"He 'flared' at [name removed] when the latter asked him subsequently about his wife's status, if any, with the CP, and secondly whether she too had been asked to appear before the Massachusetts Commission," the FBI record says.

The Bureau's files indicate that, faced with Ginger's reticence, Harvard officials offered the professor a clear choice between talking or leaving the University.

"[Name deleted] then advised Ginger he would either answer the question or submit his resignation as Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration. Ginger stated he would resign," the document states.

A few days after the incident, a Harvard official called the FBI to make the University's records on Ginger available to the Bureau. The FBI's record of the conversation says that the official did not think Ginger "had any connection with the Communist Party or any sympathy for it" but was aware that his wife was "believed" to have a connection with it.

The Harvard Paper Trail

There is no public Harvard record of the details of Ginger's departure from Harvard. Business School Dean's Office and the Harvard Corporation documents from 1954 may shed light on the situation, but Harvard routinely seals internal records for 50 years.

Official University publications indicate that Ginger was indeed an Assistant Professor during the 1953-54 academic year, under a contract FBI files said was to last until Aug. 31, 1954.

But the Harvard Archives confirmed after examination of confidential Corporation documents that Ginger was also given a three-year appointment to the Business School faculty set to begin on July 1, 1954.