70 Year Magazine Archive

The Death of Herbert Norman

by James Burnham

What was it in the background of Herbert Norman that interested a Senate Investigating Committee? Why, it if it was so irrelevant, was it so suppressed?

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On April 10, art a hearing in New York City, the House Committee on Un-American Activities questioned members of the Symphony of the Air concerning Communist infiltration. Eight of the orchestra’s musicians plus Mr. David Walter, until two months ago chairman of its board of directors, refused on the ground of possible self-incrimination to reply to questions about their own or their colleagues’ relation to Communism.

Further testimony established that in 1956 four of the Symphony’s players, who were anti-Communist, had been fired. William Dorn and Samuel Borodkin had been chosen for the orchestra by Arturo Toscanini, its conductor when known by its former name, the NBC Symphony. There had been no complaint about the musicianship of Messrs. Dorn and Borodkin until one day last year when they were among the sponsors of a resolution aiming to rid the Symphony of Communist influence.

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