Fight for Security

Like any husband home from work, Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. chatted with the wife, drank a bourbon and water and downed a leisurely dinner (chicken, peas and ginger cake). Then he drove to a Washington TV studio to report to the nation, at President Eisenhower's request, on "The Fight Against Communism." Confidently, Brownell spelled out the problem of Communist infiltration and what is being done to combat it.

Real Threat. "The threat of Communism is a very real one," he said. The party has 25,000 members ("25,000 potential foreign agents"), but is so infiltrated by FBI agents that it "doesn't know which of its Communist members to trust. I assure you, that makes their conspiracy a very hazardous occupation." Smiling slightly, even chuckling once, Brownell gave some samples of FBI undercover work:

P: From U.S. Communist Party sources the FBI, a month before Stalin's death, learned that he was very ill and would be succeeded by Malenkov.

P: During a recent Detroit trial, at which six party leaders were convicted, an FBI undercover agent conferred with the trusting Communist defendants the day before he testified as a surprise witness against them.

P: Secret agents have "reported to the FBI on the activities of each other as Communists. None of them knew that the others were working for the FBI."

P: Even some underground Communist leaders are known and watched by the FBI.

"One of the most successful ways to attack a conspiracy is to destroy its leadership," said Brownell. "Altogether, since 1948, 105 of the principal leaders of the Communist Party have been, indicted . . . [or] convicted of conspiring the overthrow of our Government by force and violence."

Dramatically. Brownell displayed cutout portraits of the Communist Party's 22 top leaders (see cut), the regular and alternate members of the national committee, almost all now in jail, in hiding, or awaiting trial. Moreover, 208 foreign-born subversives have been ordered deported. "Hundreds" of security risks, he added, have been fired from Government jobs.

Real Action. "The FBI, the Department of Justice and the courts are your agents in dealing with the Communist conspiracy . . ." he said. "They are your guarantee that the liberties of all Americans will be preserved and ever strengthened from any enemies who seek to destroy them." He never mentioned Senator McCarthy. From Congress he asked, not more investigation, but more legislation and a comprehensive set of new laws to:

P: Authorize the firing of "potential saboteurs or espionage agents" from defense plants.

P: Eliminate "Communist control" in any labor union.

P: Grant immunity to reluctant witnesses "so they may be compelled to testify."

P: Allow the use of wiretap evidence in Federal court trials of cases involving the nation's security.

P: Provide the death penalty for spying in peacetime.

P: Strip citizenship from persons convicted of conspiring to overthrow the Government.

P: Extend the time limit for prosecution of spy cases.

However, he did not call for any law to outlaw the Communist Party outright.

(This week he told Congress that any such law would be of no help, could hinder the FBI, and would raise constitutional issues.)

Real Job. "We are determined," said Brownell, "to destroy the effectiveness of the Communist movement in this country . . . Although we must be constantly alert to the danger of Communist infiltration, we should not have exaggerated fears." By the time he got through, Herb Brownell had done more than outline the Administration's coordinated program--"within the framework of the Constitution"--against the internal Communist threat. He had done his best to dismiss McCarthyism as irrelevant to the real job of fighting Communism.

"The history of how the Communist underground infiltrated our national Government, with the disastrous loss of atomic information and other defense data," he said assuredly, "is now familiar to all Americans . . . The American people want no more of the type of Hiss, Remington and Harry Dexter White. They may be assured that, so far as is humanly possible, this country is protected against further loss from Government sources of secret defense information to our enemies."

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