Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
History
Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
Communism -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
Mr. TAVENNER. Did anyone else register with you for the same
purpose?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I couldn’t say for sure, but I think Mr. Waybur
did. I don’t know.
Mr. TAVENNER. Let me refresh your recollection. Our
investigation shows Mr. John B. Stone registered with you on the same
day.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; I remember he was doing press work, press
relations for the committee.
Mr. TAVENNER. Who selected Mr. Stone to register?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Who selected him to register?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I imagine we had a discussion in the office and
decided that whoever was involved would have to register with the----
Mr. TAVENNER. You had a discussion? You and who else?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Myself, Mr. Silberstein, Mr. Waybur, Mr. Stone,
and at different times some of the other people who are listed on the
committee stationery there. I can’t remember just which one.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was Mr. Stone known to you to be a member of the
Communist Party?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; he was not. His father had been the dean of
the school of journalism out at the University of Montana.
Mr. TAVENNER. Does that mean the son can’t be an active member
of the Communist Party?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t want to argue with you, Mr. Tavenner.
Mr. TAVENNER. Why present that as a reason?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I wanted to tell you how I knew Mr. Stone and
how I happened to know him. He, of course, was a Montanan, and I knew
him that way, and I knew him when I was in Congress. I think he was in
the press gallery when I was in Congress for the Federated Press, if
I remember correctly, but I certainly had no knowledge that Mr. Stone
was a member of the Communist Party and have no such knowledge, even at
this moment.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I think the record should show at
this point Mrs. Mary Stalcup Markward at the instance of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation entered the Communist Party in the city of
Washington and served there in an undercover capacity and by reason of
her diligence in her work she was elevated finally to the position of
treasurer of the Communist Party for the District of Columbia.
She appeared before this committee and testified and among other things
identified members of the newspaper club of the Communist Party in the
District of Columbia. Of those persons identified as members of that
club she named John B. Stone, and when asked to give the committee her
knowledge of his activities stated that he had been active within the
National Committee To Defeat the Mundt Bill, and stated that, “I know
Rob Hall suggested him for membership due to his activity with the
Progressive Party.”
Was Mr. Stone active in the Progressive Party in Montana, when you knew
him there?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Of course the Progressive Party--Mr. Stone was
in Montana in the late twenties and early thirties and so on, when he
might have been identified with the old Progressive Party of Bob La
Follette and Senator Wheeler.
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