COMMUNIST METHODS OF INFILTRATION (Government-Labor-Part 4) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1954 UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON Washington, D. C. PUBLIC HEARING The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant to call, at 10:45 a. m., in the caucus room of the Old House Office Building, Hon. Kit Clardy presiding. Committee members present: Representatives Kit Clardy (presiding), Gordon H. Scherer, and Francis E. Walter. Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., counsel; Robert L. Kunzig, counsel; Courtney E. Owens, chief investigator; Donald T. Appell, investigator; and Thomas W. Beale, Sr., chief clerk. Mr. CLARDY. The committee will be in order. Are you ready to proceed, Mr. Counsel? Mr. KUNZIG. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mr. CLARDY. Will you call your first witness? Mr. CLARDY. Will you hold up your right hand? Would you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. O'HARE. I do. Mr. CLARDY. Be seated. Mr. POLLITT. I would like to ask that no pictures be taken during the testimony. Mr. CLARDY. Counsel will refrain, please, from addressing the committee. Are you ready, Mr. Kunzig? Mr. KUNZIG. Yes, sir. TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR O'HARE, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL, BASIL R. POLLITT Mr. KUNZIG. Would you please state your name, sir? Mr. O'HARE. Arthur O'Hare. Mr. KUNZIG. Is that O-'-H-a-r-e? Mr. O'HARE. O-'-H-a-r-e? Mr. KUNZIG. What is your present address, Mr. O'Hare? Mr. KUNZIG. I see that you are accompanied by counsel. Will counsel please state his name and office address for the record? Mr. POLLITT. My name is Basil R. Pollitt, of David Scrivner & Basil R. Pollitt, 11 East 51st Street, New York 22, N. Y. Mr. KUNZIG. Mr. O'Hare, would you give the committee a brief résumé of your education? Mr. O'HARE. I went through grammar school and 3 years of high school. Mr. SCHERER. I can't hear the witness. Would you move the mike a little closer? Mr. CLARDY. Yes. That puts the mike in a little bit better position, I believe. Mr. KUNZIG. Would you repeat your education, please? Mr. O'HARE. I went through grammar school and 3 years of high school. Mr. KUNZIG. Where did you attend school? Mr. O'HARE. Phillipsburg High School. Mr. KUNZIG. Did you complete that period of 3 years high school? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Mr. KUNZIG. What year? Mr. O'HARE. 1928. I think it was 1928. Mr. KUNZIG. When and where were you born, Mr. O'Hare? Mr. O'HARE. Phillipsburg, N. J. Mr. KUNZIG. When were you born, Mr. O'Hare? Mr. O'HARE. September 18, 1909. Mr. KUNZIG. Could you give us a brief résumé of your employment-your work since you finished school? Mr. O'HARE. Most of the time I worked for Ingersoll-Rand. Mr. SCHERER. You can talk a little louder, can't you? Mr. O'HARE. Most of the time I worked for Ingersoll-Rand. Mr. O'HARE. Phillipsburg, N. Y. Mr. KUNZIG. Have you worked there ever since you finished school? Mr. O'HARE. No. I worked a couple of years as a short-order cook in a lunch wagon. Mr. KUNZIG. But the great majority of your work has been for Ingersoll-Rand? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Twenty-one years. Mr. KUNZIG. What type of work do you do for Ingersoll-Rand? Mr. O'HARE. I did various types of work for them that number of years. Mr. KUNZIG. Tell us some of the types of work. Mr. O'HARE. I worked for the assembly; I worked most of the years, I worked in the shipping department. Mr. KUNZIG. Are you working for Ingersoll-Rand now? Mr. O'HARE. No. I am on leave as business agent for the local union. Mr. KUNZIG. What union is that? Mr. O'HARE. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, local 451. Mr. KUNZIG. Local 451 of the UEW? Mr. KUNZIG. And you are business agent at the present moment of that union, on leave from Ingersoll-Rand. Is that right? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Mr. KUNZIG. When did you go on leave from Ingersoll-Rand? Mr. KUNZIG. I presume you have reemployment rights with Ingersoll-Rand? Mr. O'HARE. Right. Mr. KUNZIG. Mr. O'Hare, have you ever been a member of the Communist Party at any time? (At this point Mr. O'Hare conferred with Mr. Pollitt.) Mr. O'HARE. I claim my fifth amendment privilege as not being a witness against myself. Mr. KUNZIG. And you refuse to answer that question on the grounds of the fifth amendment? Mr. O'HARE. That's right. Mr. KUNZIG. Are you now a member of the Communist Party at this very moment? Mr. O'HARE. I claim my fifth amendment privilege, not being a witness against myself. Mr. KUNZIG. And you refuse to answer? Mr. O'HARE. I refuse to answer. Mr. KUNZIG. Were you ever in the Armed Forces, Mr. O'Hare? Mr. O'HARE. No, sir. Mr. KUNZIG. Where were you employed during the war? Mr. O'HARE. Ingersoll-Rand. Mr. SCHERER. What type of work did you do at Ingersoll-Rand during the war? Mr. O'HARE. I worked in the shipping department as a checker. Mr. SCHERER. What type of work was that company engaged in during the war? Mr. O'HARE. In the department I worked in it was pumps. Mr. SCHERER. Do you know if the company at that time was manufacturing any articles to be used in connection with the defense effort? Mr. O'HARE. Pumps were. Mr. SCHERER. The pumps were? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Mr. SCHERER. Anything else? Mr. O'HARE. Well, I only worked in this one department of this company through these years. I never worked in any other depart ment. Mr. SCHERER. I understand that, but do you know if the company was making anything else besides pumps that were used in connection with the defense effort? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Mr. SCHERER. What was the product or products? Mr. O'HARE. I couldn't name them offhand. I know they were compressors. Mr. KUNZIG. During the war when you were working for IngersollRand were you at that time a member of the Communist Party? Mr. O'HARE. I claim my fifth-amendment privilege, not being a witness against myself. Mr. KUNZIG. I wish you would say, "I refuse to answer," so that the record would be clear, and then give the reason. Do you refuse to answer? Mr. O'HARE. Yes. Mr. KUNZIG. On the grounds of the fifth amendment? Mr. O'HARE. That's right. Mr. KUNZIG. Mr. O'Hare, were you cleared to work on any secret projects of any kind during the war while you were working with Ingersoll-Rand? Mr. O'HARE. I don't know. I was never asked by anybody. Mr. CLARDY. You were never asked by anybody? Mr. O'HARE. I was never asked by anybody if I was anything whatsoever. I was never checked. Mr. CLARDY. Do you mean by that you were not called upon to sign any form or take any oath, or make any statement concerning any past or present Communist Party affiliations? Mr. O'HARE. No, sir. Mr. CLARDY. Nothing of that sort was done in your case? Mr. O'HARE. No, sir. Mr. KUNZIG. Has that ever been done, so far as you know, at any time? Any clearance question? Mr. O'HARE. So far as I know, I don't know of any, whether they ever did it or not. Mr. CLARDY. The plant at which you worked was engaged in doing business for the Government of the United States, as I understand it? Mr. O'HARE. That's right. Mr. CLARDY. And yet there were no inquiries of any kind made of you with regard to whether or not you belonged to the subversive group we identify as the Communist Party? Mr. O'HARE. I was never questioned. Mr. CLARDY. Do you know whether anyone else in the plant was required to? Mr. O'HARE. No; I don't know. Mr. CLARDY. It sounds kind of careless to me. Mr. KUNZIG. Mr. O'Hare, you have been identified as having been a member of the Communist Party by Mr. Herman E. Thomas, who testified as follows: Also in Easton at one time was Al O'Hare, who is presently the business agent of the UEW Union in the Ingersoll-Rand plant at Phillipsburg, N. J. That was in connection with testimony naming men whom he knew to be members of the Communist Party. Is that testimony of his correct? (At this point Mr. O'Hare conferred with Mr. Pollitt.) Mr. O'HARE. I refuse to answer and claim my fifth amendment privilege. Mr. KUNZIG. Were you a member of the Fur Club of the Communist Party in Easton? Mr. O'HARE. I refuse to answer on the grounds of the fifth amendment. Mr. KUNZIG. Is it a fact you are a member of the Fur Club of the Communist Party in Easton? Mr. O'HARE. I refuse to answer on the grounds of the fifth amendment. |