this matter, as I said now three times, is contained in my testimony before the Senate Committee on War Mobilization. Mr. TAVENNER. Are you familiar with the release made by the State Department on January 8, 1946, in answer to the charges that you had made? Mr. NIXON. Yes; I'm familiar with all aspects of that controversy. It's been a long time since I've looked at the material or reviewed it. I would suggest, if you're really interested in any part of it, that you look at my testimony of 1946. Mr. TAVENNER. Yes. We will do that. In the meantime, will you examine the paper which I am handing you and state whether or not that appears to be the reply or answer to your statement to which you have just referred? Mr. NIXON. Yes; I think this is a State Department statement. And, incidentally, Mr. Tavenner, if you are going to put this in the record, I think it is only equitable that you should put in at least that portion of my Senate testimony which deals with this question. I asked at that time, as a matter of fact, that the State Department come up and testify in the same hearings, but they never saw fit to ao so. Mr. TAVENNER. I desire to offer the document in evidence- Mr. KEARNEY. Received. (The Department of State statement dated January 8, 1946, was received in evidence as Nixon exhibit No. 1.) Mr. NIXON. What about my request? Mr. WALTER. What is it? Mr. TAVENNER. It is the answer from the State Department to his allegations. Mr. NIXON. What about my request? Mr. TAVENNER. And I think as a part of the record, if it is published, if this is published, it should, of course, include a proper description of what your testimony was there. Mr. NIXON. I would suggest Mr. WALTER. Well, it seems to me before this is made a part of the record it ought to show clearly what this is in answer to. Mr. TAVENNER. Well, if you know of any way to get a copy of the statement, we would like to have it. Mr. NIXON. Here it is, Mr. Tavenner. I'll give it to you at the end of the hearings. Mr. TAVENNER. The statement which you made to which this is a reply? Mr. NIXON. I explained to you-and you must understand-that that was a discussion with the newspapermen. I presume that is what you are referring to. Mr. TAVENNER. Well, do you have a copy of it? Mr. NIXON. I told you-and listen carefully-there was never a statement in writing that was given out; that the press reports to which I assume you are referring was a report in the press on the basis of discussion with me in the orderly interview and procedure of the press. Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have a copy of that press report? Mr. NIXON. There was no press report. There was-there was an item in the press. There were many items in the press. Mr. TAVENNER. Regardless of what you call it, do you have a copy of it? Mr. NIXON. Do I have a clipping of the newspapers? Mr. TAVENNER. Yes. Mr. NIXON. Not with me, and I am sure you can get it easier than I can, and you are more than welcome to it. Mr. WALTER. Is it a part of the record you are referring to? Mr. NIXON. No, sir. The statement that I would want to have to clarify the record on this particular question is my testimony in hearings before the subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs of the United States Senate, 79th Congress, on February 25, 1946. That deals quite adequately in my opinion with this whole matter. (Representative James B. Frazier, Jr., left the hearing room at this point.) Mr. NIXON. I would not be satisfied to have what you-I forget your language exactly-something that describes my testimony. I would suggest that my statement be included because you are not putting in a description of what the State Department said. You are putting in what the State Department said and I would want the same kind of consideration, and I am prepared to furnish you with this material. Mr. KEARNEY. Do you have a copy of the statement? Mr. NIXON. Oh, yes, sir, of the testimony before the Senate subcommittee. Is that what you're referring to, sir? Mr. KEARNEY. I am referring to the release that was just handed to me, in which it states here: The statement issued by Mr. Nixon is full of mischievous inaccuracies and misleading innuendoes. What statement is that? Mr. NIXON. Well, I'm quite a patient person, and I don't mind going over it again for a third time. Mr. KEARNEY. Well, let's not be facetious about this. Mr. NIXON. I am not being facetious. Mr. KEARNEY. I am a patient person, too. Mr. NIXON. I am not being facetious, Mr. Kearney. Mr. KEARNEY. I would like to know what the statement is. Mr. NIXON. I have told you twice, and this is the third time. I have never prepared or issued a written statement on this matter. Mr. WALTER. What is this a reply to? Mr. NIXON. It is a reply to press reports which appeared in the United States newspapers. Mr. WALTER. Well, do you remember what you were alleged to have said? Mr. NIXON. Do I remember what I was alleged to have said? Mr. WALTER. Yes. Mr. NIXON. Well, in a general way, I- Mr. WALTER. What was it? Mr. NIXON. Are you asking me now to recall my press conferences in 1946? Mr. WALTER. To the best of your recollection. Mr. NIXON. I'm telling you that the way to find out about this, Mr. Walter, is in the statement Mr. WALTER. I think you ought to put this in the record for just whatever it is worth. Mr. NIXON. That's fine. (At this point Mr. Nixon conferred with Mr. Scribner.) Mr. NIXON. Well, now, just for this record, I would suggest, if you're really interested in this, that you put in the press clippings about this matter and that you also put in Mr. KEARNEY. That is what I was trying to get at a minute ago. Mr. KEARNEY. Do you have a copy of those press clippings? Mr. KEARNEY. The committee will recess until 2 o'clock, and in the meantime see if you can find out Mr. NIXON. Well, just a moment. Mr. KEARNEY (continuing). Whether you have them. Mr. NIXON. My files are not here in Washington. I do not have— Mr. KEARNEY. The committee will recess until 2 o'clock. (Whereupon, at 12 noon, the hearing was recessed, to reconvene at 2 p. m., of the same day.) AFTERNOON SESSION (At the hour of 2 p. m., of the same day, the hearing was resumed, the following committee members being present: Representatives Bernard W. Kearney (presiding), Gordon H. Scherer, Francis E. Walter, and Clyde Doyle. Mr. KEARNEY. (presiding). The committee will be in order. Let the record show present Mr. Scherer, Mr. Walter, Mr. Doyle and Mr. Kearney, members of the subcommittee. TESTIMONY OF RUSSELL ARTHUR NIXON, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL, DAVID SCRIBNER-Resumed Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Nixon, do you recall whether there were any unusual circumstances surrounding the termination of service of Irving Kaplan who served with you in Germany as a civilian employee of the Treasury Department? Mr. NIXON. To the best of my knowledge, and responding to the rather vague phrase, “unusual circumstances," I would say no, I don't know. Mr. TAVENNER. Let me see if this would refresh your recollection about what occurred. In the course of the testimony of Mr. Irving Kaplan there was presented to him a photostatic copy of a telegram from the Office of Military Government for Germany to the War Department, and the telegram read as follows: Important Irving Kaplan be recalled immediately. Use high air priority. On finance investigation and other matters Treasury interest. Did you have anything to do with the formulation of that telegram, the sending of it Mr. NIXON. Did you say that was a wire from Washington to Berlin or Berlin to Washington? Mr. TAVENNER. No, from Berlin to Washington. Mr. NIXON. I really couldn't recall the details of that, Mr. Tavenner. It was quite a long time ago, and we had a good many different personnel problems, and I probably would at some stage have been in volved in that since he was working under my direction, but I don't recall the special circumstances. Mr. TAVENNER. Let me read you from a photostatic copy of an interdepartmental communication on that subject which may recall the incident to your memory. The date of the telegram that I just read was December 10, 1945. On December 13, 1945, there was an interdepartmental communication from Colonel Bernstein to Messrs. White, Coe, and Ullmann, U-1-1-m-a-n-n, which read as follows: As you know, Kaplan's name was included in the list of 25 names we requested the War Department to recall. Do you want to make a stronger specific request for his recall? Mr. NIXON. That was a Washington departmental memo? Mr. TAVENNER. Yes. Mr. NIXON. I was in Berlin, Mr. Tavenner. Mr. TAVENNER. I understand, but did you have any communication that you can recall with Mr. Harry Dexter White, Mr. Frank Coe, or Mr. William Ludwig Ullmann in regard to the recall of Mr. Irving Kaplan? Mr. NIXON. To the best of my knowledge, I don't recall it. As I said before, there were a considerable number of personnel problems and many of them involved desires to return home, and other things of that sort, and I wouldn't want to be held absolutely to this, but to the best of my knowledge, I never had any correspondence of that character. Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall any particular controversies over a report which Mr. Kaplan prepared relating to the subject of the Farben investigation? Mr. NIXON. Yes, I vaguely recall. Of course, the Farben investigation was a very important part of our work and there were considerable elements of controversy involved around the question of whether or not the big German war trust of Farben was going to be effectively immobilized, and Mr. Kaplan was involved in some of that work. If my memory serves me right, he wrote a report on the status of it toward the end of the year. Now, again, this part-I am not speaking specifically about this subject-was pretty fully laid out in my testimony before the Senate subcommittee in February 1946. I haven't reread that testimony in many years, and it would not be very fruitful for me to try to remember the details of that situation, particularly inasmuch as it is pretty well documented already in the Senate committee report. Mr. TAVENNER. Now, when you were transferred from military status to that of civilian was it necessary for you to file an application for a passport? Mr. NIXON. I don't believe so. In these circumstances you fill out an awful lot of papers, but I am pretty-well, now, let me see. I am afraid I wouldn't be sure. I know that we were given passports. Whether or not at the time that we transferred from military to civilian status we signed papers for the passport I don't recall. Seems to me there was some contact with the United States Embassy in Paris, but 1 Harry Dexter White (now deceased), Frank Coe, and William Ludwig Ullmann. Mr. TAVENNER. Our investifiation discloses that an application for passport was filed by you. Mr. NIXON. I just didn't recollect that. Mr. TAVENNER. And you gave as a reference, according to our investigation, the name of Julius Emspak; do you recall that? Mr. NIXON. Well, no. I just told you I didn't even recall filing the application, so, obviously, I wouldn't recall any Mr. WALTER. Show him the application there, Mr. Tavenner. Mr. TAVENNER. Well, I show you a photostatic copy of your application and ask you to state whether or not you did give Mr. Julius Emspak as a reference. Mr. NIXON. Yes, according to this, I gave the names of Mr. Emspak and Mr. Mason. I have no reason to question that. I hadn't recalled it. Mr. TAVENNER. How long had you known Mr. Julius Emspak? Mr. NIXON. Since some time in 1941, when I was working at Labor's Non-Partisan League, which was, as I told you earlier, the legislative representative of the CIO, at that time I came to know Mr. Emspak in his position as general secretary-treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. Mr. TAVENNER. Was he a person known to you to be a member of the Communist Party during any period of time that you were employed by the UE? Mr. NIXON. You recall my statement this morning of refusal to answer certain questions, and I decline to answer that question on the grounds I stated this morning. Mr. SCHERER. Did you know at the time you gave his name as a reference on that application for passport that he was a member of the Communist Party? Mr. NIXON. Obviously, Mr. Scherer, my declination to answer Mr. Tavenner's question applies to your question for the same reasons. Mr. SCHERER. I understood you would answer it that way. Mr. NIXON. Yes, sir. It is perfectly clear, for the reasons I stated this morning to the committee. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you acquainted with Mr. William Ludwig Ullmann, an employee of the Treasury Department? Mr. NIXON. I think I will have to decline to answer that question on the basis on the same reasons I gave this morning. Mr. SCHERER. What was your question, Mr. Tavenner? Mr. TAVENNER. My question was whether or not he was acquainted with Mr. William Ludwig Ullmann, an employee of the Treasury Department. Mr. SCHERER. You refuse on the basis that to say whether you knew an employee of the Treasury Department might tend to incriminate you? Mr. NIXON. Mr. Scherer, I refuse to answer it on the basis of all the reasons I gave this morning. Mr. SCHERER. Which includes the fifth amendment? Mr. NIXON. It includes all of the words which I said to the committee this morning in giving my reason to refuse to answer such question. Mr. SCHERER. Mr. Chairman, I move that the witness be directed to answer the question as to whether he knew Mr. Ullmann at that 1 Full name appearing on passport application, Edwin S. Mason. |