Evening star., 1953-12-27
Family Security Is Ros First Concern in Job Fighqa Coc4
By Jack Jonos


Primarily, Leo Aloysius Roth is
a family man.
He is intensely proud Of his
wife and four sons and his mod
est home at 1915 Lynbrook
drive in Bethesda.
On a living room wall hangs
the Roth family coat of arms.
It depicts a relocated brew
master, holding the brewmaster's
crooked wand. and traces the
Roths to the time they migrated
to Switzerland from Germany
about 1900,
A photograph Of Mr.. Roth's
oldest son, Robert Hugh, q, sits
atop the radio. His three other
sons, John Paul. IA: Leo Aloysius,
jr., IL, and Donald Collins, 10,
are too much in evidence to
need the reminder of a picture.
Mr.. Roth's principal goal is
security for his family. But since
last summer, he estimates his
savings have dwindled to a sixth
Of what they were.
"I'm an accident Of the times, >"
he said.
Legal "Guinea Pig"
Mr.. Roth was fired from his
$40. .800-a-year job as a Justice
Department lawyer last March.
The Department brought no
charges against him. Depart
ment officials felt certain, how
ever. that Mr.. Roth would take
his dismissal to court, and they
wanted a test case to determine
whether the Government has the
right to remove a man from
civil service classification and
then fire him.
Mr.. Roth became the guinea
pig"
Last week. Judge Richmond
B. Keech of the U. S. District
Court for the District of Co
lumbia, ruled that the President,
If he desires, can remove any
Government worker from civil
service classification and then
fire him.
Since he was fired, Mr.. Roth's
thoughts have been on his fam
lily. and the possible stigma
which might be attached to it's
members.
when a man is fired by the
Government today" he said,
people nod their heads know
ingly and say he's a Communist
or a homoSexual. Or. the least
of the stigma, they say he can't
do the job he's supposed to do"
Handled Security Cases.
Mr.. Roth has the background
for making such statements. He
has worked for years with mat
ters affecting the Nations Secur-
ity-first with cases involving
Nazi Party members and more
recently those involving Com
munistS.
He helped prepare the indict-
mentS against 174 German aliens
accused in 1914 of lying when
they said they were not members
of the Nazi Party. Five of these.
among several who fled before
they were captured. later re-
turned in the famous submarine
landing on the East Coast during
the war.
In 1947, he helped prepare
and argue the case against Carl
Aldo Marzarii, the first Govern
ment worker accused of lying on
his Civil Service !. application
about Communist affiliation.
In May of 1948. Mr.. Roth was
among four Justice Department
lawyers chosen to prepare the
case against the IL top Commu-
niSts in the United States, sub
sequently convicted. Mr.. Roth
and the others worked in secrecy
for four weeks in New York. oS-
tensibly on a milk case"
gathering the. facts for indict-
mentS.
His work in these and other
cases was praised by his SUI
periors. He was recognized in
the department as a competent,
able lawyer. Then, last March.
he was fired.
Mr.. Roth figures his downfall
came when he transferred to the
Office of Price Sterilization in
1948. There. again, he was
thinking of his family.
II had a chance to go up an
other grade to $4,000 a year."
he said. II wanted to keep my
salary as high as possible for
five years. so I'd be in a better