The daily record., 1953-05-29
PROFILE OF A BOOK
REVIEWER

EDWARD y. FlLZgerdlQ, formerly Oh
the U. S. Treasury and the War
Production Board, was questioned
by the Jenner Committee as to his
membership in the Perlo Group,
which as been described as an es-
pionage operation. The following
colloquy occurred:
Mr.. Morris Were you a mem
Der of the espionage ring described
in that MEMORANDUM?
'Mr. Fitzgerald decline to ans
wer on the ground it might tend
to incriminate me.
Mr.. Morris. Did you know Mr..
Victor Perlo who was named here
as head of the ring?
"Mr. Fitzgerald. I decline to ans
wer on the same ground"
When Fitzgerald left the gov
ernment, he became a free lance
writer, specializing in book re-
views and stories for Confession
Magazine" Seems to be an incor-
rect name in the transcript) His
book reviews appeared in 'The New
York Times" the New York Her
aid Tribune" and "The Saturday
Review" He not only reviewed
books under his own name, but
when, he said, he reviewed the
same book for several publications,
pseudonyms were used. He did not
recall all the pseudonyms, because
some were manufactured by the
editors of the publications. One
such assumed name was Martin
Rice. 1t is interesting to know that
such practices are employed by
these high-brow publications.
Fitzgeral testified that in one
year, this year, he reviewed SO
books for "The Saturday Review, -
which is at least one a week; he
did six for THE New York Times"
and about so for the New York
Herald Tribune" How many of
these were duplicates the teSti-
mony does not say.
He was questioned as to whether
he had ever warned any of these
editors that he had been suspected
of being a Communist or mem
ber of an espionage group and it
appears that he only spoke about
it to Norman Cousins of THE Sat-
urday Review" This is the testi-
mony:
MIR. Morris. Did he know about
your having been identified in
Washington as member of a war
time espionage ring?
"Mr. Fitzgerald. May I consult?
''Mr. Morris. You may.
(Witness confers with counseD
Mr.. Fitzgerald. I discussed the
matter with Norman Cousins.
"Mr. Morris. Did you make any
explanation to him?
"Mr. Fitzgerald. decline to
answer that question.
"Mr. Morris. Did you deny the
allegations in the published testi-
mony about your participation in
the war espionage ring?
"Mr. Fitzgerald. I decline to
answer that question on the same
ground as before"
1t is not necessary to belabor
the point of Mr.. Fitzgerald's pre-
sent attitude. 1t is sufficient to
cite the following:
Senator Welker. Mr.. Fitzgerald
as of this moment, are you mem
ber of a secret espionage or sab
otage ring against the interest of
tine Government of the United
States?
"Mr. Fitzgerald I decline to ans
wer that question on the same
ground as before"
There has been severe criticism
of inquiries of persons who write
books, or for newspapers and mag
azines, on the basis that such in
quiry is an abridgment of freedom
of the press. On the other hand,
in the investigation of the Insti-
tute of Pacific Relations by the
McCarran Committee, it was es-
tablished that a group of persons
conspired to dominate books on
Far Eastern subjects published in
this country, and the reviews OF
such books in the three publica-
tions mentioned in this column
which are the most important IN
the country.
Here is a man, Edward J. Fitz-
gerald. who is not a professional
journalist but who moves into
book reviewing from government
employment. His name has ap-
peared in the testimony of others
He somehow quickly reaches thess
top publications, which is not easy
even for professional and does
more than 100 reviews in short
time, which is very rare indeed
And he uses not only his owr
name, but several others, often re,
viewing the same book for each
publication, which is close to 2
monopoly.
AS bookshops base their orders
On reviews appearing in these pub
lications, the significance is OBJ
vious.
lectric bill was $40.
? 49, ~