler Explains Nazi Anti Semitism, appearing in the
- 12:55Speaker 1: February nineteen fifty three issue, and Adolf Hitler the George
- 12:59Speaker 1: Washington of Europe, which appeared in the issue of May
- 13:03Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. NRP's own leaders imitate the Hitler line.
- 13:08Speaker 1: Eustach Mullins, who has joined Medol in his street corner propagandizing,
- 13:14Speaker 1: is the contributor of an article entitled Adolf Hitler in
- 13:17Speaker 1: Appreciation in the bulletin of October nineteen fifty two. John M.
- 13:23Speaker 1: Lundorf Brooklyn, chairman of the NRP, extolled the features of
- 13:27Speaker 1: the fascist corporate state in the April nineteen fifty two
- 13:31Speaker 1: bulletin and asked the youth of America to choose between
- 13:34Speaker 1: parliamentary democracy with its empty promises and discord, or the clear,
- 13:39Speaker 1: brave and youthful fascist principles outlined here. Chief source of
- 13:44Speaker 1: propaganda for the NRP, however, is Frederick Charles F. Weiss
- 13:48Speaker 1: of Middletown, New York, who is portrayed as a graduate
- 13:52Speaker 1: of the University of Heidelberg and the Sorbonne. His prolific
- 13:56Speaker 1: ridings in the bulletin and in separate leaflets are mainly
- 14:00Speaker 1: racist diatribes. The NRP has also circulated literature received from
- 14:05Speaker 1: Einar Aburg of Norviekan, Sweden. For example, an anti Semitic
- 14:11Speaker 1: pamphlet by Aburg entitled The War Criminals was distributed in
- 14:16Speaker 1: this country under the NRP stamp, and overseas office is
- 14:20Speaker 1: maintained by the NRP under the direction of Mana Truhil
- 14:25Speaker 1: of fifty four Audubon Avenue, New York City. Modeau's group
- 14:30Speaker 1: offers its fascist program as the antidote to communism. The
- 14:34Speaker 1: falsity of its anti communist role is immediately exposed by
- 14:39Speaker 1: NRP's insistence that e communist is synonymous with jew The
- 14:45Speaker 1: NRP not only violates our constitutional principles by making this
- 14:49Speaker 1: minority its target, it also frequently supports the position of
- 14:53Speaker 1: the very communists it allegedly opposes. For example, the NRP
- 14:59Speaker 1: accuses the UNI State's government, whether under democratic or Republican control,
- 15:04Speaker 1: a seeking to promote a new World war to carry
- 15:07Speaker 1: out the economic and political ambitions of a small coterie
- 15:11Speaker 1: of international Wall Street bankers. This attack is identical with
- 15:16Speaker 1: the propaganda line of the Communist Party. Despite the different
- 15:20Speaker 1: motives behind communists and fascist attempts to disaffect Americans from
- 15:24Speaker 1: their government. An a leaflet entitled Asiatic Barbarism Versus Western
- 15:30Speaker 1: Civilization Medol proclaimed that only the superbly efficient totalitarian economic
- 15:36Speaker 1: systems of fascist, national, socialist, and communist regimes are adaptable
- 15:42Speaker 1: to the strain of total war. As practiced in the
- 15:45Speaker 1: twentieth century, the spirit of democracy is a glorification of
- 15:50Speaker 1: weakness and cowardly conduct. It glorifies the coward instead of
- 15:54Speaker 1: the fighter. It raises feeble weaklings to leadership rather than
- 15:58Speaker 1: a trained, iron hard and youthful elite. At the time
- 16:02Speaker 1: of the Prague Trials in nineteen fifty two and other
- 16:06Speaker 1: anti Semitic purchase behind the Iron Curtain. The NRP defended
- 16:10Speaker 1: the action of the Soviet leadership and implied that the
- 16:13Speaker 1: example should be followed in Europe and America. Such an
- 16:17Speaker 1: appeal to violence exposes the most vicious and dangerous aspect
- 16:21Speaker 1: of the National Renaissance Party. In its printed literature, NRP
- 16:27Speaker 1: has attempted to disguise such appeals, although the implications are
- 16:31Speaker 1: clear and headlines such as the following. In Russia, they
- 16:35Speaker 1: execute them the Prague and Bury Hill Way. In U.
- 16:39Speaker 1: S A. They promote them the Dexter White Way. In
- 16:42Speaker 1: his speeches, however, Medol has discarded caution on a number
- 16:46Speaker 1: of occasions and boldly advocated six inches of steel for
- 16:50Speaker 1: America's Jewish minority. NRP activities in propaganda are clearly subversive
- 16:56Speaker 1: and Unamerican. The Committee is further of theon that this
- 17:00Speaker 1: neo fascist organization, by its advocacy of force and violence,
- 17:05Speaker 1: contravenes the Smith Act. The Committee urges the Department of
- 17:10Speaker 1: Justice to consider taking immediate steps to convene a federal
- 17:14Speaker 1: grand jury for the purpose of prosecuting the leaders of
- 17:18Speaker 1: the National Renaissance Party under the Act extent of NRP operations.
- 17:25Speaker 1: The National Renaissance Party has frequently appealed for support from
- 17:30Speaker 1: crackpot elements which were active in Booned and other fascist
- 17:34Speaker 1: activities in the nineteen thirties. Meduel stated on one occasion
- 17:38Speaker 1: that the NRP was formed to carry on the work
- 17:41Speaker 1: of the Christian Front. The Christian Front had cooperated with
- 17:45Speaker 1: the German American Booned in pre Pearl Harbor days, and
- 17:49Speaker 1: boon leader Fritz Kuhn had declared the ideas of the
- 17:52Speaker 1: two organizations were one hundred percent in agreement. Daniel kurt,
- 17:57Speaker 1: self proclaimed leader of the Christian Front in Queens, New York,
- 18:01Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty nine, became an active worker in the
- 18:04Speaker 1: National Renaissance Party. Another veteran propagandist, Kurt Murtig, became New
- 18:10Speaker 1: York City chairman of the NRP, and his office at
- 18:14Speaker 1: three one seven East fifty fourth Street, New York City,
- 18:18Speaker 1: served as the NRP city headquarters. From the same office,
- 18:22Speaker 1: Murtig has operated as chairman of two of his own organizations,
- 18:27Speaker 1: the Citizens Protective League and the German American Republican League
- 18:32Speaker 1: of Greater New York. Murtig's letterhead state the leagues were
- 18:36Speaker 1: formed in nineteen thirty six. The Attorney General cited both
- 18:40Speaker 1: leagues as fascist organizations in nineteen forty eight. Murtig himself
- 18:46Speaker 1: served a six month workhouse term in nineteen forty six
- 18:49Speaker 1: on unlawful assembly charges growing out of his participation in
- 18:54Speaker 1: a Christian Front rally in Queens, New York in nineteen
- 18:57Speaker 1: forty five. In the summer of nineteen fifty three, the
- 19:01Speaker 1: NRP announced plans drawn a candidate for Congress from the
- 19:05Speaker 1: Yorkville District. Nothing further was heard of the scheme. However,
- 19:10Speaker 1: the would be candidate was h. Keith Thompson, Junior, who
- 19:13Speaker 1: was identified in the National Renaissance Bulletin as a former
- 19:17Speaker 1: registered agent for Major General Otto Rehmer's Socialist Like Party,
- 19:23Speaker 1: a neo Nazi group in West Germany now banned by
- 19:26Speaker 1: the German government. The NRP had previously publicized Thompson as
- 19:31Speaker 1: the national director of a newly formed American Committee for
- 19:35Speaker 1: the Advancement of Western Culture. James Maddole, Kurt Murtig, Frederick
- 19:41Speaker 1: Charles F. Weiss, and other officers and members of the
- 19:44Speaker 1: NRP also were represented on this committee, which had the
- 19:48Speaker 1: grandiose role of serving as a high policy Planning Group
- 19:53Speaker 1: for the Coordination of Racial Nationalist Activities in America, Europe,
- 19:58Speaker 1: Africa and Asia. Last year, the NRP tried to extend
- 20:02Speaker 1: its activities into other sections of the country. A guest
- 20:06Speaker 1: speaker at one of the n RP meetings in Yorkville
- 20:09Speaker 1: on June twenty sixth, nineteen fifty three was one James R. White,
- 20:14Speaker 1: who was billed as an organizer from Los Angeles. Medeau
- 20:18Speaker 1: claimed that White had already organized a full uniform group
- 20:21Speaker 1: in his city and distributed thousands of copies of National
- 20:25Speaker 1: Renaissance bulletins. Committee inquiries disclosed that James White's activities in
- 20:30Speaker 1: Los Angeles have been confined to a small group, and
- 20:33Speaker 1: that no effective efforts in organizing the NRP in that
- 20:37Speaker 1: city have materialized. A youth in his early twenties, White
- 20:41Speaker 1: was the publisher of his own newsletter Reason in nineteen
- 20:45Speaker 1: fifty two. Committee information shows that several years prior to
- 20:49Speaker 1: his involvement in neo fascist activities, White had been a
- 20:53Speaker 1: member of the Spartacus Club of the American Youth for Democracy,
- 20:58Speaker 1: a front organization of the Communist Party. It might be
- 21:02Speaker 1: noted at this point that MANA. Truehill previously mentioned as
- 21:05Speaker 1: head of the NRP Overseas Bureau, has omitted having attended
- 21:10Speaker 1: the Communist operated at Jefferson School of Social Sciences in
- 21:14Speaker 1: New York. This is another illustration of the common ground
- 21:18Speaker 1: often reached by fascists on the extreme right and communists
- 21:22Speaker 1: on the extreme left. Medol announced in his June nineteen
- 21:26Speaker 1: fifty three bulletin that a local NRP headquarters had also
- 21:30Speaker 1: been set up at twenty six twenty seven Hale Avenue
- 21:34Speaker 1: in Louisville, Kentucky, under the leadership of J. W. Mitchell,
- 21:39Speaker 1: a high school student. Subsequent inquiry by the committee revealed
- 21:43Speaker 1: that the branch in Louisville never attained any significant success
- 21:48Speaker 1: that it has since been dissolved. In December nineteen fifty three,
- 21:52Speaker 1: the party's bulletin stated that an NRP branch was being
- 21:57Speaker 1: formed in Pennsylvania under the direction of eel Are Baron
- 22:01Speaker 1: and Frederick Poulsen, and that another branch was being created
- 22:05Speaker 1: in New Jersey by Lawrencezestito. The numerical strength of an
- 22:09Speaker 1: organization such as the NRP is difficult to measure. Such
- 22:14Speaker 1: fanatics exaggerate their influence, and the Committee would do no
- 22:18Speaker 1: service in overestimating the importance of an element which will
- 22:22Speaker 1: undoubtedly take pride in being publicized as a menace. Membership
- 22:27Speaker 1: of the NRP has been estimated at anywhere from two
- 22:30Speaker 1: hundred to seven hundred persons. All indications point to a
- 22:34Speaker 1: diminished following in nineteen fifty four. The NRP charges a
- 22:39Speaker 1: nominal one dollar membership fee, and its monthly bulletin, which
- 22:43Speaker 1: has a two dollars yearly subscription rate, is often distributed gratis.
- 22:48Speaker 1: The NRP has stated it held twenty two street meetings
- 22:51Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty two in regular friday meetings during the
- 22:55Speaker 1: seasonable weather in nineteen fifty three, its most active year.
- 23:00Speaker 1: The combined total of indoor and outdoor meetings of the
- 23:02Speaker 1: NRP in nineteen fifty two fifty three has been estimated
- 23:07Speaker 1: at seventy A certain decline in the organization's activities was
- 23:11Speaker 1: evidence in nineteen fifty four. Investigation reveals that the new
- 23:15Speaker 1: headquarters addressed adopted by the NRP earlier this year is
- 23:20Speaker 1: the address of a commercial firm. It is apparent that
- 23:24Speaker 1: the NRP is largely a nomadic group, meeting in hotels
- 23:27Speaker 1: and private homes at times under the cover of another
- 23:30Speaker 1: name and using privately operated mailboxes as mailing addresses. Its
- 23:36Speaker 1: bulletin is being issued sporadically and in mimiographed rather than
- 23:41Speaker 1: in its usual printed form. The Committee is encouraged by
- 23:45Speaker 1: the relatively restricted nature of the National Renaissance Party influence.
- 23:50Speaker 1: The Committee believes, however, that such organizations have no place
- 23:53Speaker 1: in the American scene, and that the full force of
- 23:56Speaker 1: exposure and prosecution must be employed to act eradicate them.
- 24:03Speaker 1: End of Section three, Section four of Preliminary Report on
- 24:13Speaker 1: Neo Fascist and Hate Groups prepared by the House on
- 24:17Speaker 1: American Activities Committee for the US Congress. This LibriVox recording
- 24:22Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The hate group Common Sense.
- 24:28Speaker 1: Growth of the hate group in recent years is exemplified
- 24:32Speaker 1: by the publishing endeavors of Conde J. McGinley and his
- 24:36Speaker 1: son C. J. McGinley in Union, New Jersey. The McGinley
- 24:40Speaker 1: Senior and Junior operate as the Christian Educational Association for
- 24:45Speaker 1: the purpose of publishing a semi monthly paper, Common Sense,
- 24:50Speaker 1: as well as a mass of individual printed matter. Common
- 24:54Speaker 1: Sense represents itself as the nation's anti communist paper. Subscriptions
- 24:59Speaker 1: are sought from loyal and patriotic Americans in order to
- 25:02Speaker 1: help save our republic. Such patriotic claims provide poor disguise, however,
- 25:08Speaker 1: for some of the most vitriolic hate propaganda ever to
- 25:11Speaker 1: come to the attention of the Committee. Common Sense defines
- 25:15Speaker 1: communism as Judaism and devotes its pages almost exclusively to
- 25:20Speaker 1: a tax on the Jewish and to a lesser extent
- 25:23Speaker 1: than Negro minorities in our nation. Sympathy for the former
- 25:27Speaker 1: Nazi regime in Germany also is injected into the propaganda,
- 25:32Speaker 1: which is hardly distinguishable from that of the National Renaissance Party,
- 25:36Speaker 1: except for the latter's open appeal for a fascist government
- 25:39Speaker 1: in the United States. Despite its patriotic claims, Common Sense
- 25:44Speaker 1: has in fact employed and carried the writings of a
- 25:47Speaker 1: number of individuals associated with the National Renaissance Party. Through
- 25:52Speaker 1: the columns of Common Sense and innumerable booklets printed and
- 25:56Speaker 1: offered for sale, the mcginleys appear to serve as a
- 26:00Speaker 1: clearing house for hate propagandists throughout the country. Among these
- 26:04Speaker 1: are many of the native fascists and hate racketeers who
- 26:08Speaker 1: are active in the nineteen thirties. In contrast to the
- 26:12Speaker 1: limited appeal of the openly fascist National Renaissance Party, the
- 26:16Speaker 1: mc Ginley Enterprise appears to be a shrewd and going business.
- 26:20Speaker 1: The Organization of Common Sense, Conte J. McGinley Senior, began
- 26:26Speaker 1: editing a miniature weekly paper in Newark, New Jersey, in
- 26:29Speaker 1: nineteen forty six under the various titles of Think, the
- 26:34Speaker 1: Think and Think Weekly. In June nineteen forty seven, the
- 26:38Speaker 1: paper was issued under the name Common Sense, and in
- 26:41Speaker 1: November nineteen forty seven it was expanded to its present
- 26:45Speaker 1: tabloid size and the headquarters transferred from Newark to Union,
- 26:49Speaker 1: New Jersey. It became a semi monthly publication in nineteen
- 26:54Speaker 1: forty eight. Mc ginley remained the sole owner and publisher
- 26:58Speaker 1: until early this year, when the so called Christian Educational
- 27:03Speaker 1: Association was created to serve as owner and publisher. Officers
- 27:07Speaker 1: of the new association are Conde J. McGinley Senior President,
- 27:12Speaker 1: Conde J. McGinley Junior Secretary and Treasurer, and Alex Jeffiemou
- 27:18Speaker 1: Vice President. Jeffy Mau is employed by the mcginleys in
- 27:22Speaker 1: a subordinate capacity. Only the mcginleys are authorized to handle
- 27:26Speaker 1: association funds. Headquarters of the newspaper and its publishing association
- 27:31Speaker 1: are located in a fourteen room stone building at five
- 27:35Speaker 1: thirty Chestnut Street in Union, New Jersey. The building is
- 27:39Speaker 1: owned by Miss Katherine B. Littig of Newark, New Jersey,
- 27:43Speaker 1: whose worked for Common Sense on a voluntary basis almost
- 27:46Speaker 1: from the inception of the publication. The building also houses
- 27:50Speaker 1: the press, which prints Common Sense and other hate literature
- 27:53Speaker 1: sold through Common Sense. This mechanical equipment is owned by
- 27:57Speaker 1: the Union Patriotic Press, which gives the Chestnut Street building
- 28:01Speaker 1: as its headquarters. A corporation resolution of the Union Patriotic
- 28:06Speaker 1: Press lists its officers as President Charles Kine of Tampa, Florida,
- 28:11Speaker 1: Secretary John J. Reynolds, and Treasurer Edward J. Byrne Hightstown,
- 28:17Speaker 1: New Jersey. Farmer Burne is known to have been a
- 28:21Speaker 1: volunteer worker in the Common Sense enterprise. Both Burne and
- 28:25Speaker 1: Reynolds have attended rallies held by mc ginley for his followers.
- 28:28Speaker 1: Cain has also been in attendance. Prior to his removal
- 28:32Speaker 1: to Florida. McGinley was forced to rely on other presses
- 28:36Speaker 1: prior to nineteen fifty three, and he admittedly encountered difficulties
- 28:41Speaker 1: in assuring continuous printing of his propaganda After Common Sense
- 28:45Speaker 1: moved into its headquarters on Chestnut Street in the spring
- 28:49Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty three. An addition was built for the press,
- 28:52Speaker 1: later acquired by the Union Patriotic Press. McGinley announced to
- 28:57Speaker 1: his readers that the press had been set up for
- 28:59Speaker 1: our us use, and it would ensure prompt service in
- 29:02Speaker 1: the future. Technically, however, McGinley leases the press from the
- 29:06Speaker 1: Union Patriotic Press for a seventy five dollars monthly rental.
- 29:12Speaker 1: Nature of propaganda during nineteen forty six. In nineteen forty seven,
- 29:16Speaker 1: Mcginley's allegedly anti communist publication gave little indication of its
- 29:22Speaker 1: subsequent level of propaganda. At the outset, its columns carried
- 29:26Speaker 1: a certain amount of factual information on communism. Beginning in
- 29:30Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, however, Common Sense became increasingly outspoken in
- 29:35Speaker 1: its statements of a pro Nazi and anti Semitic nature.
- 29:39Speaker 1: It was soon almost exclusively a vehicle for the exploitation
- 29:42Speaker 1: of ignorance, prejudice, and fear. The paper devoted considerable space
- 29:48Speaker 1: in nineteen forty eight to the support of the late
- 29:50Speaker 1: Robert H. Best, American newsman, who was convicted of treason
- 29:54Speaker 1: and sentenced to life imprisonment in that year as a
- 29:57Speaker 1: result of his broadcast for the Nazis in World War Two.
- 30:02Speaker 1: A eulogy of best appearing in Common Sense for December fifteenth,
- 30:07Speaker 1: nineteen fifty two, described him as a patriot, Paul Revere,
- 30:11Speaker 1: and true Christian American. An arrogant letter written by Hermann
- 30:16Speaker 1: Gerring to Winston Churchill just before the Nazi leader poisoned
- 30:19Speaker 1: himself appeared in Common Sense for July first, nineteen fifty
- 30:24Speaker 1: An editorial note recommended that the letter be read carefully
- 30:28Speaker 1: by members of Congress and all others who are shaping
- 30:31Speaker 1: the destiny of America. Common Sense adopted the National Renaissance
- 30:36Speaker 1: party line, which allegis to the United States government is
- 30:39Speaker 1: plotting a new World War now that the matchless German
- 30:43Speaker 1: army is destroyed, Germany laid in ruins, and Europe helpless.
- 30:48Speaker 1: Eisenhower asked the German people to help him prepare for
- 30:51Speaker 1: another war, purporting to be a war against Communism, while
- 30:55Speaker 1: he protects in Coddle's in Washington, the same people who
- 30:58Speaker 1: prevented Germany from wiping out Communism. This is to be
- 31:02Speaker 1: a war against the Russian people, not Communism. In this statement,
- 31:07Speaker 1: mcginley's anti communist and patriotic publication apparently is not averse
- 31:12Speaker 1: to serving the communist propaganda cause. Indeed, McGinley has even
- 31:16Speaker 1: printed such statements as the following, which he identified as
- 31:20Speaker 1: being from a European correspondent. If your paper is to
- 31:25Speaker 1: continue its excellent work of opposing the policy of the
- 31:28Speaker 1: jew please do not fight Russia. Also, for we in
- 31:32Speaker 1: Europe look upon it as the only hope to prevent
- 31:34Speaker 1: Jewish world domination by means of its stupid, willing, technically
- 31:39Speaker 1: clever American slaves, the destroyers of europe cities, the hate
- 31:44Speaker 1: monkers of the vile occupation, and the hangman of Nurnberg.
- 31:49Speaker 1: Anti Semitism is the chief stock in trade of common Sense,
- 31:53Speaker 1: which now distortedly defines Communism as a false face for Judaism.
- 31:59Speaker 1: Typical of headline which appear in the publication Our Jewish
- 32:02Speaker 1: leaders are crazy for power, Zionists threatened Russia with war, brotherhood,
- 32:08Speaker 1: jew trap for Christianity and invisible government rules both parties
- 32:13Speaker 1: Adlai and Ike Marxist stoogis. Articles in Common Sense have
- 32:19Speaker 1: even attacked water fluoridation as a red plot by the
- 32:22Speaker 1: invisible rulers. Aimed at mass destruction of the American people.
- 32:27Speaker 1: The violent nature of this propaganda is illustrated by an
- 32:30Speaker 1: article written by George Thomas Adams in the issue of
- 32:33Speaker 1: Common Sense for December first, nineteen fifty two. In the
- 32:37Speaker 1: course of a discussion of anti Semitic programs in communist countries,
- 32:42Speaker 1: Adams stated, if the Russian people wish to throw off
- 32:45Speaker 1: their Jewish yoke, what right have we to criticize them?
- 32:49Speaker 1: We should be doing the same. Conde McGinley senior uses
- 32:53Speaker 1: the oblique method in an article in the issue date
- 32:56Speaker 1: at June fifteenth, nineteen fifty two. The German government, facing
- 33:01Speaker 1: the same situation as the United States does today, put
- 33:04Speaker 1: these red Jews in concentration camps. A survey of common
- 33:08Speaker 1: Sense propaganda fails to reveal any outright advocacy of a
- 33:13Speaker 1: fascist government for the United States. The solution customarily offered
- 33:17Speaker 1: by Conde McGinley senior to save America is an increase
- 33:21Speaker 1: in the circulation of Common Sense. It is apparent that
- 33:25Speaker 1: this publication represents a modern example of the racketeers who
- 33:29Speaker 1: made a business out of un American hate propaganda during
- 33:32Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties, cooperation with other propagandas information in the
- 33:38Speaker 1: possession of the Committee reveals a significant interchangeability of propagandas
- 33:43Speaker 1: working for the allegedly patriotic Common Sense and the avowedly
- 33:48Speaker 1: fascist National Renaissance Party. A good example is provided by
- 33:53Speaker 1: Eustace Mullins, who frankly eulogizes Hitler in the pages of
- 33:57Speaker 1: the National Renaissance Parties Bulletin, and who has been observed
- 34:02Speaker 1: at an NRP street session in New York City last year.
- 34:06Speaker 1: Articles written by Mullins had been appearing in Common Sense
- 34:10Speaker 1: since at least September nineteen fifty one, and last year
- 34:13Speaker 1: he became a writer on the staff of Common Sense.
- 34:17Speaker 1: W Henry McFarlane Junior is another individual who has been
- 34:21Speaker 1: simultaneously active in both the National Renaissance Party and Common Sense.
- 34:26Speaker 1: A resident of Philadelphia, McFarlane in nineteen forty eight had
- 34:31Speaker 1: organised a Nationalist Action League, which was promptly cited as
- 34:35Speaker 1: a fascist organization by the United States Attorney General. In
- 34:39Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine, McFarlane spoke at a number of meetings
- 34:42Speaker 1: of the National Renaissance Party in New York. He presided
- 34:46Speaker 1: at a branch meeting of the NRP held in Philadelphia
- 34:50Speaker 1: in October nineteen forty nine. Meanwhile, his name also appeared
- 34:55Speaker 1: as associate editor of common Sense in the issues which
- 34:58Speaker 1: appeared during July August of nineteen forty nine. At that time,
- 35:03Speaker 1: Conde mc ginley Senior was planning to combine forces with
- 35:07Speaker 1: mc partland and his site at Nationalist Actionally and with
- 35:11Speaker 1: another organization, the Loyal American Group, headed by William J. O'Brien.
- 35:17Speaker 1: The scheme, as announced in common Sense, called for mc
- 35:20Speaker 1: ginley's publication to serve as official organ of the Nationalist
- 35:24Speaker 1: Action League, with O'Brien disbanding his group to serve as
- 35:28Speaker 1: national secretary of the new combination. The plan fell through, however,
- 35:33Speaker 1: and McGinley resumed sole editorship of common Sense. O'Brien, a
- 35:37Speaker 1: printer from Montclair, New Jersey, was later taken on the
- 35:40Speaker 1: staff of common Sense. The interlocking of common Sense in
- 35:44Speaker 1: the National Renaissance Party is further demonstrated by the fact
- 35:48Speaker 1: that common Sense has carried articles by Frederick Charles F. Weiss,
- 35:53Speaker 1: chief propagandist for the n r P, and by Curt Murtig,
- 35:57Speaker 1: New York City chairman of the n RP. Common Sense
- 36:01Speaker 1: is also a channel for hate propaganda being issued by
- 36:04Speaker 1: numerous other individuals and organizations scattered throughout the country. The
- 36:09Speaker 1: literature of these fellow hatemongers is disseminated either through reprints
- 36:14Speaker 1: in the columns of Common Sense or in booklets published
- 36:17Speaker 1: and sold by Common Sense. One of the most frequently
- 36:21Speaker 1: reprinted authors is Robert H. Williams of Santa Anna, California,
- 36:26Speaker 1: who issues the William's Intelligence Summary, a monthly newsletter. Common
- 36:31Speaker 1: Sense also sells his writings in pamphlet form. Williams advertises
- 36:36Speaker 1: himself as the possessor of vast intelligence information, which he
- 36:40Speaker 1: gained as a member of Army intelligence during World War II.
- 36:44Speaker 1: The deception is evident from the fact that William's intelligence
- 36:48Speaker 1: duty comprised less than a year as an administrative officer
- 36:52Speaker 1: for the intelligence sector of a bomber wing. In this position,
- 36:56Speaker 1: he would have received no intelligence information dealing with the
- 36:59Speaker 1: Communist conspiracy. His assignment to the military intelligence was merely
- 37:05Speaker 1: in the reserve, from which commission he was relieved by
- 37:07Speaker 1: official action of the Army effect of December one, nineteen
- 37:11Speaker 1: fifty Conde McGinley Senior has maintained a particularly cooperative relationship
- 37:17Speaker 1: with two disseminators of anti Semitic literature from Chicago, Missus
- 37:22Speaker 1: Elizabeth Dillon and Missus lyral Clock van Heining. Missus Dillon's
- 37:28Speaker 1: writings have been circulating since the nineteen thirties. Missus van
- 37:32Speaker 1: Heining is the head of an organization known as We
- 37:35Speaker 1: the Mothers Mobilized for America, Incorporated, and as editor of
- 37:40Speaker 1: the publication Woman's Voice, messages have been sent to members
- 37:44Speaker 1: of Congress over the joint signatures of Missus Dillon, Missus
- 37:48Speaker 1: van Heining, and McGinley. Missus Dilling is a constant source
- 37:52Speaker 1: of violent articles for Common Sense, which prints them under
- 37:56Speaker 1: such headlines as Brotherhood jew Trap for Christianity and World
- 38:01Speaker 1: Crucifixion and the Master Race. Missus Dilling has also authored
- 38:06Speaker 1: appeals in Common Sense for support of the propaganda activities
- 38:10Speaker 1: of McGinley and Missus van Heining. McGinley, in turn, has
- 38:14Speaker 1: recommended Missus Dilling's bulletins to his readers and has offered
- 38:18Speaker 1: for sale reprints over her book, The Plot against Christianity,
- 38:23Speaker 1: is also appeal for financial contributions for Missus van Heining
- 38:27Speaker 1: and occasionally carried in Common Sense statements either credited to
- 38:31Speaker 1: her or to her publication Women's Voice. A number of
- 38:36Speaker 1: individuals notorious for their efforts creating nationwide fascist organization in
- 38:41Speaker 1: the United States in the nineteen thirties are also propagandizing
- 38:45Speaker 1: again through common Sense. McGinley has printed articles and letters
- 38:49Speaker 1: from General George Van Horn, Moseley, retired Colonel Eugene and Sanctuary,
- 38:55Speaker 1: and Charles B. Hudson. He has advertised for sale a
- 38:59Speaker 1: new book by Robert Edward Edmondson. The Special Committee on
- 39:04Speaker 1: Unamerican Activities reported in nineteen forty that General Moseley was
- 39:09Speaker 1: being seriously considered as a national leader of an attempt
- 39:12Speaker 1: at union of fascist and hate groups in the United States,
- 39:16Speaker 1: until the plans were exposed and Moseley was called as
- 39:18Speaker 1: a witness before the committee. The Special Committee named Sanctuary, Hudson,
- 39:23Speaker 1: and Edmondson as being among the individuals who took part
- 39:27Speaker 1: in this unsuccessful attempt to create a united fascist movement.
- 39:32Speaker 1: Preliminary Committee investigations have thus far failed to reveal any
- 39:36Speaker 1: indication that present day fascists and hate groups are seeking
- 39:40Speaker 1: national organizational unity. The cooperative efforts of the hate groups, however,
- 39:45Speaker 1: have actually extended to the point of national conventions. Common
- 39:50Speaker 1: Sense reported the proceedings of one such convention held in
- 39:53Speaker 1: Chicago July fourth through six, nineteen fifty two. Conde McGinley
- 39:59Speaker 1: Senior and William J. O'Brien spoke as representatives of Common
- 40:03Speaker 1: Sense at this gathering, which was referred to by McGinley
- 40:07Speaker 1: as an annual convention of Nationalists. Missus Lyril Clark van
- 40:12Speaker 1: Heining served as moderator of the convention, which was chaired
- 40:16Speaker 1: by one George Foster. The two hundred delegates from all
- 40:19Speaker 1: sections of the country heart speeches and adopted resolutions following
- 40:24Speaker 1: the lines of the propaganda which they issue. The most
- 40:27Speaker 1: significant statement was in a speech by O'Brien of Common Sense.
- 40:32Speaker 1: He urged the delegates to back each other to the
- 40:34Speaker 1: limit whenever any one of them is under attack. Circulation
- 40:39Speaker 1: and Finances information available to the Committee on the circulation
- 40:44Speaker 1: and financial status of Common Sense indicates that Conde McGinley
- 40:49Speaker 1: has developed a shrewd and flourishing business out of hate propaganda.
- 40:54Speaker 1: Common Sense reported in October nineteen forty eight that the
- 40:57Speaker 1: number of copies which were distributed to paid subscribers during
- 41:02Speaker 1: the preceding twelve months average seven thousand, seventy two. In
- 41:07Speaker 1: October nineteen forty nine, the average paid subscriptions were reported
- 41:12Speaker 1: at nine thousand, six hundred and sixty and by October
- 41:16Speaker 1: nineteen fifty the figure had jumped to twenty one thousand,
- 41:19Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty five. The Committee has not observed
- 41:23Speaker 1: any further publication of subscription figures and common Sense since then. However,
- 41:28Speaker 1: figures filed for the publication with the United States Postal
- 41:32Speaker 1: Authorities show that an average of fifteen thousand, seven hundred
- 41:36Speaker 1: and ninety six copies of common Sense were being distributed
- 41:40Speaker 1: through second class mail to paid subscribers during the six
- 41:43Speaker 1: month period from March fifteenth to September fifteenth, nineteen fifty four.
- 41:49Speaker 1: These figures do not reflect the thousands of copies of
- 41:52Speaker 1: common Sense which are sold by other means or distributed gratis.
- 41:57Speaker 1: For example, McGinley has been known to make bulk deliveries
- 42:00Speaker 1: of an issue to various individuals for remailing or distribution
- 42:04Speaker 1: in other ways. McGinley asserted that he had one hundred
- 42:08Speaker 1: and twenty thousand readers in nineteen fifty two. Committee investigation
- 42:13Speaker 1: indicated that the circulation of common Sense tops the one
- 42:17Speaker 1: hundred thousand marks for certain issues, but averages approximately fifty
- 42:21Speaker 1: thousand copies. The number of free copies averages at least
- 42:25Speaker 1: thirty thousand. Subscriptions to Common Sense sell for one dollar
- 42:30Speaker 1: a year and provide a minimum of fifteen thousand dollars
- 42:34Speaker 1: annually based on second class mailing alone. On the side,
- 42:38Speaker 1: sale of books and pamphlets brings in an estimated maximum
- 42:42Speaker 1: of one thousand dollars a year. However, the publication also
- 42:46Speaker 1: receives financial contributions, the exact amount of which has not
- 42:50Speaker 1: been ascertained. McGinley solicits contributions in urgent messages printed in
- 42:55Speaker 1: Common Sense, as well as through special fundraising letters. A
- 43:00Speaker 1: typical letter sent out by McGinley in the spring of
- 43:03Speaker 1: this year stated that due to a low subscription rate
- 43:07Speaker 1: and lack of advertising revenue, we must depend on real
- 43:10Speaker 1: patriots to subsidize us in keeping with their ability. McGinley
- 43:16Speaker 1: invariably represents himself in these appeals as a penniless patriot
- 43:20Speaker 1: who has used up his life savings of fifteen thousand
- 43:23Speaker 1: dollars on Common Sense, yet continues to work full time
- 43:27Speaker 1: without salary or profit, in order to save his country.
- 43:31Speaker 1: When I am reminded of my duty, and it is
- 43:34Speaker 1: not from myself. He has stated, I take courage to
- 43:38Speaker 1: warn you that if you do not get into this
- 43:40Speaker 1: work personally and actively, or give money quickly to those
- 43:44Speaker 1: who are active, the hidden invisible government plot will have
- 43:47Speaker 1: proceeded so far that dictators will be giving orders. McGinley
- 43:52Speaker 1: adds the sly reminder that money orders can be sent
- 43:55Speaker 1: under fictitious names. Such broad fund appeals appear with irregular
- 44:00Speaker 1: They usually occur when McGinley requires large sums for a
- 44:04Speaker 1: special project, such as the remodeling of his new headquarters building.
- 44:09Speaker 1: Constant solicitation seemed to be unnecessary as a result of
- 44:13Speaker 1: very substantial financial support rendered McGinley by a few well
- 44:17Speaker 1: to do patrons. One of the financial angels behind Conde
- 44:21Speaker 1: McGinley has been Benjamin Harrison Friedman, a retired toilet goods
- 44:25Speaker 1: manufacturer of nine sixty Park Avenue, New York City. Freedman
- 44:30Speaker 1: estimated that he had spent fifteen thousand dollars on common
- 44:34Speaker 1: since by December nineteen fifty, according to testimony gave on
- 44:38Speaker 1: December twelfth of that year before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
- 44:43Speaker 1: In a propaganda sheet published by Friedman in New York
- 44:46Speaker 1: on January second, nineteen fifty one. He detailed his support
- 44:50Speaker 1: of McGinley in this way. In nineteen forty eight, Freedman
- 44:54Speaker 1: met McGinley, they found that they had much in common.
- 44:57Speaker 1: Freedman became interested in Commons as one of the most
- 45:01Speaker 1: aggressive organizations fighting Marxism communism to which Friedman had lent
- 45:06Speaker 1: financial assistance. Since nineteen forty eight, Freedman has given unsparingly
- 45:12Speaker 1: of his time and his efforts to increase the circulation
- 45:15Speaker 1: of Common Sense, and has advanced a small fortune for
- 45:18Speaker 1: that purpose. Within the past two months alone, Friedman has
- 45:22Speaker 1: advanced too and or for common Sense in excess of
- 45:26Speaker 1: seven thousand dollars. Common Sense was rapidly becoming an important
- 45:30Speaker 1: factor in the nationwide fight against the worldwide campaign of
- 45:34Speaker 1: the Marxist Communists for World Conquest. Freedman advanced funds to
- 45:40Speaker 1: McGinley to cover the cost of printing and mailing fifty
- 45:43Speaker 1: thousand copies of Common Sense Number one twenty six. In
- 45:48Speaker 1: addition to his financial contributions, Friedman is a prominent figure
- 45:53Speaker 1: at various meetings held for supporters of Common Sense. He
- 45:57Speaker 1: spoke as a noted authority on Zionism that a meeting
- 46:00Speaker 1: held as recently as November fourteenth, a Common Sense headquarters
- 46:05Speaker 1: in Union, New Jersey. Common Sense advertised the meeting as
- 46:09Speaker 1: a pro American rally sponsored by Americans Against Communism, an
- 46:14Speaker 1: organization name occasionally used by McGinley. McGinley himself has not
- 46:18Speaker 1: publicized such major financial support for fear of discouraging his
- 46:22Speaker 1: smaller contributors. However, rumors that Friedman and others have been
- 46:27Speaker 1: providing substantial aid to Common Sense had become widespread enough
- 46:31Speaker 1: to force a recent public statement from McGinley. In a
- 46:35Speaker 1: fundraising letter sent out in the fall of nineteen fifty four,
- 46:38Speaker 1: McGinley stated, I have learned recently that some people are
- 46:42Speaker 1: under the impression that mister Ben Friedman and a prominent
- 46:45Speaker 1: manufacturer are backing us. McGinley acknowledged in the letter that
- 46:50Speaker 1: Friedman's assistance was a help in making Common Sense the
- 46:53Speaker 1: most widely read factual publication on Marxism, that Friedman today
- 46:58Speaker 1: continues to give all the time and is a tower
- 47:01Speaker 1: of information. McGinley attempted to persuade his readers that, nevertheless,
- 47:06Speaker 1: for some time, mister Friedman has not been in a
- 47:09Speaker 1: position to be of material financial assistance to us with
- 47:14Speaker 1: respect to the unidentified manufacturer. McGinley also insisted that the
- 47:19Speaker 1: contributions have been nominal, although very helpful. The thriving nature
- 47:24Speaker 1: of the Common Sense enterprise is attested to, but McGinley himself,
- 47:28Speaker 1: on numerous occasions he cannot avoid boasting of his accomplishments,
- 47:33Speaker 1: even in the course of his urgent requests for funds.
- 47:36Speaker 1: He reported, for example, that in nineteen fifty three he
- 47:40Speaker 1: had made much progress. He referred to his excellent new headquarters,
- 47:44Speaker 1: which were extensively remodeled and enlarged, a press at his
- 47:48Speaker 1: disposal for the first time, and the addition of an
- 47:52Speaker 1: investigator and a writer to his staff. A fundraising letter
- 47:56Speaker 1: issued this fall boasted that we now have built common
- 47:58Speaker 1: Sense into a life large operation to reach numbers. However,
- 48:03Speaker 1: McGinley continued to announce ambitious plans, including the installation of
- 48:07Speaker 1: new mailing equipment in his headquarters at a cost of
- 48:10Speaker 1: three thousand dollars. McGinley has also stated hopes as soon
- 48:14Speaker 1: stepping up publication to a weekly basis. Mcginley's claim to
- 48:19Speaker 1: work full time in behalf of Common Sense without salary
- 48:22Speaker 1: or profit is misleading in view of the facts developed
- 48:26Speaker 1: in the committee's investigation. Volunteer workers perform many duties in
- 48:31Speaker 1: connection with the publication. The Committee has learned, however, that
- 48:35Speaker 1: McGinley Senior has no employment or income outside of the
- 48:38Speaker 1: Common Sense operation. He has, for a short period in
- 48:42Speaker 1: the past, served as caretaker of property and Union, but
- 48:46Speaker 1: his payment did not exceed one thousand dollars a year.
- 48:50Speaker 1: Conde McGinley junior supplements his common Sense activities by serving
- 48:55Speaker 1: as a freelance salesman of aluminum windows and siding for houses.
- 49:00Speaker 1: McGinley Senior and Mister and Missus con McGinley Junior reside
- 49:04Speaker 1: in the headquarters building of Common Sense at five thirty
- 49:08Speaker 1: Chestnut Street in Union. Since contributions form an admittedly important
- 49:13Speaker 1: part of common Sense income, the true state of its
- 49:16Speaker 1: finances is difficult to determine. The committee has been denied
- 49:20Speaker 1: access to federal income tax information on the principles involved.
- 49:25Speaker 1: A minimum income of approximately thirty thousand dollars annually is
- 49:30Speaker 1: evident from a study of bank deposits made in the
- 49:32Speaker 1: name of Common Sense or its new corporate cloak, the
- 49:36Speaker 1: Christian Education Association a total of twenty five thousand, nine
- 49:41Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five dollars and ninety seven cents was
- 49:44Speaker 1: deposited in the publications account in a Union New Jersey
- 49:48Speaker 1: Bank during the ten month period from January first to
- 49:52Speaker 1: October twenty ninth, nineteen fifty four. During the twelve months
- 49:56Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty three, deposits total twenty nine one thousand,
- 50:00Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty dollars in seventy eight cents. It
- 50:04Speaker 1: is regrettable that any American may have contributed to the
- 50:07Speaker 1: perpetuation of a hate factory such as that operated by
- 50:11Speaker 1: the mcginleys. If loyal Americans seek to play an active
- 50:15Speaker 1: part in protecting their country from subversion, they would do
- 50:18Speaker 1: well to lend their support to legitimate patriotic organizations rather
- 50:23Speaker 1: than to those whose real objective is another form of subversion.
- 50:29Speaker 1: End of Section four Section five of Preliminary Report on
- 50:39Speaker 1: neo Fascists and Hate Groups prepared by the House on
- 50:43Speaker 1: American Activities Committee for the US Congress. This LibriVox reporting
- 50:49Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Conclusion. In this preliminary report,
- 50:55Speaker 1: the Committee has concentrated on a few examples of subversive
- 50:59Speaker 1: propaganda acts activity currently to be found in the United States.
- 51:03Speaker 1: The Committee is well aware that this report conveys only
- 51:06Speaker 1: a small part of the total picture of such activities
- 51:10Speaker 1: in this country today. The Committee believes, however, that this
- 51:13Speaker 1: preliminary report will provide useful information to the Congress. Both
- 51:18Speaker 1: the National Renaissance Party and Common Sense have made unsolicited
- 51:23Speaker 1: distributions of their Unamerican propaganda to members of the Congress,
- 51:28Speaker 1: and the members have consequently made frequent inquiry of the
- 51:31Speaker 1: Committee regarding the nature of these organizations. The Committee further
- 51:36Speaker 1: hopes that this report will alert both the Congress and
- 51:40Speaker 1: the American public to dangers which must not be ignored.
- 51:43Speaker 1: The National Renaissance Party and the operators of Common Sense
- 51:47Speaker 1: illustrate two types of subversion from the extreme right. The
- 51:51Speaker 1: Committee condemns any such resurgence of pro fascist and hate activity.
- 51:57Speaker 1: The Committee has continued its investigation in exposure of communist
- 52:01Speaker 1: conspirators wherever they be found. The Committee is convinced, however,
- 52:06Speaker 1: that there is a concurrent need for continuous investigation, exposure,
- 52:10Speaker 1: and where necessary, prosecution, to the end that no activity
- 52:15Speaker 1: of a pro fascist nature will ever be permitted to
- 52:19Speaker 1: gain substantial stature or influence in the United States. End
- 52:24Speaker 1: of Section five end of Preliminary Report on Neo Fascists
- 52:29Speaker 1: and Hate groups prepared by the House on American Activities
- 52:33Speaker 1: Committee for the United States Congress