Mr. O’CONNELL I think my explanation of that was that if I sat in a Communist Party meeting or what she considered to be a Communist Party meeting where all present were Communists, I had no knowledge that they were Communists or it was a Communist Party meeting. Since I read the testimony yesterday, I tried to recall all the meetings out there where there would be a possibility she was present. I just cannot recall the occasions I saw Barbara Hartle out there--usually on the street or something of that kind--and I cannot recall any meeting that she sat in that I was in. I just cannot remember any single meeting that she sat in there where at least I knew she was there. She might have been in another room or some other place, but she was not visible to me anywhere. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you a member of the Communist Party during the period of time you were in the State of Washington? Mr. O’CONNELL. I was not. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you at any time while in the State of Washington, that is, between 1944 and 1949, affiliated in any way with the Communist Party? Mr. O’CONNELL. I was not. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you at any time a member of the Communist Party? Mr. O’CONNELL. I am not now and I have never been a member of the Communist Party. Mr. TAVENNER. You stated a desire to explain the testimony of Mr. Louis Budenz given at the Canwell hearings. Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes. At the Canwell hearings, Mr. Budenz--I think to save time, and I want to save time, Mr. Budenz testified that--I think the substance of his testimony was that he did not know whether or not I was a Communist, very much like Mrs. Hartle does. I think it is significant that she was the second top Communist in the State of Washington; and yet if I were the leading Communist that she says I was out there, she still is not sure whether I was or not. I think that is quite significant. Likewise with Budenz. He was not sure whether I was Communist, but he had heard some discussion about me in the Communist Party headquarters in New York. As far as he knew, in meetings that he had heard, I was supposed to be all right and I was a person they could get along with. He made many statements of that kind. Then he went into the statement about the assassination of Leon Trotsky, which to the press in the State of Washington, left the impression that particularly somehow or other I was involved. So I sued Mr. Budenz in a civil suit in the Superior Court of King County the very next day. Mr. WILLIS. In New York? Mr. O’CONNELL. No; in the State of Washington--Seattle, Wash. I sued him for libel for the statements that he made about me. I fixed the sum of damages at $1,500,000. He was served with subpena, legally served with a summons, rather, in that suit, and through his attorneys defended the suit by taking advantage of his immunity as a legislative witness before the State legislative committee. He did not defend it. Mr. WILLIS. What do you mean, he did not defend it?