Myles Horton

Myles Horton (Appendix IX misspelled as Miles Horton, was a far-left activist in Tennessee who had very significant and long-standing ties to the Communist Party USA. He was a leader of the CP-influenced, if not sometimes dominated Highlander Folk School.

Myles Horton was married to Aimee Horton.

Myles Horton's named as indexed in Congressional Hearings

The name Myles (Miles) Horton appears in the "Index" to congressional publications for at least three, if not more, House and Senate committees/subcommittees concerned with internal security. In order to learn who he was in terms of radical affiliations, KW is providing a list of those Index citations for researchers to have.

• "Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States", Special Committee on Un-American Activities (SPCUA), House of Representatives, 87th Congress, 2nd Session, on "H. Res 282" "To Investigate (1) the Extent, Character, and Objects of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States, (2) The Diffusion Within the United States of Subversive and Un-American Propaganda That Is instigated From Foreign Countries or of a Domestic Origin and Attacks the Principle of the Form of Government as Guaranteed by Our Constitution, and (3) All Other Questions in Relation Thereto That Would Aid Congress in Any Necessary Remedial Legislation", Committee Print, APPENDIX - PART IX (APD IX), Communist Front Organizations with Special Reference to [[The National Citizens Political Action Committee[[ (NCPAC), Cumulative Index to All Sections of Appendix IX, 1944.

A "Miles Horton name appears on pages, 722 (actually p. 723), 1588, 1591 f., 1594, 1598 p. 723 is found in Volume I of APD IX, First Section, Second Section, and Third Section Pages 261-1048. Chapter 80: "Film and Photo Organizations As Communist Fronts". Under "Frontier Films" the report wrote about the magazine Frontiers of Democracy (November 15, 1939, p. 62 which commented on "People of Cumberland", which featured "commentary by Erskine Caldwell, distributed by Garrison Films, as - "an excellent film about economic conditions of the Cumberland district in Tennessee, ... and the part played in its development by the Highlander Folk School . . . founded in 1932 by Miles Horton."

Myles Horton's name appeared on pp. 1588, 1591 f., 1594, and 1598 in Chapter 200, "Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW), which the SPCUA described as follows, p. 1580: "Behind a façade of loosely organized southern "liberals," the Communist Party (CP) has initiated and manipulated the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in accordance with its special partisan purposes."

A report on the SCHW was also issued on June 16, 1947, by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), to be referred to later in this KW entry. The SCHW held a conference in Birmingham, Alabama, Nov. 20-23, 1938. A number of titled panels were held during this conference and the name of Myles Horton appeared in them on pp. 1588, 1591f, 1594 and 1958. Horton was a "Consultant" to Panel III: "Youth and Training: Civilian and Military", which featured a number of non-communist members of the Armed Services.

During the conference, several speakers whose names are well known or who have become a subject of current news items (December 2015) were found, including Nov. 21st - Farm Tenancy Section- Dr. Charles S. Johnson, the father of the present 2015 head of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson; Nov. 22nd - "Youth Problems" - Myles Horton; and Nov. 22nd - Address -- Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt, when later informed of the Communist nature of this organization, publicly denounced it and quit, thus dealing its' legitimacy a near-death blow from which it never really recovered.

P. 1594, "Officers of Southern Conference for Human Welfare, 1938-1939", General officers, Vice Chairmen, and "100 representatives, composed of 7 members from each one of the 13 Southern States and 9 members t large:. Myles Horton was identified as Tennessee - Ed. Director Highlander Folk School, Monteagle. P. 1597 "Conference Program", "Democracy in the South", Sunday April 14, SCHW conference in Chattanooga, TN, Monday, April 15, 1940, with Myles Horton being identified as "Director, Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tenn."

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA): Myles Horton Index Listing by code and publication:

• Volume and page(s) listed: a 126; A 1305-1307; 3005; ch 56, 137, 139, 140; cr 1, 4, 5; d 193 (for the years 1938-1954)
• a 126 - "Special Committee on Un-American Activities (Dies Committee Public Hearings, Vol. 1, Aug. 12, 13, 15-20, 22, 23, 1938, pp. 1-979
• A 1305-1307; 3005 - "Special Committee on Un-American Activities (Dies Committee) Executive Hearings Made Public", Vol. 3, July 17-19, 22, 26; Aug. 5, 6, 16, 17, 19, 20, 1940, pp. 983-1501; AND p. 3005 - "SPCUA (Dies Committee) Executive Hearings Made Public", Vol. 7, March 23, 29-31; April 1,2, 5-9, 16, 19, 1943", pp. 3003-3609
• ch 56, 137, 139, 140 - "Testimony of Walter S. Steele", July 21, 1947, pp. 1-176
• cr 1, 4, 5 - "House Report No. 592, "Southern Conference for Human Welfare", June 16, 1947, pp. 1-17. The name Virginia Durr, wife of Clifford Durr appears on p. 1 and 14.
• d 193 - "Testimony of Paul Crouch", May 6, 1949, pp. 181-220. Crouch was a former CPUSA leader who later defected from the Party.

• Volume and page(s) listed: k 1961; l 3219 (for the years 1955-1968)
• k 1961 - "Testimony of Rev. James H. Robinson"
• l 3219 - "Activities of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Organizations in the United States - Part 4", Feb. 1-4, 7-11, 1966, pp. 2901-3482

• Volume and page(s) listed: (for the years 1969-1975) TO FIND VOLUME FOR LISTINGS

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS), "21 Year Index, Combined Cumulative index 1951-1972 to Published Hearings, Studies and Reports", Volume I, A-K, August 1972

• Volume and page(s) listed: tb 32, 36, 68, 99, 125, 126, 135-137, 149, "Testimony of" 150-151
• tb - "Southern Conference Educational Fund, inc. (SCEF), March 18, 19, 20, 1954, pp. 1-168.

California Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, 1970 volume Anti-HCUA groups find citations

Southern Conference Educational Fund

Southern Conference Educational Fund board members included;

• Virginia Durr Virginia Foster Durr- Southern Conference for Human Welfare, NCAPT - she was a longtime supporter of CPUSA fronts and causes
• Mary McLeod Bethune - she was a multi-decades supporter of CPUSA fronts and causes
• Rufus E. Clement
• Benjamin Mays
• Charles S. Johnson - Fisk
• Helen H. Fuller - New Republic
• Lucy Randolph Mason - CIO
• Paul R. Christopher - CIO
• Lillian Smith
• George S. Mitchell - Southern Regional Council
• Myles Horton - Highlander Folk School
• Louis Burnham - Southern Negro Youth Conference - The Southern Negro Youth Congress was cited several times as a CPUSA front. "Guide to Subversive Organizations", 1961. p. 154-155.
• Frank Porter Graham - University of North Carolina,.

[Graham was characterized in the SCHW report, p. 6, as "He is not a Communist and no doubt on occasion has had some differences with the Communist Party. He is, however, one of those liberals who shows a predilection for affiliation to various Communist-inspired front organizations".]

"Here Comes a Wind"

The Institute for Southern Studies' Southern Exposure issue Vol, 4 no 12 issue was entitled "Here Comes a Wind", and focused on labor organizing in the South. Contributors were Groesbeck Parham, Gwen Robinson, Jim Green, Sean Devereux, Carolyn Ashbaugh, Dan McCurry, Mike Krivosh, Jennifer Miller, Don Stillman, Melton McLaurin, Michael Thomason, James E. Youngdahl, Chip Hughes, Len Stanley, Clem Imhoff, Bill Becker, Bill Bishop, Tom Bethell, Elizabeth Tornquist, Ed McConville, Jim Grant, Fran Ansley, Sue Thrasher, David Ciscel, Tom Collins, Larry Rogins, Myles Horton, Higdon Roberts.