Mr. Moulder. The subcommittee will be in order, please.
Let the record show that the Honorable Francis E. Walter, chairman, Committee on Un-American Activities, pursuant to the provisions of law creating this committee, appointed Representatives Clyde Doyle, of California, Harold H. Velde, of Illinois, and myself, Morgan M. Moulder, of Missouri, as chairman of a subcommittee to conduct this hearing. All the members of the subcommittee are present.
The hearing today is a continuation of the hearings initiated in Seattle on June 14, 1954, and resumed in Seattle on March 17, 1955.
The purpose of the hearings in Seattle was to discover the activities of the Communist Party in the Pacific Northwest area, the extent of Communist infiltration in that area, and the methods resorted to by the Communist Party in the accomplishment of its objectives in that area.
Two outstanding witnesses were heard: Mrs. Barbara Hartle, during the hearings of June 14, 1954, and Mr. Eugene V. Dennett during the hearings of March 17, 1955. It is the hope of the committee that the witness to be heard today will throw additional light on the subject of this inquiry.
Today’s witness was subpenaed to appear before the committee at the March 1955 hearings in Seattle, but due to illness was not heard at that time.
Mr. Tavenner, are you ready to proceed?
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Jeremiah Joseph O’Connell.
Mr. Moulder. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony which you are about to give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. O’Connell. I do.