Evening star., 1951-08-08
Explanation by Currie
|0f Security Probe
incidents Suggested

of Michigan, has suggested that
Lachlin Currie. former White
House administrative assistant
should explain his connection
with various incidents and per-
sons named in a Senate inquiry
into the Institute of Pacific Re-
lations.
He made the suggestion at the
close of another hearing by the
Senate Internal Security Subcom-
mittee yesterday. at which DR.
George Edward Taylor of the Uni
versity of Washington in Seattle
was a witness.
DR.. Taylor testified he met Mr.
Currie while serving here with
the Office Of War Information in
l943 and that the relationship
ended when he wrote in a memo
randum that the United States
should supply the Chinese Ma
tionalists with arms to shoot up
the Communists If necessary.
Vincnt Attended Meetings.
He said this occurred after he
had attended meetings organized
by Mr.. Currie in his Office for a
discussion of China. Among those
who attended, he added. was John
Carter Vincent. who was then in
charge Of the State Departments
China Division.
DR.. Taylor testified that he in
serted the suggestion about sup
plying arms to the Chinese Ma
tionalists in a summary of the
proceedings he wrote for Mr..
Currie. .... .s
MY relations with Mr.. Currie
ended right about then" the
youngish professor added dryly.
He said that when he went to
Mr.. Currie's Office for the next
regular Wednesday morning meet
ing Of the group, he was told that
the official had another engage
ment
II got the hint" he remarked.
Mr.. Currie's name has been
mentioned several times in the
inquiry. which Chairman McCar-
ran of the subcommittee has said
is intended to show" Q Communist
conspiracy to take over all Of
Asia"
Mentioned by Wittfogel.
Once was during the testimony
Yesterday of DR.. Karl August
Wittfogel, former German Com
munist and now a university
professor in this country.
DR.. Wittfogel testified he under
stood Michael Greenberg, who
held several Government positions
here during the war. including
one as an assistant to Mr.. Currie,
was a Communist. He said he
first met Mr.. Greenberg in Eng
land in 1894 among Communist
friends"
Another was earlier In the hear
ings. when Mr.. Currie was said to
have Joined in efforts to obtain an
Army intelligence commission for
frederick Vanderbilt Field. leftist
New York millionaire and one
time secretary Of the American
council of the Institute of Pacific
Relations.
Senator Ferguson noted the va
rious references that have been
made to Mr.. Currie and said:
He should be given an oppor-
tunity to explain this to the sub
committee.
DR.. Taylor said he has been a
trustee of the Institute of Pacific
Relations since 1916 and acknowl-
edged that there have been COM
plants that the organization, a
private research group. had been
infiltrated by the Communists.
Sees Infiltration Everywhere.
I've operated on the theory
that the Communists would infil-
trate any organization from a
Sunday school class to the FBI, -
the witness said. adding that he
did not think they would overlook
the institute.
Asked by Senator Ferguson why
he held on with the organization
DR.. Taylor said it is a battle that
never ends and that he prefers
to oppose the Communists wher-
ever they are. He said that in
many ways the institute has val
liable and scholarly function.
DR.. Wittfogel's testimony regard
ing various contacts with owen
baltimore, Far Eastern specialist
OF Johns Hopkins University, Bal
tlmore. in China and elsewhere
brought a quick rejoinder from Mr..
baltimore.
In a statement issued yesterday
afternoon from the Washington
law Offices of Arnold, Fortas and
Porter. Mr.. baltimore said DR..
Wittfogel'S "fear of his own past
and desperate effort are reflected
in his confused and self -contradic-
tory evidence"
DR.. Wittfogel. who testified that
he fed from Germany after Hit
ler's rise to power and came to the
United States in 1884, said that
Mr.. baltimore, in all their cor
respondence and talks, "has al
ways taken the position that he is
not a Communist" -s
Mrs. baltimore Takes Notes.
= Senator Smith. Democrat, of
North Carolina. asked DR.. Witt
fogel for his own Judgment, and
the witness replied that he would
not take Mr.. Lattimore's state
ment's "at face value"
Mr.. baltimore was not present
at the hearing, but his wife was
noted in the audience taking notes
on the Wittfogel testimony. In his
81 ~, mr.,