Word: warshaws
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There were similar incidents of intense majority "pressure tactics" against the minority. One meeting was called in which the Steering Committee demanded the power to investigate "rumor-mongers." Warshaw notes that rumors were circulating throughout Budapest when the Americans arrived; rumors of secret police raids, of Russian troop movements, of the torture of political prisoners of widespread poverty in Hungary. The meeting was called by the chairman of the Steering Committee to discuss the fact that "these rumors are dangerous to the delegation...
...meeting was held in a park, and to "preserve security," the speaker asked for "last initials only" and shooed away passers-by. The speaker stated, according to Warshaw's notes, that the "rumors are being spread to defame the present regime ... to disrupt the delegation." He went on to say that a girl within the group had admitted the night before that she was guilty of spreading rumors...
...Warshaw's notes detail the remainder of the meeting. "The accused girl was given the right to defend herself publicly. She broke down in tears, but made the following points. She had been questioned at length, by the Steering Committee the evening before. She had been charged with making anti Negro statements. She said she had freely discussed her reasons for going to the Festival with an official of the delegation, and challenged the person she had told them to to corroborate this. The person did not speak up. At one point, the accused girl had to stop...
According to Warshaw, the same type of incident punctuated the delegation's entire stay. For a week there were persistent rumors within the group that a Time-and-Life photographer was surreptitiously preparing a photo essay on the Festival. Other rumors claimed that FBI and State Department agents and enrolled as delegates and were filing reports on the members...
...Warshaw notes that there was some basis for these rumors. "The press coverage of the Festival was biased and one sided; one U.S. newspaper, for instance, ran a story claiming Americans were parading through the streets singing the 'Internationale' and forcing Hungarians to join them. It was not true." He also notes that the U.S. Embassy took a strong interest in the leaders and the political affiliations of the members, and that embassy officials frequently attempted to question delegates as to the composition and leadership of their group. But Warshaw and other returning delegates note that the head...