Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley shocked America in 1948
with their allegations that Communist spies had penetrated the
American government. The resulting perjury trial of Alger Hiss is
already legendary, but Chambers and Bentley also named Harry Dexter
White, a high-ranking Treasury official. (Hiss himself thought that
White had been the real target of the House Un-American Activities
Committee.) When White died only a week after his bold defense
before Congress, much speculation remained about the cause of his
death and the truth of the charges made against him. Armed with a
wealth of new information, Bruce Craig examines this controversial
case and explores the "ambiguities" that have haunted it for more
than half a century.
The highest ranking figure in the Roosevelt and Truman
administrations to be accused of espionage, White played a central
role in the founding of the United Nations' twin financial
institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. For
years after his death, White was a target of red-baiting by FBI
director J. Edgar Hoover and Eisenhower's attorney general Herbert
Brownell. Two Republican-controlled Senate committees even held
White accountable for formulating the "pro-Russian" Morgenthau Plan
for post-war Germany and for orchestrating the loss of mainland
China to the Communists.
Craig draws heavily on previously untapped or underused sources,
including White's personal papers, Treasury Department records, FBI
files, and the once secret Venona files of decrypted Soviet
espionage cables. Interviews with nearly two dozen key figures in
the case, including Alger Hiss and former KGB officer V. G. Pavlov,
also help bring White's story to life. Sifting through this
mountain of evidence, Craig retraces White's rise to power within
the Treasury Department and confirms that White was involved in a
"species of espionage"--but also shows that the same evidence
contradicts Bentley's charges of "policy subversion."
What emerges is an evenhanded portrait of neither a monster nor
a martyr but rather a committed New Dealer and internationalist
whose hopes for world peace transcended national loyalties--a man
who saw some benefit in cooperating with the Soviets but had no
affection for dictatorship. Although it still remains unclear
whether White leaked classified information vital to national
security, Craig clearly shows that none of the most serious
allegations against him can be substantiated.
General
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