The Interim Committee on Un-American Activities or Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities, most commonly known as the Canwell Committee, (1947-1949) was a special investigative committee of the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

which in 1948 investigated the influence of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

in Washington state. Named after its chairman, Albert F. Canwell, the committee concentrated upon communist influence in the

Washington Commonwealth Federation The Washington Commonwealth Federation (WCF) was a political pressure group established in the American state of Washington in 1934 as "Commonwealth Builders, Incorporated" (CBI). The organization changed its name to Washington Commonwealth Federa ...

and its relationship to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

in Washington, as well alleged Communist Party membership of certain faculty members at the University of Washington in Seattle. The Canwell Committee is remembered as one of a number of state-level investigative committees patterned after the

House Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

(HUAC) of the United States Congress. The committee ultimately published two printed volumes collecting the testimony of witnesses before it. The committee was terminated by the Washington legislature in 1949, following the electoral defeat of its chairman and several of its members in the elections of 1948.

Background

Becoming a state only in November 1889, Washington was a relative latecomer into the United States of America. As was the case in Texas,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Kansas, and the Dakota Territory, an indigenous frontier radicalism was prevalent in the state, making the Socialist Party of Washington one of the largest state affiliates of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

on a per capita basis of the pre- World War I progressive era. Seattle had been the site of a

General Strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

in February 1919 which had captivated the attention of the nation. Although the Socialist Party of Washington did not survive 1919 upheavals in the national party, many socialists continued to live and work in the state. The Farmer-Labor Party received significant support from Washington voters in the election of 1920, as did progressive presidential candidate Robert M. La Follette independent campaign in the 1924 election. The state's national reputation for a left-of-center political climate is demonstrated by Postmaster General James Farley's quip that the United States of America consists of "forty-seven states and the Soviet of Washington." In 1935 a group of Washington socialists, labor activists, and social democrats formed the Commonwealth Builders organization to promote social democratic goals within the Washington State

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Founders included the socialist writer and

KIRO Kiro was a colonial post in what is now the Central Equatoria province of South Sudan on the west side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It was in part of the Lado enclave. In 1900 there were said to be 1,500 troops from the Congo Free ...

radio personality

Howard Costigan Howard Gary Costigan (1904–1985) was an American radio commentator, political functionary, and politician. Costigan is best remembered as the Executive Secretary of the Washington Commonwealth Federation during the second half of the 1930 while h ...

. Costigan would later renounce communism after reconverting to Catholicism and become a significant cooperating witness for McCarthyist anti-communist investigations during the second Red-Scare. The Commonwealth Builders held a statewide convention in 1936 which resulted in an expansion of their activities under the new name The Washington Commonwealth Federation (WCF). The organization explicitly sought to model itself on the recently politically successful Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Canada. When the Soviet Union's

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

adopted a Popular Front strategy through which it advocated and engaged in common political efforts with liberals and social democrats against the global rise of fascism, socialist members of the WCF, including Costigan, joined the Communist Party USA and moved the WCF into alignment with the global

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

program propagated by Comintern. As European fascism spread and Stalin consolidated power through his theory of Socialism in one country the WCF members antifascist activities and their support for the USSR's foreign policy became deeply entangled. In 1946, Albert F. Canwell, Republican from Spokane's Fifth District was elected to the Washington House of Representatives. Canwell ran an anti-communist campaign and on entering office he began coordinating with the

(HUAC) by requesting copies of files created by its investigations into Washington residents. Canwell then drafted a bill to establish a Washington State "Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities," (Canwell Committee) modeled on HUAC and a similar committee formed in California. The Canwell Committee included three House members and three Senate members plus Canwell himself who served as the committee's chair. Sanders, ''Cold War on Campus,'' pg. 21.

Members

The Interim Committee on Un-American Activities of the Washington State Legislature was established on the last day of the 1947 legislative session. On March 8, 1947, Washington State's House Concurrent Resolution No. 10 established the Joint Legislative Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. House Speaker

Herbert M. Hamblen Herbert M. Hamblen (December 12, 1905 – January 6, 1994) was an American politician in the state of Washington. He served in the Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wash ...

appointed Canwell as chairman. The committee becomes known as the "Canwell Committee." The resolution directed the committee to "investigate the activities of groups and organizations whose membership includes persons who are Communists, or any other organization known or suspected to be dominated or controlled by a foreign power." Members came from: * Washington State House of Representatives: ** Albert F. Canwell (chairman) ** Sydney A. Stevens ** Grant C. Stisson ** George F. Yantis * Washington State Senate: ** R.L. Rutter Jr. ** Thomas H. Bienz ** Harold G. Kimball In practice, five of the committee's seven members were

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and only two Democrats. One was a member of the conservative

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

.Sanders, ''Cold War on Campus,'' pp. 21-22. Hamblen appointed one liberal Democrat, Representative George F. Yantis, but Yantis died in December 1947 before the committee began to conduct its public hearings.

Hearings

The Canwell Committee held its hearings at the Seattle Armory. On January 27, 1948, the Canwell Committee convened its first hearing. The subject was subversion within the Washington Pension Union. On July 19, 1948, the Canwell Committee held its second hearings on the subject was subversion within the University of Washington. Witnesses included

George Hewitt George Hewitt or Hewett may refer to: * George Hewitt (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer for Burslem Port Vale and Luton Town * Brian George Hewitt (born 1949), English linguist specialising in Caucasian languages * George Wattson Hewitt ( ...

, who claimed he had taught University of Washington professor

Melvin Rader Melvin Miller Rader (1903 – 14 June 1981) was a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of Washington and a civil rights advocate. He taught ethics, aesthetics and political philosophy. In the late 1940s, he was accused of being a ...

at a "highly secret Communist school at Briehl's Farm, near Kingston, New York, for a period of about six weeks in the Summer of 1938 or 1939." Rader later pursued Hewitt for perjury. Canwell also invited anti-communists

Howard Rushmore Howard Clifford Rushmore (July 2, 1913 – January 3, 1958) was an American journalist, nationally known for investigative reporting. As a communist, he reported for ''The Daily Worker''; later, he became anti-communist and wrote for publications ...

and

J. B. Matthews Joseph Brown "Doc" Matthews Sr. (1894–1966), best known as J. B. Matthews, was an American linguist, educator, writer, and political activist. A committed pacifist, he became a self-described " fellow traveler" of the Communist Party USA i ...

to testify before the committee about

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...

. Alger Hiss had not yet been prosecuted. Rushmore testified for three days including testimony about more than a dozen members of the Communist Party arrested following the federal investigations). Rushmore also claimed that "moles" existed in the federal government. He named Harold Ware,

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...

Donald Hiss Donald Hiss (December 15, 1906 – May 18, 1989), also known as "Donie" and "Donnie", was the younger brother of Alger Hiss. Donald Hiss's name was mentioned during the 1948 hearings wherein his more famous and older brother, Alger, was ac ...

, John Abt, Charles Kramer,

Nathan Gregory Silvermaster Nathan Gregory Silvermaster (November 27, 1898 – October 7, 1964), an economist with the United States War Production Board (WPB) during World War II, was the head of a large ring of Communist spies in the U.S. government. It is from him that th ...

, and

Joseph P. Lash Joseph Paul Lash (December 2, 1909 – August 22, 1987) was an American radical political activist, journalist, and writer. A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lash won both the Pulitzer Prize for BiographySeattle Post Intelligencer'' and Ashley Holden of the '' Spokesman-Review'' both covered the story; U.S. Secretary of State

George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

personally called both newspapers to quash the story. During taping for an oral history in 1997, Canwell said, "We wished to put the Hiss case in the record, and there’s testimony by them about atomic scientists and others who were questionable characters." The only scientist whose name Canwell could remember was J. Robert Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project. "There were numerous others," Canwell said, but he would have to go back and read the record to call "all their names" accurately. Asked to "characterize" Oppenheimer, Canwell said he agreed with conservative journalist Westbrook Pegler: he paid dues in the Communist Party, he was married to a Communist, and sleeping with at least one other one. Of the two, Rushmore and Matthews, Canwell explained, "Rushmore was principally brought out to testify on Hiss and the atomic scientists," while Matthews helped on the subject of universities.

Dissolution

In November 1948, Canwell lost his re-election; the committee issued its final report in January 1949. In 1997, during oral history interviews, Canwell explained:

One of the reasons that I tried over and over to be elected to Congress was that I needed the power base to do what I knew needed doing–what I wanted to do... Nobody paid my way, and that was what I was always confronted with. That’s more or less the total Canwell operation–it’s a one-man FBI with no funds.

References

Publications

* Albert F. Canwell, et al.
''First Report, Un-American Activities in Washington State, 1948.''
Olympia, WA: The committee, 1948. * Albert F. Canwell, et al.
''Second Report, Un-American Activities in Washington State, 1948.''
Olympia, WA: The committee, 1948.

External links

* James Gregory (general editor)
"Special Section: Canwell Hearings"
Communism in Washington State: History and Memory, University of Washington, 2009–2012. Including complete, digitized transcripts of the hearings, historical photographs, documents and essays. * Susan Gilmore
"The Cold War And Albert Canwell: The 1948 Anti-Communist Hearings Earned The Freshman Legislator An Instant Reputation — And Shattered Lives,"
''Seattle Times,'' Aug. 2, 1998. * Nancy Wick

''Columns,'' December 1997.