INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA-PART 8 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1953 UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1 EXECUTIVE SESSION Los Angeles, Calif. The Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant to call, at 9:30 a. m., in room G-39, Federal Building, Los Angeles, Calif., Hon. Donald L. Jackson presíding. Committee members present: Representatives Donald L. Jackson and Clyde Doyle. Staff members present: Frank Tavenner, Jr., counsel; and William A. Wheeler, investigator. Mr. JACKSON. By direction of the chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities there is convened herewith a subcommittee of that committee, the subcommittee consisting of Congressman Doyle, with Congressman Jackson as acting chairman. Are you ready to proceed, Mr. Tavenner? Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir. Mr. Benoff. Mr. JACKSON. Do 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. BENOFF. I do. TESTIMONY OF MAX N. BENOFF Mr. TAVENNER. Will you state your name? Mr. BENOFF. Max Benoff. Mr. TAVENNER. You testified before the Committee on Un-American Activities in Los Angeles on March 24, 1953, did you not? Mr. BENOFF. Yes, sir. Mr. TAVENNER. The committee has been informed that you desire to appear again before the committee this morning. Mr. BENOFF. Yes, sir. Mr. TAVENNER. Will you state to the committee, please, the reason for your desire to appear before the committee, and proceed to make such statements as you desire. Mr. BENOFF. I want to thank you first for allowing me to appear here. 1 Released by the full committee. Mr. DOYLE. I think, Mr. Chairman, the witness is here without legal counsel. I wonder if that is entirely at your own choice. Mr. BENOFF. Yes. Mr. DOYLE. You are willing to proceed without private counsel with you? Mr. BENOFF. Yes. Mr. Tavenner, may I read a statement which I have prepared? I am sorry, Mr. Jackson. Mr. JACKSON. Proceed. Mr. BENOFF. When I appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities I was motivated by only one desire: To draw a distinct line between my confused past and my clear knowledge and distinction of the truth which I see today. I not only wanted to make amends for personal mistakes and misassociations, but overcoming personal pride and false consideration which tied me to an untenable position, I wanted to be accepted by the movement which is now afoot and which I have now learned to respect as the only salvation, and that is the movement to stamp out communism. I used the privilege of appearing before the committee in order to make a public break and declare myself as an ally of the anti-Communist forces. Unknowingly I have been drawn into a movement, the true nature of which I never understood, which now turns out to have been part of a subversive activity which cannot be tolerated by anyone who calls himself an American. Now, it has become clear to me that the Communists have declared war on us and they intend to win this war with every means at their disposal, aboveboard or underground. After my testimony I have found that the impression created by me on the stand was not what I intended. Where I thought that I had been 100 percent cooperative, some people, whose patriotism has been above reproach, have expressed their disappointment in the manner and contents of my statements. Looking back, I must say that I could have been more definite, but I would like to submit that at that time I was only intent upon declaring myself as a cooperative witness and had left the manner and extent of the questioning to the committee. It was only human of me to try and make my appearance as short as possible. When the committee had no more questions and I was thanked for my testimony, I stepped off the stand, relieved and convinced that I had done my duty and accomplished my purpose. However, as long as even one doubt remains among people whose fight against communism I admire and eagerly support, I know that I have not done enough. I am not sure what else I can do, and I am not sure of some of the facts that unfortunately seem to be on record against me, and which I can less explain than some people who may be experts in the structure, organization, and workings of the Communist menace and disease. But I want to reiterate that I would go to any extent to help uncover facts that I may not be aware of if, with the help of more competent people, I could be assisted in remembering. The basic facts, as given in my short testimony, are still, to my best recollection, the sum total of my Communist Party affiliations. The names mentioned by me are still more or less all the names that I can identify with the degree of certainty required under oath. However, a great deal can sometimes be achieved if good people get together and cooperate. I would be happy and privileged in doing my duty as a citizen if I were permitted to dig into my past, with the help of the investigator or even a group of citizens whom I respect, in order to unearth any more clues that might be of any value in our fight against the common enemy. Do I need to add that I am, above and beyond my above statements, ready, willing, and eager to take up arms, literally or any other way, to do my little share as a citizen? Mr. JACKSON. Thank you, Mr. Benoff. Mr. Counsel. Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Benoff, you testified when before the committee previously of the character of work in which you had been engaged in New York City prior to your coming to Hollywood in the year 1943. You were asked the question at that time as to whether or not you had been affiliated with the Communist Party in any manner in New York prior to your coming to Los Angeles, and your reply was that you had not. You were also asked the question as to whether or not you had been approached in New York City by anyone and requested to join the Communist Party, and you replied that you had not. The committee is in possession of information indicating that your Communist Party membership was transferred in November 1943 from the city of New York to Los Angeles. That is the only matter that comes within my knowledge as to which you could be further interrogated with the prospect of accomplishing any further purpose. So I would like to ask you now whether you desire in any way to enlarge upon your former testimony. Mr. BENOFF. Yes, Mr. Tavenner, I do very much want to enlarge upon that. When I gave that answer it was a truthful answer, and this is my enlargement upon it. When we worked on Duffy's Tavern 2 men came from Hollywood-one was Jack Moss-to produce a picture show out of the road show Duffy's Tavern. The other fellow was a writer whose name was Lou Soloman. Mr. JACKSON. Would you spell that, please? Mr. BENOFF. L-o-u S-o-l-o-m-a-n. And now I can't recall that he said to me, "Will you join the Communist Party?" If he did, I would be more than happy to say so, that he did, if he signed me. If I actually had a clear recollection, or even a hazy recollection— although you want me to say only what I recall, I know. I would tell you so. I have nothing to hide and don't want to hide anything from the committee. But I can only say this: This is what it must have been-and in retrospect it explains a lot of things that don't seem quite right—I am sure that he said to me, "Would you like to meet big writers like myself?" I thought he was a big writer. He wasn't very Mr. TAVENNER. To whom are you referring? Mr. BENOFF. To Mr. Lou Soloman; not to Mr. Moss. I don't remember this type of conversation with Mr. Moss. He must have said to me, "Would you like to meet with big writers?" And in those days discussions of communism was not like itMr. DOYLE. What year was this? 31747-54-pt. 8--2 Mr. BENOFF. 1943. They came out I don't remember exactly. I left, I believe, in June, and I believe they were in New York for about a month with us, in which time they signed us to write the screenplay with Lou Soloman, and to come back to Hollywood with a kind of screenplay; that is, he came to get the title and he got it and we were brought back. He may have said to me, "Would you like to join the Communist Party?" at which time it wouldn't have seemed so out of line for me to say, and possibly I told him "Yes." I may have, but I don't think I did; but possibly I did. I know one thing, it was always the mark of a good Communist to grab a recruit whenever you can; even if he wasn't very good you got him and worked with him. I remember once walking along the street with Jack Moss, walking and talking along, and he walked into a drugstore and bought me a copy of Mother Russia, and said, "Here, this will teach you more about Russia." That is all I can remember. I don't recall even going to one meeting. If there was any kind of activity there, there never was any kind of Communist Party activity on my part. Mr. TAVENNER. You are speaking now of the city of New York! Mr. BENOFF. Yes, the city of New York. And I would have no reason to-believe me, gentlemen, I don't want-there is no reason why I would want to tell about California and not this part of New York. It didn't seem very important. I discussed with my attorneys at the time, as a matter of fact, and I know how the committee-I know from Mr. Wheeler you have to be pretty definite before you can say anything that will incriminate on the stand, and I know the high purpose of the committee is not to say things that have no real backing. Mr. JACKSON. What was the general nature of the representations, if any, that were made to you by Mr. Soloman, or your general impression as to his political philosophy? Mr. BENOFF. Well, Mr. Jackson, you know, in retrospect now, that Mr. Soloman has been identified a number of times as a Communist. You know, you are bound to be affected by things that are spoken, but, honestly, here is what really went on: He came there with the treatment for Duffy's Tavern. Duffy's Tavern was not anything that had to do with communism; completely opposite, as a matter of fact; that is, opposite in that it was free and democratic and so forth. And our discussions were mainly upon this thing, because we had all worked very hard on Duffy's Tavern for 2 years, day and night, and it meant very much to us. First, when they came they had to make a deal. So really it was a very short period. First they came, they had to make the deal-it wasn't made yet-then the time had to be spent to make the deal. Then it was to hire the writers, and we were naturally selected to be the writers. And that was kind of a shaking thing, because it was so much money we were getting, and so on. There really wasn't much time. Now, I might add that Lou Soloman didn't take very much to me. Whatever it was, our personalities were not of the same type. He was a much more serious fellow than I am; was a different type fellow than I am. In fact, what happened was when we came out here I left Duffy's Tavern and went into picture work, and I never even talked to Lou Soloman. He never called me up and said, "Come to a meeting," and he had nothing to do at all with any Communist Party activity here. I never saw him at a meeting. That's hard to say because-in fact, I will take that back, because that is hard to say because you get everything confused. Now, it is 10 years or so, and what you think you saw at the Screen Writers' Guild or Veterans Committee meeting, maybe you are now mistaken. Mr. JACKSON. Well now, today, under the compulsion of your oath, you are prepared, Mr. Benoff, without equivocation, to say that you have told the committee everything within your recollection or your knowledge? Mr. BENOFF. Absolutely. Mr. JACKSON. As to your activities in and on behalf of the Communist Party, and also the names of all the individuals with whom you attended Communist Party meetings or Communist Party functions? Mr. BENOFF. In New York, you mean? Mr. JACKSON. Yes. Mr. BENOFF. Yes, sir, absolutely so, sir. Mr. DOYLE. During this time, 10 years ago, you were 28? Mr. BENOFF. That is right, sir. Mr. DOYLE. I notice that you mentioned, though, that Mr. Moss stopped at a store and bought you a book about Russia and said, "Here is more about Russia." Apparently you had been discussing Russia. Mr. BENOFF. Yes, sir. Mr. DOYLE. In what way, with Mr. Moss? Mr. BENOFF. Just as anybody would discuss it at that time. I think we were together in the war then, I believe we were. I don't know how the conversation could have started. It wouldn't be that startling, to make me remember, but I remember him buying me a book. But it could have started about why they were our allies. I don't know whether there was a second front then. Any one of those things. Mr. DOYLE. What? Mr. BENOFF. Certainly, Mr. Doyle, it had nothing to do-I don't know. It had nothing to do with the nature of the material in the screen play. Mr. DOYLE. I am interested in seeing if you could help me understand more what it is that impels you now to be so desirous of doing everything you can to do what you said you want to do in the statement you just read to us, to the committee; that is, to cooperate in defeating the Communist conspiracy. What is it, Mr. Benoff, that impels you to that position? Mr. BENOFF. Well, you know, it is a hard thing to say. Of course, it has to do with work. But that is not it. It is a hard thing to say. I can't stand the thought that people are saying, "What's the matter with Benoff," you know. "Is he still a Communist ?" For instance, a man who I respect very much said to me, "Let your conscience be your guide." Now, that is terrible. I mean, I can't go |