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?