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Fast, Howard (1914- )   Citizen Tom Paine, 1943   1947 United States-New York: Banned from the high school libraries in a vote of 6-1 by the Board of Education because it was allegedly written by a spokesman of a totalitarian movement and because it contained incidents and expressions not desirable for children, and was improper and indecent. Almost a million copies of the book had been sold, It had been distributed to the armed forces abroad and to citizens of liberated countries. The ban was strongly opposed at a public meeting by Marc Connelly, head of the Censorship Committee of the Authors League of America, and by other organizations. Connelly demanded that "the bigotry behind its condemnation be investigated in the interest of public welfare." The ban was supported by Rupert Hughes, president of the American Writers Association, who said the Board must not "yield to a propaganda drive." 1953 Soviet Union-Moscow: The Stalin Peace Prize was awarded to Howard Fast for "strengthening peace between peoples." The prize was established in 1950 in honor of Stalin's seventieth birthday and is said to be worth $25,000. United States: The book was withdrawn from U.S. Information Agency libraries overseas. 1957 United States: Following the Soviet invasion of Hungary, Fast renounced his loyalty to Communism, despite the enormous popularity of his works in the Soviet Union and the honors bestowed upon him by the Soviet government.