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254 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL
Pasternak when he was involved in a squabble with other Communists
in Moscow.
A brief note in the New York Times of September 5, 1945,
mentioned that "The Justice Department said it did not plan to
drop treason charges against Ezra Pound, American writer held by
the U.S. Army in northern Italy. A spokesman said the Department
recently had received a memorandum on Pound from military
authorities in Italy and added that his case is being studied
'intensively.' A Rome dispatch recently suggested that Pound might
be released for lack of evidence."
The memorandum referred to was the commandant's request to
permit Pound to receive medical treatment, and to learn what disposition
was to be made of him. Roosevelt might be dead, but his
spirit was marching on. Many people supposed that Pound would
be reprimanded for having made the broadcasts, and then released.
No one who had heard the talks supposed that he would
actually be prosecuted for treason. William Carlos Williams was
approached by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and asked to
testify against his friend, but the agents never came back.
The New York Times reported on November 19, 1945, that
Pound had asked Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, and
Archibald MacLeish, Assistant Secretary of State, to be subpoenaed
at his trial. He said that he had conferred with them in
1939, and that his purpose then was "to keep hell from breaking
loose in the world." Pound had only twenty-three dollars, and he
asked that he be allowed to serve as his own defense counsel. The
judge replied that this could not be permitted on such a serious
charge.
In describing his appearance, the Times said, "Pound, onetime
Paris dandy, appeared tired and disheveled in court. He wore
a dirty GI undershirt, a pair of baggy trousers, and GI shoes that
were too large."
In a lengthy story in the Sunday edition of November 25, 1945,
the New York Times repeated Pound's request to subpoena Wallace
and MacLeish, and noted that counsel had been obtained. The
story, which was subtitled "His Purpose", said that Pound had
told Judge Bolitha J. Laws that he wished Wallace and MacLeish