thirty executive director of the american civil liberties union of northern california on behalf of that organization we are going to show your film you may already have seen it was called the final film produced and sold by a washington d c film company has been made part of its official record by the committee this is the committee's report under date of october seventh american civil liberties union a large number of reliable eyewitnesses including ministers educators attorneys newspaper men and broadcasters disagree with that title communist led riots yes there were demonstrations against the committee some newspaper editorials against the committee's tactics in fact fairly widespread questioning of the committee from persons representing many shades in the broad spectrum of american political opinion no doubt some communists both foreign and domestic variety are against this committee but we point out and we will prove with their own film that persons who demonstrate against the committee are not there by communists or communist dupes if you are to be called a communist every time you see hand up for basic american rights and freedoms what's likely to happen will you be silent and if so is this what the house committee on un american activities is really after a silent submissive  protesting america if not then why the process i cations in their own films in a moment you will see that film known as operation abolition but you will hear a corrected description of the events the evidence offered by the committee to prove that the san francisco demonstrations were communist manipulated is this film but mark this well the evidence lies not in the pictures you see but in the words spoken by the operation abolition narrators some of the effect has been achieved also by skillful editing and by omission of certain news reel sequences but we're going to play fair here american way we don't think you answer lies and propaganda with more propaganda we think that if we show you the original film with the same sequences in it in the same positions but tell you in straight simple facts on which story each sequence was made you'll see for yourself some of the things that occurred in san francisco in brief what occurred was that a three day hearing of the house committee on un american activities at the city hall in san francisco thursday friday saturday may twelve thirteen and fourteen one thousand nine hundred sixty students expressed their protest against the committee's tactics on all three days on friday afternoon the second day the police turned fire hoses on the demonstrators those are the simple facts the committee would have you believe that every it was calculated to lead up to that friday afternoon disturbance and they tried to prove it by rearranging the scenes to fact that false assertion one of the dozens of examples of telling you one thing and showing you quite another is this statement in the film by chairman water party as you will see is a totally unsupported propaganda statement which is why the american civil liberties union of northern california has in the interests of setting the record straight it's version of the film operation correction these films were made outside the san francisco city hall on thursday the day before the police causing the students are exercising the american right to practice peacefully a right guaranteed them and a right clearly recognized by the san francisco police department this group and gauged in peaceful and orderly picketing from first running through saturdays without incident members of the students for civil liberties of the university of california joined by students from san francisco state college and other schools are present none of the organizers of this group as either are known or alleged communists the operation abolition narration states that these students were activated by trained agitators and propagandists months before the scheduled hearings a neat trick considering that the hearings were announced only sixteen days in advance here we have congressman willis giving a reporter the committee's explanation the committee hearings have been announced as public hearings meaning that any citizen minds go and see what is elected representatives to congress were doing one group of students was at this moment inside the city hall waiting to get into that hearing in order to show you how the committee has faster find the facts by stringing scenes together without regard to the true sequence of events from time to time we're going to supply subtitles to indicate when the scenes were actually taken but let's listen to the original narration i had an active part in the san francisco appalachian campaign and the protest demonstrations were carried bridges whom you see here being boarded out of city by police officials moments before the rioting broke up the truth is that bridges was having lunch when the disturbance occurred and did not arrive at the city hall until the whole thing was over and the order had been restored f b i director j edgar hoover has reported the correct time of bridges arrival and congressman walter finally admitted quote that the commentary is an error and stating that bridges are scarred from city hall before the rioting broke out and quote and order had  certainly been restored when this scene was filmed because this took place saturday the day after the fire hosing here is archie brown a subpoenaed witness described as playing a major role in inciting the demonstrations he's doing now and fighting here because one of the scenes took place on friday and one on saturday both after the fire hose incident the committee would have you think that the students are guilty of associated with archie brown simply they were also at city hall in the present sequence brown is exercising his legal rights in distributing leaflets this is margaret city another subpoenaed witness described as participating in the chanting and singing demonstrations immediately outside the hearing room but he was acting completely on his own when he tried to get cooperation from students monitors of the picket lines he got a flat turned down here is douglas walker the committee firstly claimed he played an important part in the student demonstration the fact is that west raptor was forced to attend as a subpoenaed witness he was not a leader of any demonstrations you will note that he is just finishing his testimony yet this shot shows him in the hallway where the students are waiting admission to the hearings now remember the committee hearings were supposed to be public so a lot of people came to attend simply as spectators they queued up outside the hearing room waiting to be admitted they had assumed that mission would be on a first come first serve basis but the committee wasn't playing it that way people bearing passes issued by the committee to carefully selected groups were admitted by the side door and the overwhelming majority of the seats were occupied by these past caring friends of the committee under first morning they did it made about seventy five people from the general public but this was the most ever the committee's narrator says quote that committee issued one hundred passes but he does not say is that our knowledge passes it said that met three four or five or six it was this policy of stacking the committee hearing with friends of the committee which produced a deep sense of indignation and frustration in the students who had waited outside the door so long here archie brown again the original film cast him in the role of villain and brown is giving a good performance like the committee hears reaching for a newspaper headline brown is being evicted from the hearings on thursday morning to build up the effect this has been falsely coupled with the shots of the of action of a student on friday morning glaring example of how the film transposes scenes is shown in the reappearance douglas proctor rockier was previously shown leaving the witness stand now he's just appearing on the stand and testifying at some length remember raptor was forced to be present because he was subpoenaed unlike archie brown proctor didn't behave badly and wasn't tossed out of the hearings why then does the film spend so much time with him it is because he is an alleged communist and a college student because you see one alleged communist student and then many other students the committee would have you lot similar together and believe that all of the demonstrating students were communists this is known as guilt by association the committee's favorite weapon in smearing all kinds of people let's listen now to the mild mannered douglas wachter testifying i he is a communist party member here is his response to the demonstrating students at noon on thursday a mass rally was sponsored by the students for civil liberties at union square about a mile away from the city hall a minister and two california assemblyman addressed this rally and denounced the house committee on un american activities as a frat to civil liberties after the rally the students marched back to the city hall and began to picket outside the building under the direction of monitors wearing armbands they carried signs critical of the committe is police inspector dan shelley on duty outside the door of the hearing room on thursday morning waving back the students who were unable to gain admission at the close of the thursday morning session and mainly while the committee was recessed a group of subpoenaed witnesses and gauged in a demonstration inside the hearing room they chatted open the door this was followed by the singing of the star spangled banner and the reciting of the pledge of allegiance to the flag and then repeated chanting of open the door the connection between the subpoenaed witnesses and the students protesting the committee is never made clear the subpoenaed witnesses the stars of the show didn't pick it with the students and the students were extremely careful to have nothing to do with the witnesses yet this cutting back and forth these honest and accidental mistakes to call chairman walter again would have you believe that there was a connection the original film distorted the account of the demonstration in the hearing room in three ways first of all it concealed the fact that most of this time the committee wasn't even in session seconds that had the immediate reason for the demonstrations the fact was some of the subpoenaed what the searchers had presented a petition to the committee asking them to move to a larger room or else admit people i'm a first come first serve basis that committee refuse to consider the petitions and thirds students were justifiably angry over the seating policy the fact that almost all of the seats were filled by people carrying the committees lights cards now remember this demonstration occurred at the close of the thursday morning session and mainly while the committee was recess all of the way the film is pieced together you think it happened friday just before the police housing it just wasn't that way at all now let's listen to the demonstration there in mind that the committee is not now in session and this demonstration however noisy is in no way interfering with the taking of testimony finally after the seven subpoenaed witnesses had been allowed to put on a disorderly that for the benefit of the t v cameraman and the newspapers they were removed from the hearing room by police officers they could have been removed much sooner