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Federal Government. That is, we could select men from among those who had taken examinations and passed them. Out of a list of five or six men who had passed an examination, we could select the one whom we preferred, and certain imponderables would always enter into that selection. One of those imponderables might well be his relationship to the Communist Party. You know, did you want this fellow in here, or did you not want him in? And if you felt that something about his general attitudes made him a problem case, you wouldn't take him. You'd pass over him and take somebody else of the first three or the first five. That probably had always been done.

If, on investigation, on examination of his background, it was clearly shown that he had been a Communist, that might enter in. The truth was that during the War a great many people were taken in without any adequate investigation of their vouchers, as they are called--their references. Their references said they were all right, or people just sent back the blank signed with no particular detail on it, and the Government put them to work because there was such a vast need for people. Under those circumstances, there might be a number of people get into the Government who had backgrounds that would lead straight to the Communist Party or some part of it.