A remarkable commemoration occurred recently in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Â

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"It wasn't until the 1948 Progressives [the Third Party effort against the Democrats] that the National CIO became interested in doing something . And in '49...[I] got this assignment to go into North Carolina where the Communists were very strong . . . in the tobacco industry. But someone at the top of the heap, and I had heard that an agreement had been reached between the head of the Organizing Department of the CIO, fellow by the name of Allan Hayward, and Gordon Gray, who at that time was Secretary of War, and a powerful Democrat from North Carolina, see, he controlled . . . many of the major newspapers in North Carolina and was the political wheel in North Carolina. He was interested in doing something about the Communists and their strength with the CIO Political Action Committee in North Carolina.

"And I get the impression that many of us were sent into North Carolina, not necessarily to win elections, but to oust the Communists from the control of some of those unions. They had control of this R. J. Reynolds plant and many of the leaf houses around the state. . . And I have no reason to doubt that some sort of deal was reached at the top of the heap between Gordon Gray and the CIO, so many of us were sent in there to run these people out. And they had done a very good job in North Carolina, from the trade union point of view. "


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