Covered & Uncovered

As sports editor of Manhattan's Communist Daily Worker, Lester Rodney, 41, has the job of twisting sports to fit the party line. Rodney does his work well. When he announced that he planned to cover the Olympic Games in Helsinki, he gave this reason for going: "The very nature of sports and the spirit of sportsmanship inherent in such games has started to get in its licks against the inevitable war hoax." To finance his trip, the Worker started an "On to Helsinki" campaign, raised about $700 from its readers.

Last week, ticket in hand, Rodney got some bad news. When he called the State Department about his passport, Division Chief Mrs. Ruth Shipley asked him: "Are you a Communist?" Answered Rodney: "That's none of your concern. What does that have to do with a passport to cover a sport event?" Mrs. Shipley thought it had plenty to do with it, since the "spirit of" the McCarran Internal Security Act bans passports for Communists. If Rodney would swear he was not a Red, she said, he could get his passport. When he declined to do so, Mrs. Shipley rejected his application. Said she: "The problem involved is not the Olympic Games but whether or not he is a Communist."

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