INVESTIGATIONS: Very Natural

A “marked change” had come over Congressman J. Parnell Thomas, he told the doctors. The onetime fire-eating chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee was just in no shape, he insisted, to stand trial in federal court on charges that he padded his congressional payroll. Ever since he had been operated on for peptic ulcer, he said, he had suffered from depression, sometimes wept, had phobias about seeing people, driving a car and going to the barbershop.

Since the trial had already been postponed ten months, District Judge Alexander Holtzoff appointed doctors to check up on Thomas’ health. They reported:

“This patient’s present complaint is diarrhea, nausea, nervous instability and mental depression. He does not suffer from indigestion at the present time . . . has two or three highballs before dinner . . . smokes three or four cigars daily . . .”

When Judge Holtzoff then ordered the trial to begin next week, Thomas’ attorney warned that the Congressman had suffered “nervous reaction” just from the doctors’ examinations. That, said the judge, seemed perfectly natural under the circumstances.