Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, how you became employed in the United States Department of Commerce in Washington. Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, as I indicated, after I was obliged to have my hernia operation and get out of the defense work that I had been doing I sought occupation in a number of places. And somewhere along the line somebody brought my qualifications in the Far East to Congressman Ellis Patterson, and he referred it to Henry Wallace, and the appointment was made on that introduction. Mr. TAVENNER. Did you finally become head of your Section in the Department of Commerce? Mr. STENHOUSE. Chief of the Section. Mr. TAVENNER. Was that the Section dealing with China? Mr. STENHOUSE. That is right. Mr. TAVENNER. Did your activities in the Department of Commerce have anything to do with known Communists in China? Mr. STENHOUSE. No. The work that I was doing was related to the rehabilitation of trade. We were answering the inquiries of businessmen relating to regulations and economic conditions in China and the Far East. We prepared articles for the Foreign Commerce Weekly and conducted an economic analysis of the possibilities of reopening trade. Mr. TAVENNER. Did you tell the committee that you attended Communist Party meetings in the city of Washington? Mr. STENHOUSE. That is right. Mr. TAVENNER. Was that during the entire period of time you were in Washington? Mr. STENHOUSE. I can’t be sure of the time again. But it was somewhere between the end of, I think, somewhere between the end of 1945 and the end of 1946. Mr. TAVENNER. How soon after your arrival in Washington did you become identified with the Communist Party there, and attend those group meetings? Mr. STENHOUSE. I can’t place it. I know that shortly after I got to Washington I had another serious operation, and I was busy getting adjusted to my new work. Sometime about then I joined the Federal Workers Union. Mr. MOULDER. I did not understand you. You joined what? Mr. STENHOUSE. The Federal Workers Union. Mr. TAVENNER. Was it after you became a member of the Federal Workers Union that you first began attending Communist Party meetings in the District of Columbia? Mr. STENHOUSE. I can’t be sure. I think it was. Mr. TAVENNER. Did you advance to the point of holding an office of any type in the union while you were in Washington? Mr. STENHOUSE. I was a shop steward and collected dues from 4 or 5 people. That was all. Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, the circumstances under which you were approached to identify yourself with the Communist Party while you were working for the Department of Commerce? Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, again I think it was that one of the fellows in the union asked me to attend some of the similar sort of meetings that I had before. But it is possible that it was from some contact in Los Angeles. I am not sure about that.