ARE BOOKS TO BE BURNED NEXT?

LANGSTON HUGHES, American Negro poet, was refused permission to make a scheduled appearance on our ASC campus. Mr. Hughes was contracted by the student-faculty committee in charge of the concert series for the benefit of the students and with the use of students' funds. Suddenly the engagement for April 6 was cancelled. Why? Did the students voice a protest against him? We of the ASC campus have yet to hear any such declarations. But the fact remains: Mr. L. Hughes is not permitted to speak.

Who then is setting up criteria on what students should hear? Three groups have the audacity to evaluate standards of what and how academic knowledge should be filtered into the minds of students. America's Better Citizen's Committee, certain Vet organizations, and churchmen have authorized themselves to save ASC students from the sinister, "Red" Mr. L. Hughes. Of course, it never entered their minds that, perhaps, deliverance was not our purpose for attending college. But discarding our wishes, they blandly go ahead and impose restrictions on our mental development. Benevolent, these people!

We are students, and being such we learn through investigation of all issues, controversial or not. How thorough an education we get depends on the quality and quantity of academic freedom that exists. Refusing Langston Hughes to speak because he does not think along "adhered standards" of certain groups, make students mere puppets of rut-like thought. Precisely because Mr. L. Hughes _does_ hold a different opinion is reason enough _for_ inviting him here to speak. Our ears are not tender.

Petitions are being circulated. Sign them!

Richard B. Vail
2d District Illinois

Committee-Veterans Affairs
Un-American Activities

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
House of Representatives
Washington, D. C.

February 21, 1948

Miss Marjorie Dickinson-Executive Secretary
Springfield Council of Churches
Springfield, Illinois

Dear Miss Dickinson:

Replying to your wire of the 9th, you are advised that the House Committee on Un-American Activities has never arrived at the conclusion that Langston Hughes is a "self-confessed Communist." All that I find in the files of the Committee on Un-American Activities is the following statement of Mr. J.B. Mathews, which is contained in Vol. 17, page 10336: "I will take up the record of Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes is a member of the National Citizens Political Action Committee and an avowed Communist. He has been a leading member of the Communist Party in this country for approximately twenty years."

Yours very truly,
(signed) Richard B. Vail-Member of Congress

Frances Blane Hurie, 1732 Lowell Avenue, Springfield, Illinois

Have no knowledge of Langston Hughes' political affiliation, but am personally convinced that he is a man of independent judgment and integrity and insofar as I know not directly or indirectly connected with any political party.

-WALTER WHITE-Exec. Sec. National Assoc. for Advancement of
(20 West 40th St., New York City, New York) Colored People

"I can assure you it was a great pleasure to have LANGSTON HUGHES appear on our Forum. We had a big attendance on the day of his appearance. Many persons spoke with the greatest enthusiasm of his lecture and readings. I hope we can look forward to the happy day when we can have MR. HUGHES return for another appearance.

BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL FORUM ASSN. -- Bloomington, Illinois

"I am happy to say LANGSTON HUGHES' lecture was the most interesting of all the Public Affairs Series this season. Certainly the largest audience to witness one of the series was on hand and responded very favorably to him." -GENNESSEE BRANCH-YM-YW

Waukegan, Illinois

"LANGSTON HUGHES did very well at Kenyon. He is an able and attractive speaker and the students and faculty were particularly pleased with both his formal remarks in Assembly and his discussions afterwards." KENYON COLLEGE -- Gambier, Ohio

"To have LANGSTON HUGHES with us at our Sayville Forum was a rare treat. I could only wish that all prejudiced people could be brought in contact with Mr. Hughes; their prejudice, if backed with any kind of intelligence, would have to melt...People in the audience who were skeptical, who thought of Mr. Hughes as a communist and blasphemer, remained to praise. They were big enough and answered the nobility in Mr. Hughes and admitted that they had been misinformed. One minister's wife is writing the radio commentator, Mr. Taylor, to tell him he is determination to tell such lies about Mr. Hughes.

"We thank you for the opportunity of having Mr. Hughes."

Eleanor Hester, Program Chairman
SAYVILLE FORUM--SAYVILLE, LONG ISLAND, N. Y.

January 21, 1948

COPY

COPY

New York, February 21, 1948

Dear Mrs. Wakefield:

Thank you so much for your kind letter and for keeping me informed of the
goings-on out the re. I am enclosing for you a copy of a long letter that I have
just written to Mrs. Frances Blaine Hurie, so you will see how I feel about the
matter. I certainly do not take it personally at all, but it is heart-warming to
know that I have real friends in your city, and that faith and understanding are
bigger than bigotry. I have never doubted that, and I believe, like your dear
brother, in the basic goodness that will eventually make our America the land we
dream about in our hearts.

Sincerely,
Langston

Dear Mrs. Hurie:

I am glad to have your letter because you explain to me why statements regard-
ing myself were being solicited from persons such as Dr. Embree and Claude Barnett.
I must admit that I was a bit at a loss to understand why these people were being
asked to vouch for my character and politics, but I see now that my Springfield
sponsors probably wish to have such statements to show to persons opposing your
program there. My feeling is, however, that such persons are not interested in
either turth or democracy. If they were, I am sure that they could find plenty of
segregation and anti-democratic practices with which to busy themselves in Spring-
field without using up precious time and energy attempting to prevent you from
presenting me there. It has been my experience with such people in the past that
they have never been known to concern themselves with minority problems in their
own immediate communities.

I have no idea of what information the Department of Justice may have regard-
ing me, but certainly if it is based on truth I would have no objection to their
releasing it. However, if it is simply copies of materials such as the J. Edgar
Hoover speech which you mention, it would hardly aid the Springfield situation any.
Certainly the F. B. I. should know very well who is a member of the Communist Party
and who is not. I have never been questioned by the F. B. I., nor the un-American
Committee, and my only knowledge of the latter's statements in relation to myself
has been what I have seen in the Hearst papers.

I am not a member of the Communist Party. I have never been a member of the
Communist Party. I have written this to the Hearst press and to Henry J. Taylor.
In no case have I ever received a reply, nor has there been any correction of their
statements. Perhaps in the future the only thing to do is to have my lawyer take
the matter in hand. However, since Red-baiting is becoming as common as Jim Crow,
it would be pretty hard for a person without wealth to sue every time a false state-
ment is made or one's civil rights are violated on account of color. Certainly
both merit recourse to justice --- But Justice happens to be expensive.

To Mr. Winston I have sent a number of letters from various high school prin-
cipals before whose young people I have appeared. I have hundreds of such favorable
letters from various lecture sponsors throughout the years, but I do not have the
facilities for making copies of them now, nor do I believe that they would be of
much value in changing the minds of reactionaries who would hardly pay attention to
Truth herself were she sitting on a stack of Bibles. However, here is a quotation
from a letter from Roscoe L. West, President, State Teachers College, Trenton,
New Jersey, in answer to a Catholic War Veterans protest!

-2-

Mr. Andrew Simzak, Post Commander
Catholic War Veterans
St. Mary's Cathedral - Post No. 366
Trenton, New Jersey

Dear Mr. Simzak:

I have at hand your letter of January 28, concerning Mr. Langston Hughes. In the address that Mr. Hughes gave here, which consisted of some incidents from his own life and a reading of a few of his poems, he said nothing which could be interpreted in any way as an expression of "atheistic, un-American, or communistic philosophy."

SIGNED
Roscoe L. West, President.

On Tuesday, November 14, 1944, I appeared at a morning assembly at Central High School, Bridgeport, Connecticut. In advance of my coming such a situation as you are experiencing in Springfield developed. Dr. Arthur C. Sides, Principal of the school, told me upon my arrival in Bridgeport that he had contacted the F.B.I. and had been informed that I was not a Communist, and, therefore, with the support of his School Board, including its Catholic members, he had me appear at his assembly. That is the incident which I mention in my PHYLON article in stating that the F.B.I. knows that I am not a member of the Communist Party.

Such reaction is widespread throughout our country now and my lecture bureau tells me that a number of their white speakers have run into such attempts at suppression of freedom of speech. We have seen how liberal commentators have been driven off the radio in recent months. I hardly feel that these attacks are directed against me personally. I feel that they are engineered by persons who are opposed to any progress of the Negro people, to the President's Civil Rights Report, and to any attempt to change the antiquated status quo in relation to minorities in our country. It just happens that I seem to be a good point of attack for them, but I could hardly flatter myself into believing that Henry J. Taylor would waste thousands of dollars worth of radio time on a national hook-up simply to attack me. The attack is much more than a personal one, and I am glad that you and other friends of democracy realize this. It does not seem to me very important whether or not I am a person appear in Springfield, but I think it is important that Springfield have the right to permit its citizens to hear any speakers who are not outside of the law, whether they be Left or Right, black or white, poet or politician.

Yesterday I appeared at the State Teachers College in Lockhaven, Pa. The day before that I appeared at the State College in Dover, Delaware. A few days before I appeared at State Teachers College, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Since these are all state institutions and would hardly be having a dangerous radical appear before their student bodies, in case any of your sponsors need further confirmation of my literary, political, and poetic respectability, I suggest that they write to the presidents of any of those collegos.

Sincerely yours,

Langston Hughes.

Forwarded as requested by Mr. Hughes.

See page 3

GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION

"YOUR LAND AND MINE" - HENRY J. TAYLOR

SCRIPT #207 - AS BROADCAST

TITLE: COMMUNISM IN EDUCATION

FRIDAY - 12/12/47

PAGE -1-

I'm going to read a brutal, blasphemous poem over the air tonight. I am sure you will realize why. It's important.

Throughout our land, millions of conscientious parents, countless teachers and students are worried, deeply worried, about the infiltration of communist doctrine into our schools and colleges. My mail is full of anxious questions about this.

Is it a systematic, active campaign of attack on our educational system? There is only one answer: Yes, it is.

It proceeds under the false cloak of liberalism and idealism. It is a subtle, insidious and effective campaign designed to gather innocent fellow-travellers as it goes along.

Communists don't particularly care about school teachers and college professors. They don't care about any individual or group. But they do care about what teachers can do to the young minds in their charge.

For communists know that, as the young minds of a country go, so goes the country of the future.

## SCHOOLS A VITAL TARGET

Along with the movies, our schools are a prime target in the communist program. Innocence or ignorance, therefore, is no protection either to individual educators sucked into the communist party line or to educational organizations that unwittingly absorb the poison.

Vigilance is the only protection for the teachers or organizations that want to do the right thing. They must check up and see that they are not following communist doctrine under the guise of liberalism. They must guard against permitting communist indoctrination under the guise of idealism.

This vigilance is being shown in many places throughout our educational system. Many educators are making a heroic battle against communism's Godless attack on our American beliefs and on young minds. I say this with assurance, because I see a good many educators at close range. Last week I visited the University of Virginia and Yale University. I made the Founder's Day address at Duke University in North Carolina only yesterday.

In all America, there are no more brave and effective fighters against communism and its schemes than some of our educators. But throughout our country, vigilance will be increased once we all thoroughly appreciate and clearly recognize the actual Godlessness, the moral degradation, in the communist cult.

SCRIPT #207 - AS BROADCAST

FRIDAY - 12/12/47

## MORAL SIDE OF COMMUNISM

For communism is a question of morals as well as economics or politics. So let's break through the smoke screen of idealism tonight and look at the morals involved in communist principles. Let's examine the spiritual values involved. Then let us ask any school teacher or college professor, youth leader, or writer, or anyone at all, how he can apologize for communism and still profess faith in God and claim to be a good American citizen.

It can not be done. Yet, numerous innocent educators in our land don't seem to understand the damage they do, to themselves and to our great country and to its spiritual health, when they are hazy or confused about the moral side of communism.

Summed up, the communist principle is this: no heaven, no hell; no hell, no evil; no evil, no judge; no judge, no God.

This brings me to the story of the poem I mentioned. It begins with a meeting of educators held at the Stevens Hotel in Chicago week before last.

## EDUCATION CONVENTION IN CHICAGO

A three-day convention was staged there by an organization now calling itself the American Education Foundation. It was formerly known as the Progressive Education Association. At the convention it claimed to represent 2,000 schools and colleges—and probably did.

Many educators who attended have never been identified with the communist party or with Red-front groups. I am not accusing the American Education Foundation of being a Red-front group. Let's get that clear.

But let me give you a few facts about some of the speakers which the organization's program committee presented, at a meeting of educators to instruct our young.

The program featured Dr. Harold Rugg of Teacher's College, Columbia University. Dr. Rugg writes textbooks for schools. His books have now been thrown out of an estimated 1,400 school systems. They were thrown out largely because of protests, by the American Legion and other patriotic and civic organizations, that these textbooks opposed our American way of life.

All this seems only to have made a martyr out of Dr. Rugg at the Chicago Educator's meeting. Congratulatory references were made there to the fact that his books on history and government still remain in more than 3,000 other school systems in our land. Three thousand communities are still spreading the teachings of Dr. Rugg.

Another interesting personality—a lady, Rose Russell—showed up prominently on the program. She is described as legislative representative of the Teacher's Union in New York. Her group claims about 2,000 New York City public school teachers on its rolls—in spite of the fact that it was reported expelled three years ago from the American Federation of Labor, on charges of communism.

SCRIPT #207 - AS BROADCAST

FRIDAY - 12/12/47

EDUCATIONAL "KEYNOTER"

Have you heard enough of this kind of goings-on among educators?
There is more to come. Who was the lead-off man on the program at
the Chicago meeting? My friends, the man who set the keynote for
this school and college teachers' gathering was Langsdon Hughes.

If his name means nothing to you, let me tell you that his name must
have meant something to the program committee. For about fifteen long
years Langsdon Hughes has been a writer for the magazine New Masses
and for The Daily Worker, the official newspaper of the Communist Party
in the United States. Furthermore, and educators throughout America
should know this, Langsdon Hughes was named by a Congressional
Committee (and I quote) "as a professed card-holding member of the
Communist Party and as a member of more than eighty so-called
communist front groups." Think of that, as an educator for educators,
meeting in convention.

Langsdon Hughes is a poet. I quote now directly from Howard Rushmore, International News Service reporter: "Langsdon Hughes got up and read some twenty or so of his favorite poems. He omitted reading however the one written some years ago which says....."

Oh, my friends, please listen to this poem. Certainly no long, hazy,
theoretical arguments that you and I might present against communism
or its morals could possibly be so revealing, so convincing to
anybody and everybody in our country, as this poem itself.

It says more in a few words than a dozen books could say to reveal
communism in the raw. Listen carefully. It's short---only five
lines. It appears in volume 17 of the House Committee on Un-American
Activities and is quoted by them as having been written by this same
Langsdon Hughes who was featured at the Chicago meeting of educators.

Here is the poem:

Goodbye, Jesus Christ, Lord God Jehovah,
Beat it away from here.

Make way for a new guy with no religion at all:
A real guy named Marx
Communist, Lenin peasant."

No, my friends, your ears didn't deceive you. Let me read these words
again:

SCRIPT #207 - AS BROADCAST

FRIDAY - 12/12/47

PAGE -4-

Get a copy of this poem. Write the radio station to which you are listening. This poem will appear in the usual pamphlet printed after this broadcast. Help tear off the mask of idealism behind which communism fools many people in Your Land and Mine. Help expose the communist cult in the raw. Give this poem to the editor of your local newspaper. Distribute copies of the poem yourself.

Put this poem in the hands of any misguided, innocent man or woman, boy or girl, school teacher or student, who is confused, uncertain, about the real nature of the communist ideology in Your Land and Mine.

(From questions received through the mail from listeners, Mr. Taylor selected the following for comment on this program.)

## COST OF GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

**QUESTION:** What have government subsidies cost and what are they still costing us taxpayers?

**ANSWER:** There are really too many different kinds of subsidies being paid out to count them all. But, according to the National Industrial Conference Board, over $13,500,000,000 of taxpayers' money has been paid out in subsidies from 1934, when this idea got rolling, through 1946. By the end of the next fiscal year, 1948, current estimates are that subsidy payments will have gone to about $15,000,000,000.

Four government set-ups have carried on this program for the most part: the Agriculture and the Treasury Departments, the government's Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Maritime Commission. The greatest percentage of subsidy payments, beginning when pigs were killed and cotton plowed under, and still continuing, have gone to farmers. To farmers, the Department of Agriculture paid out nearly $10,000,000,000 including food subsidies in the thirteen years. This amount represents more than twice the cost of operating our entire Federal Government---the Army and Navy, everything---during the year before the subsidy business started.

## NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR

**QUESTION:** Haven't we as a nation again arrived at a place where the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?

**ANSWER:** Yes, I think so. We have only fear itself to fear and the fear technique to which we are subjected.

## LOANS OR GIFTS?

**QUESTION:** Has any nation or any individual ever been able to plan fifty years ahead intelligently?

**ANSWER:** No. That's one of the mistakes we made in arranging the latest British loan on the assumption that it was to be paid back in fifty years. It never was a loan, in an honest sense, with that fifty-year provision attached. It should not have been put up to congress as such. The so-called plan went wrong in estimating how

SCRIPT #207 - AS BROADCAST

FRIDAY - 12/12/47
PAGE -5-

fast our dollars would be used up in four years, to say nothing about
how they would be paid back in fifty years. Yet, we hear of the new
billions discussed for Europe described as loans too.

I don't think that's fair to ordinary American working people. They
have to work each day to earn their own living. But they are the ones
who foot the bill for billions and billions that are called loans when,
time and time again, they are straight, out-and-out gifts.

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