Gathings Committee

A Congressman's Indignation.

On 16 June 1952 Congressman Ezekiel Candler Gathings went to war against obscenity as chairman of the House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials. He had been upset about newsstand titillation since he had come to Washington, D.C.: "Everytime I went to the drugstore to get cigars there would be a long line at the bookstand looking at the lewd covers.… I thought, what is this country coming to if we are distributing this type of thing to the youth of the land. Then, to follow it through, these kids seem to have the idea that one must go out and commit rape."

The Investigation.

Representative Gathings established his credentials by sponsoring a congressional inquiry on radio and television during which he admitted that he did not know the difference between a good and a bad television program. Then Speaker Rayburn appointed him chairman of a special committee to investigate...

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