PUBLIC LAW 601, 79TH CONGRESS The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946], chapter 753, 2d session, which provides: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, PART 2-RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RULE X SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES 17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. RULE XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES * (q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities. (A) Un-American activities. (2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. RULE XII LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES SEC. 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. RULES ADOPTED BY THE 86TH CONGRESS House Resolution 7, January 7, 1959 RULE X STANDING COMMITTEES 1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress, (q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. RULE XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES 18. Committee on Un-American Activities. (a) Un-American activities. (b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investigation, together with such recommendations at it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, at it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. 26. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. SYNOPSIS The instant hearings on Communist Training Operations (Communist Activities and Propaganda Among Youth Groups), Parts 2 and 3, are a continuation of hearings on the subject matter which were held on July 21 and 22, 1959.* In opening the hearings on the second part of Communist training operations, the chairman of the committee stated: In pursuing the general subject matter further in these current hearings which begin today, we shall explore first some of the history and background of Communist penetration of youth groups. Then we shall survey typical Communist propaganda publications, which are entering this country destined to schools and colleges and other centers of learning with the objective of softening up and conditioning the minds of youth. Tomorrow we shall receive the testimony of a witness who has recently broken from one of the Communist youth operations in the United States, from whom we expect to learn significant information on the current pattern of the Communist designs on youth. We will, likewise, tomorrow endeavor to elicit information, either directly or indirectly, from persons who, we have reason to believe, are currently ringleaders in Communist activities among certain youth groups. On Thursday and Friday we shall receive the testimony from three or four fine young Americans who attended the Communist-controlled Youth Festival held at Vienna this past summer. These young people attended the festival at considerable personal sacrifice and at some physical risk, in order to gain information which will be unfolded on our public record. We shall also interrogate a few of the youths who, we have information, attended the festival as part of their services to international communism. I know that this committee's investigation in this area will probably precipitate a barrage from the Communist press and from Communist sympathizers characterizing our work as an investigation of youth. The Communists know as well as we do that the overwhelming majority of the young people of this Nation are of unquestioned patriotism and dedication to all that is good and noble in our society. But by equating an investigation of Communist activities among youth with an investigation of youth itself, the Communists and their sympathizers hope to becloud the issues. *See "Communist Training Operations, Part 1," hearings before Committee on Un-American Activities, July 21 and 22, 1959. This, of course, is an old trick which the Communists re- * A few moments ago I stated that the overwhelming majority of the young people of this Nation are of unquestioned patriotism and dedication to all that is good and noble in our society. This fact, however, must not beguile us into feeling that because the Communist infiltrators among our youth are numerically in a minority, their threat is necessarily insignificant. Time and time again, our committee has pointed out that the strength of the Communist movement in any of its ramifications bears little relationship to the number of its members; that instead, its strength and effectiveness is, as I remarked previously, in direct ratio to the intensity of the efforts of the few who are trained and disciplined agents. Herbert A. Philbrick, of Rye Beach, New Hampshire, a former undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation serving in the Communist Party, testifying on the basis of his extensive experience in Communist activities among youth groups, stated that although youth has always occupied a top position as a target of the Communists, because of the so-called relaxations of tensions between the free and Communist worlds "the Reds feel that they are in a very favorable position for a new drive on young people." Mr. Philbrick asserted that the over-all purpose of Communist-front youth organizations "was to strengthen the position of the Soviet Union and to weaken the position of the United States, to break down, if possible, the loyalties of young people, their respect, their regard for their own nation, their own country, their own background, their own heritage." In discussing the role of a Communist-front organization as a transmission belt for Communist propaganda, Mr. Philbrick stated: *** In other words, the Communists knew at that time that perhaps very few of the young people would be vulnerable to direct appeals by the Communist Party itself. They knew, for example, that if a leaflet or a booklet or a pamphlet were to be given to the young person and it was clearly and accurately labeled Communist Party, they might tend to disregard it or perhaps not to believe it. However, if they were to take the same propaganda written at Communist Party headquarters, take off the label "Communist Party" and put on a new label, such as "American Youth for Democracy," this, they hoped, would sufficiently disguise the subversive propaganda and the material would be accepted. The Communists called these organizations transmission belts. That is not my term. That is their term. |