of GNYIU. Saul Kills, a member of the American Newspaper Guild, was elected its secretary-treasurer. The organization had 250 local union affiliates, representing more than 500,000 workers. By 1948, however, there were serious concerns about communist infiltration of the GNYIU. The United States House of Representatives appointed a special investigative subcommittee to look into the matter. Several CIO unions were investigated, including the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, the Teachers Union of the City of New York, the United Public Workers of America and the Department Store Employees Union. CIO president Philip Murray appointed a three-member board in October 1940 to forestall the House investigation. The board members reported to Murray that Curran, Kills and the GNYIU executive board had been advocating pro-communist policies. The GNYIU was on the verge of supporting Henry A. Wallace in an independent bid for president as well. The national CIO executive board revoked the charter of the GNYIU in November 1940. Curran denied that he was a communist before both the CIO executive board and the Joint Commerce Committee of the U.S. Congress. Curran became increasingly anti-communist thereafter. In 1946, he pulled the NMU out of a Committee for Maritime Unity which was led by Harry Bridges. After World War II, he purged thousands of members and elected leaders he suspected of harboring communist sympathies. In 1960, Curran, along with several other union leaders, visited the Soviet Union as "guests of the USSR Sea and River Workers Union," visiting various ports and Khrushchev in the Kremlin, according to the October, 1960, edition of the journal "USSR." Other roles Curran served on a number of other committees, boards and positions with other organizations. For many years, he was chair of the AFL-CIO's Maritime Committee. He was also co-chair of the Labor-Management Maritime Committee, a body established by AFL-CIO maritime unions and U.S. shipping companies to discuss and resolve labor issues. Curran was also vice chairman of the Seafarer's Section of the International Transportworkers Federation, an international confederation of maritime unions. Curran was also vice president of the United Seamen's Service. Retirement and death Curran suffered a heart attack in 1953 which left him somewhat less physically able than before. Over the next few years, he gradually cut back his workload, and stopped visiting local unions and attending most union meetings. In the mid-1960s, he turned over most of the union's daily business