Harvard has no record of the circumstances of Ginger's departure in his public archival files. In the 1954-1955 Graduate School of Business Administration Dean's Report, Ginger's name is listed among dozens of professors who "left the School to continue teaching elsewhere or to enter business or government service."

Some of the available evidence from the time supports the idea that Ginger left Harvard abruptly in 1954.

Ginger's title as editor of Harvard's quarterly Business History Review disappears midway though the year. The first issue after he left carries a special note saying that Ginger "planned and prepared" the edition for publication, but a new editor assumes his place on the masthead.

Business School officials had planned for Ginger to be in the classroom when school started in the fall. Business School course announcements from the time indicate that Ginger was to teach classes in business history in both semesters during the 1954-1955 academic year.

Ann Ginger's Story

When Ginger left Harvard, he lost two contracts with the school, a one-year contract with about two months remaining and the three-year contract due to start in July. However, the FBI files indicate that Harvard paid Ginger the equivalent of the salary he would have received for the remaining two months of his contract.

The FBI files say Harvard decided to pay him in consideration of Ann's advanced pregnancy. But she says that this is not the whole story.

She says the payment came with a stringent condition attached: Ray would get his salary if the Gingers left Massachusetts immediately. That way, the two would never be called before the Massachusetts Commission to Investigate Communism, and Harvard could avoid a messy public investigation.