Abstract

The Kerr Committee

The Kerr committee, named by the U.S. House of Representatives to check on the Dies committee, has gone beyond the latter in unfairness. The Kerr committee, in declaring Goodwin Watson and William E. Dodd unfit for government office, seeks to establish the principle that membership in a so-called "front" organization is proof of subversive activity. In arriving at this conclusion the Kerr committee tries to give the appearance of relying upon the opinion of the Attorney General. But inquiry at the office of the Attorney General in Washington disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice has never gone beyond the principle that membership in a "front" organization warrants investigation under the Hatch Act barring from government employment persons who believe in the overthrow of the government by and violence.