National Affairs: Contempt

U. S. Representatives were not certain that Recovery had drawn the political sting of Dr. Francis E. Townsend and his old-age pension plan until last election day. On Nov. 5, 48 hr. after the votes were in, the U. S. District Attorney in Washington announced that he would move at once to prosecute Dr. Townsend for walking out on a House investigating committee last spring (TIME, June 1, Dec. 14). Last week in Washington’s Federal District Court the lanky old pensioneer went to trial. A onetime aide testified that Dr. Townsend and his O.A.R.P. directors had planned the walkout two weeks before it happened, considering it a “masterpiece of strategy” which would win much sympathy for the Plan. Dr. Townsend denied this. The jury found him guilty of contempt of the House, penalty for which is $100 to $1,000 fine, one to twelve months in jail, or both. Thus assured of a brief twilight in the public eye, the onetime oldsters’ Messiah complacently observed: “This publicity will accelerate my Movement.”