COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG SEAMEN AND ON WATERFRONT FACILITIES PART 1 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1960 UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, PUBLIC HEARINGS Washington, D.C. The Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a.m., in the Caucus Room, House Office Building, Washington, D.C., Hon. William M. Tuck, presiding. Committee members present: Representatives Francis E. Walter, of Pennsylvania (appearance as noted); William M. Tuck, of Virginia; Gordon H. Scherer, of Ohio; and August E. Johansen, of Michigan. Staff members present: Richard Arens, staff director; Raymond T. Collins and William Margetich, investigators. Mr. Tuck. The committee will come to order. Mr. ARENS. Hugh Mulzac, please come forward. Remain standing while the chairman administers the oath. Mr. Tuck. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Mr. MULZAC. I do. TESTIMONY OF HUGH MULZAC, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL, LEONARD B. BOUDIN Mr. ARENS. Kindly identify yourself by name, residence, and occupation. Mr. MULZAC. Hugh Mulzac. I live at 106-61 Roscoe Street, Jamaica, N.Y. Occupation, unemployed. Mr. ARENS. You are appearing today in response to a subpena which was served upon you by this committee? Mr. MULZAC. Yes. Mr. ARENS. And you are represented by counsel? Mr. MULZAC. Yes. Mr. ARENS. Counsel, kindly identify yourself on this record. Mr. BOUDIN. Leonard B. Boudin, 25 Broad Street, New York City. Mr. ARENS. What is your occupation, Mr. Mulzac? I understood you to say you are presently unemployed. What is your vocation, your line of work? Mr. MULZAC. I have nothing particular. Mr. ARENS. Are you a seaman? Mr. MULZAC. I am a seaman but I have not been going to sea. Mr. MULZAC. Yes. Mr. ARENS. When did you acquire your seaman's papers, your last seaman's papers? (No response.) Mr. ARENS. Did you acquire them in 1956? Mr. MULZAC. Yes. Mr. ARENS. Are you rated as a seaman, steward-cook? Mr. MULZAC. Also, yes. Mr. ARENS. Do you have arrangements made to resume your vocation or avocation of seaman? Do you expect in the near future to resume as a seaman? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. Mr. ARENS. Why? Mr. Mulzac, would it be convenient for you to get closer to the microphone? Mr. MULZAC. I lean on the fifth amendment because such a question may incriminate me. Mr. ARENS. Are you connected with the Seamen's Defense Committee? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. Mr. ARENS. We would like to display to you now a thermofax reproduction of an article appearing in the Daily Worker of November 8, 1956, which states: The Seamen's Defense Committee Against Coast Guard Screening, whose chairman is Capt. Hugh N. Mulzac, and consisting of merchant seamen denied “clearance" within the last six years by the Coast Guard issued the following statement yesterday: Then the statement appears. Kindly look at that article which I now display to you and tell this committee whether or not the designation by yourself in the Daily Worker as the chairman of the Seamen's Defense Committee is true. and correct. (Document handed to witness.) I lean on the fifth amendment. (Document marked "Mulzac Exhibit No. 1" and retained in committee files.) Mr. ARENS. Do you honestly apprehend if you told this committee that you are, or in the recent past you were, chairman of the Seamen's Defense Committee, you would be supplying information which might be used against you in a criminal proceeding? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. Mr. ARENS. Have you ever been screened off of merchant vessels under the Coast Guard screening program? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. Mr. ARENS. Why? Mr. MULZAC. I lean on the fifth amendment; it may tend to incriminate me. Mr. ARENS. We put it to you as a fact that you were screened off merchant vessels under the Coast Guard screening program in 1951 and we ask you to affirm or deny that fact. Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. Over what period of time did you sail on merchant vessels with seaman's papers? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. Mr. ARENS. Mr. Chairman, I respectfully suggest that the witness be ordered and directed to answer that question. He has told us quite openly here a while ago that he is a seaman and has been a seaman. It is certainly a legitimate question then to ask him over what period of time he did pursue his vocation as a seaman and did sail. Mr. Tuck. Inasmuch as the witness has already responded to questions along this line, the Chair rules that he is required to answer the question. The Chair orders and directs you to answer the question. (Witness consulted his counsel.) Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer on the grounds that I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. Now, Mr. Mulzac, this Committee on Un-American Activities is trying to develop information respecting Communist activities among seamen's groups. We have here before us a thermofax reproduction of an article appearing in the Daily Worker of March 5, 1956, the opening sentence of which reads as follows: The Seamen's Defense Committee, composed chiefly of seamen and longshoremen who have been screened out of the maritime industry by the Coast Guard, was formed recently with the cooperation of the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. Can you tell this committee, please, sir, what information do you presently have respecting the activities and participation of the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee in the formation of the Seamen's Defense Committee? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. I lean on the fifth amendment. (Document marked "Mulzac Exhibit No. 2" and retained in committee files.) Mr. ARENS. Did the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee collect funds to be used by the Seamen's Defense Committee? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. Mr. ARENS. Did the director or administrative chief of the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee participate in the formation of the Seamen's Defense Committee? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. It tends to incriminate me. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. SCHERER. I can't hear the witness. Mr. MULZAC. I lean on the fifth amendment. I refuse to answer those questions. Mr. ARENS. Did you participate in the rally which was held last. Friday night in New York City by the Youth to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee, at which meeting certain of the screened seamen appeared? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. The chairman of this committee introduced in the House of Representatives some time ago a bill which is designed to enable the Coast Guard to screen out from merchant vessels Communists and others who would jeopardize the security of this Nation. This bill provides, among other things, that seaman's papers cannot be issued by the Coast Guard to an individual who has been subpenaed to appear before a Federal agency and who refuses to answer certain questions. For the purpose of developing factual information on the operation of that bill, should it become law, I propose now to ask you questions respecting each of three areas which are prescribed as proper areas for questions in the framework of this bill. The first question is this, based upon the first item of the bill: Are you, Mr. Mulzac, who now hold seaman's papers, presently a member of the Communist Party? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. The second question is this: Are you, Mr. Mulzac, who have told us that you presently hold seaman's papers, possessed of information respecting the activities of a person known by you at the present time to be a member of the Communist Party? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. The third question is based upon the third unit of this bill which precludes issuance of seamen's papers to certain persons. Are you, Mr. Mulzac, now possessed of information respecting activities conducted by a person known by you to be under the direction of the Communist Party? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. You understand, Mr. Mulzac, that if this bill were law, and if you refused to answer those questions when subpenaed by a Federal agency, you would then not be issued seaman's papers, and you would then, if you had previously been issued seaman's papers, be precluded thereafter from using those seaman's papers? Mr. Chairman, I have still another question. Mr. Mulzac, were you a participant in recent litigation involving certain steamship lines in which seamen who had been screened off vessels were seeking to resume, or have resumed, their status as seamen? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. I lean on the fifth amendment. Mr. ARENS. I should like to invite your attention to an article appearing in the Communist Daily Worker of March 16, 1956: Rally Tonight to Hit Screening by Coast Guard Dr. J. Raymond Walsh, economist and former national research director of the CIO, will be the main speaker at a public meeting tonight (Friday) to protest Coast Guard screening of merchant seamen and longshoremen. The meeting is being held under the auspices of the Seamen's Defense Committee in cooperation with the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. It will be held at 8 p.m. at Adelphi Hall, 74 Fifth Avenue. Capt. Hugh Mulzac, who served as master of the Liberty ship, the Booker T. Washington, during the war, will relate his own experiences with Coast Guard screening. Victor Rabinowitz, counsel of the Seamen's Defense Committee, will analyze the recent decision by the Ninth District Court of Appeals invalidating Coast Guard screening procedures. Dr. Annette Rubinstein will be chairman. Tell me, sir, did you attend and participate in the meeting which is described in the article from the Daily Worker which I just read? Mr. MULZAC. I refuse to answer that. I lean on the fifth amend ment. (Document marked "Mulzac Exhibit No. 3" and retained in committee files.) Mr. ARENS. Mr. Chairman, I respectfully suggest that will conclude the staff interrogation of this witness. Mr. TUCK. The witness will stand aside. Mr. ARENS. The next witness will be Mr. Charles Everett Colcord. Mr. TUCK. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give before this committee of the United States House of Representatives will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. COLCORD. I do. TESTIMONY OF CHARLES EVERETT COLCORD, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL, LEONARD B. BOUDIN Mr. ARENS. Kindly identify yourself by name, residence, and occupation. Mr. COLCORD. My name is Charles Everett Colcord, C-o-l-c-o-r-d. I reside at 128 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn 5, New York. Mr. ARENS. You are appearing today, Mr. Colcord, in response to a subpena served upon you by this committee? Mr. COLCORD. Yes. Mr. ARENS. And you are represented by counsel? Mr. COLCORD. Yes. Mr. ARENS. Counsel, kindly identify yourself. Mr. BOUDIN. Leonard B. Boudin, 25 Broad Street, New York. Mr. COLCORD. I decline to answer that question on the following grounds: The vagueness of the resolution empowering the committee, lack of jurisdiction of the committee, the lack of pertinency of the question. I also invoke that portion of the fifth amendment relating to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. I also invoke that portion of the fifth amendment relating to due process of law, and that portion of the fifth amendment which says that I cannot be compelled to be a witness against myself in any criminal proceeding. Mr. JOHANSEN. Mr. Chairman, I suppose it is not too important, but it seems to me it is just a little premature to comment on the pertinency of the questions that have not been asked. Mr. Tuck. The point made by the gentleman from Michigan is well taken. (Chairman Walter entered the room.) Mr. ARENS. Mr. Colcord, how long have you been engaged in your present occupation? Mr. COLCORD. I decline to answer that question on the grounds previously stated. Mr. ARENS. Are you possessed of seaman's papers issued by the United States Coast Guard? Mr. COLCORD. I decline to answer that question on the grounds previously stated. Mr. ARENS. We display to you now a certificate which has been identified on this record by the Vice Admiral of the Coast Guard as a certificate certifying that seaman's papers were issued to you, Charles Everett Colcord, as an Ordinary Seaman-Wiper-Messman (FH)-Lifeboatman, at the time and place indicated in the certificate. Kindly look at that document and tell this committee whether or not the recitations there, the issuance of the seaman's papers to you, are, to your certain knowledge, true and correct. (Document handed to witness.) (Witness consulted his counsel.) |