Did you or your wife engage in any of those arguments after the receipt of the Duclos letter?
Mr. Dennett. Yes, we did.
Mr. Velde. I am interested in that, if you will please be as brief as you can.
Mr. Dennett. I will do my best, sir.
I was still in the service at the time. This occurred in New Orleans. My wife was still doing this same work in New Orleans.
Mr. Velde. Was that in the middle of 1945?
Mr. Dennett. That is right, in May and June of 1945.
And with the publication of the Duclos letter in the Daily Worker, which my wife was a subscriber to at that time, we observed that something tremendous was taking place within the party. And she made contact with some of the party people in New Orleans.
When they found that we had an interest in it, they invited us to the meetings where this discussion took place. And I was quite startled to find that the general criticism was mainly directed at the bureaucratic attitude and dictatorial policies pursued by Mr. Earl Browder. I was flabbergasted because I did not have that conception of him, and I was quite surprised as a result of it. And, of course, you know the rest of the story, which was published.
Mr. Velde. In other words, you and your wife both took the side of Earl Browder?