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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 3467 Mr. Odets. As a matter of fact, quick, smart girl. Knew how to move tactically. Mr. Velde. Are all smart, quick people Communist Party members? Mr. Odets. Well, there is a certain kind of professionalism. There is a certain kind of professionalism in certain situations. I must ad- mit I never had it, and that was why this whole delegation was taken over by other people. I knew nothing about that. I was naive, I didn't even know what we were going into. So my guess about her comes from simply her tactical smartness. Mr. Velde. And you had a conversation or several conversations with her, I suppose, on the trip ? Mr. Odets. Yes. Mr. Velde. Did she ever mention that she was a member? Mr. Odets. They do not. Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Odets, will you tell the committee just how this commission was created, and the circumstances, and more about the circumstances, under which you were designated as chairman? Mr. Odlts. I listened very carefully to what you read there, the statement of Manning Johnson. He is talking awfully big. He is talking awfully big in a sense that 8 or 10 or whatever the number is left and liberal people from New York City could go down to Cuba and change the course of this horrible Cuban revolution. This is very big talk. If we were going to do what Mr. Johnson said, we certainly should not have announced in a public press that we were all getting on a boat and going down there to make a fuss. So my simple point is that the point of the mission could not have been what he said, that we were going to go in and take over anything, or con- tact anyone. I suppose in the matter of common sense if you would contact anybody in Cuba, that you would go down there silently and slip in. Mr. Velde. What was your purpose in going to Cuba on this mis- sion? Mr. Odets. The purpose that attracted me was that there were fears, oppressive measures taken against thousands of intellectuals and college students. They were thrown into jail, under the previous Machado regime, which was a horrible regime. I then was glad to go down in the sense of, if nothing else did happen, we would drama- tize what the issues were down there. Of course, the stories that were coming out were very garbled. No one know what was happen- ing. As a matter of fact, I frankly think that later the American Embassy straightened out the whole thing and was a salutary and moderating influence on the situation. Mr. Wood. What did you propose to do about it when you went down there? What did you have in your mind, what was your pur- pose in going ? Mr. Odets. I would guess, sir, that our arrival would encourage and hearten certain sections of the Cuban people in the sense of saving, you see, here are people from the United States who are interested in you and your problems and your employment. That, I would guess, would be the best point, the best point of such a delegation. Mr. Wood. Did you have a plan or a program as to the course of conduct when you got there? Mr. Odets. Well, to my surprise, as I said before, the plan was that we were going to get arrested, which I did not know about. I must