CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES CONSTITUTIONAL EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE, INC. HEARINGS BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1944 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HOUSE CAMPAIGN FUNDS INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. John J. Sparkman, presiding. TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH P. KAMP, EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN AND ACTING CHAIRMAN, CONSTITUTIONAL LEAGUE, INC., NEW YORK, N. Y. (The witness was sworn by Mr. Sparkman.) EDUCATION Mr. SPARKMAN. Our counsel, Mr. Caddell, will question you. EXAMINATION BY COMMITTEE COUNSEL Mr. CADDELL. Mr. Kamp, it is customary, before this committee, to permit the witnesses to read any prepared statement or make any statement they desire, and at this time, if you have such a statement, we will be glad to hear it. Mr. KAMP. I have. Mr. CADDELL. Do you happen to have mimeographed copies of that, so that the members of the committee can follow you? Mr. KAMP. I have some copies, but I have made some changes. I will be glad to let the committee have the copies. Mr. CADDELL. You may proceed. Mr. KAMP. Before answering whatever questions your committee may feel obliged to ask regarding the activities of the Constitutional Educational League, I should like to make a brief statement which can simplify and expedite this proceeding. I wish to make this statement because I am conscious of the fact that every word I say here today will be distorted and misrepresented by the smear bund, which is gleefully looking forward to a Roman holiday. Already, in connection with this proceeding, the smearing has begun. The bund's archsmearer, Walter Winchell, make a lying attack on both myself and the league on Sunday night last, and the left-wing New York Post began its smear last Wednesday before I was even invited to come here. I feel obliged to present for the record a clear and exact picture of the league and its activities and particularly of its position as a patriotic organization, because vicious un-American propaganda has misled many people into believing that patriotism and patriotic activity are something to be ashamed of, that militant patriotism is akin to treason. Patriotic organizations are maliciously libeled as subversive and mysteriously mentioned (strictly for smearing purposes) in connection with inspired Department of Justice investigations, grand-jury probes, and phony sedition indictments. Previous to this proceeding the smearers have falsely accused the Constitutional Educational League of being a strike-breaking agency, a vigilante organization, a Fascist outfit, an anti-Semitic movement. Now, suddenly, we are charged with being a political committee. Even your committee appears to have been misinformed, since you telegram invited me to "give testimony concerning the Constitutional Educational League and its connection with political activities." There was no qualifying adjective such as "alleged" or "charged." Further it appears that your committee has been used to make readers of the left-wing press believe that the Constitutional Educational League was avoiding investigation. I would like the record to show that your chairman wrote the league on September 11, 1944, asking for certain information. That letter was not received at the league office in New York until the morning of September 13, 1944. Nevertheless, the New York Post on that same afternoon carried a story in which your investigator was quoted as saying he intended to visit our office to learn why we had neglected to answer the committee's letter. I submit that such smearing was unwarranted and prejudicial. Mr. ANDRESEN. Will the gentleman yield there? Mr. KAMP. Yes, sir. Mr. ANDRESEN. Was that statement in the New York Post? Mr. KAMP. In the New York Post. Mr. ANDRESEN. Was that quoting the investigator? Mr. KAMP. Supposedly quoting. I would not believe the quotation was correct. Mr. ANDRESEN. Well, I am satisfied it is not correct. The Constitutional Educational League was organized in 1919 by veterans of World War I, who returned to their home communities to find the Browderites and Hillmanites of that era on soap boxes denouncing the American Government and advocating its overthrow. These veterans of World War I believed that if the American form of government was worth fighting and dying for in France it was worth defending at home. The Constitutional Educational League was organized-and I quote from its charter to bring about a more complete understanding of the function of our Government and the guaranties and provisions of its basic instrument, the Constitution of the United States; to inculcate patriotism and love of country; to investigate and expose the subversive elements which are seeking to undermine the faith of the American people in their institutions. Since the day of its inception 25 years ago, the Constitutional Educational League has endeavored to live up to these patriotic aims and has never gone beyond the scope of its purpose. The league has no favorite political party. Its membership is composed of both Democrats and Republicans in every walk of life. It never has backed a candidate for public office and it never has opposed a candidate for public office. We believe, as President Roosevelt said in his Florida speech a few years ago, that, in America, the country is above the party. The activities of the Constitutional Educational League are, and always have been, above politics. They have been strictly nonpartisan, and by nonpartisan I mean for America. |