Corporation Men Behind Stevenson In Hiss Testimony

Three University officials and one of it's oldest living graduates were among the 22 prominent lawyers who signed a statement yesterday defending Governor Adlai E. Stevenson's deposition for Alger Hiss.

Charles C. Burlingham '79, joined R. Keith Kane '22, member of the Corporation; Grenville Clark '03, former Corporation member; and Laird Bell '04, Overseer, in deploring "any effort to criticize or reproach Gov. Stevenson for testifying" on what he had heard of the reputation of Hiss.

Kane, who was captain of the 1922 football team, issued the statement from his law office in New York. He is a leader in the New York City Volunteers for Stevenson organization. Some of the other signers, however, are supporting Gen. Eisenhower.

The statement came on the heels of Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon's television broadcast Monday night, in which he accused Stevenson of being unfit to combat the Communist menace, because he "testified voluntarily" that Hiss' reputation was good.

The statement said that Stevenson could have been subpoened to testify if he had not volunteered his statement, and concluded: "In our view, as lawyers, the Governor acted properly in this matter and did what any good citizen should have done under the circumstances."

Wesley A. Sturges, dean of the Yale Law School, was also among the signers of the statement.