Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 8687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137 of 824

Whether they were communist, communist affiliated?

Reliable in any sense. At that point, there was no longer communist, after all they were our great buddies. Whether they had any German affiliation. I think we referred early to the problem of the German photographers. They were always looking into the background of people who had German names or parents were born in Germany.

But did they continue looking in the files after, in a way, the first shots of the Cold War had been shot and were--

Cold War?

Later, postwar. Did they continue looking and therefore were looking for other things, i.e. communists, in the files of Life?

After the war, we could be much more arbitrary and say, “None of your bloody business.”

Is that in fact what happened?

Quite often. They had to prove their case to us for looking in our files. During the war, we didn't have any such right.

How did that work after the war? Who would they go to?