Furry's Statement at hearing

Our forefathers wrote into the constitution the privilege of the Fifth Amendment to provide for protection which good citizens may sometimes sorely need. Innocent people who feel the threat of false, mistaken, or overzealous prosecution because of unpopular opinions have every right to invoke this protection.

"It is clear, however, that widespread misrepresentation has produced in many minds a distorted idea of the meaning of the constitutional privilege. Though its real purpose has always been to shield the innocent, many people have been misled into thinking that the exercise of the privilege is an admission of guilt. I have now come to believe that for me to continue to claim my constitutional privilege would bring undue harm to me and to the great institution with which I am connected.

"Although I am sure that my pat claims of the privilege have been both legally justified and morally right, I now intend to waive my constitutional rights own activities and associations. I hope that be telling my own political history I can help to dispel suspicion and contribute to public understanding.

"Experience has taught me that the enquiry in likely to concern other persons than myself. I feel obliged to state that I shall respectfully refuse to answer questions that bring in the names of other people. I wish to make it clear that if I know of any persons whose conduct as I saw it was criminal I should feel bound to reveal those facts. I am not seeking to protect the guilty from prosecution; I wish merely to secure the innocent from prosecution."