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Pegler sued him for libel. Louis Nizer became the lawyer for Quent. Pegler, this monster, wrote a series of columns calling Quentin Reynolds a Communist because Quent always was on the liberal side. Of course, Pegler was a black reactionary. He not only labeled Quent a Communist but accused him of being a coward who had always run away from action. Here was Pegler, who had never done anything, smearing Quentin Reynolds, who had gone on the expedition of Dunkirk, where he was being shelled by Nazi batteries on a boat one hundred yards from shore! Well, Quent won the case and got a verdict of a couple of hundred thousand dollars!

I went down to one of the courtroom sessions. People fought to get in because it was a famous case. Everybody hated Pegler and everybody loved Quent Reynolds. It was really the case of the villain and the hero. Pegler was always finding Communists under the bed. The day that I went down to court was one of the great days because Louis Nizer--a lawyer who was just becoming famous--confronted Pegler on the witness stand and demanded, “Do you think that this is a Communist statement. Mr. Pegler?" He read a long paragraph. Pegler said, “It certainly is. That's typical Communist propaganda.” Nizer said, “Mr. Pegler, I got that out of one of your own columns! You wrote this.”

Well, the case was over right there. The courtroom audience burst into screams of laughter and the judge simply couldn't restore order. Pegler turned the color of a beet. I sure picked the right day to accompany Quent to court!