Evening star., 1948-12-10
CompbeII and Mundt Letters

ney George Morris Fay appeared
before a closed session of the House
Committee on Un-American Activi-
ties. at which were present Con-
gresham John Mcdowell, Congress
man Richard M. Nixon, Congress
man Richard B. Vail, Congressman
John Rankin, Congressman F. Ed
ward Hebert, with myself, as chair
man of the subcommittee, and our
chief investigator, Robert E. Strip
ling. This was the fourth unan-
nounced visit which members of
your staff have paid to our COM
mittee since our committee investi-
gators discovered, and came into
possession Of certain microfilms and
documents which had been stolen
from the State Department by per-
sons whose guilt, so far as we know,
has not yet been established by the
Department Of Justice.
Your letter of December 8 was
written with commendable candor,
but I am genuinely disappointed
that 1t demonstrated such a lack
of the essential type of cooperation
which should exist among branches
Of the Government on matters as
important as the many ramifica-
tions flowing from the Hiss-Cham-
bers case.
I call attention specifically to the
first one of the four proposals made
in your letter of December 8 and
previously suggested orally by your
department to our committee. This
suggestion reads as follows:
81. That the House American
Activities Committee refrain from
interviewing and questioning wit
nesses who had IN the past or who
might In the future be called to
testify before Federal grand jury
in New York for reasons of internal
security and the successful prose-
cution of any case which might be
developed"
Legal Authorities Consulted.
Your suggestion No. 2, that the
House Un American Activities
Committee refrain from releasing
any information which 1t has re-
garding said investigation" Is some
what in the category of suggestion
No. l, but however, suggestion No. 8,
that the members of the committee
were cordially invited to appear at
any time before the federal grand
jury in New York" and suggestion
No. 4, that your committee fur
nish to said grand jury any and
all information and documents
which 1t may have regarding the
subject matter" are completely in
accord with the past policies and
activities Of our committee.
Our committee has spent con-
siderable time in consulting with
lawyers of outstanding ability in
analyzirg section 3486. title 10. use
1948 ed. which is headed in your
letter testimony before Congress:
immunity" I must say TO you in
all fairness that by unanimous deci-
sion our committee, upon advice Of
our attorney, after consulting with
legal talent. disagrees entirely with
the strained Interpretation which
you have placed upon this section
of the code. 1t is our best informa- =
tion that testimony given before
our committee or any other COM
mittee Of Congress. cannot possibly
secure immunity for a witness Civ
ing the same or similar testimony
or making admissions before a fe~-
eral grand jury. or any of the
prosecuting agencies Of the Govern
ment.
A close and careful examination
OF that section of the statute as
quoted by you in your letter as a
basis for the request made to this
committee nowhere indicates or sug-
gests that testimony given before
congressional committed gives i'm
munity from prosecution to any in
dividual guilty of the commission
of a crime. Nowhere is the word
prosecution used. On the contrary,
there is obvious confusion on your
part between prosecution and evi-
dence.
Unreasonable Attack Seen.
BY unanimous action, conse-
quently. our committee considers
that portion Of your first proposal
which requests "the House Un-
American Activities Committee re-
frain from interviewing and ques-
tioning witnesses who had in the
past or who might in the future
be called to testify before a Federal
grand jury" to be an utterly un-
reasonable attack upon the preroga-
tive of the United States Congress.
Taken for what it clearly says, when
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