Mr. Dennett. Yes; it was.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I suggest we take that testimony an executive session, if he is convinced that they have left the party.
Mr. Moulder. I suggest that you withhold the names and not announce them; this information will be given to the committee in executive session.
Mr. Dennett. That answers all about the persons who were there at the time of my arrival.
Before I left the following persons were developed into leadership——
Mr. Tavenner. Before telling us about that, have you given us the names of all others in the Communist Party group who were there when you arrived?
Mr. Dennett. Yes; all of those whom I have named were officers. They held functioning positions.
Mr. Tavenner. Will you proceed, then, with a description of the identity of those who were developed into leadership after you arrived.
Mr. Dennett. I should preface that by remarking that upon my arrival in Bellingham the Ku Klux Klan was very active in Whatcom County. It was a practice for them at that time to burn the fiery cross frequently in various places of the county. And I was informed that they had a very considerable membership in the county.
I learned that some of those Klansmen were quite disillusioned with the activities of the Klan. I made a practice of trying to contact various persons whom I learned had been disillusioned by their activities in the Klan. And I have been trying my level best to think of the name of a particular man who was an officer in the Klan whom I did succeed in recruiting into the Communist Party. But I have been unable to remember that man’s name. I can only give this description, that he was in the Sumas area and that he was a sheet-metal worker. And that is the best that I can recall about him. It is quite possible that if some of the other persons I mention, if they were asked, they probably would remember him because he was a neighbor of theirs.