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Busy Angel. The next man in the lights was as sleek as Browder was shabby. Frederick Vanderbilt Field (TIME, Jan. 9) great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, is a busy, bright-eyed angel of Communism. His most recent wife was formerly married to Dr. Raymond Boyer, convicted participant in Russia's wartime spy ring in Canada. Field has given thousands of dollars to the Institute of Pacific Relations, wrote articles for its magazine, served as staff man and trustee from 1928-47. By Budenz' testimony, he was the spearhead of the Communist infiltration of the institute.
Briskly and unemotionally and with advice of counsel, Witness Field turned back a stream of questions because they "might lead me into areas" where he might incriminate himself. He declined flatly to say whether he was a Communist, whether he knew Browder, whether he knew Budenz. He admitted he had known Lattimore since 1934, had worked with him as a "professional colleague" at the Institute of Pacific Relations. They saw each other at international conferences, he explained—that sort of thing. It had been five or six years, he thought, since he had seen him last. As to whether Lattimore was a Communist, "to the best of my knowledge and belief, he was not," said Field. Next day Tydings moved to cite Browder and Field for contempt. Apart from the relevance of questions or constitutional guarantees against selfincrimination, the conduct of these witnesses, Tydings declared, "has 'been an affront to the dignity of the Senate."
Four Answers. But none of this advanced the investigation of Owen Lattimore much. While the week's testimony tended to prove that Lattimore had kept some bad company, e.g., Field, it did not yet prove him a Communist, as Wisconsin's Senator Joe McCarthy had charged he was. What about McCarthy's assertion that Lattimore was "the principal architect of our Far Eastern policy?" Seeking an answer, Senator Tydings wrote to four Secretaries of State.
Wrote George Marshall: "Completely without basis in fact. So far as I and my associates can recall I never even met Mr. Lattimore." Wrote Cordell Hull: "In no sense . . . I am not aware that during this period he had any appreciable influence." Wrote Acheson: "Mr. Lattimore, so far as I am concerned, or am aware, has had no influence." Wrote James F. Byrnes, now campaigning as a candidate for governor of South Carolina: "I do not know Mr. Lattimore. If he ever wrote me about the Far Eastern policy, the letter was not called to my attention . . . If . . . he discussed our Far Eastern policy with any officials . . . in their discussions with me they did not quote him."
At week's end, Senator Tydings added his own little mystery to an already confused situation. "There are some things I know about [Communists in the State Department] that have never fully come out," he said in a radio broadcast. "Some of this might be considered as 'pro' and some of it as 'con.' " In the meantime, he added, "it might be well for everyone to be a little careful, including the committee and myself, on reaching any ultimate conclusion . . ."