"You'd Be Thin, Too"

With the Government asking the questions, husky, big-jawed Manning R. Johnson made an effective prosecution witness in the perjury trial of Labor Leader Harry Bridges. But when the defense began to prod him last week, Ex-Communist Johnson made an even better one.

A smooth, deep-voiced Negro, Johnson settled back on the witness stand and be gan to tell a federal jury in San Francisco how he had heard Bridges address a Communist National Committee meeting in 1936, how he recalled voting to "re-elect" Bridges to the national committee two years later under the alias of "Rossi." Attempting to discredit the testimony, Defense Attorney James M. MacInnis got the witness to admit he had never seen Harry Bridges at a national committee meeting after the one in 1936.

"The reason I didn't see him again . . ." Johnson began. MacInnis objected, but Judge George B. Harris let Johnson continue. "The reason I didn't see him again was because at the national committee meeting at which Harry Bridges was introduced . . Jack Stachel [one of the eleven convicted U.S. Communist leaders] said to the meeting that in the future Harry Bridges would not be brought to committee meetings for security reasons . . ." i.e., so that he could continue his West Coast labor work unhampered by the Communist label.

Manning Johnson's testimony struck a sharp blow for the Government in its effort to prove Harry Bridges had lied at his naturalization proceedings in 1945, when he denied he was or ever had been a Communist. When Johnson stepped down, the U.S. trotted out ex-Communist No. 6 from its stable of witnesses. Paul Crouch, a tall, black-haired Miami newsman who had spent 17 years in the party, backed up much of what Manning Johnson had said, added that he had heard a party leader in 1938 recommend Bridges for another term on the national committee although "he was temperamental and hard to work with."

At one point Crouch told of taking a trip with a Communist named Harvey. "Well," joked Defense Attorney Vincent Hallinan, "maybe it was Harry Bridges you were riding with. Stand up Harry--let him have a good look at you." Harry Bridges slouched amiably to his feet. "No," said Crouch, "he was heavier built."

"After you'd been chased by the Government for 15 years, brother, you'd be thin too," cracked Hallinan. That was good for a laugh. But as things stood in the fifth week of trial, the defense did not have much else to laugh about.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.