Communist activities in the peace movement (Women Strike for ...

2098 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Mrs. Meyers. I am very proud of the role that I did have in
trying to assemble and work and walking around the White House
and just looking at it and understanding what we women could do
to register our disturbance at the time of the tests.
Mr. NiTTLE. Is it not also correct that you were the chairman of
a committee selected to make appointments with Congressmen in
Washington on that occasion?
Mrs. Meyers. I was the telephone contact.
Mr. NiTTLE. Mrs. Meyers, it is also the committee's information
that you played a leading role in arranging the sendoff demonstration
at Idlewild Airport on April 1, 1962, by Women Strike for Peace for
the delegates of that organization who were leaving to attend the
17-nation Geneva disarmament conference in Switzerland. Is this
correct?
Mrs. Meyers. It was one of the most pleasant things I ever did.
It was really inspiring to see women leave a house and their homes,
being sponsored by their friends and people interested in peace, to
see what they could do in any way to say to the men who were working,
"Look at us. Worry about us. Worry about our children.
Please, please, negotiate a firmer peace."
Mr. NiTTLE. The question simply is this, Mrs. Meyers, and we are
not inquiring into your motives at this point, but inquiring whether
you did play a leading role in arranging the sendoff demonstration.
Did you or did you not?
Mrs. Meyers. I did and, Mr. Nittle, I thought you were most interested
in my motives.
Mr. NiTTLE. Let us proceed to the next question.
Mrs. Meyers. I really thought that was the subject of this investigation,
what motivated me to be a member of Women Strike for Peace.
Mr. NiTTLE. The attendance of Women Strike for Peace observers
at the Geneva conference was clearly the most spectacular accomplishment
of Women Strike for Peace. Reportedly, a total of 51
delegates, led by Mrs. Dagmar Wilson, went to Switzerland by air to
express the views of Women Strike for Peace to the delegates at the
17-nation disarmament conference.
It is the information of the committee that your New York group of
Women Strike for Peace made the arrangements with Swissair lines
for this trip and that the names of the persons who were to attend
the Geneva conference were announced at a special meeting of Women
Strike for Peace in New York City on March 22, 1962. Is it a fact
that this expedition to Geneva was conceived, planned, and arranged
by the New York group of Women Strike for Peace?
Mrs. Meyers. Sir, I was involved, as you said, in the sendoff
demonstration. I felt that I was totally involved in wanting to see
women go. The conception of the program gets so lost when hundreds
of women are thinking about it. Sometimes we find that we
are coming to the same idea at the same time, and no one looks for
credit. We just look for activity. Whether it was the conception of
the New^ York conunittee or not, I think, as you sa}", it is spectacular
that it was done. That is the most important thing.
Mr. Nittle. I do not like to interrupt you at all times, but perhaps
if you stick to the point, it won't be necessary. The question simply
was whether it is a fact that the expedition to Geneva was conceived,
planned, and arranged by the New York group of Women
Strike for Peace.