Edelman, Accused of Red Sympathies, Testifies Today

Dr. Isador S. Edelman, research follow in surgery, will testify today before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that accused him of having Communist leanings while working under an Atomic Energy Commission fellowship.

Edelman flow down to Washington last night after authorities asked him to appear voluntarily before the committee. The 29-year-old Medical School scientist was front-paged in Boston paper Friday when he said he "didn't know" whether he was a member of the Communist Party.

Edelman said that he and his wife "became quite interested in finding out what the Communist Party was talking about' 'while they were living in Indianapolis in 1943. "All told, we attended about two party meetings and had the Daily Worker sent to us," he said.

"It was arranged for me to put in an application for membership. I don't remember whether I signed it or not. After six years it's not too clear. I don't know whether this constituted my being a member of the Communist Party."

Edelman said he may have been "naive or misinformed," but "it was my understanding that this didn't constitute membership." He added that both he and his wife dropped out of the picture when they found that they didn't agree with the Communists, either in theory or practice.

The young scientist came to Harvard on January 1, on a $3750-a-year fellowship awarded by the AEC. His work is non-secret and concerns fluid balance in the body in certain surgical diseases.

Its only connection with atomic energy is with radioactive isotopes, which are used in hospitals and laboratories throughout the world and have no relation to atomic energy for military purposes.

Edelman ignorant of Atom Bomb

"I'm a medical doctor, not a physicist," Edelman told reporters. "I don't know a damn thing about nuclear physics. If somebody tried to tell me about the atomic bomb I wouldn't know what they were talking about."

The Senate subcommittee, which has insisted during hearings that fellowship applications be screened to bar Communists, first heard of Edelman on Friday. Senator Wherry (R-Neb) brought him up as a possible Communist sympathizer who had received a fellowship without a security clearance.

Several witnesses agreed the loyalty should be the prime test even in non-classified fields, and Senator Ferguson (R-Mich) suggested that Edelman be called in to testify on his own behalf.

Over the weekend Edelman told reporters that he would be glad to appear. "I certainly have nothing to hide--and nothing to be ashamed off," he said. "A bit of youthful curiosity has made a mountain out of a molehill."

In a statement issued Friday, Dean Burwell of the Medical School praised Edelman as an "able hard-working, and effective researcher."