Evening star., 1951-07-17
0'ConorCa||s
For Retaliation
In 0atisCase
Offers Bill to Gust
Red Correspondents
Pending His Release
By Cecil HoIIond

Senator O'Conor, Democrat, Of
Maryland, today demanded the
banning of all Communist CORE
Ispondents from this country until
Associated Press Correspondent
William N. Oatis has been re-
leased by the Red government Of
Czechoslovakia.
Senator O'Conor denounced the
arrest and ."conviction" of Mr..
Oats as "a mockery" which has
shocked our people beyond
words"
Mr.. Oats. 37-year-old chief of
the Associated Press bureau in
Prague, was recently sentenced to
10 years in prison on spying
charges.
Senator O'Conor introduced a
resolution calling on the State
Department and other Govern
ment agencie- to ban correspond
ents from Communist countries
from operating in the United
States until Mr.. Oats is freed
and assurances are received that
there will be no more such falling
of American correspondents.
Seeks u. N. Investigation.
The resolution also asked:
l. United States undertake to
have the United Nations investi-
gate the Oatis case and disapprove
the imprisonment of Mr.. Oatis so
that, Senator O'Conor said, "the
condemnation of the free world
may be visited upon the Commu-
nists for their action
2. Immediate action by the
United States to prohibit trade
between the citizens of this coun-
try and Czechoslovakia until the
release of Mr.. Oats.
3. The State Department to take
whatever possible additional steps.
economic or otherwise, to impress
upon the Communists "the thor
ough disgust at such actions and
our firm determination to accept
no further such attacks without
proper retaliation"
Calls for Drastic Measures.
Senator O'Conor, in statement
to the Senate, said:
1T is high time that drastic
retaliatory measures be taken
against any and all of the Com
munist governments, which, as
part of their propaganda, impose
harsh or unjust treatment upon
any American citizens"
Senator O'Conor noted that the
State Department has announced
that further representations have
been made to the Czech govern
ment urging the release of Mr..
Oats, and added:
ITO have any hope of seeking
Mr.. Oats release. it is going to
be necessary for this country to
find some way to put pressure on
the Communists where it hurts"
Senator Praises Reporter.
Senator O'Conor said the Oats
case. as we'll as other instances
of injustice to American ma
tionals, is convincing proof that
justice plays no part in Commu-
mist governmental administration,
and the lie, the big lie, is one Of
the most potent weapons in ef-
forts to convince enslaved peoples
that the United States is impotent
to help them"
| The Maryland Senator praised
Mr.. Oats as a painstaking and
objective reporter and said this
was undoubtedly one of the rea-
sons why the Communists thought
they had to get rid of him.
"As a matter of fact, Senator
iO'Conor added, lone of the chief
charges the prosecutor made
against him in the trial was that
he insisted on getting the facts.
Sees Reflection of Terror.
when we contrast his stories
OF what went on in Czechoslo-
Vakia with the garbled accounts
of happenings in America, which
are transmitted by Russian and
other iron curtain country re-
porters from here one can easilv
envlsage the terror that grips the
heart of Communist officials at
the thought either that their own
people actually will learn of life
In America as it really is, or that
people in the world will find out
the full facts about conditions in
the Communist countries.
THE Oats case offers food for
thought to persons in the United
States, and I believe there still
are some, who are ready to accept
the propaganda put forth by the
Communists rather than to face
the actualties of what happens
when a country falls victim to
Communist despotism. One Oats
case can disprove all the lies that
Communists could disseminate
over a long period of time"
Tho Tnnono uox:4~