Hugh Bryson v. United States

Hugh Bryson, president of the National Union of Marine Cooks and Stewards, was tried on two counts of an indictment which charged that he filed with the National Labor Relations Board “an affidavit of a non-Communist union officer,” in which he falsely alleged that he was “not a member of the Communist Party or affiliated with such Party.” He was charged with falsely denying membership in the first count and affiliation in the second count, all in violation of § 1001, Title 18, United States Code. The jury acquitted him on the membership count but found him guilty on the affiliation count. From a judgment of conviction and a sentence of five years imprisonment plus a $10,000 fine, Bryson appeals.

As early as 1937, Bryson was an active and militant member of both the Communist Party and the Marine Cooks and Stewards. He frequently caucused with other Communist members of the union for the purpose of influencing the union’s meetings, elections and policies. Thereafter, and particularly between 1941 and 1947, the evidence showed that Bryson attended many Communist Party meetings. He solicited new members and participated in the expulsion of old ones. He was a member of the county…