COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY WILLIAM LANGER, North Dakota, Chairman ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, Maryland PAT MCCARRAN, Nevada OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCE IN CERTAIN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1953 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE SESSION-CONFIDENTIAL The task force of the subcommittee met at 10: 15 a. m., pursuant to call, in the office of Senator Butler, Senate Office Building, Senator John M. Butler presiding. Present: Senator Butler. Present also: Richard Arens, special counsel; Frank W. Schroeder, professional staff member; and Edward R. Duffy, investigator. Senator BUTLER. The subcommittee will be in order. Will you hold up your right hand? In the presence of Almighty God, do you solemnly promise and declare the evidence you will give to this task force of the Internal Security Committee of the United States Senate will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. McDOWELL. I do. TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR G. McDOWELL, UPHOLSTERERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, A. F. OF L., PHILADELPHIA, PA. Senator BUTLER. Will you state your full name, address, and occupation? Mr. MCDOWELL. I am Arthur G. McDowell, director of the department of civic education and governmental affairs of the Upholsterers International Union of North America, A. F. of L. My office address is 1500 North Broad Street, Philadelphia. Mr. ARENS. You are testifying here under subpena that has been served upon you? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes. Mr. ARENS. How long have you been engaged in your present occupation? Mr. McDOWELL. I have been engaged in this and other staff positions with the Upholsterers International Union since June of 1945. Mr. ARENS. Will you kindly give us a thumbnail sketch of the Upholsterers International Union, A. F. of L., what is it, what is its 1 membership, where is it located, and a word about the organization, if you please? Mr. McDOWELL. The Upholsterers International Union is a union founded at the beginning of its first continuous existence in Chicago in 1892. Yet it is at present composed of between fifty-five and sixty thousand members in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. That membership is primarily engaged in the related trades of upholstered furniture, wood furniture, burial caskets, mattress and bedding, and canvas products. Senator BUTLER. Could you break it down as to membership in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico? Mr. MCDOWELL. The membership in the United States is somewhat in excess of 50,000; the membership in Canada and Puerto Rico is marginal. Mr. ARENS. Mr. McDowell, is the Upholsterers International certified under the NLRB? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, it has been from the very beginning of the act. your Mr. ARENS. Now will you kindly give us a personal sketch of own life, Mr. McDowell, with particular reference to your professional activities in the trade-union movement? Mr. MCDOWELL. I have been engaged professionally in activities directly connected with the trade-union movement since 1929. Mr. ARENS. May I interrupt you. If you would just give us a little brief personal history of where and when you were born and a little bit of your education, and a thumbnail sketch of your life, if you please. Mr. MCDOWELL. I was born in Pittsburgh in 1909, of a family which has been in western Pennsylvania for quite a few generations. I graduated from high school in the town of Butler, Pa., and I was active at that time in civic and other affairs. I was the recipient of the DAR award in American history, for example. Throughout that high-school period I was very active in organizational affairs. That included the YMCA, Acting scoutmaster of the county's No. 1 Scout troop. I was at that time president of the Epworth League or the Methodist's young people's society of the church in Butler, Pa. But in 1927, upon graduation from high school, I became personally interested in one of the historic radical causes of that year, namely, the controversial Sacco-Vanzetti case. I started employment as an office worker with the Gulf Refining Co., in March 1927, and, as a result of my very intense expression on the question of this controversial case, which became somewhat a cause celebre in labor circles across the world, I was dismissed by the Gulf Refining Co. in October of that year. I had no organizational connections of any kind at that time. That was purely an individual expression of views and resentment at injustice. However, in 1928, although not yet a voter, I became interested in the Socialist Party. Although I did not vote that year, I would probably have voted for Norman Thomas had I been able to do so. Prior to this time, because of my interest in the field of labor and social justice, in the town in which I had graduated from school, Butler, the Methodist pastor had enrolled me in the Methodist Federation for Social Service. This organization was actually only the first |