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@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ On October 29, 1943 Speier wrote a memorandum predicting much of Hitler's speech
The first congressional attack came from [[Martin Dies]], chairman of the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]]. On November 18, 1941, the day after Watson entered on duty, Dies wrote to James L. Fly expressing "deep concern" over the selection of a man who had written in favor of the Soviet Union, and naming thirteen organizations he called communist fronts.[^41] Fly replied that Watson belonged to only one of them, Consumers Union. The House passed an appropriation bill with a rider denying salary to the named employees, including [[Frederick L. Schuman]] and [[William E. Dodd Jr.]], who had been hired as an editor in December 1941. The Senate Appropriations Committee deleted the rider, and Watson testified before that committee on February 4, 1942.[^42]
In a House speech on February 1, 1943, Dies listed 39 "communists" holding government posts, with Dodd, Watson and Schuman at the head of the list.[^43] On February 4, 1943 [[Joe Hendricks]] of Florida gave notice of an amendment to the House Post Office and Treasury appropriations bill forbidding payment of the thirty-nine named employees, among them Watson, Schuman and Dodd. On February 5 the House, in the Committee of the Whole, rejected it, 130 to 137 on a division and 146 to 153 on tellers, and then agreed, 163 to 111 on tellers, to a separate amendment naming only [[William Pickens]].[^44] Dies accused the employees of "un-American beliefs."[^45] Mercado writes that Dies may have been provoked by FBIS reports that his statements were being praised in Nazi Germany, and that Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] had said Dies's statements "might as well come from Goebbels himself as far as their practical effect is concerned."[^46] [[House Resolution 105]], adopted February 9, 1943, authorized the Committee on Appropriations, "acting through a special subcommittee," to examine charges of unfitness based on association with organizations whose aims were subversive. The subcommittee was Congressman [[John H. Kerr]] (chairman), [[Albert Gore Sr.|Albert Gore]], [[Clinton P. Anderson]], [[D. Lane Powers]] and [[Frank B. Keefe]], with Major Matt H. Allen as counsel, and Watson's testimony opens at its sitting of Friday, April 9, 1943.[^47] On March 31, 1943 Dies told the House that a subcommittee headed by [[Joe Starnes]] of Alabama, whom he called his "distinguished and able colleague," would make a report.[^48] On April 7 Kerr told the House that the committee had been asking for six weeks for the full evidence and had been able to get it for only "3 of the 38 men who are charged in this resolution." Dies replied, "You have evidence on 10."[^49] The subcommittee took testimony in executive session from the three men. Its report of April 21, 1943 found Watson and Dodd unfit for government employment and stated that it "does not find sufficient evidence to support a recommendation of unfitness" as to Schuman; Roop's history names the three men found guilty of "subversive activity" and "unfit" as Dodd, Watson and the Interior Department official [[Robert Morss Lovett]]. H. Rept. No. 448, dated May 14, 1943, is printed in the Hearings.[^50][^51] The subcommittee was later accused of having prepared its final report before the men were called to testify.[^50]
In a House speech on February 1, 1943, Dies listed 39 "communists" holding government posts, with Dodd, Watson and Schuman at the head of the list.[^43] On February 4, 1943 [[Joe Hendricks]] of Florida gave notice of an amendment to the House Post Office and Treasury appropriations bill forbidding payment of the thirty-nine named employees, among them Watson, Schuman and Dodd. On February 5 the House, in the Committee of the Whole, rejected it, 130 to 137 on a division and 146 to 153 on tellers, and then agreed, 163 to 111 on tellers, to a separate amendment naming only [[William Pickens]].[^44] Dies accused the employees of "un-American beliefs."[^45] Mercado writes that Dies may have been provoked by FBIS reports that his statements were being praised in Nazi Germany, and that Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] had said Dies's statements "might as well come from Goebbels himself as far as their practical effect is concerned."[^46] [[House Resolution 105]], adopted February 9, 1943, authorized the Committee on Appropriations, "acting through a special subcommittee," to examine charges of unfitness based on association with organizations whose aims were subversive. The subcommittee was Congressman [[John H. Kerr]] (chairman), [[Albert Gore Sr.|Albert Gore]], [[Clinton P. Anderson]], [[D. Lane Powers]] and [[Frank B. Keefe]], with Major Matt H. Allen as counsel, and Watson's testimony opens at its sitting of Friday, April 9, 1943.[^47] On March 31, 1943 Dies told the House that a subcommittee headed by [[Joe Starnes]] of Alabama, whom he called his "distinguished and able colleague," would make a report.[^48] On April 7 Kerr told the House that the committee had been asking for six weeks for the full evidence and had been able to get it for only "3 of the 38 men who are charged in this resolution." Dies replied, "You have evidence on 10."[^49] The subcommittee took testimony in executive session from the three men. Its report of April 21, 1943 found Watson and Dodd unfit for government employment and stated that it "does not find sufficient evidence to support a recommendation of unfitness" as to Schuman; Roop's history names the three men found guilty of "subversive activity" and "unfit" as Dodd, Watson and the Interior Department official [[Robert Morss Lovett]]. The subcommittee's hearings and H. Rept. No. 448 of May 14, 1943 were printed by the Government Printing Office.[^50][^51] The subcommittee was later accused of having prepared its final report before the men were called to testify.[^50]
On May 17, 1943 Frank B. Keefe of Wisconsin read excerpts of Watson's testimony to the House. Keefe quoted Watson's 1934 article "The Great Choice, Reformation or Transformation," and said that, asked about it, Watson answered "I just do not believe in that any more. That was the effusion of an academic mind written in 1934," and "I disavow myself of that sort of philosophy."[^52] The printed hearings record Watson's answer on the article as that it was an academic idea that had appealed to him at the time and that "I do not now believe it to be true," and record Keefe's question whether he had ever published an article disavowing it, to which Watson answered "That is true" (that he had not).[^53] Kerr told the House on May 18 that the employees "have no property rights in their offices" and that "One Congress can take away their rights given them by another."[^54]