(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.

May 3rd in 1972 was a busy news day. Starting with reports of a Silver Mine disaster in Kellogg, Idaho. First reports said 58 were dead, but many more were unaccounted for. News was not hopeful.

It was also Primary time. The votes were being tallied and Hubert Humphrey won Indiana. Ohio was in trouble, with some polls still not opened at the time of the broadcast. Voting machines were the culprit, and all some officials could offer was a tepid reply "we goofed". Funny, Ohio just seems to be problematic that way throughout history. It was also reported that Sen. Henry Jackson gave up the ghost and quit his campaign, leaving McGovern and Humphrey to battle it out, with George Wallace tagging along somewhere behind.

In other news - despite reports that this day was rather uneventful in the Vietnam War, news was coming in of mass evacuations and bands of drunken South Vietnamese troops abandoning the city of Huè in droves. It didn't bode well for the South Vietnamese Army being able to stand on its own, and it was cause for concern on Capitol HIll, with some calling for an increase in Military supplies to the Saigon government. No, it was a situation that you didn't need to throw ordinance at in order to make better. The writing had been on the wall for Vietnam for some time, and Capitol Hill just wasn't noticing. Just sayin'.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill - Nixon's naming of L. Patrick Grey to temporarily follow in the footsteps left vacant over the recent death of J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI until after the election had more than a few perplexed. Grey, an ardent supporter and close personal friend of Nixon, raised a few eyebrows over just how much in good hands the FBI was going to be with him in charge.

Silas Huddleston plead guilty to the murder of UAW President Jake Yablonski.

And a memorial was being held for the late FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover and services were to be held the following day.

All this, on a seemingly quiet May 3rd, 1972 as reported by John Chancellor and The NBC Nightly News.

And don't forget - if you haven't already:

(Korea - July 1950 - just can't seem to get around a decade without a war in it)

Sixty years ago to the day, on July 28, 1950 we were knee deep in another war. This time it was Korea and it wasn't going very well. With additional troops shipped over and a full mobilization called for, peace in the world was certainly short-lived.

And we also had the Red Scare to contend with.

Larry Leseur (CBS News): “The head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover has called upon all Americans to help his agency check on subversive activities. Mr. Hoover warns, however, that the FBI is looking only for factual information. It does not want malicious gossip, gossip which could lead to witch hunts and do incalculable harm to innocent people. Simultaneously Attorney General McGrath has asked one or more Federal Grand Juries to stand by in Washington. He wants them ready at all time to take whatever action might be required in cases of subversive activity.”

Somewhere along the line the caution about witch hunts went unnoticed because shortly after, Senator Joe McCarthy would launch his sweeping investigations and keep America in a state of nervous distress for the better part of the next four years. The reign of hysteria was gearing up for a lengthy visit.

So, in case you thought sixty years ago was a lot of fun, skip it.

(So infamous, they even wrote songs about him)

The name J.Edgar Hoover has been fading from Americas collective memory the past few decades. He died in 1972. But from 1924 up until his death he ran the FBI, taking it from a somewhat bumbling government agency into a monolith that was synonymous with eavesdropping, wiretaps, file keeping, political power plays, espionage and dirty tricks. He was the reason all subsequent FBI Directors had term limits. He made the FBI his life and his kingdom and was in charge right up to the last. He was the guy with all the secrets and he made a lot of innocent lives uncomfortable as the result.

Here he is from September 23, 1940 giving an address to the America Legion Convention in Boston, talking about one of his favorite subjects, The Communist Threat and "Foreignism".

With all that paranoia floating around, it's a wonder anybody slept at night.