Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-04-20
Code Of Fair Play

AHe SUICIDE OF herbert Nor
man. Canadian ambassador to
Egypt. in part because he had
been slandered by the Senate
Internal Security Subcommit-
tee. carries a lesson for Con-
greSs that it might have
learned from previous expert
ence with the Jenner. Nc
Carthy and Velde committees.
That lesson Is that Congress
should recover control OF the
conduct Of investigations,
which has been delegated to
free-wheeling committees and
subcommittee which operate
like little legislatures" but
which are. after all. merely
creatures and agents of Con-
gress itself. This could be done
by the adoption and enforce
ment Of q code of fair play
for investigating committees.
Such a code was favorably re-
ported to the Senate early in
1885 by its Rules Committee.
but no positive action was
taken upon 1t. Now Senator
Javits has introduced a reso-
luton for rules Of committee
procedure that includes a pro-
vision concerning the publi-
cation Of testimony that might
adversely affect the reputation
Of foreign diplomats.
Lewis Webb.
AS a victim Of our miSnamed
security program. ] agree with
those Canadians and Amer
leans who blame the United
States for the death OF Herbert
Norman, Canadian ambassador
to Egypt. Unfortunately, Nor
man is only one Of many driven
to suicide or death by heart
attacks. caused by Islander and
improved charges. The average
citizen does not know, or
prefers to forget. that over
a dozen prominent Amer
leans, including a Harvard
professor. several State De-
partment officials, a former
ambassador TO Great Britain.
and several actors and ac-
tresses. among them Canada
Lee and John Garfield, died as
a result Of the strain put upon
them by the Gestapo methods
Of our notorious loyalty pro-
gram.
Eight out Of o dozen we'll
known citizens faced with I'M
proved charges Of disloyalty
died by suicide; the other four
succumbed to heart attacks.
] know Of a local case where
the man was suspended.
cleared and reinstated to his
former job. A few weeks after
returning to work he was dead
Of q heart attack. His wife
said the strain Of all they went
through was too much for him
to bear.
These deaths by SANDER"
are not isolated cases. There
are many more unreported by
the press--the persons involved
were too obscure to merit
publicity.
In my own case, my family
and ! went through all the
terror. heartbreaks and disil-
lusionment that faced Herbert
Norman and the others. I was
completely cleared by the Civil
Service Commission, but that
proved TO be an empty victory.
We are still treated as I'M
touchables by many Of our
former friends. business as
sociates and relatives. have
not received justice, nor do
expect 1t. We have put aside
all pretense OF morality and
legality when 1t comes to
handling so-called security
cases. Paid informers. many
Of them proved perjurers. are
allowed to ruin peoples lives by
fabricated untruths about tho
associations and lives OF vic
tins twenty years ago during
an era Of depression and dis
content. We have substituted
the law OF the jungle and
methods OF a police state to
protect liberties that no longer
exist. We cannot. by any
stretch OF the imagination call
such a government a democ-
racy. We may, in truth,
call II something else.