Friends of Truman circulated the report that the former President--with the advice and connivance of FBI Chief J. Edger Hoover--allowed White's promotion in order not to tip off the Soviet spy apparatus and allow the FBI to collect more evidence. The story sounded plausible and Truman did not contradict it. But Hoover did.

In a nationwide address Truman said Brownell's charges were false, that he lied. He added, "The course we took protected the public interest and security and ...permitted the intensive FBI investigation then in progress to go forward. No other course could have served both purposes."

Brownell and a surprise witness, FBI Chief Hoover, appeared before the Jenner Internal Security Subcommittee the very next day. Said Hoover: "At no time was the FBI a party to an agreement to promote White. ...He was a member of the U. S. Monetary Commission, (whose) premises are extraterritorial, and the FBI does not have any right to follow any ... person onto (its) property. ...We were certainly hampered."

Hoover told of two reports on Communist activity which included White's name that were delivered to the White House in Nov. and Dec. 1945. When the FBI heard White's name had been sent to the Senate for confirmation as US Director of the International Monetary Fund, a 28-page dossier of secret information "whose reliability has been established either by inquiry or long-established observation and evaluation," was delivered to Gen. Harry Vaughan on Feb. 4, 1946. The following observation was made in that report: "As will be observed, information has come to the attention of this Bureau charging White as being a valuable adjunct to an underground Soviet espionage organization operating in Washington, D. C." In all, seven reports mentioning White were sent to the White House between Nov. 8, 1945 and July 24, 1946.

'Unfit for Service'

Truman said he received an FBI report on White on Feb. 6, 1946, after the Senate had confirmed his new appointment. On receiving the dossier, he reportedly conferred with State Secretary James Byrnes and Treasury Secretary Fred Vinson. Vinson then went into a huddle with Hoover and Attorney General Tom Clark. All three agreed White was "unfit for service."

Since the FBI's evidence against White was not sufficient to indict him at that time, Hoover spoke of three alternatives Vinson and Clark planned to present to Truman: 1) Fire White without explanation; 2) Ask him to resign without explanation; 3) Allow him to take the new post, while the Attorney General continued the investigation and the Treasury Secretary supervised the appointment of reliable men around White. Truman adopted the last alternative, but White somehow was permitted to surround himself with suspected Communists.

Hoover stressed the point that Truman did not adopt that course on his advice. "At no time was the FBI a party to an agreement to promote Harry Dexter White and at no time did the FBI give its approval to such an agreement. Such an agreement ...would be inconceivable." The FBI, he maintains, does not advise but informs However, it is clear that through his reports, and through private conversation with Vinson and Clark, Hoover did advise the Administration of White's dangerous activities and warned them against advancing the security risk to the highly sensitive post of the Monetary Fund.

After Harry Dexter White entered the Treasury Department as a research assistant in 1934, he rose steadily into high position and gained the personal favor of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthan. On the heels of Pearl Harbor, White was empowered under Department Order 43 with "full responsibility for all matters with which the Treasury Department has to deal having a bearing on foreign relations." Under the same order he was to serve as liaison between Treasury and State and manage the $2,000,000,000 Stabilization Fund in international exchange.

Sworn testimony reports that during 1942 and 1943. White supplied secret documents from Treasury files to Nathan Silvermaster and William L. Ullmann.

According to some observers, Morgenthau's fiscal knowledge was very limited and he relied on White for considerable advice. White was author of the so-called Morgenthau Plan for destruction of German industry.

Joseph C. Palamountain, Jr., assistant professor of Government, thinks Brownell decided to make his White case disclosure because of two political considerations, one inter-party, the other intra-party. With Ike's legislative program begged down and dissatisfaction evident in organized labor and agriculture, GOP popularity was waning. The accusations of laxity were aimed at cutting the Roperrating of the Democrats, he believes. And since Eisenhower isn't expected to seek reelection, the "Brownell-Dewey Republicans are fighting the McCarthy Tribune Neanderthalers" for party leadership. "McCarthy's recent attack on the Administration shows he is aware of this technique."

"Certainly laxity existed" during the Truman Administration, Palamountain says. "It is understandable--but not excusable--in terms of the general environment. But the general laxity toward. White and his friends was somewhat inconsistent with Truman's loyalty boards (set up in March 1947) which I believe violated due process."

Charles R. Cherington '35, associate professor of Government, sees the whole spy case as pointing up the danger of Senator McCarthy. "Either McCarthy must be destroyed in American political life," Cherington warns, "or he will in due course destroy American Constitutional government. McCarthy, Jenner and Co. are not really interested in capturing Communists, they're interested in venting hate, frustration, and anti-Semitism upon anyone or anything which appears to be a possible target." McCarthy seeks the Presidency in '56 "as a stepping stone to unconstitutional, treasonable seizure of power. This is the type of issue which could well result in civil war," Cherington insists in all seriousness, but agrees, "We'll get this man before it becomes necessary to take to the field to defend against losing our liberties.

"I think Harry Truman did a great disservice in the way he replied to Brownell's charges. This is the time to stick to the central issues: preservation of Constitutional safeguards and avoidance of un-Constitutional, un-gentlemanly, and un-Christian conduct on the part of persons in public light."