HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

Special COMMITTEE TO

INVESTIGATE CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS

INVESTIGATION OF CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES

MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1944

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES,

Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Clinton P. Anderson (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. I have only two or three brief announcements to make.

Throughout whatever hearings this committee holds we will administer a short formal oath to each witness. We are going to put all witnesses under oath.

The witnesses who appear will be given an opportunity to file with the committee prepared statements, if they so desire, after which they will be interrogated by the attorney for the committee, Mr. Caddell, and then by members of the committee in turn.

The resolution under which we are working, House Resolution 551, will be inserted in the record at this point.

(The resolution referred to is as follows:)

[H. Res. 551, 78th Cong., 2d sess.]

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That a special committee of seven members be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives to investigate and report to the House not later than January 3, 1945, with respect to the following matters:

1. The extent and nature of expenditures made by all candidates for the House of Representatives in connection with their campaign for nomination and election to such office.

2. The amounts subscribed and contributed, and the value of services rendered, and facilities made available (including personal services, use of advertising space, radio time, office space, moving-picture films, and automobile and other transportation facilities) by any individual, individuals, or group of individuals, committee, partnership, corporation, or labor union, to or on behalf of each such candidate in connection with any such campaign or for the purpose of influencing the votes cast or to be cast at any convention or election held in 1944 to which a candidate for the House of Representatives is to be nominated or elected.

3. The use of any other means or influence (including the promise or use of patronage) for the purpose of aiding or influencing the nomination or election of any such candidates.

4. The amounts, if any, raised, contributed, and expended by any corporation, labor organization, trade or business association, and any other organization, including any political committee thereof, in connection with any such election, and the amounts received by any political committee from any corporation, labor union, trade or business association, and any other organization.

5. The violations, if any, of the following statutes of the United States: (a) The Federal Corrupt Practices Act.

(b) Title 18, sections 61 to 61t, inclusive, United States Code, 1940 edition, relating to pernicious political activities, commonly referred to as the Hatch Act.

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(c) The provisions of section 9, Public Law 89, Seventy-eighth Congress, chapter 144, first session, referred to as the "War Labor Disputes Act."

(d) Any statute or legislative Act of the United States, or of the State within which a candidate is seeking nomination or reelection to the House of Representatives, the violation of which Federal or State statute, or statutes, would affect the qualification of a Member of the House of Representatives within the meaning of article I, section 5, of the Constitution of the United States.

6. Such other matters relating to the election of President, Vice President, and Members of the House of Representatives in 1944, and the campaigns of candidates in connection therewith, as the committee deems to be of public interest, and which in its opinion will aid the House of Representatives in enacting remedial legislation, or in deciding any contests that may be instituted involving the right to a seat in the House of Representatives.

7. The committee is authorized to act upon its own motion and upon such information as in its judgment may be reasonable or reliable. Upon complaint being made to the committee under oath, by any person, candidate, or political committee, setting forth allegations as to facts which, under this resolution, it would be the duty of said committee to investigate, the committee shall investigate such charges as fully as though it were acting upon its own motion, unless, after a hearing upon such complaint, the committee shall find that the allegations in such complaint are immaterial or untrue. All hearings before the committee, and before any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, shall be public, and all orders and decisions of the committee, and of any such subcommittee, shall be public.

For the purpose of this resolution, the committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized to hold such public hearings, to sit and act at such times and places during the sessions, recesses, and adjourned periods of the Seventy-eighth Congress, to employ such attorneys, experts, clerical, and other assistants, to require by subpena or otherwise the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such correspondence, books, papers, and documents, to administer such oaths, and to take such testimony as it deems advisable.

8. The committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, may authorize any one or more persons to conduct on behalf of the committee any part of the investigation herein provided for, and for such purpose any person so authorized may hold such public hearings, issue such subpenas, and provide for the service thereof, require by subpena or otherwise the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, administer such oaths, and take such testimony, as the committee or any such duly authorized subcommittee, may from time to time authorize. Every person, who having been summoned as a witness by authority of said committee or any subcommittee thereof, willfully makes default, or who having appeared, refuses to answer any question pertinent to the investigation heretofore authorized, shall be held to the penalties prescribed by law.

That said committee is authorized and directed to file interim reports whenever in the judgment of the majority of the committee, or of a subcommittee conducting portions of said investigation, the public interest will be best served by the filing of said interim reports, and in no event shall the final report of said committee be filed later than January 3, 1945, as hereinabove provided.

DUTIES OF COMMITTEE

The CHAIRMAN. May I comment on the fact that this committee is concerned not only with an investigation of individual campaigns made by individual members, but also with the amounts contributed by various type of organizations, and with violations of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act, the Hatch Act, the so-called Smith-Connally Act, and any statute which would affect the qualification of a Member of the House of Representatives.

In addition to that, we have included in our resolution

such other matters relating to the election of the President, Vice President and Members of the House of Representatives in 19411, and the campaigns of candidates in connection therewith, as the committee deems to be of public interest, and which in its opinion will aid the House of Representatives in enacting remedial legislation.

We therefore will be seeking information which may not constitute violations of law, or improper conduct, but information which might benefit the House of Representatives in the development of additional legislation beneficial to the public interest.

I think that is enough of preliminary statement.

Mr. Hillman, you and Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Abt will testify? Mr. HILLMAN. I will testify, and I presume some of the questions that are asked me I may refer to Mr. Abt or Mr. Baldwin.

The CHAIRMAN. If you do not mind, I will swear you all at the same time.

(The chairman administered the oath to the three witnesses.)

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hillman, we should like to hear any sort of preliminary statement that you desire to make at this time.

TESTIMONY OF SIDNEY HILLMAN, CHAIRMAN, ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN ABT, COUNSEL, AND C. B. BALDWIN, ASSISTANT CHAIRMAN, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE AND THE NATIONAL CITIZENS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE

Mr. HILLMAN. I will appreciate it. Mr. Chairman, if I may read my statement. I think that it will give the members of the committee an opportunity to get the purpose of our committee-what we are trying to do and what we are doing, and then, of course, we will be very glad to answer any questions, if we are able to do so.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, we are happy to appear here today in response to your request.

We believe that any political organization that invites the confidence and solicits the support of the American people owes them a full and frank disclosure of its objectives, its methods of operation, the source of its funds, and the nature of its contributions and expenditures.

This is just in line with the outline that you have made.

Acting on that conviction, the committees which I represent have endeavored to keep the public and all authorized agencies of the Federal Government fully informed of our activities. We have made our purposes, our program, and our finances matters of public record. On two separate occasions we have opened all of our records and files to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its examination. We have transmitted copies of our publications and our important press releases to each Member of Congress. We have appeared before the Senate Committee on Campaign Expenditures. And today we appear before your committee, prepared to furnish you with all the information you may request.

I know of no other political organization which has so consistently conducted its affairs in the light of day, or so fully cooperated in furnishing the appropriate agencies of Government with information. It is perhaps too much to hope that the policy which we have adopted will set a precedent which other committees will follow. But, if by happy chance, that should prove to be the case, then-if we accomplish nothing else we will have made an outstanding contribution to the conduct of American politics.