Evening star., 1952-01-30
Vincent Tells Senator'S
He Never Was Red;
Declares Budenz Lies

declares budenz Lies
John Carter Vincent swore to-
day that any one who says he ever
was a Communist is lying"
Mr.. Vincent testified before the
Senate Internal Security subcom-
nlittee that he is not and never
has been a member of the Com
munist Party and never has SYM
pathized with Communist aims.
He appeared before the Sem
ators at his own request to answer
charges by Louis Budenz.
Mr.. Vincent. a veteran career
diplomat now assigned to Tan
gier as United States diplomatic
agent. said he never Joined any
kind of political organization. He
described himself as "a Jeffer-
sonian Democrat and Lincolnian
Republican"
Calls Charge Malicious"
Mr.. Budenz, former managing
editor of the Communist Daily
Worker who broke with the Com
munists in 1945. testified before
the subcommittee last year that,
from official reports" he had re-
ceived, Mr.. Vincent was a Com
munist.
! After swearing today that Mr.. !
Budenz or any one else who makes
such charge is lying" Mr.. Vim
cent told the subcommittee:
Il do not pretend to know what
motives guide Mr.. Budenz. In my
own case, his motives seem to be
clearly malicious. :.
ANY attempt through malicious
testimony to cause the American
people to lose confidence in their
officials, or in each other, is in /
itself subversive to the interests
and security of our country. When,
as in my case, the official repre- /
sents his country abroad, the
effect may be doubly harmful"
Did Not Meet Communists.
Under questioning, Mr.. Vincent
said he never knowingly had any
contact with Communists except
officials of foreign governments
encountered in the course of his
duties.
He also testified he never know
ingly received any suggestions
from Communist or pro-Commu-
mist sources. But he admitted he
might have had some suggestions
about Far Eastern policies from
members of the Institute of Pacific
Relations. At that time, he said,
he did not consider the institute ,
either Communist of pro-Commu- /;
mist.
Mr.. Vincent testified that he
did not recall ever receiving "ad-
vice" from the institute but added:
II do not doubt that some of the
members tried to give advice"
He volunteered his side OF the
story about mysterious rain
coat by reading to the committed
a letter he wrote in March. 1850.
to John E. Peurifoy, then assistant
secretary of State for administra-.
ton.
Coat Left by Visitor.
Mr.. Vincent explained the letter
was written because of what he
then American Minister to Swift
zerland-had read about charges
against him made by Senator
Mccarthy, Republican, of Wis
sconsin. The Vincent letter i'm
piled that writing in the Rus
sian language which was found in 4
q raincoat pocket had been part
Of Senator McCarthy's case
against him.
He explained the raincoat ap- {
parently had been left in his {
office by some visitor sometime in s
1916, and remained there un- L
claimed for weeks. One rainy day L
he wore it out to lunch. A week or
so later, he said he missed a rain l.
coat and finally recalled that he !
had left it in a State Department {
washroon. Il
!. On inquiry, he found it had
been turned in to the building {
guards who had found in a pocket I
o piece of paper with foreign writ 3
Ing on it. The writing. he said, :
appeared to be exercises in Rus /
sian word endings - apparently s
having belonged to some one study /
ing Russian. But Mr.. Vincent said
he never found the raincoat's
owner and still has the coat.
* Declines to Answer.
At a hearing of the subcom-
mittee yesterday afternoon, Law
renee K. Rosinger. New York
writer and Far Eastern affairs
specialist, declined to say if he
ever had been a member Of the
Communist Party as charged by
earlier witnesses. He said to do so
might tend to incriminate him.
Mr.. Rosinger. a former writer
and research worker for the In
stitute of Pacific Relations, de-
clined to answer when asked If
he ever had visited Alger Hiss at
the State Department. Hiss, a
former State Department official,
has been convicted of lying when
he said he didn't feed documents