(Harry Dexter White - Assassination by innuendo, death by Digitalis)

(thanks to those of you helping out)

The name Harry Dexter White probably rings no bells today, but in the late 1940's and early 1950's he came to epitomize the Red Scare and Communist infiltration of the U.S. government. White was an Economist and senior official of the Treasury Department, he was a primary participant in the Bretton Woods conference, leading to the formation of the World Monetary Fund and The World Bank. He was a New Deal Democrat and supporter of Roosevelt's ideas on Internationalism as well as the views of vice-President Henry Wallace. White considered himself a Progressive.

In 1939, defecting Soviet agent Whittaker Chambers was alleged to have implicated a "Mr. White" as a Soviet agent operating within the government, although there was no confirmation of it at the time and the accusations were considered absurd by even J. Edgar Hoover.

However in November of 1945, defecting Soviet agent Elizabeth Bentley implicated White as a source of leaked information to the Soviets and upon further investigation triggered an investigation of White.

Meanwhile, Truman had nominated White to direct the International Monetary Fund, which passed the Senate on February 1946. White resigned the position in 1947 shortly after the Attorney General ordered an investigation of Bentley's charges.

White was eventually called on to testify and he denied any involvement with the Communist party or any acts of espionage. His testimony would go no further as he suffered a heart attack after the first day of hearings (August 13, 1948) and later died as the result of an overdose of Digitalis (August 16, 1948).

Afterward, White was accused of all sorts of espionage (since the dead can rarely defend themselves anyway) and generally considered something of a poster-boy for all things having to do with Communist infiltration of government. Much of it later proved to be untrue, although some documents later discovered in the former Soviet Union did attribute White to some activities, the extent of his espionage was not as ruthless and endangering as originally thought.

This interview, from Meet The Press on November 22, 1953 features Chief Counsel for The Senate Internal Security Committee Robert Morris, questioned on the fallout (some five years later) of the Harry Dexter White Affair. As the search for Communists continued.

It was a week of spin, shock and spy charges with not a dull moment in sight. The week began with England's loss to Germany at the World Cup and continued with the G20 Summit and resulting protests. The Congo celebrated 50 years of independence. The BP catastrophe continued with new accusations, spin and political ramifications all doing nothing to stop the oil gushing but keeping the MSM busy. And shades of the "good old days" of the Cold War with allegations of sleeper spies unearthed in court and more than casual embarrassment from the State Department and The Kremlin. A fun week all around.

(Meanwhile . . . )

It was Al Jazeera's turn this week to comment on the political ramifications of the BP/Gulf Of Mexico debacle, laying their own set of accusations down and their speculations of how this is all going to pan out.

(Nothing says G-20 quite like a nice riot)

From the CBC Program The Current, reports on the 28th of the outcome of the G-20 summit and the resulting protests which dealt a goodly amount of mayhem throughout downtown Toronto. Since the rest of the world is teetering on the edge of continued disaster, the frustration has been multiplied over recent months. How this particular stinking bag of circumstances is going to pan out is anybody's guess at this point.

(Anna Chapman - no longer your dad's idea of a spy)

When news broke of an alleged sleeper spy ring uncovered by the FBI with the most unlikely group of defendants appearing in Federal Court, shades of the "good old days" of the Cold War began springing up in newsrooms and editorial departments around the world. Particularly when photos of one of the defendants, Anna Chapman began to circulate. The embarrassment portion of the program came since the U.S. and Russia were enjoying warmer relations than they had in years. As this installment of the BBC World Service's Newshour program from June 29th brought to light.

(the Russians were perplexed)

The Voice of Russia, in their newscast of June 29th offered little in the way of detailed explanation over the spy ring charges. That was something for the Kremlin to deal with. The newsreader was suitably non-plussed and quickly went on to other news items.

(President Joseph Kabila during the Congo's 50th birthday - Even the Belgians showed up)

Fifty years ago this week, The Congo declared independence from their colonial influence from Belgium. Not fifty of the most tranquil years, The Congo (or Republic of Congo as they are now known) weathered through civil wars, political upheavals, name changes (it was Zaire for a while), insurgencies and overthrows to achieve at least tenuous stability under President Joseph Kabila. How long their stability will stay is uncertain. But at least they've come this far. This report came from the BBC Africa Service program Africa Today from June 30.

(Raymond Domenech -portrait of a man in deep merde)

Not satisfied with public scorn and ridicule over the French team's dismal show at the World Cup, lawmakers took up the cause and took time out to grill coach Raymond Domenech over why the football team did so poorly during the games in South Africa. Despite the closed door inquiry, the French Press went into warpdrive, looking for leaks, rumors and speculations as to how their team did so badly. Radio France International's Focus On France program offered some insights.

(with disturbing regularity)

Suicide bombings have become a regular, almost daily occurrence of late in Pakistan. The latest bombing in Lahore casts doubt on just how strong the current government is and where this is all heading and just how stable the government is. This episode of Global News from July 2nd via the BBC covers the bombings as well as UK views on the current Immigration Reform issues in the U.S.

(The "oh shit" moment seen 'round the world)

And finally, with the stunning upset of England by Germany in this week's round of World Cup finals, BBC 5 Live offered on June 28th an in-depth look at what happened, how it happened, why it happened and what's next.

The mind can only wonder what next week will bring. But it will bring it soon enough.

A significant day in history, but one that was moving so fast we didn't appreciate it at the time.

On February 7, 1990 sweeping changes were taking place in the Soviet Union, almost hourly and predominating the news of the day. As Mikhail Gorbachev repealed Article 6 in the Communist Party platform, making way for a multi-party system and Democracy to replace the old Communist system of government. Everyone was in favor, except for one - Boris Yeltsin, regarded by most as a maverick politician. The news was greeted in the West with enthusiasm, although President Bush quickly rushed to claim at least partial credit for the changes. Ironically, he also called for increased spending of the Star Wars Defense system, which baffled everyone, including Central Committee Member Georgi Abatov who said:

"I think you are, you Americans, not yet prepared to live without an enemy. You just don't know what to do without an enemy".

True, that. And still true, some 20 years later.

In other news - Vaclav Havel was scheduled to arrive in Washington for a visit and address a joint session of Congress. Jesse Jackson was scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg South Africa, continuing his call for an end to Apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela. Schools in Selma Alabama were closed on this day, as racial tensions rose and black marched in protest to the recent dismissal of black School Superintendent Norbert Rousseau by a mostly white Board of Education.

The State Department was up to its eyeballs in scandal as it suspended employee Felix Bloch on spy charges. Chicago was minus 20 organized crime figures as the DOJ did a sweep and handed out indictments like party favors.

And a study found the majority of high school students had no idea about geography or even where they were on the map. The good news was 87% could find Canada - but that was about it.

And we were now The Big Kids Left Standing.

And so went this particular day in history as reported by CBS Radio and The World Tonight along with Special Reports and a word or two from Dan Rather.

As Elmer Petersen described it on this newscast for November 24, 1954 - a "sort of mellow feeling" had swept over the country on this particular Thanksgiving. On this day there were no American troops fighting a war anywhere. All indications were a picking up of business. The cost of living was declining for the second straight month. The cost of food was going down. The Thanksgiving feast would cost less this year than a lot of others in recent memory. Life was, for all intents and purposes, good.

But that's not to say the world wasn't free of conflict. In fact, it was disclosed the Red Chinese had just sentenced 13 accused American spies to heavy prison sentences, and this put our Foreign Policy in something of a predicament. And calls for retaliation were being largely ignored by the Eisenhower Administration in favor of waiting and seeing just how serious the Chinese were in their threats. The delicate chess game was in session.

But aside from that it was a world more or less at peace - even in this time of Cold War. President Eisenhower flew to "the little White House" in Augusta Georgia in the brand new Air Force One, a Super Constellation, for an extended holiday and working session away from Pennsylvania Avenue.

And that was what Thanksgiving sounded like on November 24, 1954. From NBC Radio News in Hollywood.

It would be insanity if all this happened in one day - but no, today's dose of history has to deal with the week ending on October 31, 1982 - and a busy week it was.

The 1982 Mid-Term elections were upon us and Republicans all over the country were chanting "stay the course", even though there didn't seem much to substantiate that desire. Still, it was a loud Mantra. One embarrassment to the Reagan White House came in the form of Nobel Prize winning Economist George Stigler who, after his Oval Office visit went before microphones to an impromptu press conference and promptly trashed the Reagan Economic vision, saying supply-side economics were a myth. It didn't go over well with West Wing flacks who quickly ushered Stigler away from the glare of probing cameras.

Meanwhile, the recent rash of deaths attributed to poisoned Tylenol had their fair share of copycat tampering, causing a wave of serious alarm this Halloween, prompting some communities to shelve Halloween altogether.

Auto maker John DeLorean was indicted on 9 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering in a somewhat maladroit attempt to pull his car company out of bankruptcy by hawking Philadelphia Marching Powder.

Spain got a new head of government. The Socialist sweep in the recent elections brought Philippe Gonzalez, 40 to the forefront as the youngest leader ever to be elected in Europe.

And China boasted the somewhat dubious distinction of having over 1 billion people on this Halloween.

Just another week in paradise, according the CBS News The World This Week for October 31, 1982 (Halloween came on a Sunday that year).

Forty years ago today we were knee-deep in another war, this one in Vietnam and it seemed like it would never end any lifetime soon. On this September day there was news of the largest concentrated buildup of North Vietnamese troops going on and the prognosis wasn't good. Meanwhile, President Nixon stopped in on a gathering of families of POW/MIA's meeting in Washington and offered words.

On the subject of Vietnam, uncontested candidate for President, the incumbent Thieu ordered police in Saigon a shoot-to-kill directive to demonstrators ahead of the "elections" coming up shortly. So much for protests.

The UK disclosed a swarm of Soviet spies were living in and around London. This after the Soviets complained Moscow was awash with Brits who just didn't fit the tourist description. Tit for tat in the old espionage game.

Hurricane Ginger was poised to hit the U.S. shortly. The crime rate was going up. The government decided to delay car safety regulations for another 2 years (does the name Ford Pinto ring any bells?). And claims freedom of the Press was under its most serious attack in our history were made at the Freedom Of The Press Commission Hearings underway on Capitol Hill, chaired by Sam Irvin.

Another day in history - and you wonder why.

September 29, 1971 as presented by NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor.