Former Attorney General Katzenbach’s anti‑Communist accusations against W.E.B. DuBois Clubs cited in Boys Clubs board remarks

For example, | occasionally went too far while wearing my anti- Communist mask. When former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach exposed the DuBois Clubs as a Communist front organization, poison-pen letters and threatening telephone calls were received by many of the Boys Clubs from patriotic Americans who were understandably confused by the ostensibly coincidental pronunciations. But in my function as National Board Chairman of the Boys Clubs of America, | charged that the name choice was “an almost classic example of Communist deception and duplicity” and that the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs “are not unaware of the confusion they are causing among our supporters and among many other good citizens.” In retrospect, however, | admit that this was a slightly foolish position to espouse. In August of 1945, while | was still serving in the Navy, stationed in Maryland, there was a Committee of 100 seeking—according to an advertisement they placed in several California newspapers—a candidate for Congress “with no previous political experience, to defeat a man who has represented the district in the House for ten years.” This was a reference to Jerry Voorhis. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015094