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2324 COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Levy. Yes, sir; very well. Mr. Tavenner. John Howard Lawson, by the testimony adduced at numerous hearings before the committee, has been shown to be the head of the Communist Party in Hollywood. Mr. Levy. I didn't know him as such. I met John Howard Lawson in 1925, when my first novel was published. We had the same pub- lisher. And this was the way I knew him Mr. Tavenner. Were you going to say something else? Mr. Levy. No, I was just hesitating as to whether it was worth while to tell the circumstances of my meeting with him. I don't think it is. They are amusing, but they are not pertinent. (Representative Francis E. Walter left the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Tavenner. Were you active in the work of the committee for the Writers' Congress, which was held in the campus at Los Angeles October 1,2, and 3, 1943? Mr. Levy. Yes, sir, and so were a great many people from the Army, from the State Department, from the university. Mr. Tavenner. It was shown by hearings before the committee that that work was done as a result of being influenced by the Communist Party. Do you know anything about that? (Representative Harold H. Velde left the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Levy. No, sir. I was introduced to it and asked to participate in it by Phil Dunn of the OWI, who is certainly not by the farthest stretch of the imagination a Communist. Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall signing a petition dated October 18, 1948, for the nomination of Lester Cole and Ring Lardner, Jr., as members of the executive board of the Screen Writers' Guild? Mr. Levy. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. 1948 is a period of time later than that when you said you withdrew from the Communist Party ? _ Mr. Levy. Yes. sir. That had nothing to do with that. Mr. Tavenner. Were you in favor in 1948 of electing to the execu- tive board of the guild persons who were known to you to be members of the Communist Party ? Mr. Levy. I can only tell you that either in that year or the year before I also signed a nominating petition for a man named Fred Niblo, Jr., who is as far to the right as you can get. Mr. Tavenner. But was Lester Cole known to you to be a member of the Communist Party? Mr. Levy. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. And was Ring Lardner, Jr., known to you to be a member of the Communist Party ? Mr. Levy. No, sir; not known. Mr. Tavenner. But Lester Cole was? Mr. Levy. Yes, sir. But I signed these two petitions, the Niblo petition and this petition, on the basis that a man who had anything to say to the guild ought to have a chance to say it. Mr. Tavenner. I am not speaking of the opportunity to say what he wanted to say, what one wants to say, before the guild. This is a matter of the election of the members of the executive board. Mr. Levy. No, sir; this is a matter of nomination, putting a name on the ballot and letting the members decide.