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 nominatión 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. before any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, shall be public, and all orders All hearings before the committee, and 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.

Before answering the questions which you may care to ask, I should like to take this opportunity of describing the origin of the two committees of which I am chairman, outlining the activities in which we are engaged, and presenting the facts with reference to the source of our funds and the nature and extent of our expenditures.

The C. I. O. Political Action Committee was established by the executive board of the C. I. O. at a meeting of that body in this city on July 7, 1943.

The formation of this committee has been criticized and condemned in some quarters as a novel and dangerous departure from the traditional pattern of American political life. It has been suggested that the participation of organized labor in politics is an alien practice, inconsistent with American concepts of the democratic process.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Organizations of men and women, united by a common interest, for the advancement of their own and the general welfare through political action are as old as our Nation. The most casual study of our history discloses that organizations of workers, like organizations of farmers and businessmen, have long been concerned with and have actively participated in politics. The activity of such groups in shaping the course of their Government is essential to the functioning of our democracy.

Experience early taught organized labor that it cannot discharge its obligation to protect and promote the welfare of its members as workers and citizens through the processes of collective bargaining alone. The struggles of labor on the economic front have always been interwoven with its efforts in the political field for social legislation to protect the immediate economic interests of its members, as well as in such broader fields as education, public health, taxation, and business regulation.

Labor's participation in political activity has grown with the growth of the organized labor movement itself. Moreover, our national experience since 1929 has served to teach labor and all Americans that in this complex modern industrial society of ours, the national well-being is increasingly dependent upon the wise and progressive exercise of the powers of Government.

Today all thinking Americans recognize that we stand at a crossroads in history. One road leads forward to the extermination of fascism and all its evils; to an era of international cooperation that can give us an eduring peace; to the utilization of our rich resources for the benefit of all our people, giving them full employment, real security and a more abundant life. The other road leads backward along the way we have come. It leads to renewed international rivalry and conflict, inevitably ending in war; to unemployment, insecurity, and misery here at home. The road that we take will be largely determined by the character, the program, and the policies of our national Government and of the men and women who compose it.

The choice is not a partisan choice. This is not a contest between Republicans and Democrats. Nor is it a contest between workers and farmers or businessmen. This is an issue which should unite-not divide the American people, whatever their party affiliation and whatever their station in life.

It was to make possible the maximum contribution of the C. I. O. in promoting and consolidating unity behind a program that will take us along the road of peace and plenty, that the C. I. O. Political Action Committee was organized.

For many years each of the affiliated unions of the C. I. O. have conducted their own programs of political activity and political education. It is the function of our committee to coordinate and make more effective the work which our constituent unions have heretofore carried on independently.

While the decisive questions which confront labor and the Nation today provided the immediate occasion for the organization of our committee, we have not organized for 1944 alone. On the contrary, the executive board of the C. I. O. has established the committee on a permanent basis to serve as its continuing agency for the coordination and direction of its political activities.

We conceive of our task as that of political education in the deepest and most practical sense of that word-education in the full and enlightened exercise of the responsibilities of citizenship.

Our committee is a nonpartisan organization. Our purpose is to assist in welding the unity of workers, farmers, and all other progressives on the basis of a constructive and forward-looking program, and in support of candidates, irrespective of their party labels, who support that program.

We are not interested in establishing a third party, for a third party would only serve to divide rather than to unite the forces of progress. We are not an appendage of either major political party. Nor, as has sometimes been charged, have we any desire or ambition to "capture" either party. Like every other organization concerned with the affairs of Government, we seek to influence the thinking, the program, and the choice of candidates of both parties. And that kind of activity is of the very essence of our two-party system.

The C. I. O. Political Action Committee was organized-as I stated-in July 1943. The C. I. O. met in convention in November of that year. Between these dates, the committee, its program and its objectives, were the subject of full and widespread discussion within the international and local unions of the C. I. O. at local meetings and regional conferences. Other groups, including State and local representatives of the A. F. L., the Railroad Brotherhoods, farm organizations, and church groups, were invited to and did participate in these discussions. This preparatory work all preceded the setting up of any formal organization by the committee.

The plans and the program of the committee were the subject of detailed discussion at the Sixth Constitutional Convention of the C. I. O. at Philadelphia in November. At the conclusion of that discussion, the convention adopted a statement on political action approving the formation of the committee and outlining its tasks for the future.

I should like to present to the committee a record of the proceedings of the convention, containing both the discussion and the statement to which I refer.

Shortly after the convention, the committee began to set up its organization. We have established a national office in New York