The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1948-12-24

NJ
American Committee since the
committees chairman, j. Par
nell Thomas is under indict-
ment for stealing government
money by padding his office
payroll, added another blot
to the record of the committee
this week. Mundt struck for
the daily newspaper headlines
by implying that Laurence Dug
gan, president of the Interna-
tional Institute for Higher Edu-
cation, was linked with the spy
ring activities of Whitaker
Chambers while the latter was
acting as a traitor to his coun-
try during the late 30's as a
receiver of stolen confidential
information for the Communist
party. Mundt's actions in the
matter is in keeping with the
general irresponsible headline
hunting smear tactics of the
committee.
Duggan either jumped or was
pushed from a window of his
10th floor office in New York
Monday night. News of his
death had no more than nit
the wires when Mundt made a
bid for his share of the publ
city by making announcement
that Duggan had been men
toned" in secret testimony be-
fore the un-American Com
mittee. Mundt said that one
Isaac Don Levine, editor of an
obscure and little known maya
zine, had named Duggan as one
of six men whom Chambers
cited as a source of informa-
ton during his 1899 spy &C.
tivities for the Communists.
The callousness Of Mundt's pub
licity seeking is almost I'M
believable. The implication of
his statement was, of course
that Duggan had committed
suicide because of possible
threatened exposure. He black
ened the reputation of a dead
man whose wife and four sur
viving children will suffer a
large part of the consequences,
on the unverified testimony of
one man.
Mundt's complete irresponsi-
bility and the callousness in
his hunt for headlines is shown
In the fact that Chambers him.
self, the darling of the COM
mittee and a star performer in
its three-ring circus, denied
Mundt's statement and said
Duggan had not passed him any
state department papers while
he, Chambers, was acting as a
Communists courier. The first
act of any person with the
faintest sense of responsibility
OF elemental deeency would
have been to check the facts
before making a public state
ment smearing the reputation
of a dead man within hours
after his death. Mundt now
tries to cover up by limiting at
foul play" and demanding n
full investigation of the cir
cumstances of Duggan's death
plunge.
We are not questioning the
guilt or innocence of the late
Mr.. Duggan. If he did have a
part in passing along confiden-
tial state department informa-
ton to a Communist spy ring
the disclosure should be made
only after careful investigation
and absolute proof, for Mr.
Duggan, dead, can no longer
defend himself. The irrespon-
sible unsubstantiated and, ac-
cording to Mr.. Chambers. un-
true statement issued by Chair
man Mundt was an inexcusable,
brutal and degraded act.
1t brings to mind the affair
of DR.. Edward U. Condor who
was also a victim of the smear
tactics of the Committee be-
fore J. Parnell Thomas was in
dicted by a federal grand jury.
Condor. an atomic scientist and
head of the us. Bureau Stand
ard. was branded by Thomas as
being the weakest link in our
atomic security. Thomas ar
rived at this conclusion and
based his statement on a para
graph from a letter by J. Ed
gar Hoover to the then seere-
tarv of commerce concerning an
FBI investigation of Condor.
The letter said that Condor had
been associated with a Com
munist spy, but added. that
there was no evidence that he
had been disloyal in the asso-
citation. Thomas quoted the
first paragraph and ignored
the second. Investigations by
the FBI and the Commerce De-
partment both had made checks
on DR.. Condor and given him
a clean bill of health prior to
Thomas irresponsible charge.
Dr Coudon denied tho charges