Munson Hints Fairbank May Have Red Ties

Lvie H. Munson, ex-Central Intelligence Agency employee, last Saturday called John K. Fairbank '29, professor of History, one of a group of "Communists" used by the C.I.A. in its Far Eastern activities.

Fairbank said last night that he would issue a statement on his position this afternoon.

Munson told the Senate Internal Security subcommittee that Fairbank and Benjamin I. Schwartz '38, assistant professor of History, were among a group of six persons proposed by diplomat John P. Davies to guide the C.I.A. in its Far Eastern activities in November, 1949.

According to Munson, the six were to be used for consultation, guidance, and preparation of material that would be needed by the C.I.A. in that area.

Munson stated that four of the six were Communists, or had Communists affiliations and added that at the time of the conversation Davies asserted that he did not believe any of the group were Communists.

Munson said that Schwartz and Mrs. Fairbank were the only members of the group without Communist connections.

Schwartz said his only connection with the C.I.A. came before the Davies-Munson talks, when in the spring of 1949 he was asked by an Agency representative to write a paper giving his views on the kind of propaganda that should be sent to Communist China. Although he submitted the paper, Schwartz would not discuss its contents, because it might still be confidential.

Edgar Snow, one of the accused, asserted that he had never been approached with such a proposal, but that he would be willing to do it. He strongly denied ever being a Communist, or having Communist affiliations.