National Affairs: The Jencks Case

Clinton E. Jencks, Southwestern official of the Red-led Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, would probably be surprised if anyone seriously accused him of being a nonCommunist. But in 1950 Jencks signed a non-Communist affidavit under the Taft-Hartley law—and was duly indicted in El Paso, convicted of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. Last week the Supreme Court granted a new trial to Defendant Jencks, and in so doing knocked over applecarts all across the U.S. security scene.

Key witnesses at the Jencks perjury trial were paid FBI Informers J. W. Ford...

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