Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions.
Mr. Velde. I have no questions to ask the witness. It is apparent from his testimony, that Mr. O’Connell has a great deal of knowledge about Communist Party activities which he has refused to give this committee. That does not disturb me as much as the fact that it appears that he is still ideologically favorable to the Communist Party of the United States. It is very regrettable, but apparently every person, including those favorable to the Communist Party, has a right to express his opinion in this country. I want to say this: I hope that Mr. O’Connell will think this matter over in the future and give us the benefit of the knowledge that he possesses about the activities of the Communist Party in the United States.
Mr. O’Connell. Congressman, I have done my very best. I have talked to you. I do not want to argue. I do say that I appreciate all the consideration which the committee has given me, particularly on the two instances when I asked for continuations because of my illness. I appreciate the fairness with which the committee has treated me throughout the hearings. I just want to say that, as far as I am concerned—that is, the best way I can describe it honestly and sincerely, is that from my environment, from the poverty since my birth and the things that happened to me as a child and as a young man, and so on, I grew up in a very, very liberal tradition where people were certainly tolerant of all the various shades and hues of political opinion as we saw them. I think I could best describe myself, I am just an old-fashioned American liberal. I want to assure you that I have had no training——
Mr. Tavenner. I do not want to prolong the discussion. At the beginning of the hearing you mentioned the fact that you had passed the bar in Montana, and that you are now a practicing lawyer, and you intended to forget about any type of political activity. I just wonder whether you consider the Communist Party activity as being political.
Mr. O’Connell. I think you asked me that question before.
Mr. Tavenner. I do not think I did.
Mr. O’Connell. Well, somebody asked me it before. As far as I am concerned, I am not engaged in any Communist Party activity in the State of Montana or any party activity, Progressive, or Democrat, or anything. I have been asked by the Progressive Party in 1950 to run for the United States Senate and I refused. I have been asked by the press in Montana—I am not being braggadocio or conceited—by the various newspapers, the Great Falls Tribune, the Lewistown Daily News, and many others, whether I was going to come back into the political life of the State. I have always told them, and told them constantly, that I wanted to be a lawyer; I wanted to be, if I could, the best lawyer that Montana ever had. That was the desire that I had. I have been practicing law to the very best of my ability. When a man starts to practice law, as I did, when he is about 40 years of age, he has a lot to learn. There are many—well, I am sure, Mr. Willis, as an attorney you know the best teacher, of course, is experience. I have been trying to keep my nose clean and hewing to the line. I have been practicing law. That is what I have been doing. I think in my work out there I have earned the respect and consideration of all the people in the kind of job I have been doing.
We do not have any integrated bar in the State of Montana. The Montana Supreme Court regulates and supervises the bar out there. I am sure that the members of the supreme court will tell you the things I have said here today about my friend and all that are true.
Mr. Velde. Do you not think you are a bit gullible or naive when you say that you did not know there was a Soviet espionage ring operating in this country? Tell the committee the truth.
Mr. O’Connell. Now listen. I think I have set forth my position. I do not know that that is actually true. I do not know that it is true. I do not know it. I have never met a Soviet spy that I know of.