Mr. GOJACK. One of the other Congressmen did.

Mr. DOYLE. Don't say I did because I didn't.

Mr. GOJACK. One of the Congressmen said this was called to con plete some work of last year and had reference to the Square D strik was in that strike, helped lead that strike, and wasn't subpenaed la year, so that the timing of this hearing-you could have subpena me last year-proves this is set up only to

Mr. MOULDER. You did not answer Mr. Doyle's question. He aske you if you were a member of the Communist Party and the conspirac Mr. DOYLE. That is right. No doubt your counsel plans to, b I make it clear we are not interested in having this a forum for yo venting your spleen against any employer or anyone in my countr I still feel, whether you do or not, this is the greatest country in th world that gave you birth, and I have noticed every time you got chance you took a crack at something involving WPA or anythin else.

Some of the rest of us passed out handbills to make a living, to You ought to thank God that you are an American citizen instead being bitter about it.

Mr. GOJACK. Mr. Doyle, I am not bitter about it. I am as proud a you are of my Americanism.

Mr. DOYLE. Well, show it then.

Mr. GOJACK. I have a son in the United States Air Force, and h didn't wait until he was drafted, and I am proud of him and prou of this country, and I am fighting for this country right here. Mr. DOYLE. My son volunteered for the United States Air Forc and lost his life in it. I hope yours doesn't lose his life. Mr. GOJACK. I am sorry for you, sir.

Mr. MOULDER. Proceed.

Mr. TAVENNER. The witness is not answering the Congressman question.

Mr. GOJACK. Do you want me to answer the Congressman's ques tion?

Mr. TAVENNER. He wouldn't have asked it if he didn't want th

answer.

Mr. GOJACK. He said something about expecting you to ask later on.

Mr. DOYLE. You state it whenever you think it is proper. I did no mean to butt in.

Mr. TAVENNER. That is perfectly all right, sir.

Since you have raised this question about volunteering for service did you volunteer for service during World War II?

Mr. GOJACK. No, sir; I did not.

Mr. TAVENNER. You were classified 1-A by your local board? Mr. GOJACK. Yes, sir; I was.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you appeal it for deferment?

Mr. GOJACK. Sir, I did not personally.

Mr. TAVENNER. Who did you have to do it?

Mr. GOJACK. At the time I received my classification in 1-A, applied, I went to Dayton, Ohio, when I was called. I took an exami nation, a physical examination and I passed that examination.

Mr. SCHERER. Just a minute. It was a simple question. Who di you have appeal it? He said he didn't. He had somebody do it for him. You were asked who it was.

Mr. GOJACK. I am sorry, but I will have to answer the question fully.

Mr. MOULDER. You answer the question and make any brief explanation you wish to make.

Mr. GOJACK. I really don't know, sir. Let me explain my answer. Mr. TAVENNER. Would it surprise you if I tell you it was Mr. Fitzgerald, president of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers?

Mr. GOJACK. Not at all. That is what I want to explain.

Mr. TAVENNER. Why didn't you tell us it was him if you knew? Mr. GOJACK. I didn't know until you mentioned his name. I told you I didn't know. As I explained, when I was first classified 1–A, I went for my examination in Dayton, Ohio, transported to Dayton, Ohio, to the induction center; I passed the examination, and at the end of the table was given a choice of service. And I went up to one fellow and I said I was in the Army the last time, I will take the Marines this time.

As far as I was personally concerned, I was volunteering for the service. However, I wasn't called, if I remember they were keeping fathers out about that time. Subsequent to that when I was reclassified and called up again, our union organization held a conference, discussion was held at the general executive board meeting, if I recall correctly, about some of the people heading the organization needing to be deferred for the reason that we had contracts in plants which were producing one-fifth of the war material for the prosecution of World War II, and that in the interests of maintaining harmonious relations in our plants and maintaining the no-strike record of our union, that we were unique-it was cited by President Roosevelt under Secretary of War Patterson and others that some of the leaders of this union would have to refrain from volunteering and would have to seek deferment because of their experience in negotiating and the need to have them avoid wildcat strikes and carry on the record of this organization in keeping the production going.

And I remember having discussed with the officers of our union and I objected to this on personal grounds because personally I didn't want to be in that position, but they convinced me that the decision of the organization should hold, that in the area I was working in I had had the most experience in negotiation and the record was clear that I had personally averted many strikes in our plants, in our district. We had none in that entire district during the entire war, not even any wildcat strikes.

For that reason, the officers, as you say, President Fitzgerald wrote the letter just as Jim Carey, who is secretary of the CIO, who was my age, himself, was deferred for sitting at a desk job here in Washington. They felt that people actually in the field should be given the same consideration for remaining at their posts.

Mr. TAVENNER. In December 1942, just a little before you were given the 1-A classification, you were prominent and active in calling for the second front, were you not?

Mr. GOJACK. I wouldn't say I was prominent and active. All I reall about that was there was a picture taken with the leaders of the CIO, including some people who are now in the A. F. of L. and officers of CAW-CIÓ, Amalgamated Clothing Workers, CIO, Hosiery

Workers, now A. F. L., the Packinghouse Workers, CIO, Steel workers, CIO.

Mr. TAVENNER. I am asking you about yourself.

Mr. GOJACK. I was included in that group at a meeting in which someone had a banner that said something about the second front. The IUE-CIO, a rival organization, has been using that picture and circulating it throughout the country just like somebody circulating this pamphlet about Senator Murray in the campaign.

Mr. TAVENNER. I have it in the Daily Worker, August 7, 1942. Will you examine it and state whether that is the photograph to which you refer?

Mr. GOJACK. Just like the Daily Worker caption on the pamphlet against Senator Murray.

Mr. DOYLE. We are not asking you about Senator Murray.
Mr. GOJACK. This is the same propaganda.

Mr. DOYLE. You are taking advantage and making propaganda speeches against the A. F. of L. and CIO and somebody else. Just answer for yourself, please.

Mr. TAVENNER. Is that the photograph to which you have referred? Mr. GOJACK. This is the photograph that I described that included officers of many CIO and now A. F. L. unions in Fort Wayne. I was one of them.

Mr. TAVENNER. I desire to offer the exhibit in evidence, copy of the Daily Worker, and ask that it be marked "Gojack Exhibit No. 1," for identification purposes only and to be made a part of the committee files.

Mr. MOULDER. It is so ordered.

Mr. GOJACK. I want to further explain that I never saw this picture in the Daily Worker. The first time I saw it was in IUE-CIO propaganda and I have a copy of it here just like the material someone put against Senator Murray, the same purpose, same smearing.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Gojack, do you recall whether or not after Mr. Fitzgerald requested your deferment that you were granted a 2-A classification on June 21, 1944?

Mr. GOJACK. I don't recall the exact date.

Mr. TAVENNER. Our information is that that is correct.

Mr. GOJACK. I am not denying it.

Mr. TAVENNER. And that you were reclassified 1-A on January 10, 1945.

Mr. Fitzgerald appealed again on January 15, 1945. Do you recall that?

Mr. GOJACK. I don't recall the exact dates.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you given an induction order on January 18, 1945, directing you to report for service?

Mr. GOJACK. I don't recall, sir. As I said earlier, there were, I had been reclassified, classified, I was in and out. The regulations changed frequently and I was involved in the business of the organization seeking a deferment for me.

Mr. TAVENNER. Our investigation showed that the induction order was withdrawn after the appeal had been granted. However, you were again classified 1-A on April 25, 1944. This time Mr. Julius Emspak appealed. Do you recall that?

Mr. GOJACK. I don't recall the exact dates or the persons involved. Mr. TAVENNER. As a result of that appeal, you were granted a 2-A classification on July 7, 1945. That is correct, isn't it?

Mr. GOJACK. I am not certain. I don't recall the exact dates.

Mr. TAVENNER. Finally, a 4-A classification in October of 1945. Does that meet with your recollection?

Mr. GOJACK. Sir, I don't recall the exact dates or the exact order in which my classification was changed. It was changed far more frequently than that, to my recollection, including from the time when I first went down to take the examination and passed it.

Mr. TAVENNER. You raised considerable question here about volunteering for action rather than waiting for induction.

Mr. GOJACK. That was with respect to my son.

Mr. TAVENNER. Not you? Your son?

Mr. GOJACK. The specific reference I made to volunteering was to my 18-year-old son who volunteered.

Mr. TAVENNER. That doesn't apply to you.

Mr. DOYLE. Give him my compliments.

Mr. GOJACK. I volunteered for the United States Army back in 1935 and I tried to get in the service generally in the war.

Mr. MOULDER. That has been covered.

Mr. TAVENNER. It doesn't seem that you have taken any action here to try to get in World War II as far as these records are concerned. Mr. GOJACK. You don't have all the records. I don't have the record where I passed my examination and took my choice of service and then wasn't called.

Mr. TAVENNER. As a result of the appeal that was given in your behalf?

Mr. GOJACK. It was much before that.

Mr. TAVENNER. What date?

Mr. GOJACK. I don't recall the time. It was early in the war, though, sir. It was later on that the union adopted a policy about deferments.

Mr. TAVENNER. You weren't classified 1-A until 1943, October 27, 1943.

Mr. GOJACK. Do you have a record of my medical in Cincinnati? Mr. TAVENNER. An appeal was made very shortly after that.

Mr. GoJACK. If you have a record of my medical there, it will give you the chronology of it.

Mr. TAVENNER. How old were you when you were given a 1-A classification in 1943? I failed to make a note of the date of your birth.

Mr. GOJACK. August 15, 1916.

Mr. TAVENNER. That is approximately 37 years of age.

Mr. GOJACK. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Let's go back again to the period that you were employed by the UE. The last that you told us was that in 1942 you were hired as business agent by the executive board of district No. 9. How long did you serve in that capacity?

Mr. GoJACK. Until the fall of 1943 at which time I was elected president of district council 9, if I remember correctly.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long did you remain president of district 9, the council of district 9?

Mr. GOJACK. I have been elected annually, reelected annually, for every year since that time on a number of occasions in contested elec tions, with opponents, but I received the majority vote in our district council meeting in which the elections take place annually, in the fall Mr. TAVENNER. Do you still hold that position?

Mr. GOJACK. Yes, the last reelection was in the fall of 1954.

Mr. TAVENNER. What other positions have you held in the union besides the ones you have told us of?

Mr. GOJACK. According to the constitution of our union, by virtue of that office of district council president, I am automatically a general vice president of the national union and a member of the general executive board. And I have held that office concurrent with the district council position in accordance with the constitution of our organization.

Mr. TAVENNER. I think now I shall ask the question that the Congressman asked you a few moments ago: Have you been a member of the Communist Party at any time while occupying any of the positions you have enumerated in the union?

Mr. GOJACK. In 1949 and 1950 and 1951 and 1952 and 1953 and 1954, on August 24, 1954, I signed an affidavit which said:

I am a responsible officer of the union named below, the UE. I am not a member of the Communist Party or affiliated with such party, I do not believe in and I am not a member of nor do I support any organization that believes in or teaches the overthrow of the United States Government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional methods.

Mr. SCHERER. Mr. Chairman, I ask that the witness be directed to answer Mr. Tavenner's question because obviously his answer was not responsive to the question.

Mr. MOULDER. That is correct. The witness is directed to give a direct answer to the question propounded by counsel. As I recall, he asked you whether or not at any time while you have been employed by the UE in any official capacity, were you at any time a member of the Communist Party.

Mr. GOJACK. Mr. Moulder, I don't believe that this committee has any right to investigate my political beliefs or affiliations, especially so when its purpose is union-busting.

Mr. TAVENNER. The answer is not responsive to the question.

Mr. GOJACK. I will explain why. If you want to know my political beliefs, you can check the records in Allen County, Ind.

Mr. MOULDER. The fact that you refuse to answer that question truthfully-would that have the effect of busting the union?

Mr. GOJACK. Every time I cast a ballot in the primary election I have had to register my party preference and those records are available to you and that convinces me you are not interested in my political affiliation.

Mr. MOULDER. You were asked a very simple question as to whether or not you had ever been a member of the Communist Party while you were employed by or actively engaged in any official capacity for the UE.

Mr. GOJACK. I don't believe that Public Law 601

Mr. MOULDER. You can answer that.

Mr. GOJACK. Gives this committee the right to inquire into myMr. DOYLE. I do not mean to interrupt you again, but you are proceeding again to read that prepared statement. Why don't you come