Evening star., 1947-11-06
Hoover Says Fb|
Has No Official
Subversiive LIST
Lawyers Guild Gets
Letter After Protest
Stirred by Newell

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to-
day made public letter to Robert
J. Silberstein, executive secretary
of the National Lawyers Guild, in
which he stated the FBI has
neither prepared nor published any
so-called subversive list nor fur
nished any such list to any person
or organization"
Mr.. Silberstein had written Attor-
ney General Clark protesting
against the issuance of any such
lists and, particularly. against the
asserted inclusion of the guild on
one of them.
In his letter, Mr.. Silherstein had
referred to a news article in The
Star of last Monday, which quoted
Clifford H. Newell, past president
of the Federation of Citizens Asso-
Citations, as having said the guild
was among questionable groups on
an FBI list. Mr.. Silberstein re-
quested copy of the, list.
List Is Denied.
Your thought that we might have
prepared such list is erroneous" :"
Mr.. Hoover wrote in reply. "*
This bureau is fact-flnding organi-
CATION, and I want you to know that
the Attorney General, not this bu-
reau, makes all necessary legal de-
cisions on the basis of factual in
formation furnished as a result OF
our Investigations"
Mr.. Hoover stated Mr.. Silberstein
could have ascertained this by an
inquiry of him and continued:
You have commented that the
Presidents Committee on Civil
Rights has declared that a state
of r-hysteria now threatens to
inhibit the freedom of genuine DEM
ocrats' If you and your organlza-
ton are yourselves becoming hyster-
ical over news items without first
making any attempt to ascertain
the true facts, you are contributing
to any state of 'near-hysteria'
which might afflict citizens who have
not had the benefit of training in
factual analysis and in the inter-
probation of facts according to law.
List Not Seen by Newell.
Told of Mr.. Hoover's letter Mr..
Newell said he never had seen a list
of the sort mentioned. He said his
information was based on newspaper
reports of list made public some
time ago by the House Committee
on American Activities.
His recollection was that FBI in
vestigations were referred to by the
committee in publishing that list,
Mr.. Newell said.
Mr.. NewelPs original remarks were
included in report on the deferral
in seating of Mrs Sylvia Wubnig
as a delegate from the Kalorama
Citizens Association to the Fedora
ton, pending check of her creden-
tials by committee.
He had mentioned the League of
Women Shoppers, of which Mrs.
Wubnig is national legislative rep
resentative: the lawyers group and
other organizations as on the ques-
tionable list.
Mentioned by Committees.
Gn compilation prepared
by the House Committee on Un-
American Activities in May, 1916
the league and the guild appear
as having been cited as Commu-
mist fronts by the committee
in March, 1914
(This committee list, which
also included citations by the
Justice Department., was pub
lished in The Star last March,
when President Truman issued
his Federal employe loyalty
check order. At that time, it
was pointed out the organiza-
tions would not be listed, neces-
sarily, by the Attorney General
under the loyalty orderJ
Mr.. Newell emphasized today he
was playing no part in the case of
Mrs. Wubnig and had no direct
information on it, but had been dis
cussing federation procedure on
seating delegates in general.