Evening star., 1951-01-14
-Horris & Ewing

4. Rosenberg
-Horris & Ewing
at a meeting Of the John Reed
Club in the 1930s and that, pre-
viously, she had been pointed out
/! to him by James McGraw, who
had recruited him into the party,
as an outstanding social worker"
who was a party member.
He stood by that testimony in
dramatic conformation with
Mrs. Rosenberg in the closed
committee hearing. Mrs. Rosen-
berg protested that he had con-
fused her with some one else and
said, "I don't believe any human
being wants to do what you are
doing purposely."
The committee later heard Mr.
McGraw. This witness completely
contradicted everything Mr.. De
Sola had said. He testified that
he was never a Communist, had
never attended meeting of the
John Reed Club and could not
have introduced Mr.. De Sola to
Mrs. Rosenberg.
Mr.. De Sola had testified that
Isidor Schneider had presided at
the meeting at which he met Mrs.
Rosenberg. Mr.. Schneider, &C
knowledging that he had lectured
before such clubs, said he had
never seen Mrs. Rosenberg at such
meetings.
Freedman Witness
Mr.. De Sola's ex-wife, Helen
Winner, formerly feature editor of
the Communist Daily Worker be-
fore quitting the party, said she
had never heard of Mrs. Rosen-
berg as Communist.
The final blow at the De Sola
testimony came from George j.
Starr. a retired FBI agent. Mr..
De Sola had testified that he had
told Mr.. Starr, after leaving the
Communist Party, about Mrs.
Rosenberg and her connections
with it.
Mr.. Starr fatty contradicted
this. He said no such information
had been given him. If it had
been, he emphasized, it would have
been written down and sent to the
FBI headquarters.
Other witnesses also ripped away
at Mr.. Freedman's statement
which led to reopening of the
hearings.
One of these was Mr.. Matthews
who angrily denied he had ever
told Mr.. Freedman about an FBl
file on Mrs. Rosenberg.
II have never made such state
ment in my life" Mr.. Matthews
swore. Il have never had any
such thought and therefore could
not have made the statement"
| In this connection it should be
noted that when Mr.. Freedman
testified later that day, at COM
mittee night session, he offered in
evidence "a copy of an anonymous
statement" he said Mr.. Matthews
had circulated to all Senators
regarding Anna Rosenberg"
AS the committee was winding
up its hearings it received letter
from Mr.. Matthews correcting
testimony he had given the COM
mittee. In the letter he said he
had no intention of damaging
Mrs. Rosenberg.
To that Senator Cain COM
mented:
II have reason to believe that is
not correct. I have been told by
a pretty reliable character that
this fellow has been processing
written documents claiming that
Anna Rosenberg is a Communist
and all the rest, and here he is
claiming no such thing"
Out of the Matthews testimony
however, two additional witnesses
were summoned. He had testified
that two former FBI agents had
told him that a William Harris,
employed as IAN undercover
agent for the FBI some years ago. u
had reported to the bureau that
he was in a Communist Party cell
with Mrs. Rosenberg. He identi-
fed the agents as T. c. Kirkpat-
rick and Ken Bierly, publishers of
the anti Communist news letter
Counterattack.
Mr.. Harris, now doing work for
the Americanism division of the
American Legion, testified on
December 13. Asked by Senator
Russell if he had ever told Mr.
Kirkpatrick he had been in a
Communist cell with Mrs. Rosen-
berg. the witness replied:
"No, SIR"
And he added:
II have never known Mrs
Rosenberg, and I could not have
made that statement. I couldn't
have made report on something
I know nothing about"
Mr.. Kirkpatrick also testified.
Russell-Did you ever tell DR.
j. B. Matthews that Mr.. William
Harris had reported to you that
he was in a Communist Party
cell with Mrs. Rosenberg?
Kirkpatrick-I did not.
| Russell-Did Mr.. William Harri.
ever make such a statement tt
you?
| Kirkpatrick He did not.
/