Reece Committee

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As the egalitarianism of Marxism is attractive to many, socialism could have attracted many followers in America, anyway. But there is no doubt that it could not possibly have affected us so widely and so deeply as it has, had it not been heavily financed.
— Committee chairman Carroll Reece[1]
Rep. Reece in 1946.

The congressional Select Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations, known during the 83rd Congress as the Reece Committee, was an investigative group in the United States House of Representatives enacted to probe the activities of tax-exempt organizations for potential subversion. It was created at the advocacy of conservative Tennessee Republican B. Carroll Reece in response to the insufficient investigations, findings, and conclusions of the previous Cox Committee.[2]

Reece presented the following criticisms of the Cox Committee in urging for the re-enactment of the select committee during the 83rd Congress:[2]

“
  1. Time and facilities were inadequate.
  2. Excuses concerning grants to Communists were too readily acceptable.
  3. Trustees and officers were not under oath.
  4. Only a few Foundations were investigated.
  5. The propaganda activities of Foundations were not investigated.
  6. Foundations were not asked why they did not support projects of a pro-American type.
  7. Extensive evidence was not used.
  8. The Ford Foundation was not investigated.
 ”

The U.S. House voted in late July 1953 to approve of creating the special committee.[3] The majority of Republicans supported it, while less than half of Democrats did. The forty-nine GOP congressmen who voted against it, largely Moderate Republicans, included future U.S. president Gerald Ford (R–MI), future moderate/liberal U.S. senators Hugh D. Scott (R–PA) and Jacob Javits (R–NY), as well as Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr. (R–NJ), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[4]

Crucial in the committee's research was Norman Dodd, the chief investigator.[5]

Jesse Wolcott.jpg
Angier Goodwin.jpg
B. Carroll Reece.jpg
Wayne Hayes bioguide picture.jpg
Gracie Pfost.jpg

Comprisal

The select committee comprised of three Republicans and two Democrats.[2] The GOP members were Reece, Jesse P. Wolcott of Michigan, and Angier L. Goodwin of Massachusetts. Although Wolcott was among the majority of Republicans who voted for the resolution enacting the committee, Goodwin was not.[3]

The two Democrats appointed to the committee were Wayne L. Hays of Ohio and Gracie Pfost of Idaho.[2] Neither voted for the enactment resolution[3] and would prove to be obstacles to the committee's investigation.

Investigation

 
Ohio representative Wayne L. Hayes attempted to derail the committee.

Among the subjects of the committee's investigation included the funding by the Rockefeller Foundation for Nazi collaborator and sexual revolutionary Alfred Kinsey.[2]

Obstruction by Wayne Hays

President Dwight Eisenhower, who turned against Joseph McCarthy in the latter's investigations of communist infiltration, similarly worked to undermine the work of the Reece Committee.[6] He urged committee member Hays to sabotage hearings via rude behavior and damage and undermine its overall committee's reputation, which the congressman did. Hays had been appointed to the committee for such purposes by House Minority Leader Sam Rayburn,[2] who had joined the majority of Democrats in voting against the resolution to establish the committee.[3]

When Aaron Sargent of San Francisco testified as a witness before the committee in alleging Illinois senator Paul Douglas to have had ties with socialist groups, Hays walked out along with Pfost, the committee's other Democrat.[2]

Findings

Among the committee's conclusions stated that significant foundations:[6]

“ ...have actively supported attacks upon our social and government system and financed the promotion of socialism and collectivist ideas. ”

Release

The committee's report was agreed to based on party lines, with Democrats Hays and Pfost refusing to sign,[2] and released in December 1954.[7] However, due to the timing coinciding with the highly covered Senate censure of McCarthy, it received comparably less attention.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ B. Carroll Reece quote: As the egalitarianism of Marxism is attractive to many, socialism.... AZ Quotes. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 FascinatingPolitics (December 22, 2019). The Reece Committee on Foundations: Conspiratorial Nonsense or an Expose of a Threat to the Nation?. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 H RES 217. RESOLUTION CREATING A SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO CON- DUCT A FULL AND COMPLETE INVESTIGATION AND STUDY OF EDUCA- TIONAL AND PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS AND OTHER COMPARABLE ORGANIZATIONS WHICH ARE EXEMPT FROM FED. INCOME TAXATION.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  4. ↑ Saltonstall-Davis-Frelinghuysen-Appleton family of Massachusetts. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  5. ↑ Crino, Art (August 29, 2017). Foundations and the Reece Committee. The Northwest Connection. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jasper, William F. (February 6, 2017). Foundations: Cutting Off the Toxic Funding Flow. The New American. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  7. ↑ December 21, 1954. REECE COMMITTEE REPORT. The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2021.

External links

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