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Notes on
Raymond Gram Swing
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Swing, Raymond Gram. Noted
American writer and commentator was friends with Hammer
in Moscow in 1921. Active with Hammer against the Germans
in New York with Hammer 20 years later. Page 104
Swing wrote for "The
Nation" a liberal weekly.
Swing was
linked to members of a Soviet Spy Ring in a
letter from J. Edgar Hoover. Notes on Hoover Spy
Letter.
Known
associate of Owen Lattimore.
Corresponded with American
Communist author Max
Forrester Eastman.
Radio Days -
Raymond Gram Swing Biographical sketch
"Raymond Gram Swing
was one of the most influential
commentators during the rise of Hitler's
Germany. While he was a liberal in
philosophy, he was level headed and felt
strongly about the plight of his fellow
Americans both during the depression
years as well as once this country
entered the war.
As a young man out of high school, this
Ohio native attended Oberlin College, a
school that was already known to admit
white, black and female students. He once
wrote that "just being a part of
Oberlin gave me an innate sense of the
political equality of men and women, all
men and all women." However, he was
not destined to complete his studies at
the school. Because of his pranks and
cutting of classes, the school suspended
him at the end of his freshman year. Out
on his own, he began working in Lorain,
Ohio in a barber shop at age 18. But he
soon moved to The Cleveland Press. His
newspaper career was meteoric moving
quickly to The Cleveland Press, the
Richmond (Indiana) Evening News, the
Indianapolis Star, the Cincinnati Times
Star and finally settling in Indianapolis
as Managing Editor of the Indianapolis
Sun. He was 23 years old at this time.
While there, he married and was given as
a wedding gift a yearlong stay in Europe,
but the marriage did not last.
In Europe on his own he became bureau
chief in Berlin for the Chicago Daily
News as World War One began. He was
allowed to move freely behind German
lines where he reported on such battles
as the Dardanelles. He got an exclusive
when he was able to report on a German
cannon known as "Big Bertha."
In 1921 he married a radical feminist,
Betty Gram. She insisted that Gram adopt
her name, if she was to adopt his. This
was the name he became known for as his
radio career later blossomed. After the
war, he became London bureau chief for
Philadelphia Daily Ledger. This afforded
him an opportunity to speak on foreign
affairs for CBS Radio, which used news
reporters regularly as analysts. At this
time, he was offered the position of
director of talks for CBS. In this
position he would line up prominent
people for discussion programs. But Swing
declined the offer. Instead it was
offered to lesser experienced man, Edward
R. Murrow.
Instead, Swing went to WOR, a Mutual
station, in 1936 to do a weekly
broadcast. As Hitler was gaining
influence in Europe, Swing's
understanding of the European affairs
caused Mutual to increase his broadcasts
to five times-a-week. Sponsorships were
everything at that time and Swing was
fully supported by White Owl Cigars. This
brought financial reward as well as
prestige. He later moved to the Blue
Network where he continued to comment on
the events of the war." \Radio
Days - Raymond Gram Swing\
TESTIMONY OF RAYMOND GRAM SWING,
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND ADVISER, VOICE OF
AMERICA
Mr. Cohn. Raymond Gram Swing is the next witness,
Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Jacobs. You wanted the last name?
Mr. Cohn. Yes, if you could supply that to us.
The Chairman. Mr. Swing, would you raise your
right hand?
In this matter now in hearing before the
committee, do you
solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the
whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Swing. I do.
Mr. Cohn. Your full name, please?
Mr. Swing. Raymond Swing.
Mr. Cohn. Mr. Swing, are you with the Voice of
America now?
Mr. Swing. Yes.
Mr, Cohn. In what capacity?
Mr. Swing. Political commentator and adviser.
Mr. Cohn. I see. Have you ever been a member of
the
Communist party?
Mr. Swing. No.
Mr. Cohn. Have you ever been a member of any
organization
listed as subversive by the attorney general or
cited as
subversive by the House of Representatives
Un-American
Activities Committee?
Mr. Swing. I have been a sponsor of the
Anglo-American
Soviet Committee, at a time, up until the
conclusion of the
war, when I asked them to take my name off, and
discovered
subsequently that my name had not been taken off,
and I asked
my lawyer to take steps to have it taken off.
Mr. Cohn. When did you last see your name on, in
connection
with that organization?
Mr. Swing. I did not see it at that time, until
my
attention was called to it, and then I
immediately took the
matter up with my lawyer. That is Morris Ernst. I
said, ``Will
you please take action?'' And he wrote to them,
and finally
said he would sue unless they took the name off.
And I was never a member of the organization. I
was just a
sponsor of it.
Mr Cohn. I see. You were a sponsor.
Mr. Swing. Yes.
Mr. Cohn. And when did you notify them you no
longer
desired to be a sponsor?
Mr. Swing. When I found out that my name was on
it.
Mr. Cohn. Had you not withdrawn before that?
Mr. Swing. I had written a letter at the end of
the war.
Mr. Cohn. That is what I am trying to ascertain.
What is
the date of that letter?
Mr. Swing. I don't know the date. It was at the
end of the
war. I had been a sponsor of that organization
and of Russian
War Relief, and I asked them to take my name off.
Mr. Cohn. Could you at your convenience supply me
with copy
of that letter?
Mr. Swing. No, I couldn't. It is not in
existence.
Mr. Cohn. Do you remember when you asked Mr.
Ernst to write
to them? When did you ask Mr. Ernst to write to
them?
Mr. Swing. I can't tell you exactly what time it
was. I
should say it was in '47 or '48. But I can
determine that. The
way I found out that my name was on the list was
that my
sister-in-law went to her hairdresser, and her
hairdresser
said, ``How come your brother-in-law is a
Commie?'' She said,
``Well, he isn't.''
``Then how come that he has his name on the
letterhead of a
subversive organization?''
She reported this to me. I called up the
hairdresser and
said, ``Don't you know it is libelous to call a
man a
Communist?''
She said, ``Well, why do you have your name on
this
organization?''
I said, ``I haven't.''
She said, ``I have it here right before me.''
Mr. Cohn. Would that have been dated October 31,
1949?
M . Swing. It could have.
Mr. Cohn. What I was getting at: In the letter
written by
Mr. Ernst at that time, do you think he then
referred to, knew
about and referred to, your letter of withdrawal?
Mr. Swing. He said I had asked. And they didn't
answer him
at first, and when they did answer, when he
threatened to sue,
they wrote a letter of apology, and they said
that their
records didn't show the receipt of such a letter.
But they said
in such an organization as that, it might well
have been lost.
Senator Jackson. Then I take it they contended
you had
never withdrawn?
Mr. Swing. They contended they had no record of
having
received the letter.
Senator Jackson. I understand you do not have any
copy of
that letter.
Mr. Swing. I am sorry. I haven't.
Mr. Cohn. Do you customarily keep a copy of your
correspondence?
Mr. Swing. I have a great deal of correspondence
that I
threw away at the end of the war, and what
correspondence I
have is now in my residence in Jamaica, British
West Indies.
Mr. Cohn. Then all you can supply us with is a
copy of this
letter of Mr. Ernst and their reply?
Mr. Swing. A copy of that correspondence I have,
and it
also was given by Mr. Ernst to the FBI, because
he was at that
time discussing with Mr. Hoover the advisability
of a law
keeping organizations from using people's names
without right.
Mr. Cohn. You will try to get that for us. Did
you ever
have any connection with the magazine known as
Soviet Russia
Today?
Mr. Swing. No connection whatsoever.
Mr. Cohn. Did you know your name was ever used in
connection with that magazine? Did that ever come
to your
attention?
Mr. Swing. It was so listed, to my great
amazement, as a
collaborator of Soviet Russia Today, and I found
on inquiry
that my collaboration was in my having put my
name down as
sponsor for a dinner given in February 1943,
which was a few
weeks after Russia had become an ally of the
United States, on
Red Army Day, the 21st anniversary of Red Army
Day. And I gave
my name as a sponsor for that dinner, as a great
many other
Americans did. And that dinner I then learned
later was put on
by Soviet Russia Today. And that is the full
extent of my
collaboration with that magazine.
Mr. Cohn. Now, did you ever have any connection
with the
Greek-American Council, which is listed as a
subversive
organization?
Mr. Swing. Not that I know of.
Mr. Cohn. Did you not, in fact, contribute to the
July 1945
bulletin of the Greek-American Council?
Mr. Swing. Not that I know of.
Mr. Cohn. Well would you know if you had done so?
Mr. Swing. Not necessarily.
The Chairman. By ``contribute,'' do you mean
financially?
Or writings?
Mr. Cohn. I think in the form of a writing.
Mr. Swing. Maybe something of mine was used by
them. Were
they subversive, declared subversive, in 1945?
Mr. Cohn. I don't know. Do we have that guide?
The Chairman. In other words, your testimony is
that as far
as you know, you neither contributed money nor
writing to them.
But if any of your writings appeared in that
magazine, it was
done without your knowledge, and you received no
pay for
anything?
Mr. Swing. Well, I have no memory of anything at
all. It is
possible that I made a contribution to some
organization at
that time, which I must say is a long way back.
But I certainly
did not make any contribution to anything that
was a subversive
organization, knowingly.
Mr. Cohn. Are there any other organizations now
listed as
subversive with which you had any connection,
knowingly or
unknowingly, that have been brought to your
attention?
Mr. Swing. So far as I know, there is none, and I
don't
know the complete list of the subversive
organizations----
Senator Jackson. At the time you had these
contacts with
these groups, were they listed as subversive?
Mr. Swing. No.
Senator Jackson. That was during the war?
Mr. Swing. That was during the war.
Senator Jackson. The war period, when they were
allies?
Mr. Swing. When they were allies. And I thought
it was very
important, since victory over Germany depended
upon
cooperation----
The Chairman. Who recommended you for a job with
the Voice?
Do you know? How did you happen to get your job
with the Voice?
Mr. Swing. I was invited to come there by Mr.
Puhan. He was
the person who asked me to come.
The Chairman. Mr. Puhan. Did he tell you why he
selected
you? Or did he give you any idea of why he
selected you?
Mr. Swing. Well, he gave me the idea that they
needed a
commentator. I had a very large international
audience at that
time. My wartime broadcasts had been heard and
been circulated
by OWI and been heard the world over. I had a
worldwide
audience from having done the American commentary
for the BBC.
The Chairman. What different language do you
speak? I
should say: What different languages have you
been broadcasting
in?
Mr. Swing. I had only been broadcasting in
English.
The Chairman. Can you speak any languages besides
English?
Mr. Swing. I have a working--I have done some
broadcasts in
German for the Voice, and I did ones in French,
which I
wouldn't recommend.
The Chairman. In other words, you can speak in
German, in
French?
Mr. Swing. I lived in Germany for seven years,
and I have
lived in France for several years, and I have
good restaurant
French.
The Chairman. In other words you were not hired
because you
were a linguist. You were hired, you say, because
of your
international audience.
Mr. Swing. I was hired because of my status as an
American
commentator, a news analyst, and also because I
had very wide
experience with foreign news.
The Chairman. How well do you know Mr. Harris,
Reed Harris,
the acting director?
Mr. Swing. I have never met him.
The Chairman. When you were hired, what would you
say your
general reputation was? Was it as an extreme
liberal, as a
conservative, as left-wing, right-wing? Every
commentator has
pretty much a reputation, you know. I am just
wondering what
your reputation was at that time.
Mr. Swing. Well, is a man an authority on his own
reputation? I would have said that I was known
generally
speaking, as a liberal.
The Chairman. Let me ask you this. I am not
reflecting upon
your political ideas at all. Every man has a
right to have his
own. But I am curious to know what type of
commentators they
were seeking out. And every man has his
reputation. Take, for
example, Fulton Lewis has a reputation as being a
conservative
broadcaster, as I assume he knows. Elmer Davis, I
assume, knows
he has the reputation as being a liberal. Would
it be correct
to say that you had a reputation of being one of
perhaps the
most liberal of the liberals?
Mr. Swing. I wouldn't say that, no. I would say
that my
reputation as a commentator during the war was
not so much for
being a liberal as being a person who did a
fairly objective
analysis of the news.
The Chairman. How well do you know [Archibald]
McLeish, the
former head of the Library of Congress?
Mr. Swing. I have never visited at his house, nor
has he
visited at mine. I know him fairly well, in a
casual way.
The Chairman. But you are not close friends?
Mr. Swing. No. I don't correspond with him, and I
haven't
seen him for a long time.
The Chairman. How about Owen Lattimore? How well
have you
known Lattimore?
Mr. Swing. I have known Lattimore fairly well.
When I
needed information about Asian affairs, I used to
ask him for
help.
The Chairman. Have you ever visited at his home,
or has he
ever visited at yours?
Mr. Swing. I have never visited at his home, and
I don't
believe he has visited at mine, although we have
had many meals
together.
The Chairman. In other words, you were fairly
close
friends. Have you ever collaborated in any
writing with
Lattimore?
Mr. Swing. No.
The Chairman. Just for the record, would you give
us a
complete list of your government employment, with
any
government agency or any semi-government agency?
Mr. Swing. I was with the War Labor Board in
1917-18, for,
I should say, the better part of eight months,
until just
before the agency closed up. And that is the only
other
government employ I had before I joined the
Voice.
The Chairman. Your title is what at this time?
Mr. Swing. Political commentator and adviser.
The Chairman. You are the chief political
commentator, I
gather?
Mr. Swing. No, there are two of us.
The Chairman. I see. How many political
commentators, all
told? Just two?
Mr. Swing. There are two of us who voice our own
commentaries, yes.
The Chairman. I see. And what is the other man's
name?
Mr. Swing. Howard Mayer.
The Chairman. Howard----
Mr. Swing. Mayer.
The Chairman. And what would you say his
reputation is?
Does he have a reputation as a conservative, or a
liberal?
Mr. Swing. Well, he doesn't quite classify in
either of
those categories. He is a very brilliant and
dynamic person. He
started in doing satires, particularly hard
anti-Soviet
satires, and he has been very effective in that
part of the
Voice's operations.
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Swing.
Mr. Swing. May I make just one addition to what I
have
said? You asked when I was invited to join the
Voice. I want to
say that when I joined the Voice, I had before me
a contract
for commercial broadcasting that paid me more
than twice as
much as my Voice salary, and I accepted the job
with the Voice
because I felt it was my duty if my government
asked me, as a
radio commentator, to serve in their radio
service, to do so.
The Chairman. How much of a salary are you
getting?
Mr. Swing. I am a GS-15, $10,800.
The Chairman. And how much time do you spend each
day
broadcasting, roughly?
Mr. Swing. Well, I put in the full time. I do a
commentary
every day, five times a week.
Mr. Cohn. Who was director of the Voice when you
were----
Mr. Swing. Foy Kohler. He also asked me, and so
did Mr.
Barrett. The three of them interviewed me about
it.
The Chairman. The reason I asked you how much
time you
spent: We had been informed by someone from the
Voice that you
were not being used now.
Mr. Swing. Oh, I am being used--I think my
scripts get more
used than those of anybody. They are used by more
foreign
language desks than anybody's.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Mr. Swing. Thank you, sir.
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