Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-01
ARTHUR Miller
Appeal
lis Expected
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.
two counts Of contempt Of Con.
gress stemming from his refusal
to answer questions asked him by
the House Committee on Un.
American Activities last June II.
The verdict Of guilty was
handed down by Federal Judge
Charles r. Mclaughlin in Q Is
page mimeographed opinion fled
in United States District Court.
The Judge deferred sentence
pending Q probation report. Mr..
Miller, whose wife u Marilyn
Monroe. the actress. was allowed
to remain free on bond until the
probation report Is made. He
was not In court yesterday. Max
tmum penalty for contempt Of
Congress Is one year In prison
and . $1,000 iine.
An appeal was considered
probable.
Mr.. Miller and his wife left
their New York apartment yes
terday saying they were "going
away for ailittle WHILE" He de-
Iclined to comment on his con-
Iviction.
Baked a Two Questions
/. At the time Mr.. Miller ap-
Ipeared before the committee as
. witness, It was investigating
the misuse Of passports by Com
munists.
Mr.. Miller freely admitted his
past association with COM
munism. but he baked at an
swering the following questions:
!. Can you tell US who were
there when you walked into the
roomr cat l047 meeting OF
Communist writers.
2. Was Arnaud Usseau
chairman Of this meeting Of the
Communist Party writer's which
took place In l9l7 at which you
were In attendance?"
The playwright. In refusing to
answer, did not claim the Fifth
Amendment. He said his con-
science would not allow him to
answer and bring trouble" to
others.
At the trial, Defense Attorney
Joseph Rauh had argued that
the committee had no valid leg
islative purpose in calling Mr..
Miller. He further asserted that
the question as to who attended
10 Communist meeting in 1947
was not pertinent to an inquiry
into passport use.
Fails to Convince Judge
But Judge Mclaughlin yester-
day brushed these contentious
aside, saying:
Since the Congress has power
to legislate concerning passports.
|it is evident that Congress had
the right TO investigate the sub
ject Of passports. It follows that
investigations concerning pass
ports conducted on the basis Of
that right have . legislative pur-
pose. Additional significant EVIL
dence Of legislative interest i.
Is found In the fact that follow
ing the hearings 1t made recon-
mendations to the Congress re-
garding proposed passport legis-
lation."
Questions Called Pertinent
On the question Of pertinency.
the judge recited evidence intro
duced tt . how that the commit
tee had information that pass
ports were used to further the
Communist movement.
At another point he declared:
I'm the circumstances. an in
|quiry directed to defendant as
to the identity Of the Communist
Party writers with whom he fore.
gathered would seem to be
one logically calculated to pro-
duce information which could be
Of assistance to the committee in
connection with its investigation
OF Communist passport activi-
ties. :"
The Judge recited that Mr..
Miller had q passport applica-
ton pending at the time Of the
congressional inquiry. The Judge
recalled that Mr. Miller had de-
MED ever being under Comtnu-
mist discipline and that he had
testified that he did not believe
he had ever seen a member Of
the party.
In connection with this, the
Judge cited a committee asser-
ton that it had information Mr.
Miller had been o Communist.
I'm the circumstances 1t was
pertinent to the inquiry being
conducted by the subcommittee
to ask defendant questions that
would. II answered. have given
the committee information by
which 1t might check the cor
rectness Of defendants testi-
mony as to Communist member
ship and as to the nature and
effect Of his Communist activi-
ties"
Major Contention
This was one Of the main con-
tentions Of Assistant United
States Attorney william Hitz In
prosecuting the case.
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