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William Rusher on:
investigations of Communism

William Rusher Q: In the late 40's and early 50's, she was never called before House Un-American Activities Committee.

A: Yes. Westbrook Pegler suggested that in the period, I think the late forties, when the investigations of Communism were opening up during the Cold War, that she ought to be called and required to testify about what she knew. I remember he said, "Would the world vanish in a blast of flame if this old woman were subpoenaed and compelled to tell what she knows about the Communist Party's activities in the United States?" I think she never was called because she probably didn't know an awful lot. The whole burden of the criticism of her on the subject of Communism is naiveté, not participation. And again, being a public figure and our representative at the UN, there was nothing Communist about her, certainly. And at the UN she took the advice -- she had to take the advice -- of the State Department and the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations. They keep our UN representatives on a very short leash. She did as she was told, and voted as she was told.

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