Mr. Tavenner. Were you acquainted with Lem Harris?
Mr. O’Connell. No; I was not acquainted with Lem Harris.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you know him?
Mr. O’Connell. I think I know who he is. Wasn’t he in the Department of Agriculture?
Mr. Tavenner. He was in the Department of Agriculture. He spent many years in the Soviet Union, studying and working in the field of agriculture. He was prominent in organizations interested in agriculture in this country. He was before this committee and refused to testify as to his prior or present Communist Party membership, relying upon the fifth amendment. He was considered the head of the agricultural division of the Communist Party in the United States.
Did he importune in behalf of the National Farmers Union in procuring grants?
Mr. O’Connell. He particularly never talked to me or never asked me to do it. I don’t know whether——
Mr. Tavenner. You don’t need to put it on such a personal basis. As a trustee you know whether he did or did not.
Mr. O’Connell. I don’t know. As a trustee, Gardner Jackson, who I think was employed by the National Farmers Union, actually talked more and actually guided the trust or the foundation as far as agricultural matters were concerned, and I, of course, all I—I never met Lem Harris.
Mr. Tavenner. You wouldn’t have to meet Lem Harris to know what influence he had to bear upon the making of grants by your trustees.