National Affairs: Thanks, No

Something called the World Congress of Partisans of Peace was poised in Europe last week, ready to fly to the U.S. and demand that Congress reduce its war budget and prohibit the manufacture of atomic bombs.

The WCPPers were led by Pablo Picasso, the world's best-known living painter and a prattling Communist even though his art is denounced by Moscow. They included the world's best-known clerical apologist for Communism, the Very Rev. Hewlett Johnson, "Red Dean" of Canterbury Cathedral, and other well-known Europeans (among them a gaggle of scientists) whose political hues,-¤ according to State Department records, ran from fire-engine red to shocking pink. The U.S. Congress took one long, horrified look, denounced the visitors and their aims from both sides of both houses.

After a hurried conference with congressional leaders, the State Department flagged its European consulates. The twelve were "either known Communists or fellow travelers," said State, and therefore subject to exclusion under immigration laws. State's instruction: no visit, no visas.