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not only to embarrass him but to embarrass the Navy. Do you not feel that as a public affairs officer, as a top man in that field in the Department of Defense, you should be interested in that and take steps to properly inform the public. How could you properly inform the public until you had looked into it and gotten all the facts and given the public a statement about it?

Mr. SYLVESTER. I would agree that would certainly be the case. However, Captain Sanger, as far as I know, never raised any of these questions. He may have brought them before the committee. He did not before our office, nor did the Navy, nor do I know whether he ever took it to Admiral Smith. If his work was diminished in any way, it must have been because the Navy itself diminished it. There must have been more facts than the ones you state.

Senator THURMOND. If Time magazine or any other publication or newspaper carried false articles or misleading articles or smear articles about a naval officer which in turn smeared the Navy, you would be interested in that, would you not?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Always am.

Senator THURMOND. Then why did you not look into this case?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Because the Navy handled it itself.

Senator STENNIS. Will the Senator yield to me right there?

What did the Navy do about it, do you know?

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I don't.

Senator STENNIS. All right.

Senator THURMOND. You are the top man in press relations with the public in the Defense Department, are you not?

Mr. SYLVESTER. You have given me a freedom of action and a control over the departments which I do not have and is not there. I am the top man for the Defense Department, and I do have supervision over certain things that have to pass through me. But over many other things they have autonomous power of their own. If I were trying to insert myself in there, I would simply slow down the operation.

Senator THURMOND. Of course, the Navy is in the Defense Establishment and whatever public affairs policies you promulgate for the Defense Department applies to all services?

Mr. SYLVESTER. On policy, yes. On operations, no.

Senator THURMOND. On operations, no?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Yes.

Senator THURMOND. Then if these are not right, you may have to revise your policy?

Mr. SYLVESTER. You could have a very good policy badly carried out. So you don't have to revise your policy, you have to get different people.

Senator THURMOND. Was policy or operation involved in the case of Captain Sanger?

Mr. SYLVESTER. I don't know, as I said. The Navy handled it itself, which is the way we want it.

Senator THURMOND. Captain Sanger said he had no connections at any time with so-called ultra or extreme right-wing organizations. In fact, he testified so under oath before this committee. He is a most objective, patriotic, dedicated officer, who has demonstrated consistent discretion and good judgment in the seminars he conducted. You might review his testimony.

Mr. SYLVESTER. I will.

Senator THURMOND. I believe you would conclude that Captain Sanger is one of several cases of concerted efforts by some of our public news media to force the sensational into the cold war education of the military and especially in combined civilian-military educational endeavors.

Mr. SYLVESTER. I have great sympathy for Captain Sanger or anyone who has been smeared. It is, as I said, a hazard of public life.

REFERENCE TO WILLIAMS TESTIMONY

Senator THURMOND. General Williams of the New York National Guard testified on the efforts of the New York Post, The Worker, and Norman Thomas to compromise a program in the State of New York to improve knowledge of the Communist enemy. Have you seen his testimony?

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I haven't. The National Guard, of course, does not come under my jurisdiction anyway.

Senator THURMOND. Well, of course, you have a National Guard Bureau in the Department of the Army and naturally you are interested because the National Guard constitutes an important segment of our national defense program, although the units are under the Governors in peacetime?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Oh, yes.

Senator THURMOND. They can be called in wartime and the policies for those operations are usually formulated in the Defense Establishment, as you know.

Mr. SYLVESTER. I take it the officer you are referring to is a State officer.

Senator THURMOND. That is right.

Let me refer to a paragraph or two dealing with this organized effort of the pro-Communists in the United States to undermine United States military cold-war educational programs in accord with the propaganda tune of the Kremlin.

JOYCE TESTIMONY-HYMAN LUMER "POLITICAL AFFAIRS

MAGAZINE

During the testimony of Colonel Joyce, who is intelligence training officer of the New York National Guard, the impact of antimilitary propaganda was discussed. We used several examples. Perhaps the most significant is the lecture material used by Dr. Hyman Lumer on the subject of "Big Business, the Military, and Our Government.” Dr. Lumer is a member of the faculty of the New York School for Social Studies, which, as you know, teaches communism. Did you know that?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Yes, sir.

Senator THURMOND. He is associate editor of the magazine, "Political Affairs," a Communist propaganda magazine, as you know. Or do you know that?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Yes, I do.

Senator THURMOND. A few moments ago when I named several of those magazine, I understood you to say you were not familiar with that magazine.

Mr. SYLVESTER. If I did, I was mistaken. This one strikes a bell.

SYLVESTER DEFENSE OF MILITARY

If I could respond to your question, it seems to me that if we concentrate on a lot of trivial, miserable stuff like this, we miss the fact that we as a people are strong and that our military people are strong and our military organization isn't rotten with communism and it hasn't gotten any undermining by communism. You have recently served, and if you went around and looked at them, I doubt that you saw any signs in the men you served with recently of any Communist influence, did you?

Senator THURMOND. Are you asking me a question?

Mr. SYLVESTER. I didn't mean to ask you a question. I say I doubt very much whether you saw any signs of Communist influence in our service and I think we have a terrific Military Establishment. I think our people can rest assured that in any conflict, particularly with the Communists, they-the Communists-will get clobbered.

DISCUSSION ON LUMER LECTURES AND YOUTHS TRAINED IN SCHOOL FOR MARXIST STUDIES

Senator THURMOND. I am not sure you see the point I am trying to bring out here this morning.

In his lecture materials, Dr. Lumer includes anti-U.S. military propaganda and subversive lines as established by the MarxLenin Institute in Moscow. This is based on down-grading the military, undermining military discipline and promoting disarmament propaganda. Last year, 700 New York City youths were trained in courses run by the New York School for Marxist Studies in the United States. Are you familiar with the activities of this segment of our society, which is diametrically opposed to the objectives set forth by the Department of Defense?

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I am not familiar with this group you speak of. Senator THURMOND. Of course, sooner or later, the Defense Establishment will be having these young men come into service, will they not?

ACTIVITY OF SCOPE

Have you seen the testimony of General Williams and Colonel Joyce?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Is General Williams the New York State National Guard officer?

Senator THURMOND. Yes.

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I did not.

Senator THURMOND. And Lieutenant Colonel Joyce?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Who is he?

Senator THURMOND. G-2 and training officer.

Mr. SYLVESTER. New York State Guard?

Senator THURMOND. Yes; Army National Guard.

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I have not.

Senator THURMOND. Another nationwide effort discussed with Colonel Joyce was the activity of SCOPE, which presents anti-U.S. military propaganda, particularly among New York high school and college students. SCOPE uses the mountain retreats of the Commu

nist Party in New York State for weekend seminars. Are you familiar with this activity?

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I am not.

ACTIVITY OF PROGRESSIVE YOUTH ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE

Senator THURMOND. Another organization concentrating on antimilitary propaganda among youth is the Progressive Youth Organization Committee. I have their brochure which states:

The education system is in a state of crisis, lacking the funds and the approach that would enable it to prepare youths adequately for life and jobs in general. The military services and the ever-present danger of hydrogen warfare add to the great insecurity in the lives of youth. And when young people try to look for the causes of these problems and act to improve conditions, the House Committee on Un-American Activities and others of the same yoke, try to shut them up.

This organization, which recommends cooperation with the Communists in Cuba, opposes congressional inquiries and loyalty oaths, receives guidance from Communists like Carl Marzani, and sympathizers like Rockwell Kent and others. As indicated during the testimony of the National Guard officers from New York State, the Communists have made an all-out effort to recruit frustrated city youths and mold them into a vehicle for Communist antimilitary propaganda in the United States. Hundreds of indications of the type I have just provided have been included in the record of the hearings. Have you seen any of these examples or read testimony about them?

Mr. SYLVESTER. No, I haven't. I imagine the general must have reported that to the government of the State of New York, though.

DOD PUBLIC AFFAIRS FUNCTION OF PROVIDING NEWS ANALYSIS

Senator THURMOND. It is apparent to me that you have little or no interest in apprising yourself, as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, of the concerted efforts of propaganda which is directed against the military defenses of our Nation. Yet let me read from paragraph III (5) of the Department of Defense directive under which you operate:

Provide news analysis and clipping service to the Secretary of Defense, Offices of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and military departments as required.

This is a correct statement, is it not?

Mr. SYLVESTER. That is correct.

Senator THURMOND. How does your office provide news analysis of such areas as antimilitary propaganda outlined in the testimony of Commander Wadsworth, Captain Sanger, and General Williams, where Communist-inspired propaganda has played a role in suppressing cold war educational programs on communism?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Our office provides a daily rundown twice a day with leading publications. We don't go in to waste the Secretary's time or the Joint Chiefs' with that sort of trash. They have enough to do. We have no capacity for collecting "garbage" of that sort and distributing it.

Senator THURMOND. It is not surprising to me

Mr. SYLVESTER. And I doubt that this Congress or this committee would look on it very well if we spent the Government's money to collect that sort of thing and distribute it. We would be playing their game.

THURMOND BELIEF THAT SYLVESTER HAS BEEN TAKEN IN BY ANTIMILITARY PROPAGANDA

Senator THURMOND. Well, I am not surprised that you are not doing this. In fact, I believe you have been taken in by antimilitary propaganda to disrupt cold war education of the U.S. military. Do you have any comments on my evaluation of your activity?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Yes, I have. I see no ground for your comment. I think it is a gratuitous insult.

DISCUSSION ON NATION MAGAZINE'S STATEMENTS AGAINST MILITARY

Senator THURMOND. How do you evaluate what Nation says against the U.S. Military?

Mr. SYLVESTER. The Nation magazine?

Senator THURMOND. How do you evaluate what Nation magazine says against the U.S. military?

Mr. SYLVESTER. Well, what do they say?

Senator THURMOND. Well, do you read it?

Mr. SYLVESTER. I think I have testified that I don't read the Nation any more. When they have a piece dealing with the Defense Department, I look at it. I have said I haven't read it for several years. It bores me.

Senator THURMOND. The issue of October 28, 1961, is of particular interest. You will notice the cover title refers to the "Juggernautthe Warfare State," by Fred J. Cook. It prominently displays the quotation attributed to President Eisenhower in his farewell address, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influencesby the military-industrial complex."

Lifted out of context, this comment by President Eisenhower has been used by a wide range of antimilitary propaganda and Communist-front organizations to lend credibility to their all-out attempts to focus attention on a nonexistent problem, in my opinion, or the so-called threat from the ultraright. I assume you are familiar with this article; if so, could you comment on this or similar articles which appeared in Nation, which makes a special target of the U.S. military, our national security, and our free way of life?

Mr. SYLVESTER. I read the article. I am familiar with it. That article was never caused no ripple at all in the press of the United States. The circulation of that magazine is very small. I have an 11 o'clock meeting with the media representatives every day. Never once did they raise the question, and I am not going to use the prestige of the Defense Department to give visibility to a magazine whose circulation has been a case of dying for years. They would love nothing better than for me to get into a harangue with them, whether it was good or not. This would give them a visibility that they could never buy.

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