Cox Committee
During the 82nd United States Congress, the House of Representatives voted to enact the Select Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations. Named after its chair Eugene E. Cox, the committee during the congressional session is known as the Cox Committee.
The U.S. House in April 1952 approved the resolution which enacted the select committee by a 194–158 vote.[1] The vote was not among party lines, although Republicans showed slightly stronger support for the measure than Democrats.
Composition
Cox, the chair of the committee, was a Democrat segregationist from Georgia. The other members of the Democratic Party among the committee were L. Brooks Hays of Arkansas, Aimé J. Forand of Rhode Island, and Donald O'Toole of New York. The three Republican members were Richard M. Simpson of Pennsylvania, B. Carroll Reece of Tennessee, and Angier Goodwin of Massachusetts.
Although there was a 4–3 Democrat majority, Cox was a part of the Conservative Coalition, thus allowing for a simultaneous 4–3 conservative majority on the committee.[2]
Confusion between Wayne Hays and Brook Hays
A number of sources covering the Cox Committee make it unclear as to whether "Hays" referred to Brooks Hays or Wayne Hays. The former was a member of the select committee since its inception, while the latter only became acting chairman following Cox's untimely death. The two are unrelated.
Investigation and report
The committee in 1952 sent all major foundations questionnaires which requested information about their operations and activities.[2] Although it conducted hearings which amount to hundreds of pages in transcripts, the Cox Committee's investigation was not in-depth.
Extensive and incriminating testimonies were heard by the committee from ex-communists such as Manning Johnson, Louis Budenz, and Maurice Malkin, who shared information of foundations who funded efforts plotted in Moscow, Russia to subvert American society.[3]
Cox died in December 1952 prior to the conclusion of the committee's work and report's release.[2] The 15 page-long[3] final report contained little substance and did not declare major foundations to have been subversive.
Aftermath
Among the six remaining members of the select committee following Cox's death and the release of the final report, Rep. Reece was unsatisfied with the scope of the investigation and was the only one to seek a do-over.[2] The new Republican-majority House in 1953 voted to re-enact the committee,[4] and Reece was put in charge. Simpson, both Hayses, Forand, and Forand voted against the resolution.
The subsequent Reece Committee proved to conduct a more extensive investigation that that of the Cox Committee. In the final Dodd report, the following criticisms of the Cox Committee were mentioned:[2]
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References
- ↑ H RES 561. RESOLUTION CREATING A SELECT COMMITTEE TO CON- DUCT AN INVESTIGATION AND STUDY OF FOUNDATIONS AND OTHER COMPARABLE ORGANIZATIONS.. GovTrack.us. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 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 September 21, 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jasper, William F. (February 6, 2017). Foundations: Cutting Off the Toxic Funding Flow. The New American. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ↑ 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 September 21, 2021.
External links
- Cox Committee hearings (the compilation is very long!)