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Briefly, Mr. Johnson for several years has been taking it upon him- self to put various pressures on food manufacturers, and others using television, to force them to refrain from engaging certain individuals accused by Mr. Johnson and his group in Syracuse of being identified with the Communist movement. I believe it is obvious to you, as well as to [our] customers that [our] company would not knowingly hire a Communist, a subversive, or an objectionable character of any sort . . . The only difference of opinion between Mr. Johnson and us is that we are not willing to accept his accusations or statements as sufficient reason for putting any individual on a blacklist . . . The facts of the matter are that Mr. Johnson is desirous of our hiring certain individuals whom he names, to tell us how to run our business — individuals who, like himself, are fighting communism and Commu- nistic talent in the theatrical world. He also has asked us from time to time to hire certain talent, people active in this same crusade, but, unfortunately, people with questionable talent, most of whom we can- not use. On the other hand, he overlooks entirely the fact that we have used some of his people on many occasions. It is apparent that Johnson is not interested in our desire to work with him and cooperate — he and his group want to dictate our policies . . . Up and down Madison Avenue there are steady complaints about Johnson's interference. But the industry has never tested the grocer's power in any meaningful way. On the few occasions when he has been challenged he appears to have come off second best. Still, the chances of his power's being fully tested are not good. For in Johnson, the Madison Avenue fraternity sees a germ of reality worth a thousand opinion polls. The man from Syracuse saves the industry from looking like a punch-drunk boxer who takes a swipe at the air here and there, then staggers back from imagined blows. With Johnson in the ring, the industry spokesmen do not have to feel foolish when someone asks just how real the "economic" threat is. That argument is based on pleasing "the public"; for purposes of de- fending blacklisting, Johnson is the public. He can always be cited if one asks what the industry is afraid of. In going straight to the spon- sor, Johnson hits the exact nerve center. No sponsor wants his prod- 103