The Cold War at Home

The most important news of the week, no doubt, was the President's call for a special session of Congress. The most sensational, unquestionably, was the Hollywood hearing in Washington. In the long run, it might turn out that the sensational, for once, had the greater significance. It concerned Americans just as much and possibly more than aid to Europe and the price of eggs.

Seldom before had the 158-year-old procedure of congressional investigation come under such hot fire. From the Left, in utterances ranging from stump speeches to paid newspaper ads, came the standard cries: "Un-American," "unconstitutional," etc., etc. None howled more loudly than the witness, identified as a card-carrying Communist, who refused to testify this week.

Actually, long before the anti-Communist inquiry set off the great roar, many a good citizen had wondered about the latitude given congressional committees, including such eminently successful bodies as the Senate War Investigating Committee headed by Harry Truman during World War II.

But questioning a committee's official behavior was a very different thing from charging that the committee was illegal, or that its inquiries violated civil rights. Communists who raised that cry were, as usual, talking out of the sides of their mouths. Non-Communist friends who sided with them were talking through their hats.

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