GOP Research Chief Renews Strong Attack On Riesman 'Papers'

The research director of the Republican National Committee has accused David Riesman of "strangely inverted logic" in his statement labeling Republican attacks on The Liberal Papers as "a new kind of McCarthyism."

In a recent letter to the Washington Post, William B. Prendergast said, "Never before has the claim been made that the right to express any point of view is impaired if a contrary point of view is expressed. Nor has the claim hitherto been made that free speech is impaired by noting a similarity between what the speaker says and what the Soviet Union says."

Prendergast's letter followed a communication Riesman sent to the Post, enlarging on comments he first made in the March 27 CRIMSON. In the CRIMSON story, Riesman had vigorously defended the Papers, a paperback collection of essays on foreign policy, against charges made by Rep. William E. Miller (R-N.Y.), the Republican National Chairman.

Miller claimed the Papers "not only repeat the Communist line--they go beyond the Communist line." The book was sponsored by the Liberal Project, a loose organization of liberal House Democrats that arranged discussions between scholars and legislators.