March 27, 1944

Rep. Martin Dies (D-Texas), the head of the House un-American Activities Committee, goes on the radio to accuse Walter Winchell of being used by “one of the most sinister forces this nation ever faced.”

Dies called this shadowy group “a highly organized and well financed enterprise to destroy by vilification the character of any public man who gets in the way of the objectives of the groups who manage and finance this offensive.”

Dies and Winchell spoke from separate studios of WMAL in Washington and met after the broadcasts, where they “exchanged acid remarks.”

Winchell again asked Dies to subpoena him to appear before Congress, to which Dies replied “All in good time.”

Winchell explained that his sponsor, the Andrew Jergens Co., had forbidden him to make any new charges against Dies until the lawmaker “had a chance to answer what had already been said.”

A note accompanying Winchell’s column about Dies states that it was not distributed to his syndicate, although it was published in the New York Mirror.

From the St. Petersburg Times.