 The defendants at the 1949 trial were released from prison in the mid @-@ 1950s . Gus Hall served as a Party leader for another 40 years ; he supported the policies of the Soviet Union , and ran for president four times from 1972 to 1984 . Eugene Dennis continued to be involved in the CPUSA and died in 1961 . Benjamin J. Davis died in 1964 . Jack Stachel , who continued working on the Daily Worker , died in 1966 . John Gates became disillusioned with the CPUSA after the revelation of Stalin 's Great Purge ; he quit the Party in 1958 and later gave a television interview to Mike Wallace in which he blamed the CPUSA 's " unshaken faith " in the Soviet Union for the organization 's downfall . 
