to have a letter from the AEC indicating otherwise. To Reich’s charge that the FDA agents
were “hoodlums,” he countered citing the years of government service of these agents and
accused his opponents of being “hoodlums” for keeping the agents away at gun point.
However, the most searing, stunning moment of the whole trial the moment when the fun-
damental issues were joined, though they were not issues to be settled in any courtroom—
came when Maguire scoffingly said: “They talk about pre-atomic, orgone energy! What’s that?
We’ve moved way beyond that—we’ve got atomic energy and now we are getting the H-
bomb!”
In his charge to the jury, the judge spoke very briefly. He again confined the issues
succinctly to the question of whether or not Reich, the Foundation, and Silvert had commit-
ted contempt by violating the injunction. He described it as a “very simple” case; in the sense
that he defined it and as the law defined it at this point, it was indeed “very simple.” Yet if
the entire case were considered in all its ramifications, it was about as complicated as any case
could be.
Given the judge’s charge, the jury’s verdict was predictable. They returned after only
ten or fifteen minutes’ deliberation with three verdicts of guilty. Reich looked deadly serious
as the jury filed in and his seriousness persisted after the foreman announced the jury’s deci-
sions.Reich patted Aurora’s arm with great tenderness.
I would like to quote here the last paragraphs of my report on the trial:It was not simple, it was not totally a scientific situation, admixtures of
many things were involved. There was something of the atmosphere of Calvary
about the whole business and Reich may have been provoked into doing something
parallel to what Christ had done when in desperation he asserted: “I can destroy your
temple in three days!” and then all his enemies could gloat and say: Did you hear
him? Now we have him! He was surely wrong there. And he was wrong on one level,
but not on another, the “followers” huddled around then and they huddle now. Can
he really destroy the temple? Is there really espionage? Do they want all the top
secret information? Will he be able to show them the importance of it all? And the
Maguires smirk and win for the moment,the jury goes home and lives as it lived, the
Judge feels concerned and worried, but what can you do? And everybody is as they
were, or are they? And here is the actual lunchtime conversation I overheard of three
Maine lawyers who followed the trial:“Say,didn’t he let the government get away with murder! Why, Charlie, if
you or I were in there as his lawyer, the trial would have lasted at least three weeks.
He would have lost anyway but it would have been a lot tougher for the government,
you bet it would.”“Yeah. Say what is this ‘argonne accumulator’ [sic] anyway? Does it have30 : The Trial: 1956 419